Band In A Box Real Books 13000 Tunes Link <Best Pick>

The Verdict: The Ultimate "Fake Book" Time-Saver

Quality Warning

: Large "all-in-one" bundles often suffer from incorrect chord changes or antiquated MIDI styles. Many experienced users recommend curated collections like those from Norton Music or official Hal Leonard software integrations. Where to Find Song Collections

Summary

Is It Legal?

Here’s the catch: the songs themselves (melodies and lyrics) are still under copyright unless in the public domain. While chord progressions aren’t copyrightable, distributing a full “Real Book” index as playable BIAB files can cross into grey territory. The legitimate route is to buy the official RealBook add‑ons from PG Music (makers of BIAB), which offer licensed versions of hundreds of standards. However, many users share their personal transcriptions of public‑domain jazz tunes (pre‑1928) — and those can legally exceed 10,000 songs when you include traditional, folk, and early blues. band in a box real books 13000 tunes link

note that having correct chord progressions pre-loaded is "spot on" and eliminates the tedious task of manual entry. Customization: The Verdict: The Ultimate "Fake Book" Time-Saver Quality

Once you have a legitimate source of these files, here is how your practice routine transforms: Band-in-a-Box makes transposing easy

1. "Garbage In, Garbage Out" (Copyright Issues)

It is important to understand that PG Music does not own the copyright to the songs. They license the mechanism to display them. Consequently, they cannot ship these files with the melodies written out (due to copyright restrictions on the notes/heads).

  1. The Real Book (6th Edition): ~450 jazz standards (Autumn Leaves, All The Things You Are, Take Five).
  2. The New Real Books (Volumes 1-3): ~600 modern jazz compositions (Chick Corea, Pat Metheny, Keith Jarrett).
  3. The Blues & Rock Real Book: ~200 tunes for the non-jazz gig.
  4. The Latin Real Book: ~300 salsa, samba, and bossa novas.
  5. The Jazz Ballads & Vocal Real Books: Hundreds of songs with lyrics and vocal-friendly keys.
  6. User-Contributed Archives: Over the last 20 years, BIAB users have shared thousands of custom files covering everything from Stevie Wonder to obscure Broadway musicals.