NBD - New Book Day. Got the Ukulele Fake Book

Freeda

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http://www.amazon.com/Ukulele-Fake-...=1432776159&sr=8-1&keywords=ukulele+fake+book

First the cons: Man is this bugger huge. I hate the formatting (two pages per song mostly, and all extra verses in text after the song). The comb binding seems like a terrible choice. Weighs so much I doubt it would be stable on a cheapie folding music stand.

Pros: A crapton of GREAT songs (that I will just wind up transcribing to put into my Songbook on my tablet). Just doing a quick page by page, I'm already seeing setlists for motown, show tunes, country, etc etc. Lots of variety.

So overall, a great job on selection and a bad job on execution. Worth thirty bucks? Eh... I'm not returning it.

Will bring it with me to UWC for any who want to take a peek before committing their own funds.
 
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What does it mean by "fake book" Freeda? Apologies, if I just came out from under a rock...
 
Fakebook is a book with chords written over the staff. So you don't have to be able to read music. IE most ukulele music.

This book does have staff notation, which is helpful to me but I can read a tiny bit.
 
http://www.amazon.com/Ukulele-Fake-...=1432776159&sr=8-1&keywords=ukulele+fake+book

First the cons: Man is this bugger huge. I hate the formatting. The comb binding seems like a terrible choice.

Pros: A crapton of GREAT songs (that I will just wind up transcribing to put into my Songbook on my tablet). Just doing a quick page by page, I'm already seeing setlists for motown, show tunes, country, etc etc. Lots of variety.

So overall, a great job on selection and a bad job on execution. Worth thirty bucks? Eh... I'm not returning it.

Will bring it with me to UWC for any who want to take a peek before committing their own funds.

I see it's also available in an 8.5" X 5.5" edition. I wonder how many of the songs also appear in the Daily Ukulele books....
 
Fakebook is a book with chords written over the staff. So you don't have to be able to read music. IE most ukulele music.

This book does have staff notation, which is helpful to me but I can read a tiny bit.

OK. Thanks for edumacating me! Sounds very cool. I like the idea of the smaller vers. that mailman mentioned.
 
I remember the other thread about these books and was still wondering if they were any good.

Thanks for sharing and for the update! :)
 
Quick question: the chords that are written - are they just letters or does it include the chord "picture"?

ETA: Never mind - I went and looked. Chord pictures at the top of the song and then just letters over the notes. :)
 
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I was tempted to get one, but was worried it would be an excuse for me not to memorize chords like I should.
 
I have it and like it for some of the reasons you don't. I like that it's huge and lays flat. That way I can actually use it as I don't memorize songs I just read and play. They set it up so most are one page songs and they don't have you turning pages to play songs which is good foresight. And I agree there is a ton of playable songs. Especially, Babe I'm going to leave you by Led Zep. I cannot stop playing and singing that one.
 
http://www.amazon.com/Ukulele-Fake-...=1432776159&sr=8-1&keywords=ukulele+fake+book

First the cons: Man is this bugger huge. I hate the formatting (two pages per song mostly, and all extra verses in text after the song). The comb binding seems like a terrible choice. Weighs so much I doubt it would be stable on a cheapie folding music stand.

Pros: A crapton of GREAT songs (that I will just wind up transcribing to put into my Songbook on my tablet). Just doing a quick page by page, I'm already seeing setlists for motown, show tunes, country, etc etc. Lots of variety.

So overall, a great job on selection and a bad job on execution. Worth thirty bucks? Eh... I'm not returning it.

Will bring it with me to UWC for any who want to take a peek before committing their own funds.

I have some large format song books and I agree with you. The comb binding is useful, though. It allows the book to lie flat and that is very useful. Standard binding in large music books creates problems when you put it on a music stand.

Extra verses underneath the music, is standard and I don't find that a problem. All my folk song books are like that. If you listen when you play, you should be able to work the chord changes are. That's good practice, anyway, IMO.

I've just ordered the smaller format version. It will be a useful source of songs for my uke group. I made the mistake with the daily ukulele of ordering the kindle version. Big mistake. It's very difficult to go to a particular song. The big failing is the song index is not hyperlinked to the individual songs. Also each song really ought to start on a new page.
 
thanks for sharing ... looks like a lot of great songs.

Good points Geoff about the pdf version ... although it does help with clutter.
 
Got an email from Amazon this evening. My book has been dispatched. Should be here tomorrow depending on how efficient the Royal Mail are this time.
 
Well, it arrived today. Quite a tome. There's over 680 pages of songs with most being on two pages. You get notation of the melody, words and chords written above the melody line with a "list" of chord symbols at the top of each song.

The songs themselves are mostly pop "standards" ranging from the 50s to the present with a few folk songs and a few jazz standards. It's a varied selection and will make a good source for my uke group and also for the seasons.

I like the format of words plus music and chords. It gives a good basis for arrangements. Many of the songs are a bit low for my voice and will need transposing up to be useful to me. That's not a criticism of the book. The compilers have to make decisions about where to pitch a song and in a book like this it's likely they will go for "easy" to play keys which is fair enough. I'll just have to transpose up where necessary. OTOH, many other songs are in keys that put the song in a singable range for me.
 
Ordered my copy today! Woohoo!

Just a note: there is a smaller version, but I have the smaller version of the Christmas book and it is hard to read unless you are really close . . .
 
Got an email from Amazon this evening. My book has been dispatched. Should be here tomorrow depending on how efficient the Royal Mail are this time.

I'll be interested in everyone's feedback!

You may find some virtues in it that I overlooked. :)
 
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