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Rating: 
Summary: Best Fake Book I have found
Review: I hunted all through the Hal Leonard site and I couldn't evencome up with any fake book that had "How Sweet It Is" init. This book has everything from "What a Wonderful World" to "Blue Skies." I have never found such a complete book. If you are looking to find some songs to entertain with, this book has all the songs you'll need. You will recognize more songs in the book then you can memorize. I am excited to have it, and I really can never stop opening it up and playing.
Rating:
Summary: Not for youngsters
Review: I just want to disagree with those reviewers who say that if you are over 40 this book is not for you. I am over 50, and I find the song selection of this book to be outstanding. I am sure my 21 year old son wouldn't identify with it, but I recognized almost all the song titles and found the variety to be outstanding!
Rating: 
Summary: Maybe not that great for trumpet...
Review: I'm just getting started playing the trumpet again after a 48 yr. break. I bought this book because of the large number of songs and being written in b flat. True there are a lot of songs that are newer and not so many standard "oldies". However, that's not my main concern. A lot of songs just don't sound that good on the trumpet and some are written with notes so low that they sound terrible. There are some great trumpet pieces such as "When Sunny Gets Blue", "Misty", etc., but you have to wade through a lot of others to get to the good ones. I have some other Leonard fake books for the keyboard and they are just fine but look for some other music for the trumpet.
Rating:
Summary: Super Duper
Review: My hair stood when I played "Just the way you are" with Billy Joels original chords. If you were born in the 60s/70s you will love this book. It contains songs like Honesty, Dont let the sun do down on me, Unchained melody, You decorated my life. If you aint familiar with the song all you have to do is download it from the net, copy it on a floppy and play it on your keyboard. Then you can choose an appropriate beat and bang away. The book is very heavy...litreally.
Rating:
Summary: This is the Best Fake Book ever
Review: Sure, the authors of the book aren't being modest, but they aren't lying. Other books I have looked at contain maybe one good song and a bunch that nobody has heard of. Every page in this book has a recognizable title and they all are contained in the index in the beginning (which lists them alphabetically and by genre). The words and notes are easy to read and the pages stay open because of its strong binding. I believe, and thus I am writing, that this is the best fake book and it is good for beginners and experts.
Rating: 
Summary: More a miss than a hit
Review: There are some gems in here for certain, however I agree with the other reviewer who stated that if you're 40+ you won't find a wealth of time tested standards. Also for guitar players the difficulty I would place at intermediate to advanced due to the keys and (perhaps needless)chord complexities (no mini-charts with the chords which would have helped with all of the obscure ones). I have two other fake books from Hal Leaonard ( Christmas guitar and Folksongs )and I can't imagine that this group was gathered by the same team since I really like the other titles. I had several other Hal Leonard fake books on my "wish list" but now that I find the compilations inconsistent in quality I won't buy any more sight unseen.
Rating:
Summary: Guitar players think twice
Review: There are some gems in here, but for the most part I would agree with the reviewer who said that for those over 40 years of age, time tested pieces are scarce. I would also add that although this book claims to be for guitar, the presence of chords ( names but in this case no mini chord charts )over the melody line ( by definition necessary for a fake book ) might be of minimal assistance in this case. Many, if not most, of the songs are in the more "guitar unfriendly" keys. Many ,if not most of the songs, are "incidental heavy" in their chord listings which no doubt preserves the original chord flavoring of the songs well but may require advanced finger gymnastics for the guitar player. Often some accomodation in keys and chords is made when "for guitar" is mentioned, or implied, in a title. So guitar players, despite the cover note that implies some degree of guitar friendliness or accomodation, think twice , or better yet go to a "brick and mortar" store where you can actually look at the keys and chords, before buying.
Rating:
Summary: Guitar players think twice
Review: This book gets 5 stars... If you don't know what a fake book is, it is only going to have the melody line (for the piano part, it will only have the right hand, not the left).The book with the RED cover is for C instruments (piano, guitar, harmonica, violin, flute, recorder, oboe, viola).
The book with the GREEN cover is B-Flat instruments (clarinet, tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone, trumpet, baritone T.C.).
The book with the BLUE cover is for E-Flat instruments (alto saxophone, baritone saxophone). It is about a level 4-5 on a difficulty scale of 1-10 with 1 being the easiest and 10 being the hardest.
Rating:
Summary: Fake it till you make it.
Review: This one is by far the best value of all the fake books I checked at the store.
As you go through this book each time you find yet another delightful piece. It is much more fun and easier and natural to play and improvise rather than sight reading the more difficult piano pieces with two staffs and big chords.
Also, it written for C instruments which is important to remember for piano or guitar players. I mistakenly bought an Eb fake book and that was less natural to play and almost impossible to sing to, and I had to exchange it.
Most times the songs are in the original keys, which is good. Most jazz musicians I know use fake books. Important to note is that all the lyrics seem to be included, because some fake books do not include them all.
It shows guitar and piano chords but not symbols for either one, so if you are not used to playing extended jazzy chords you might find some songs tough going at first and may have to invest in a separate chord book.
The chord changes are beautiful and authentic, and true to the original. I was particularly impressed with the level of detail including note for note transcriptions of classic solos such as In My Life, so you can naturally reproduce the original sound. Some songs include harmony notes which is great for ensemble work.
As for those who say people under forty may not recognise many tunes, these are classics in the rock and standards category. If you really want 80s and 90s music I am sure there are other books for you, but open yourself up to these pieces, and you will enjoy.
This book includes releases by Beatles, George Harrison (his 4 best songs) Queen, James Taylor, Frank Sinatra, Various Motown, Soul, Jazz, Burt Bacharach, Samba, Dave Brubeck, Elton John, Neil Diamond, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, Smokey Robinson, Diana Ross, Buddy Holly, Aretha Franklin, Carole King, Bread, Beach Boys etc. There is something here to please every taste.
Some of the songs include Bohemian Rhapsody, Hey Jude, Let it be, Michelle, This Masquerade, Theme from Mahogany, You've got a friend, Fire and Rain, It's too late, I say a little prayer, I fall to pieces, Heartbreak Hotel, My sweet Lord, Sweet Caroline, Angel by Sarah McLachlan, La Bamba, Let it Be, Fool on the Hill, Rockin Robin, Just the way you are, She's always a woman, Sorry seems to be the hardest word, Something, Here comes the sun, While my guitar gently weeps, What the world needs now, Yesterday.
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