Campfire Songs

by Irene Maddox (

Book Overview

This enduring collection of more than 110 campfire songs - complete Z99 words scores and guitar chords This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1564403726
• ISBN13: 9781564403728
• Release Date: January 1994
• Publisher: Globe Pequot Press
• Length: 180 Pages
• Weight: 0.43 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.0" x 7.0"
• Age Range: 7 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 2 and higher

Customer Reviews

Great little book

This is a super little book for anyone wanting to sing old favorites from around the world at a campfire. The score for the melody is given along with guitar chords. Tabbing the melodies for harmonica was pretty easy and I'm very happy with the results.

Campfire Songs Review

This is what I expected - chock full of good old songs. Both the notes and chords are listed, which is great. And most of them use few chords, which is great for a beginner like me! The book is small in size, which is good, but that's also bad because it doesn't want to stay open - I use my capo to clip it open! Haven't used my capo much, so now I've found a good use for that, too.

Nice Size, Nice Selections

I really like this small size paperback. It has a super selection of over 100 songs divided into about a half dozen categories such as "Spirituals and Gospel Hymns", "American Folk Songs and Rounds", etc. Within the categories the songs are sorted by title. The folk melodies are represented by single sequential notes, with chords presented above the melody line. The chords are simple, and as presented allow plenty of time between chords changes making these songs particularly fun to play. The chords are generally ones that most guitarists would be familiar with although there are some, e.g., B-flat-7th, and F-sharp-7th, that may be slightly less familiar. The general form of the music resembles a 'fake book'. However, for me, the layout of this book makes it much more comfortable to use than most fake books I have seen. However there are, in my judgment, some minor weaknesses with this book. The binding appears to be glued in rather than sewn. Normally one would prefer to use a music book flat, with this book I would anticipate, perhaps incorrectly, that opening it flat might result in a split binding. Although the simple melodies make it easy to play on either piano or guitar, the downside of this simplicity is that on an instrument such as a piano the songs do not have a 'full' sound. Also, the melodies for two of the first songs I looked at did not quite match in some respects the melodies for these songs as I remembered them. For example, for the song "He's got the Whole World in His Hands", the notes associated with the first "in his hands" lyrics are shown as:C-E-C, to my ears this should instead be C-D-C. I hope the authors read this review and re-check the melodies and post a review to let us know which, if any, do need correction. Probably with the aim of keeping the book's size relatively compact, verses to songs are often truncated. For example, the folk song Clementine is missing one of the verses I find most humorous. My copy of this book, recently purchased, is shown as the third edition, I hope there is a fourth and that in the next edition the authors will double check the melodies and consider adding lyrics to songs where some may have been dropped. The price is really a bargain, but I hope the publishers will consider using a sewn binding, even if it means a slight increase in price; I would certainly be willing to pay the difference. In spite of some minor shortcomings, I really liked the format, songs chosen, chord selections, and simple straight-forward melodies. The small size is particularly appealing; and I am considering getting a second copy to carry around and leave my original at home. It really is fun to use.

Nice Size, Nice Selections

I really like this small size paperback. It has a super selection of over 100 songs divided into about a half dozen categories such as "Spirituals and Gospel Hymns", "American Folk Songs and Rounds", etc. Within the categories the songs are sorted by title. The folk melodies are represented by single sequential notes, with chords presented above the melody line. The chords are simple, and as presented allow plenty of time between chords changes making these songs particularly fun to play. The chords are generally ones that most guitarists would be familiar with although there are some, e.g., B-flat-7th, and F-sharp-7th, that may be slightly less familiar. The general form of the music resembles a 'fake book'. However, for me, the layout of this book makes it much more comfortable to use than most fake books I have seen. However there are, in my judgement, some minor weaknesses with this book.. The binding appears to be glued in rather than sewn. Normally one would prefer to use a music book flat, with this book I would anticipate, perhaps incorrectly, that opening it flat might result in a split binding. Although the simple melodies make it easy to play on either piano or guitar, the downside of this simplicity is that on an instrument such as a piano the songs do not have a 'full' sound. Also, the melodies for two of the first songs I looked at did not quite match in some respects the melodies for these songs as I remembered them. For example, for the song "He's got the Whole World in His Hands", the notes associated with the first "in his hands" lyrics are shown as:C-E-C, to my ears this should instead be C-D-C. I hope the authors read this review and re-check the melodies and post a review to let us know which, if any, do need correction. Finally, the lyrics to the songs appear, in some instances, to be somewhat truncated. For example, the folk song Clementine is missing one of the verses I find most humorous. My copy of this book, recently purchased, is shown as the third edition, I hope there is a fourth and that in the next edition the authors will double check the melodies and consider adding lyrics to songs where some may have been dropped. The price is really a bargain, but I hope the publishers will consider using a sewn binding, even if it means a slight increase in price; I would certainly be willing to pay the difference. In spite of some minor shortcomings, I really liked the format, songs chosen, chord selections, and simple straight-forward melodies. The small size is particularly appealing; and I am considering getting a second copy to carry around and leave my original at home. Its really is fun to use.

Good Old Fashioned Sing-A-Long Songs

This little book of music brings you back to your childhood and all the songs you learned while growing up. I have been looking for a music book like this for years so I could accompany my nieces and nephew on my guitar. This book has many classic folk songs, spirituals, and several patriotic ones that are so much fun to sing. The chords are real easy too! I will enjoy this book for years to come.