Over twenty years ago, a very young version of me decided that I needed to learn how to play piano bar. I was pretty ambitious back then (in somewhat unhealthy ways), and I felt that I needed to give myself experience playing a variety of styles professionally. That’s why I was involved in a rock band and a jazz fusion group, as well as working in a project recording studio. I wanted the experience of it.

So I went to the local music store and asked the salesman if they had any fake books. Fake books are under-the-counter books which have (typically) unauthorized versions of songs (usually just chord charts with a melody scratched out) that professional musicians use to play the thousands of songs which make up the lexicon of jazz and other styles. If you have proficiency in a few fake books, you can play with any group of jazz musicians on the planet—because they play off these same charts too.

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