For those who have been playing piano for several years, learning to play from a fake book can be a useful skill. In order to play from one, you need to have an understanding of chord theory. You should also be familiar with the names of chords. Once you know chords, a fake book provides the wherewithal for you to play just about any song without the entire musical score written out.

A fake book contains songs that are not written in their original, full score. Instead it is a series of pages also known as lead sheets. Each lead sheet contains the lyrics and melody line to a single song along with the chord symbols such as G7, Fm7, etc. Often, a fake book contains only the treble clef notes (melody line), although some include a rudimentary bass clef score. The accompanying chords are notated in the places they should be played, usually over the word in the lyrics that they go with.

I bought my first fake book when I was 16 or 17, and it cost $25. — a fortune back then for a teenager. They were illegal then too — but sold under the take by many music stores. Now of course they are entirely legal, and contain a thousand or more songs per book and cost about the same as I paid way back when.

Fake books are intended as guides so experienced musicians are able to play any song without the benefit of the full musical score. If you’ve ever seen jazz musicians at work, you may have witnessed this concept in action. Jazz relies heavily upon improvisation. A jazz band may use a fake book to ensure that each member is playing in the same key. The musicians can then improvise the rest of the song. In other words, they can fill in the spaces between chords with other notes.

It is likely that fake books originated as a convenient way for musicians to have access to lots of songs. Their use also sparked copyright debates, however unintentionally. Early versions, and many versions that are in print today, often deny royalties to the copyright holders of the original song(s). Fake books may contain hundreds of unauthorized versions of songs. There are so many on the market that it is a difficult area to police.

Another place that fake books are commonly found is in churches. Churches often have a large library of songs that they use during regular worship services. It can be a storage problem to keep sheet music for hundreds and hundreds of songs for each band member. Instead, some churches use fake books because they take up less space. Band members are then able to play the same song in the same key, while improvising between chords. Churches usually purchase a license that gives them the legal right to use all of the songs in public performance. This way, there is no need to worry about paying royalties to individual copyright holders, and there are no prohibitions against photocopying music.

As already mentioned, reading a fake book requires a good knowledge of chords. A musician who knows the name of all of the basic chords should be able to play any song off of a lead sheet. Even musicians who aren’t gifted at improvising can at least provide accompaniment to a song by using a lead sheet.

If you are interested in playing from a fake book, consider taking the course on “How To PLAY More Notes Without READING More Notes”