Customer Reviews

R&B Fake Book: 375 Rhythm & Blues Songs (Fake Books)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I played a few of the songs on guitar, and the chords seem correct but could they make the type any smaller? I don't think so! If you don't have the music right up close and with good lighting, a person (especially over 40!) can't hope to be able to enjoy using this book.

I was very disappointed--great selection of songs, but no hope to be able to use the book in a party environment.

A reviewer below was concerned that this may not be the 2nd edition....it is, and it's great! Well, great for a Fake Book. It is what it is....throw it in the guitar case and when someone wants to hear Heard It Through The Grapevine just whip this baby out and you're off!!!

I've had this book over two years, and I've had lots of fun working my way through it (as well as jamming with friends). It's packed cover-to-cover not only with Stax and Motown songs, but also a lot of 70s soul and late 1950s rock. Virtually every big hit by Stevie Wonder, the Temptations, and the Supremes are here along with a lot of Otis Redding, Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston and the Jackson 5ive. I've found the arrangements are pretty accurate, and it's a lot cheaper buying the songs this way rather than in some other formats. This would be an ideal book to have if you are in a wedding or party band and are expected to know and play a dozen or so classic R & B songs.

There are a couple of caveats. First - this is fake book format. Fake books give you the chords and leads on a staff, but the rest of the song is up to you. Professional gigging musicians constantly 'fake' arrangements, and this should not be a problem if you are jamming to these songs. Second - Hal Leonard seems to have wanted to cram in as many songs as possible, limiting the songs to just one or two pages. This means the print is small, and will be especially irritating in a dim room. Third - there's no TAB for guitar. Normally I wouldn't complain about that, but when you're dealing with so many songs with tasty guitar parts, a little TAB would have helped.

Still, this is a great treasury of great songs. Anyone who grew up with Motown and Stax and who plays an instrument will love this one. Furthermore, there seems to be less overlap between this book and other Hal Leonard volumes than other collections I've seen, so there's a lot of value for the money.

It's okay, but it doesn't have guitar TABs. I read music, but not anywhere near as fast as I can read TABs, which really slows down my being able to use this book.

I learned of this book from a musician friend of mine. I just received it and was so happy to see all the great songs that are in this book. It will definitely help me because I am a singer and I needed something like this. I'm glad you have this book listed on Amazon.

Another great Hal Leonard book! This one's got lots of great Rhythm & Blues songs, by such favorites as Diana Ross & the Supremes, Marvin Gaye, The Temptations, Otis Redding, and James Brown, to name just a few. 375 songs in all!

The idea of this fakebook is terrific, but its design and structure are highly flawed. Don't waste your money on this book. All you get is the melody and the chord changes, all of which are printed so small as to be illegible on the band stand. In addition there are no bass lines or any real sense of how the tunes are supposed to unfold. If you want to see how a fake book that contains R & B should be layed out and published check out the New Real Book series put out by Sher publications. Unfortunately the R and B is scattered throughout those books and not systematically put in one cover as it is with this horrible edition by Hal Leonard. It would be incredible if Hal Leonard's people would subcontract the work to make a good fake book to someone like Sher, then we would have the comprehensiveness that Hal Leonard provides along with the very high quality and true usefulness that Sher and his arrangers bring to a project.

I give the book (which I have seen in music stores) 5 stars. However, I have written to Amazon requesting updated information concerning which edition of the book they are actually selling. There is a 2nd Edition available from the publisher which includes many of the hits from Stax record company artists which the 1st edition does not. However the product information on Amazon's page concerning this book is incomplete and confusing at best. It says nothing about which edition they are actually selling. The product description describes the 2nd edition. However the "look inside" option show the first edition (which lacks any of the Stax hits). Also the page count that Amazon provides is different from that which the book's publisher states on their website. I have written Amazon concerning these discrepencies and to request information on which edition they are actually selling. Their response to me was extremely rude and basically said that they had no interest in providing the proper documentation or answering my question. So, beware if you are going to purchase this item from Amazon, you may not be getting what you expect. So, you may be asking if I saw it in a music store why don't I just buy it there. I will, as soon as they get it back in stock because I know what I will be getting, as opposed to what I may receive from Amazon. The book is Awesome, however Amazon's lack of care in their documentation and customer service earns them only one star (only because I couldn't give them zero stars). So, beware of buying this book if you expect a full representation of the R&B Hits.

This is a must if you sing modern music.
You find almost everything from the 60's to 90's.
It's well written and clearly notated.

It only took over two weeks to be delivered..

What a great collection of tunes. An argument could be made that some aren't purist's R and B, but you can sit down and play down memory lane for hours.