Customer Reviews

Fiddler's Fakebook, The

5 star:		(33)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Printed in 1983, the Fakebook remains the undisputed champion of music references for fiddlers, and it's aided a fair number of other non-fiddlers as well.

Inside its broad covers you'll find nearly 500 tunes from the various fiddle traditions. Jigs, reels, hornpipes, rags and breakdowns, each clearly labeled for origins (Irish, bluegrass, French-Canadian, old-time, etc.) and including a short list of recordings where the tune can be heard. Just flip it open randomly for a taste of its contents, and imagine the sound of tunes like "Haste to the Wedding," "Leather Britches," "The Munster Buttermilk," "Drowsy Maggie," "The Wind That Shakes the Barley," "Hanged Man's Reel" and "Great Big Taters in Sandy Land."

Eight pages of textbook materials -- music theory, history and culture, style and genre -- give a wonderfully brief overview of the things you'd like to know without loading the book down with endless information which, frankly, can get in the way of the tunes and make it too bulky for carrying. Better still, the book is held together by a sturdy plastic binding which allows you to plop it down on your music stand with ease. There's nothing so frustrating as a music book with tight bindings which make it impossible to play straight from the page.

We chose this book to be the standard for our Jam session in PRovidence because it has good versions of many popular old-timey, bluegrass and celtic tunes. Most of the session players around here play in several styles. This book has versions of 500 tunes taken from authentic sources, and most of the versions are pretty similar to what you will hear in the local sessions, so you can learn tunes from the book and be pretty certain that you will be able to play along when you hear the tune at the festival, in the bar or wherever. The author listed record or CD sources that you can get to listen to the tunes, so you can check the notation against the playing of well-known musicians such as Tommy Jarrell, Bob Wills, etc. The tunes are arranged alphabetically, so it is always easy to find what you want. This is a very useful and well-done book.

Brody provides a good background on fiddling and fiddle tunes in this wonderful selection of music. The book appeals to fiddlers, and it also provides violinists interested in old-time tunes with sufficient resources to begin playing in styles different from classical music. The large selection of music provides great versions of mazurkas, waltzes, hoedowns, reels, jigs, hornpipes, airs, marches, and numerous other genres. Although the focus is on tunes commonly played by old-time fiddlers in the USA, the selection is international in scope, and the book includes tunes from Scotland, Ireland, America, Canada, and other countries. Each tune is annotated with a description of where the tune originated and a listing of various musicians who recorded the tune. These annotations will be especially helpful for musicians interested in the history of fiddling and for fans who wish to hear how the tunes sound prior to learning them from the printed page. The book should appeal to fiddlers of all skill levels; there are simple tunes for beginners as well as more numerous tunes that are a challenge for more advanced players.

I played classical violin when younger( 12 + yrs) and had returned to lessons as an adult in classical violin.
Truth be told,I did not enjoy classical as much as I used to, so I started playing fiddle ( bluegrass,Irish etc) and have switched teachers to a fiddling teacher instead.
I am far more relaxed now and having a WHOLE LOT MORE FUN!!!
I don't think these are overly complicated songs to play,in fact I dont think many of the songs go beyond first postion (as I have seen) but I do understand that it is critical in bluegrass to LISTEN to the song( s) and how they are played so the student can learn better ( or even see some of " the greats" play on a DVD.
For a classically trained violinist its unusuual to read about everyone's personal " bowing style" as I had no real freedom in that area while playing classic alone, or on an orchestra. ( classical people you know what I mean here!)
This is just SO freeing! For once I feel I can honestly play and add my own emotions in my music and not try SO hard to interpret and read what the composer meant right down to which end of the bow I need to use as I did a concerto in a state competition ( It was a challenging piece, but it wasnt FUN!!) And I have no intention of pursuing orchestra again, but I DO have every intention of being able to play with other musicians in this genre as I understand it more and more,,,,

While this book has no CD accompanying it ~ (it can hardly do so because it is PACKED with songs!) the author is kind enough to list for us the resources to listen to by a variety of artists, so I assume they can obtained them from any local library or be purchased them as time goes on.

I understand that this is THE collection to have if you wish to get together with other musicians and PLAY bluegrass! ( just recently I heard about local pubs in my area doing Irish tunes and while I never "did " pubs , I am going to now! )
(This was told to me by a Scottish drummer who cant read any music but plays incredibly well! )
I also do not think that the binding on the book could take a lot of bumping around,,,so I am copying songs as I go along(~not for sale but for personal use~) so I can keep this collection in tact and make my personal notations. This is a precious collection to me.

I purchased this from a brick and mortar store because the last 2 music books I ordered came damaged from amazon,,,,,( and all I received in return was shipping costs),,, but that in no way reflects on the quality of the collection of songs this book offers- it simply reflects on amazon.
Get a copy of this book whereever you can get it if you are into fiddling! I ordered it from Barnes and Noble,which by the way helps you decide if you even WANT the book in the first place simply by being allowed to view the book ahead of time.
I have 3 Irish fiddle books I ordered at B&N just to view and see which one I prefer. I am waiting for them to come in now.
My fiddling teacher has told me this book contains the most frequently played tunes for fiddle at bluegrass festivals and fiddle competitions, which my husband and I are planning on attending as much as we can in a few states. She should know , both her and her husband are professional musicians and play in 3 bluegrass groups ( so I was very happy to have her as a teacher!)
I plan to keep some notes on this as we go to festivals,, and fiddling competitions and I can watch the bowing style of each fiddler.
There are SO many styles in this genre ,,unlike classical, its a true learning experience for me!( I just feel like a kid in a candy store all over again!)

Listening and memorization is incredibly important I understand if you are learning to play by ear( as I am now),,,, but those of us that can read music and have been trained many years to do so ,,,will have NO problem working thru the songs by note reading.

Memorization is also great according to my instructor,,,, and every tune we work on, I try to commit to memory.
Learning a whole new genre takes effort, time to practice and time to go over each song till I know it inside out.
If you are NOT a note reader you may want to re consider this book .

I love this book and am VERY happy it has accompanying chords for guitar but will take it to my fiddle teacher to have banjo parts written in clearly so my husband and I can play together. He plays guitar and banjo, and we have a friend that plays mandolin.

I have taken to playing bluegrass simply because it is just plain FUN to do so!!!!!We are having great time playing this as well as playing on our worship team in our church.
I am now looking for some great old time gospel bluegrass to add to our worship team's list of songs to be played on a Sunday morning so if anyone reading this has any recommendations I would be grateful!

This is one heck of a book , very much worth the buy as far as I am concerned, plus,, you need not invest in many more bluegrass books outside of this one as it covers SO many tunes SO well!!!!!!

When I first started playing the fiddle seriously about eight or 10 years ago (after several years of tinkering) a friend in a local contra dance band showed me his copy of The Fiddler's Fakebook. Though I was a marginal music reader at best, I decided to buy one. It was the best music investment I ever made. Because I've never completely decided whether I wanted to be a Celtic, old-time or "other" fiddler, this book was the perfect match. Over the years I have learned dozens of tunes from it - perhaps 30 percent of my repertoire. Now as a semi-professional player in a Celtic band, as well as a contra dance band, I continue to use it to learn tunes. One of the few drawbacks of this book is that many of the tunes are odd-ball transcriptions, quite different than many people play them, at least in this part of the country. Some are over-simplified, but if one uses them to learn the basic tune and then relies on listening to recordings or other players for variations and style, one can still benefit greatly from the Fakebook version. I would recommend any fiddler have this in his or her collection.

If you're looking to start playing bluegrass (or bluegrass style) music, this is the book to get. It's packed with great songs, and each song has an extensive discography, which makes it easy to find and listen to the songs you like. The organization isn't too great- simply alphabetical, but I don't find that this slows me down. The notation is clear and simply written, with a few ornaments to show you the right way. The introduction also instructs the beginner on modifications to technique - different bowings, fingerings, extended technique (glissando, etc.). You will like this book.

This is the third and LAST "fakebook" I will buy.
It should be called "the Fiddler's Realbook"
While the other fakebooks are just that, this one actually uses sheet music rather than tab. Now I can play the tunes with any instrument, or any other musician (who can read sheet music) I very much recommend it.

This is the tune book to get. It contains most of what is being played, and in the key and style and version you are most likely to hear it. Sure there are other tune books you will want, but this one will always be the core of your collection.

I am on my second one, the first one got so weathered and beaten, and the binding eventually broke and fell away, and I carried the pages held together with a large binder clip for awhile, hesitating to buy a new one because I did not want to lose all the hand written notes I had scribbled. Ok ok, I also did not want others to see the shiny pages free of the coffee stains and sun dried water stains.

When ordering this item i read the reviews, looked at the picture, and have seen the book in person. TO my dismay when i opened the box the book was not spiral bound but had your standard book binding with a slightly larger spine margin. The wider margin allows for you to keep the book open with ease however does not allow for folding the book in half like the spiral version.

I play old-time fiddle tunes on guitar, my wife plays fiddle, and over my 40 years of playing and our 30 years of marraige we've gathered quite a few fiddle books. This is without question our number one resource for tunes.

The arrangements all very solid -- good to go as is, or good foundations for building your own arrangement. Transcriptions are based on recordings that are well-known in the Old-Time / Bluegrass / Irish community. I have found no idiosyncratic or "strange" arrangements here. This book is my first source when I'm working on a tune for a gig and my constant companion at jams and picking get-togethers.

If you play Old-Time fiddle tunes this should be your number one purchase. "O'Neill's Music of Ireland" should probably be second. If you are focused on Irish music -- just reverse those two. The Fake Book includes guitar chords. O'Neill's does not.