Play The Acoustic Guitar With The Ultimate Fake Book

The Ultimate Fake Book is by far one of the easiest ways to learn how to play guitar on your own. It contains many fun tunes and melodies to hold a beginners interest for quite a while. It is important when you start to play an instrument to have music you like to keep your focus sharp and centered on what you are trying to accomplish. I used this book to learn how to play many years ago and it is one of my treasured library items.

With over 1,200 songs to choose from -- modern rock and roll classics, standard folk songs, and favorites from Broadway and Hollywood Movies, learning to play an acoustic guitar is as easy as placing your fingers in a chord formation and strumming down as you sing along.

My grandmother had a copy of this very thick book and shared it many times with her grandchildren. We would think of a song and she would insist we get out her Ultimate Fake Book and make sure we got the words correct. She was a stickler for details! I later bought one of my own.

For any musician this book should be a library staple. This is a book that can be referenced over time and again for fun songs and for more serious guitar study. It includes pages of chords that are used in the melodies of the songs listed. The Ultimate Fake Book is easy to read and the simple chord structures offered in the song arrangements will have you playing an acoustic guitar very soon after you get it!

The Ultimate Fake Book is a valuable guide for lyrics, treble clef melodies on piano or any other instruments. The listings and variety of music in this great book are fun just to go through and see what is in it! There are songs here you probably haven't heard for years AND it's a great coffee table book!

Image created by M Burgess. All rights reserved. Please, do not copy with out permission! Thank you!

From jazz to rock and soft serenades, guitar music can be loud or very delicate and soft. Folk songs and rock ballads are the easiest songs to get started with. Pick a tune out of the past in the pages of this great book and just sing along at first.

Songs like Puff The Magic Dragon and You Are My Sunshine are listed in the contents of The Ultimate Fake Book. What is your favorite Elvis Presley tune? You may find it here, too! An assortment of old favorites and popular rock songs are here. Simply find the song you want to play and follow along with the chords noted on the top of the music staff. Strum down for each note that goes with the melody as you adapt to a rhythm and slowly graduate to patterns. You can play for personal enjoyment easily. Jimi Hendix didn't become a legendary rock star overnight. He spent years of practice developing his talent! It all starts with a simple song and simple chords.

Chord Changes

This guitar chord chart shows you the most common chords in guitar music: C, G, Am, and the D chords along with other common chords. From this simple printout you have a handy reference for playing guitar as you line up the chords with the song's chord listed. This sheet was created when I was teaching a basic beginners guitar class a few years ago.

If you use the song, Puff The Magic Dragon, for an example of how to play guitar you will see the chords listed over the melody line and lyrics of the music score or set between the words. In the Ultimate Fake Book the chords are set as an icon over the song as it develops. These are your chord changes. In this song and many like it the same chord structure is used throughout the song.

(G) Puff: the magic (Bm) dragon, (C) lived by the (G) sea...

Repeat the pattern shown above and you already have the complete song melody!

By placing your finger tips on the corresponding fret and string you have the ability to play the song by simply strumming down on all the strings. Creating a rhythm will take some practice but starting out with a downward strum will have you creating a musical sound quickly.

Image Credit: M Burgess

New strings are important to the sound of your guitar. When they are new they will ring clearly and be a pleasure to work with. When the strings get older they lose pitch and will break easier. Have a few extras on hand for that delicate G string!

Although nylon is a softer material for undeveloped fingertips, the steel strings will help you develop tough fingers for playing and they provide a clearer, more enjoyable sound for guitar music.

When I put on new strings I loop them twice through and tie a good slipknot around the hole and the peg in the tuning key. Leave the slack hanging out and snip with wire cutters after you have tightened them down some. Advanced guitar players like to leave all of the string on the peg and just have a small amount sticking out. Either way you will need new strings occasionally. The cheaper the guitar strings, the more often you will have to replace them. Invest in quality ahead of time and save yourself the hassle of replacing them frequently.

If you stretch these out too far, they will break, too. If you are worried about stretching strings too much turn the key until the string is taut then slowly adjust the tuning key until it is snug. From here follow the instructions given for the tuning tool below.

Make sure you have extras. Practice sessions often result in broken strings. If you cannot replace them, practice is over. Stash the ones that you have away for these occasions.

A guitar tuner will help you find the right setting for your guitar stings. Unless you have a perfect ear for sound and tuning you will need one of these handy gadgets to make sure your guitar is in tune. When a guitar is not tuned correctly it can be discouraging to play. Fix that quickly by using a tuner.

A lot of guitar players have what is called perfect pitch and they can tune their guitars with out the help of a gadget like this. For me, I need this little tool to help as I have trouble with the tuning. AND I cannot play if my guitar is out of sorts. It frustrated me when the strings aren't all set correctly.

For a beginner this is a perfect addition to your guitar accessories. They require only a AAA battery and a little bit of instruction. To find the string that is out of tune, strum each one separately. A line on the viewing screen will hover on either side of the center marking to indicate sharp or flat -- that is the string is tuned to high or too low. Fix that by rotating the tuning key gently for the appropriate string and pluck the string again. When the needle or line is at the high center, you are in tune! New stings will frequently stretch and loose tuning. Just follow the instructions above again and keep playing!

The Ultimate Fake book is a very good guide for playing guitar or any instrument that only requires a melody line. With the lyrics under the treble cleff section of the music and the chords diagrammed right where they need to change anyone can begin to play in a short time. If you can read and have the dexterity to lay your finger on the fret board this is a great resource for you!

Thank you for stopping by today! Let me know if this helped you!