I've just added a new section to the PSR2000 Tutorial site, but it is one that I think many users may find useful -- Fake Books.
It provides, in one central location, a look at most of the popular fake books on the market today with pictures, brief descriptions, no. pages, no. songs, links to the full table of contents, and links to where you can buy it. I still have one more section to add tonight, and, some proof-reading to complete, but it is, essentially, done. Here is the link:
http://pages.prodigy.net/watersj/Yamaha2K/Resources/FakeBooks/fakebooks.html

I will be adding a section on "How To" books that help players figure out how to play from a fake book. If anyone has some books you think should be added to the list, please let me know.

[This message has been edited by Joe Waters (edited 08-20-2002).]

Joe .... this is a great service you provide .... I was quite interested in the fake books with the chord variations in it, not having the ear or theory education to figure them out myself.... I have one question, not for you, but for publishers: Looking at the "index of songs" in each book, I see there are MANY which I will never play .... With all the modern technology, why isn't there a way (obviously, if there is, I'm not aware of it) to publish a full list of songs available and allow the user to choose which song he/she wants, download them from the net, and pay accordingly? ... of course I would not then have to purchase 3-4 books to get what I want, but I would CERTAINLY purchase some songs .....
t.
Joe ..... thanks again for the resource....
t.

Joe .... this is a great service you provide .... I was quite interested in the fake books with the chord variations in it, not having the ear or theory education to figure them out myself.... I have one question, not for you, but for publishers: Looking at the "index of songs" in each book, I see there are MANY which I will never play .... With all the modern technology, why isn't there a way (obviously, if there is, I'm not aware of it) to publish a full list of songs available and allow the user to choose which song he/she wants, download them from the net, and pay accordingly? ... of course I would not then have to purchase 3-4 books to get what I want, but I would CERTAINLY purchase some songs .....
t.
Joe ..... thanks again for the resource....
t.

Joe:
What a great site! I just found it thru this post and it's an incredible source of information for us PSR2K owners. Yamaha should be paying you for this great service you are providing. Their sites are not geared to help present owners, they are there only to generate more sales and you put them to shame when it comes to the 2000.
So my thanks to you and I am sure I speak for the rest of the forum.
On the Fake book issue, I happen to own the very same one you are showing on the site, and it's a great one; I also have others and as soon as I gather them I will submit information about them.
Joe, many thanks for the positive feedback on Cole Porter's "you do something to me"; and for taking the time to listen.
Best regards,
Mario

Hi Joe, Just visited your site again. What a wonderful job you are doing for Yamaha keyboard players. Maybe we can get you to buy the new Technics KN7000 so you will do a similar site for the Technics folks.

joe
I'll just add my voice to the others ...great site!
rgtaa

I'm afraid you may have misunderstood that link. The introductory page happens to show a single fake book picture, but the category links on that page will take you to descriptions and links for individual books. There are 76 fake books listed on that site (plus 6 How To books). I think I've got all the major books on the market.
The books are shown in various groups. There are a dozen in the "Ultimate" group (500 to over 1000 songs), 7 in the "Real Little" group, 12 in the "Moderate" group (200-500 songs); 12 in the "Jazz Bible" group (100-200 songs); 7 in "Chord Changes", 6 in the "Easy Series", 12 in the Sher/Warner page, and 8 in the "Paperback Songs" page.

You're in luck, Tony. There already is just such a service. Try the link below to go to Sunhawk.com. They have 15,000 songs you can download digitally right now. They also have 170,000 songs you can get via mail order. My son was looking for Mr. Bo jangles and it wasn't in ANY of those fakebooks, but he was able to buy it from this site.
http://www.sunhawk.com/music.htm

Fantastic site! I went to half.com and found some good prices on one of them. Thanks!

Beakybird

Hi Joe. Yep, I agree with everyone else, thanks to your hard work & dedication, your fantastic PSR2000 is the best PSR2000 site ANYWHERE!

Yep, it's great that 'sheet music' is now available for direct internet download from various internet retailers. In addition to the one you mentioned, here are a couple of other internet downloadable sheet music dealers:
http://www.musicnotes.com/default.asp
http://www.sheetmusicplus.com/

Does anyone have any first hand purchasing experience (good/bad) with any of these or other downloadable internet music dealers? Recommendations?

In regard to 'fakebook style' lead sheets: I'm still not able to find a vendor who sells downloadale individual leadsheet style songs which include ONLY the treble clef melody line and chords/lyrics.

I (personally) find typical sheet music style arrangements (piano/guitar/vocal) pretty useless as the cheesy arrangements usually never reflect the way the song was actually performed by the original artist anyway. I (personally) prefer to work with a lead sheet consisting of just the chords & lead melody line, and then flush out (on my own, from the record) a more appropriate & professional sounding arrangement.

The other advantage of working with a lead sheet, is that the entire song will fit on a single page (no page flipping necessary).
I hope individual lead sheet style songs will be available for downloadable purchase somewhere soon. - Scott

[This message has been edited by Scottyee (edited 08-20-2002).]