Mark Phillips' Campfire Songs: Strum Together and Enjoy!

Gerald K Majors: Great for the beginner guitarist

United States on Aug 29, 2023

Amazon Customer: I purchased four song books, and this is the one I decided to start my practice with. It is excellent for a beginner.
Updated - it has been a month now and it is the easiest of all of the books I purchased. Highly recommended!

United States on Jul 30, 2023

SB: This book exceeded my expectations. It had such a great variety of songs. The pages were laid out perfectly and I loved the fact it had chord sheets as well for other string instruments (Ukulele, Banjo etc..) Was a big hit playing these songs around the camp fire. Highly recommended.

Canada on Jul 04, 2023

Age_Warrior: The positive features of this book are the fact that each song is printed on one page so there is no page turning. Secondly, on the left-hand side the book has the cord shapes for the standard ukulele, baritone ukulele, guitar, mandolin, and banjo. This selection of tunes is also very good. However after asking my ukulele group to purchase this we discovered another better book for intermediate-advanced players that has 365 tunes in it.

United States on Jul 03, 2023

Cal: The book is sturdy and well printed with a good choice of songs.However it is meant for a higher level musican who can read music notes.Not meant for a child or teenager even.

India on May 10, 2023

Tim: I've really been enjoying this songbook. It's gotten me to practice my acoustic guitar strumming and I'm definitely improving thanks to it. I'm hoping to get my rolling backup going on my banjo to try with this book as well.

It's definitely on the beginner end. The chords are all on the left side page and the songs/sheet music is on the right. It's definitely a cool idea to have the chords so easily visible while playing.

Some of the arrangements may be different from what is commonly played or taught on youtube, but I haven't come across one that really throws me off.

There are not any recommended strumming patterns, so you will need to look those up or figure out what works.

The songs come with lyrics, but not all lyrics are included for some of the longer songs in the book.

So I would recommend this book if you are a beginner/early intermediate player who wants a lot of songs to quickly learn and start strumming. If you are looking for more complicated arrangements/chords or comprehensive lyrics, then this might not work for you.

United States on Apr 11, 2023

Terrence Russell: Great stories to read to a small child.

Australia on Oct 31, 2022

signe armstrong: A fabulous and user-friendly book! Each song has lyrics and melody line with chords on one page. On the facing page are the chord charts you need for that song! This is SUPER helpful for beginners to moderate players, and just convenient in general!

I'm enjoying the variety of songs in this collection. From folk to 1960s pop to country to 1980s hits, you're bound to recognize many if not all of these tunes. I also LOVE the variety of difficulty! I can challenge myself to learn new chords for some songs, but can also just casually strum along with many others. A really good balance.

Book includes chord charts for soprano/concert ukulele, baritone ukulele, guitar, mandolin, and banjo for every song.

I can hardly wait to find more books from this series! Great job, Hal Leonard Publishing!

Songs Included:
Baby I love your way; Bad bad Leroy Brown; Blowin' in the wind; Brown eyed girl; California dreamin'; The campfire song song; Catch teh wind; Danny's song; Daydream believer; Do yo believe in magic; Don't dream it's over; Don't worry be happy; Down on the corner; Edelweiss; Father and son; Fire and rain; Folsom prison blues; For what it's worth; Free...

Canada on Feb 23, 2022

DJ0715: This is in my view a great selection of songs. Each tune includes chord charts and the chord fingerings for Standard & Baritone Ukulele, Guitar, Mandolin and Banjo. Melody Notes and lyrics are included with the chords in the sheet music for each song, the rhythm pattern is not notated you will have to figure that out on your own. Songs are laid out in an easy to read and play along style.
As this appears to be an easy to play version of each song, any solos or fill riffs that are part of the songs are not included. If you want to play true to a recording using a book as a guide then this is probably not the book for you.
However if you want to enjoy an evening of playing a few tunes with no add ins or embellishments and just for fun this book may work for you. If you are starting our in your guitar journey then this book may be of help learning some chords and songs to play.

Canada on Dec 03, 2020

Larry Tuck: I previously bought "Americana - Strum Together" from this series and had a great time using it to play with a friend on a campout this summer -- he plays ukelele, I play both guitar and uke -- so when I saw this collection, I ordered it immediately. The songs are mostly 60s and 70s rock, country and folk, which is the stuff I grew up on, so the selection is perfect for me; but most of the songs are familiar to younger folks as well. The songs have the melody in standard notation, chord names above the staff, and lyrics below. They're set up with the entire song on one page, and chord diagrams for five different instruments on the opposite page. The arrangements are not necessarily in the original key -- the editors seem to have compromised on keys that are reasonably easy to play on all of the instruments -- and the chords are simplified. That works great for how this book is intended to be used -- a group of people who may not have played the song before, having fun in a casual setting. Nothing fancy. There are no tabs, no intros or solos, no suggestions on strum patterns. That's not what this book is for. I have a couple of minor gripes. On some of the songs, not all the verses...

United States on Aug 22, 2019