Fakebook,oxymoron?

Delvin Morgan · From: Lindstrom, Minnesota, USA

Does anyone know why it is called a "fakebook"? Isn't it supposed to be how the tune was played on the record, so is it a oxymoron? Just wondering.

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Emmons S-10,Nashville-112,Peavey Pro-Fex II

Mike Winter · From: Portland, OR

I always figured it was because it allowed you to play a song you really didn't know...you could sort of "fake" your way through it, even though you never played it before.

Bill Hatcher · From: Atlanta Ga. USA

A fakebook has nothing to do with the way a tune was played on a recording. All it has is the basic melody in it's simplest form with a set of changes. The changes are usually also very basic and the players substitute their own variation of the changes and interpret the melody like they want to.

To "fake" a tune is just to play it off the cuff without having played it before or without knowing it very well. The old guys (myself included-drats!) who used to do a lot of society one nighters would carry one or more of these books just in case some blue hair with a request and a C spot would come up to the bandstand and want to hear a tune that might be a bit obscure or not well known by one or more of the band members. The fakebook would be whipped out and the tune played and the blue hair impressed and the band a little better off in the wallet---that is if the leader didn't take all the tip money!

There was also a time when fakebooks were expensive and hard to come by. It was like doing a drug deal to get a fakebook--you know like a guy in an overcoat would meet you somewhere and deliver a package, and money would change hands. Back in the 50s and 60s you could easily spend $50+ to get a good book with hundreds of songs in it. Probably not a lot of copyright agreements honored!

Charlie McDonald · From: out of the blue

When I was 15, the sax player I played with took me to this music store. We went into the back office where the owner had a fake book, "1000 SONGS". I shelled out 25 or 30 bucks, a small fortune for a kid in 1960.

Just look at all those tunes!

Anybody want one? Less than $25. Or trade for a cheap volume pedal.

David L. Donald · From: Koh Samui Island, Thailand

Fakebooks are great, you can wing it, and do well,
with a minimum of discusion before hand.

In a jazz band doing it your way is the normal way, not slavish copies.

I just had to turn down a 2 day gig in St Tropez this weekend. It would have been a fake book gig, and it would have been a lot of fun.

Sometimes we might play a totally different set because a sax player showed up. Without the fake book we would have played the same old regualr set song choices.

[This message was edited by David L. Donald on 13 August 2005 at 01:49 PM.]

Les Anderson · From: The Great White North

A word of warning. If anyone plans on learning a tune or song from a fakebook, then thinks he or she can do the same song when working with canned backup; wow, what a shocker. Fakebooks allows you tons of room for wandering and miscues. Canned backup allows for very little in either repsect.

As in one of the posts, fakebooks give you the very basics; however, it’s enough to get the tune and cords working in your head. Fakebooks also gives a beginner a sense of the timing of changes.

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(I am not right all of the time but I sure like to think I am!)

Ken Lang · From: Simi Valley, Ca

I have a fakebook I got in the early 60's.

I still have yet to get a request for "Yes, we have no bananas."

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