Scott Houston - Scott the Piano Guys Favorite Piano Fake Book

I hope youre as thrilled with this fake book as I have been creating it! Through the feedback from thousands of television show viewers, many of whom were just starting down the path of non-classical piano playing, I was able to include all the things that everyone most wanted and needed in a fake book. Im proud to say that I listened! Its all in this first-of-its-kind fake book.

Having said that, I need to explain a few things that I think will answer many of the questions you may have when you dig into playing your favorite tunes.

How to Use the Chord Charts

Youll immediately notice that at the beginning of every tune, there is a set of chord diagrams split into an upper and lower row. The upper row contains diagrams of the basic chords designated by the symbols used in the tune. Immediately below every basic chord is a possible chord substitution that you may want to try and use as you begin to get the tune under hand. These more advanced chords are simply substitutions that professional players tend to use when they are really out working gigs. You will find that they will sound a little more polished, or perhaps jazzy (for lack of a better description). Understand that these more advanced substitutions are not cast in stone. There is no absolute right or wrong choice when choosing whether or not to play the basic or the more advanced chords. Let your ear and taste be your guide. Also, there will be times when the basic and advanced chords listed are exactly the same. That usually occurs where there is just no logical chord substitution to be made.

I think the chord diagrams are the best part of my fake book, because they will allow you to kind of get into a real players head a bit and start to understand why even if you play basic chords perfectly as listed in a lead sheet, you still might not sound like players that you hear out working professionally. Professionals tend to use more hip-sounding chord substitutions for the basic chord symbols given in a lead sheet. Now you can start to get a handle on some of those substitutions. Youll find that similar chord substitutions occur over and over, which will allow you to start internalizing and allowing them to sneak into your playing very naturally.

One Substitute to Watch Out For!

I think youll quickly notice that one chord substitution is made time and time again: using a major 7th chord instead of a regular old major chord (i.e. C becomes Cmaj7). It is a great substitution that sounds great most of the time but has one major issue to watch out for: If the melody note that is being emphasized when you play the chord happens to be the root of the chord, you probably shouldnt use the substitution. For example:

You have a C chord symbol given above a melody line that has E,F,G in that measure. Great! Go ahead and use the major 7th substitution and play a Cmaj7 instead of the regular C chord.

However, if you have a C chord symbol given above a melody line that has a single C note held through the measurewatch out! Because the C in the melody line is the root of the C chord, it will tend to clash if you use the Cmaj7 as a substitute.

To give your ear a chance to hear this, just play any major 7th chord with your left hand while emphasizing the root note (the note the chord begins with) in your right hand in some octave above where you are playing the chord. Its pretty dissonant... So to be safe, just keep a look out for that major 7th for a major chord substitution when the melody line happens to be focusing on the root of the chord. Youll probably be happier just sticking to the original chord.

Voicings

Voicings is a term used for different variations of a chord that you can play that dont necessarily contain every note in the chord. Voicings give you the parts of a chord to leave out to make them simpler to play and still sound great. In most cases in the chord diagrams in this book, we have given you the entire chord in root position. It will be up to you to decide on using a voicing or not, depending on your taste and skill level. However, in a few cases (primarily 13th chords) we went ahead and gave you the chord diagram using a voicing when there was one very obvious one to use. Let me explain further...

You may have noticed that in the case of 9th chords, there are 5 notes. Playing all 5 of those notes is not only very difficult physically to finger, but can also sound a little muddy. In the real world, players would seldom play all five notes in the 9th chord. Instead they would use a voicing to give them a simpler, cleaner-sounding version of the chord to play. For example, instead of playing all 5 notes in a C9 chord, which are C, E, G, B-flat, D, I would probably choose to play just the E, B-flat, D in the chord (and maybe try to reach down and play the C root separately an octave lower).

This topic is more advanced than can be dealt with here in any depth, so I encourage you to find a book that deals with voicings to learn more. One tip I can give you is that the most important notes in a chord to play (which you need to know to be able to decide which ones to leave out) are the 3rd, 7th, and whatever else is in there that gives the chord its distinctive sound, like the 9th or 13th.

Slash Chords

(D/C, Fmaj7/G, Dm/E for example)

In lead sheet notation, slash chords direct you to play a particular note in the bass (in other words the lowest note you hear). They work like this:

Whatever the chord symbol is to the left of the slash is the actual chord you are supposed to play.

Whatever the individual note name is to the right of the slash is the single note you are supposed to play in the bass.

For example, G/A means play a single A note down low in the bass (grab it with your sustain pedal to keep it sounding), and come up and play a G major chord in its normal position. In other words, play a G major chord over an A in the bass.

Am/C means play an A minor chord over a C in the bass. In this case the C is actually a note in the A minor chord. So another way you could look at it is that it is forcing you to play the A minor chord in an inversion with C on the bottom.

Know that sometimes the bass note is in the chord; sometimes it is not. You still just make sure that it is the lowest note you are playing.

For the slash chord in the chord diagrams of this fake book, we are showing you only the chord portion of the slash chord, not the bass note portion. Therefore it is your responsibility to get that bass note played even though it does not appear in the chord diagram.

Have fun! Scott