The Hal Leonard Mandolin Fake Book: 300 Songs

Really finding this book useful in plaything with groups & solo. Have to confer with others or online to get the tempo of the songs, as the descriton makes a beginner scratch their head and wonder, huh? Still, would recommend this book easily. :)

There are a couple of caveats though...
● Some songs are on opposite pages, so one has to flip over to see the rest of the song. /grin
● There is no legend in the book to indicate the BPM to song tempo ratio...
Examples of Moderately; Moderately slow Blues; Brightly, with a beat; Freely; Merrily; Lively

Great book!

This is a great compilation of songs covering many styles of music from the 60's through the 2000's. Personally, I was excited to see artists such as Pink Floyd, Queen, Green Day and Janis Joplin included in the mix :)

This book is as advertised on the cover. It includes melody, lyrics, chords, and chord diagrams. It does not include TAB notation, however there is quite a bit of reference information available from other sources that can help someone who doesn't "read" music to play successfully so that shouldn't be a problem.

This book has plastic spiral binding and is quite heavy. I would recommend making sure that your music stand is very sturdy.

I'm sure I will get years of use out of this purchase!

I am at the very beginning stages of learning to play but this book makes it fun by providing me many songs with 3 to 5 chords that I can play. Please keep in mind there are many that I may b=never be able to play LOL:)! I agree with others that this book is huge!!!! I may place in a new comb that is more durable.

For the price, this is an astonishing book. My wife and I find it serves equally well for mandolin, fiddle, and guitar. We love it. Our only complaint is the tight and flimsy comb binding that needs to be carefully nursed along while paging through the book. I'm considering taking it to a stationery store for rebinding with a heavier, larger comb. Even so, it's a great value for such a hugely eclectic collection of music.

This book could be an A+ because of the material it contains. The BUT is the printing is so cheaply done making it so light it’s extremely difficult to read.
If u order, check with seller & see if it’s been reprinted before you buy.

Lots of old favorites. Page after page after page. You look at the titles and think "I haven't heard this in a while but it's a great song and fun to play" . Hardly any bluegrass at all, but lots of other stuff to amuse yourself with.

I'd like it better if it was FULLY written for mandolin. There are several songs in here where the lowest note in the melody is below the range of a mandolin. Other than that, it has a good variety of songs, and it's very easy to read

I should have paid more attention to the sample. Chord diagrams are at the head, then the melody is in standard notation below. I’m not a fan of tab, but I’m transitioning from guitar and could have used the crutch. Of the songs I’m interested, I already have the melodies in other books. Chord references are abundant, many free, so the diagrams aren’t worth the trouble. So I’d recommend this ONLY to people who don’t already have the tunes, and just want to strum the chords. Three stars rather than fewer because it’s probably good for someone who wants the contents. I can’t justify lugging this to my Saturday jams when it’s redundant to my ordinary, non-mandolin fake books.

I love this song book. So many of my old favorites. Just what I needed to keep me playing for years. Was surprised it didn't have tabs but that is ok.

Great book! Lots and lots of great songs, it's just fun to try the different chord progressions and sing along. Helps you build muscle memory for the different chords.