Hal Leonard The Essential Ukulele Fake Book: Over 400 Songs in All Styles and Keys

HeatherHeather: I’m going to return this. There wasn’t enough info in the description of what’s actually in the book. I have included pictures of the table of contents and a couple examples.

I expected “fake book” to have simplified songs, but most of the songs I knew were still pretty complicated. I’m an advanced beginner and the songs I want to play are way out of my league.

United States on Jun 14, 2023

none: A good book but it would be nice to have the chord diagrams listed on each

United States on Nov 13, 2022

Robert Stevan: I am a beginner and although I couldn’t play a lot of songs to my level there were more than enough to satisfy me. Well worth the purchase.

Canada on May 06, 2022

Mr D of Wales: A great book, but go for the A4 size version (if there is one) as this one is so small, and the text is quite feint in places, it's difficult to read...
A great book though, with a good and varied selection of songs.

United Kingdom on Oct 08, 2021

Scott: Yeah, this book is huge indeed. Endless songs. Thankfully it has an index page of such to help find things.

Written really clear and precisely too. Accurate chords and melody as far as I've tried, granted I've not tried it all.

Well sturdy book that's worth being in any collection. It shows you how to form all the needed chords, most songs absolutely vary in chords and its got sheet music, with the chords written above so that melody and rhythm can both be learned.

For me. I'm 100% satisfied. But that's just me. What I would say for other people though? Just be wary that the text is a little on the small side. Nothing too drastic but it could cause minor problems for some. Definitely not the book for anyone with horrible short sighted vision.

Anyway. I recommended it and hope you all enjoy it too.

United Kingdom on Aug 19, 2021

Renee: with 400 songs to choose from, this book is fun to just browse and play songs that strike your fancy. Some songs I don't think I know, but I come back to them and realize I have heard it, maybe long ago, and the tune and memories come back to me. The only down side is the binding is really terrible. Very hard not to tear where the pages are attached and flipping pages is a challenge, but really a minor inconvenience.

United States on May 22, 2021

Mr S.Mr S.: A really nice collection. Like other reviewers I don't know why it's called the Ultimate Fake Book, but like it's big Blue cousin (the other Fake Book by Hal Leonard Publishing) this is a great collection.

It measures around A5 in size (see pic) and has plenty of songs. I didn't know that when buying, as in it was not clear that there is an A4 copy and the sizing I believe was quoted in mm not in paper size. To aid, I've included a ruler for scale in my pictures.

The layout however is nice and song selection covers wide genre and era range. It has lots of positives including the nice plastic comb binding. It's a good size for reference and solo playing mind, just slightly on the smaller size for fonts.

I've docked a star purely because they don't make much of the size options and this to me is an odd size to go for. It's not pocket size and feels like it's just a touch too small for easy reading. For an easier view you can buy this in larger A4 format, so do remember when buying.

I love it enough that I'm going to also get this in A4 and have one for reference and the other for performance. It really is that nice.

United Kingdom on May 17, 2021

Really old guy that lovethe idea of young people who enjoy life!: As an old amateur singing strummer, strumming singer ( sort of) I found this collection to have the best arrangements both for singing and playing that I’ve ever used/had.
The keys are friendly.
The arrangements (to me) sound really good.
Although the chord diagrams are for the ukulele, the arrangements work well for the piano and guitar as well.
Also nice collection of songs not always found in other collections.
Hands down my favourite song collection.

Canada on Jan 25, 2021

K. L. Routt: If you are looking to add to your ukulele repertoire, this fake book is an excellent choice. Songs are simplified, but that makes it easy to play and sing along. Even a novice can master many of the songs with only a little practice. The music ranges from the early 1900’s to the mid 2010’s: Standards, love songs, pop tunes, album oriented rock, country, RnB, disco, Broadway.
My only two criticisms is that I wish there were more on strumming patterns for each song. More experienced players likely can make those determinations on their own, but as a fake book by design gives pared down “easy” versions, I feel it would be helpful. Also, compared to other fake books for guitar by the same company which includes tabs, this book has no tablature. Being able to finger pick intros or middle sections would add nuance to the songs. If you can read music, there is musical notation for the vocal parts, and that can be “translated” to tab with experience or a little guidance or where the notes fall on the fretboard.

United States on Aug 23, 2020

P.K. Frary: What a beast of a fake book. It's huge and almost collapses my music stand! Literally hundreds of popular songs from the early 20th century to just a few years ago, with a heavy sprinkling of classic rock, C&W and pop of the 60s, 70s, 80s and 1990s. The musical notes are large and easy to read from two or three feet away. As others have indicated, this is just a normal fake book—not really an ukulele book—that you can use for any concert pitch instrument. So it works well for piano or guitar. You do need to be decent at music reading as there is no TAB and the chords are written as normal chord symbols, i.e., no chord boxes below the chord names. A few reviewers have commented that these are not exact transcriptions. Well, yes, these are leadsheets and by definition lead sheets are a basic outline of the song. The players are supposed to improvise, i.e., fake, the missing details, hence the term "fakebook." Great collection and I'n glad I bought it!

United States on Mar 11, 2019