Real or Fake books

[celtic_knut]

I've bought many a book of tunes in standard notation and/or tab, but can someone please define fake books and real books for me? How are they different from standard tune books, and how do they differ from each other?

[withak]

Fake books are books of tunes, usually only containing the basic melody and chord changes, and usually all in C or Bb or whatever is best for a particular instrument. They're pretty common in jazz where you make up everything else yourself anyway. "Real books" is just one brand of fake book, I think. They use a clever play on words to differentiate themselves from the competition.

[August Watters]

Yup, that's it -- "fake book" is the generic term. The "Real Book" used to be the standard fake book that was by far the most popular #among jazz musicians -- it had all the best tunes in it, because it was illegal, and all the good tunes that legitimate publishers couldn't get the rights to were there!

When I was a student at Berklee College 20 years ago there was a guy who hawked them on the street outside -- but he wouldn't keep them on his person; you'd have to pay him the money and he'd tell you where to find one, hidden in an alley somewhere -- kind of like buying illegal drugs. There was also an older fellow who had a music store around the corner, who for a time had sold them under the counter -- until he got busted by the ASCAP/BMI guys. Every month after that he had to pay his fine in installments.

These days, there seem to be a number of legal "Real Book" publications out there, although who knows if they're related to the REAL Real Book. #

August W

[Songbird]

Yeah, I found out about that a couple of weeks back August Watters, very interesting.

[Steve L]

August, I guess that's why when I walked into the Bumble Bee Bookstore (Jazz Hive/No Jive) many years ago and asked for a Real Book, the guy nearly tore my head off!! http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/laugh.gif

[mad dawg]

So a real book with public domain songs in it would be a fake real book? http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif #(or a fake fake book? #http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/rock.gif )

[Steve L]

No, a fake book with public domain songs in it would be a real fake book, but not a Real book, which is a fake book that you can't really sell because you could get into real trouble selling fake publications that don't pay copywrite fees so that songwriters don't need to get real jobs...ohh my head....

[mad dawg]

LOL!http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/laugh.gif

[mandocaster]

I used to work at a music shop in Berserkley, and we had a guy come in selling real books. Cash only, and we never knew when he would show up again.

I ran across a "C" edition at an antique shop last year, and bought it for $5. It's pretty awesome, although "Macho Man" and "YMCA" are about the most current tunes in it.

[John Ely]

They are called "fake" books because they allowed musicians to fake knowing a song. As in, "Do you know 'Night and Day'?" "No, but I can fake it."

[pklima]

Does anyone have any recommendations for really good fake books? I'll be moving to another continent soon and want to take one jazz and one classical fake book. It'd be a plus if the jazz book had words.