• From: Concord, NC
  • Registered: 2007-06-07
  • Posts: 19

Topic: Songbooks/Fakebooks etc.

Hey gang,

I'm fairly new to guitar and am starting to learn songs now.  Have been pulling tabs off the net etc.  I have one songbook "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Acoustic Guitar Songs".  It's a great book.  It has standard notation, lyrics, tab and chord frames.  I've been able to figure out some songs that are probably beyond my skill level by using this book (and much repetition).

My question is this:

I'm looking for artist specific songbooks that will have similar notation.  Most importantly the chord frames and tab for fingerpicking parts. What are these books called?  I see several terms when searching bookstores online.  Fakebooks, sheet music, etc.  What is most likely to give me the type of notation I prefer?

Thanks,

Bill

  • From: Renfrewshire, Scotland
  • Registered: 2006-03-04
  • Posts: 1,359

Re: Songbooks/Fakebooks etc.

I've been looking online for some songbooks recently and if I do a search (say on ebay), guitar songbook usually gets me the best results.

Is anything really made up of zeros and ones??

alvee33's Website

  • From: Orpington London
  • Registered: 2006-10-22
  • Posts: 390

Re: Songbooks/Fakebooks etc.

Skydad

there are no standard term - best to pop into a good music store and look at the material

chord books - just the chords and rythm

Fakebooks -  melody line is notated (just the tune) with chords boxes

sheet music - mainly notation (often with chords)   

Transcriptions - notation, tab and chords. songs cover several pages in detail




John

johncross21's Website

  • From: BELGIUM
  • Registered: 2007-01-27
  • Posts: 3,403

Re: Songbooks/Fakebooks etc.

Skydad,I have some great books, like 1000 songs for buskers, or 1000 songs to play.
I'm afraid you learn more than enough watching youtube, or on line lessons.
If I could start it over, I would do as follow:
- Following music class, and learn top read music.
- Choosing guitar and probably piano..
- Trying to improve my skills EVERY DAY by playing.
Now, I'm 52 years old, I developed a personal "style" or a "particular" way to play guitar.
There are some great songs, or intros on youtube, showed how to play it and since I discovered youtube, my skills are improved a lot. It can be a lot better, but having the same style of playing guitar, it is difficult to take lessons. I might do this later with a private teacher, but what bothers me is the fact to play and play and play the stuff you've learned. So I try to focus me on "improving playing guitar"watching tutorial lessons here on line, AND play-a-long with a song.

[color=blue]- GITAARDOCPHIL SAIS: TO CONQUER DEAD, YOU HAVE TO DIE[/color]   AND [color=blue] we are born to die[/color]
- MY GUITAR PLAYS EVERY STYLE = BLUES, ROCK, METAL, so I NEED TO LEARN HOW TO PLAY IT.
[color=blue]Civilization began the first time an angry person cast a word instead of a rock.[/color]

gitaardocphil's Website

  • From: Murphysboro Il
  • Registered: 2007-02-10
  • Posts: 292

Re: Songbooks/Fakebooks etc.

It depends on what you want to do with the songs. I improvise a lot of my leads so I have tons of fake books because they give the 3 basic elements of the song; chords, lyrics and melody. The ones where I want to reproduce what is on the record or cd, I pay a bit more for the transcription so that I have every lick in the song there in front of me.

"Nobody paints by ear so why would I play guitar by sight?" hmm