Practical gig books for anyone who can use a melody line with chord symbols. 
(A "Fake book" consists of tune sheets having only the melody line and chord symbols, sometimes the lyrics.)

• ca. 300 pages, an optimum size for a working book; comb-bound, 8.5" x 11".
• 250-310 tunes, depending on the number of  2+-page tunes in the book 
• large notes and chord symbols readable in dim light; 4 bars per line. (This feature alone is reason enough to get the books, according to user feedback.)
• one or more indexes
• lyrics for all non-instrumental tunes are eMailed to you.
• pages are sometimes upgraded to make them more useful or authoritative
• Bb versions are available or planned
• careful selection so all you get is "good stuff"
• standard tunes needed for most gigs and to play common requests
• some less common goodies to play for fun or offer clients specialized tunes
• typeset using Encore

Price: US$45.00 per book, plus $5.00 each for shipping in the USA. Books are sent via "Media Mail", with "Delivery Confirmation", within the USA. 
"Dixieland Fake Book Vol. 1" (BASS CLEF and Eb versions) are $57 each, plus $5.00 shipping in the USA

For Priority Mail or mailing Outside USA, eMail me.

We can NOT handle credit cards or Foreign currency, or e-payments

Make checks or money orders payable to American Music Caravan.
Mail to:  David W. Littlefield, 6809 5th Street NW, 
Washington DC  20012-1905, USA

Upgrades
As we use the books, find better sources, discover errors, or add verses, we upgrade the sheets. To enable all owners to have the latest versions, each fake book has an Upgrades table linked from the bottom of its page; it details the changes made to each sheet. Upgraded sheets are in .PDF format and will be sent to book owners FREE on request as .zip files attached to eMails.

The indexes were created from database (.dbf) files. If you want to create new indexes, etc., I'll  eMail the zipped files to you. You can import .dbf files into spreadsheets (I don't know how spreadsheets handle sorting, searching and other common database functions). Musicians often have nicknames for tunes or know the titles by short forms. You can insert a new row into the spread sheet or create a new record in the database and make an entry for "Butt love", if that's how you refer to "I can't give you anything but love"...

(Chordbook owners:  we have found better sources or otherwise improved our knowledge of many tunes, and have used the latest information in the fake books.)

Standard binding is "comb-binding". You may order a book unbound,
so you can punch it for looseleaf binder, interleaf other tunes or lyric sheets, or put the pages in plastic page protectors.

Tunes can be ordered individually. $1.50 per page. You may order tunes from the books "in preparation"--go to each book's page for details, but check with us first. Lyrics will be included for each tune.

Usually, separately ordered tunes will be eMailed as .pdf files. eMail us first for costs: some tunes are 2 pages, a few are 3-5 pages. 

Transposed sheets can be ordered at $2.00-$4.00 per page, depending on how much editing is necessary. Many pages are closely packed; those with more than 10 staves, many notes, and many instruction text boxes may require extensive editing. Female vocal, Eb and bass clef sheets will also require much editing.

Bb versions of most books exist or are planned. If you ultimately buy the Bb book, the amount you paid for separate sheets, minus $0.25 per page, will be credited toward the cost of the book. No Eb or bass clef versions are planned, but one never knows, so ask.

As soon as you receive a book, have the covers plasticized (laminated). I did this for my band books, and after 10 years of use, all are in perfect condition. Kinkos charged $5.00 for fakebook covers (front & back) in Spring, 2004; their plastic was heavier than several places I tried, especially their "pouch". 1.Trim the covers yourself before laminating (they usually have public paper cutters), so the trimmed laminated cover ends up exactly the same size as the pages. 2. Punching  is done after you trim: make sure they can adjust their punching machines so that the distance between the edge of the plastic and outside edge of the hole is the same as my pages (7/16")  I'll eMail you a .pdf file of the cover if you make a mistake. I also have a slightly naughty version of the cover I can send you.

• 4.5" wide x 6.5" high, comb bound
• ca. 400 pages, ca. 410 tunes, most 1 page, some 2 pages, 2 tunes on some pages. 
• each "chart" shows the key, first pick-up note, the first notes of strains, etc. 
• easy-to-learn symbols show repeats, breaks, zaps, etc.
• performance notes: routines, alternate chordings, sometimes proper tempos 
• Index
• computer typeset using a readable sans serif helvetia-style font
• Correct chords for learning new tunes or playing unknown tunes on gigs

  Picture of 2-page tune.  Click ---> HERE 

We can NOT handle credit cards or Foreign Currency or e-payments

Send cash, or checks or money orders made payable to 
American Music Caravan.
Mail to:  David W. Littlefield, 6809 5th Street NW, 
Washington DC  20012-1905, USA

Contents:
Standards, less known tunes for afficionados, rare tunes for which music is hard to find or that deserve to be revived.  Many tunes were added because they have been reissued on CD or recorded several times by modern bands, which might inspire you to learn them or bandleaders to demand that you play them.

The Chords:
Sources: sheet music, published music books, vintage danceband arrangements, records. Sometimes the standard bandstand changes are so set, that we arbitrarily adopted them rather than impose considerably different "book" chords. These are old-style changes, not  modern progressions, to reproduce the authentic sound. When the sources have more chords than can readily be played, we usually simplified down to the basic chords, but when the extra chords reflected nice nuances, we felt it was better to leave them in and let you decide what to omit. The books were bandstand tested before publication.

As soon as you get a book, have the covers plasticized (laminated), to greatly prolong its life.