![]() The lion’s share of these books lack the professional, club playing musicians perspective. Some even use a font that looks like they are hand written by musicians just like the old days. *īeginning somewhere in the 1980s, publishers began assembling so called legal versions of professional fake books and titling them such so as to attract music hobbyists with the allure of a professional book. It was important to make them as clear and logical as possible, with only essential chords and familiar jazz patterns so they could be sight read easily by other players on the bandstand. They have become real antiques and give you a glimpse into the beginning days of the hard working musician.īecause fake book charts were written by professional players they were created with the player’s inherent insights about chords. You can sometimes still find these old tune-file cards around. They would take these little cards on gigs and hand them to other players. Players wrote the lyrics and chords down to tunes on small 3" x 5", file cards that could be kept in a little card file box. ![]() There was also precursor to the fake book. They were not available or sold in music stores. These roughly thrown together books were called “fake books” and were technically illegal because they were passed around freely amongst players without paying any royalties to the publishers who owned the copyrights to the tunes. Players would collect and organize them in books to suit their needs. Starting back around the early 1900’s these charts were originally created by professional musicians and handed around amongst themselves to play club dates. Show me what you would prefer to play instead. There is nothing that says you have to play the chords someone else wrote. Often I hear beginning jazz players complain about the chords written on a chart, blasting them as no good and asking, " Who would write such lousy chords?" I always tell them that they are free to change them. If you don't like the chords then change them to suit your own ears. you can look at them as a starting place. ![]() Also, if you don't like the chords written you are free to change them! How about that? Fake book charts are there to inspire you to be creative, not to play something exactly as written by someone else. The fake book written with the melody line and chords only opens up a lot of creative possibilities for the player depending on their expertise and chord knowledge. Chord players don't read someone else's arrangement, they make up their own based on the chords they are looking at. This s in contrast to the double-staff, piano arrangements of pop tunes that classical players read from. The player is supposed to create or “fake” their own arrangement. Now that I got started on the topic of fake books I have to keep going.!įake book charts are written with a single line and chords only. Here is another Shearing link of him playing, "I'll Remember April." There are a few otters ways to play block chords but this is the fundamental place to begin. It's just George playing solo piano with some unforgettable arrangements and chord voicings. ![]() If you aren't familiar with Shearing I want to recommend my favorite album of his called, My Ship. He was a monster jazz pianist who had his own unique style, something all of us pianists hope we will acquire someday. (Click here to hear Shearing play block chords!) I'll never play block chords as well as Shearing but I keep striving! One has to doubly be in awe about George Shearing because he was blind. George Shearing, one of the great jazz icons of jazz piano and one of my greatest inspirations, often gets credit for popularizing block chords that are played in this manner. ![]() You end up with the melody played in octaves and the chord in the middle. (See it on YouTube here.) To play with this technique, you have to be very agile with your five basic jazz chords in all inversions. You play a four-note chord in your right hand and add a single note with your left. You will see and hear that I am using block chords almost exclusively. "I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face,". The wonderful Lerner and Lowe song from the Broadway musical, My Fair Lady. In case you missed it on newsletter that went out recently, here is a some track I put up on Youtube playing a cocktail arrangement of. ![]()
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