Hi, if I go to a sheet music website, how do I find or know if the piano music is piano accompiniment for voice. I'm looking for sheet music for songs where the piano don't really play the melody line, the voice sings it. Is there a better name for this type of sheet music so i can find it easier?

Hi Kienny, arrangements that are for piano only are usually labeled "piano solo." Arrangements that are for piano and voice are usually labelled something like 'piano-voice-guitar' or 'piano-voice-tab'. You would think I would've have figured that out a lot earlier, but I have a stack of PVG scores that I can't play off when I thought I was buying piano solo arrangements instead. :rolleyes:

That's why I like the sites that let you see a sample page, because then it's crystal clear what you're going to get.

You can use a chord sheet, a fake sheet, or the solo peice. The solo peice usually has the chords above the measures.

The music that states piano/vocal/guitar has the chords listed above each measure (usually for the guitar). These are your comping chords. Now if you do not know how to comp. then it will sound dry. You use these chords to create rhythem patterns.

It is hard to explain but very fun!

Kienny, you have stumbled onto a black hole of piano music. Basically, if you're talking about pop music, the kind of sheet music that you are looking for doesn't exist. Almost all sheet music is going to have the melody in the RH, instead of accompaniment in both hands and the melody sung, as pop pianists/singers actually do it.

There are beginning to be some accurate transcriptions of the 2-hand accompaniment style. Hal Leonard has an Elton John book, a Billy Joel book, a couple of Beatles books, and a book called Acoustic Piano Ballads. But other than the specific songs in these books, you're basically stuck with learning the stuff from the records.

Califiddler makes a good point. Most piano-vocal sheets have the melody in the RH. If the arrangement is any good, there'll be some other fun stuff both in the RH and LH, but not always.
But you can find some music that's all accompaniment, so do what Monica mentioned and look at the first page. What you want will be three lines of music, the upper is the vocal line. If the notes in the vocal line and the RH line are exactly the same, well, then you're not getting what you want.

Also, you can (if you're brave and patient) make your own arrangement working from an existing one. (which is easier than playing by ear or starting completely from scratch)

For example, here's one simple thing that I have done in the past: Does the LH have 8th note arpeggios? Put those arps in the RH and make your LH quarter notes or whole notes. Then you have a true accompaniment in your hands, leaving your voice to do the melody all by itself.

Califiddler for the reference of those Hal Leonard books, I will have to have a look at them.

Hi, ShiroKuro. Do you know of any japanese publishers or music arthurs that produce these piano vocal accompianiments? I happen to ask because the only type of sheet music I have of this kind is for a japanese song called "first love". I will be able to get them from japan and won't have any problems with japanese if you know any. cheers.

Kienny, there are lots of Japanese publishers publishing vocal\piano arrangements. Esp in the popular genre, I have the impression that there are probably more sheet music publishers in Japan than in the US (not that that's relevent.)

The trouble is that, the quality of the arrangement varies, even within the same publishing company. And there are less chances to see the first page or a piece with Japanese websites.

It would be easier if you had a specific piece in mind, but here are some of the major publishing companies that I frequently purchase:

DoReMi

Shinko

Yamaha Music Media

Rittor Japan

Zen-on Music

Ongaku-no-tomo

Let me know if I can help you with something specific.