Your First Fake Book (Fake Books)

I am a beginner and found that the songs were very easy to play. Almost all of the songs do not use sharps or flats. The large size of the book makes it easy to place on the music stand. A little under a half of the songs can be played in the scale range of my tenor (same range as a soprano recorder). That is a lower percentage than what I found in the two Hal Leonard Paperback Songs books that I own but then I don't have to fiddle with this book because of its size when I place it on the music stand.

I bought both Your First Fake Book and The Easy Fake Book over a year ago. I played almost exclusively out of the Easy Fake Book for a long time and was starting to think I'd wasted my money on this book. I was so wrong. After having left the Easy Fake Book at a friend's house one weekend, I reluctantly dug into the First Fake Book and found more than a dozen tunes (mostly showtunes) that were stored in my memory from childhood (I'm 44), as well as a number of older tunes that I was able to sight read and learn to love without ever hearing them before. Other reviewers note that there are some clunky chords in a few places. True, in a FEW places. And I think I was initially a little put off by the simplicity compared to the Easy Fake Book (the sound is not automatically as rich on first try). But beginners won't notice mostly and the simplicity makes the tunes accessible. Once they have tuned their ears up enough to find the awkward spots, they can learn about altering the music to accomodate their ear... a very important step in taking ownership of a piece that you play. Intermediate players (something I consider myself to be) will likely find hours of enjoyable and relaxing tinkering in the mix including some jazzy moments that I would never have been able to accomplish through classical study (too many notes) but now have become part of my free playing (improvisation). And when it all seems too simple... just slow down and listen... less IS more for some of the pieces (My Favorite Things can be HAUNTINGLY beautiful with a simple single-note rolling pattern for the chord)! Buy both, and don't ignore this one!

This book is so much fun! It's great not only for playing the piano with chords, but also for any C instrument, including violin and flute. It is a guitar players dream!

For a Piano Playing Wanna Be, this book is terrific. Very much like "The Easy Fake Book", which I also have. Both books are in the key of "C" and use only ten or less different chords in each song. In order to get the most from these books, I suggest you start with Scott Houston's book, "Play Piano in a Flash". It really shows the way to great, self entertainment. At age 77, I am doing it and I know, you can too.

I'm a piano/keyboard coach that teaches my mostly older adult students the joy of Fake Book playing---something I've enjoyed immensely since the mid 80's. I have quite a collection of Fake Books myself and used to discourage my students from purchasing the "Easy" series type books. A couple of months ago I borrowed this book from one of my students and after playing a few songs, found them to be not bad at all! I actually had fun playing them. Any experienced player can easily modify the chords if you find them too simple and starting players can really enjoy "early success" with these while later moving on to the "Real" or "Ultimate" variety. Plus, once they learn a song, I can teach them to add a few passing or modified chords here and there to enhance their experience! I now heartily recommend them (the "Easy series) to my students as great starter books to ease their transition into the regular ones.