Guitar Master Class - How to Read Chord Charts

Think of the ‘get started instructions’ as the first thing on your checklist when you look at a chart for the first time. There will be more information that you will need to pay attention to when you encounter a chart, but these things will orient you to the style, tempo and key of the song.

You learned about the ‘get-started’ instructions, so next up is learning to read the body of the chart. Much of reading a chord chart is about navigation. Musicians often refer to the chart as the ‘road map’ because it is important to know how your eye travels across the page or pages. Let’s focus on something you’ll see frequently: slash marks.

SLASH MARKS

Most chord charts use what are called ‘slash marks’ written in the staff. These are not to be confused with slash chords. Slash marks are diagonal lines that slant upward from left to right connecting the second and fourth lines of the staff. This is sometimes called ‘slash notation’. When slash marks don’t have stems, they are marking only where the quarter note pulse is, in most cases. In other words, they are only showing where the quarter notes are and not directing you to literally play quarter notes.

SECTION MARKINGS

This lecture discusses section markings in a chord chart. Keeping your place is the most important chart reading job you have. Even if you miss a chord or play the wrong one, you need to keep going. Leave your mistake in the past and keep forging ahead. Often times the mistake is minor and you’re the only one who knows. Other times it’s a humiliating disaster. Either way, the music can’t stop.

Whatever happens, don’t get lost! Human nature is to try to pause and understand what just went wrong, but you can’t. Save that for later. It’s important to keep your eyes moving through the chart even if you’re not playing at all. There are many ways a good chart helps you stay on track. One way is to have clear markings for the sections of the song.

Let's discuss the use of ‘repeat tools’ in charts. Measures, entire sections, and groups of sections of a song are often played more than once. There are a few notation tools that help save space on a chart by repeating sections in order to avoid writing the same thing again and again. These tools are best explained in a sort of hierarchical order.

Repeat tools serve several purposes. First, it’s a lot easier to not have to write a figure or section over and over. Second, using repeat tools reduces the physical length of the chart. Third, and most importantly, if the exact same section or measure is written again and again, the musician has to constantly focus and read the rhythm figure as if it might be different each time. This consumes brain power that is better used to play the music.

This lecture discusses more repeat devices that are commonly used in chord charts.  These are called repeat signs. This includes Repeat Signs, Endings, and Open/ Repeat Until Cue markings. We will also discuss the danger of nested repeats and even look at a nightmare scenario of when repeat devices are not used correctly.

JUMP MARKS

We have covered several topics in the hierarchy of repeat tools. These all have to do with what we call the ‘form’ of the song. Form refers to the sections and in what order they’re arranged. Next in the hierarchy of repeat tools are ‘Jump Marks’. They are the ‘DS’ and ‘DC’ signs as well as ‘Coda’ signs. These are typically used to jump a greater distance in the chart than a one-bar or two-bar repeat or a standard ‘start repeat/end repeat’ combination. They typically appear after much of the chart has been played. That means after multiple verses, prechoruses, choruses, and solos the song returns to an earlier location in the chart.

Let’s take a look at these jump marks and their definitions:

D.C.

DC stands for De Capo or ‘the beginning’. When you see DC, jump back to the very beginning of the song.

D.S.

DS stands for Dal Segno or ‘from the sign’. When you see D.S., you are being directed to the point in the song where ‘the sign’, Segno (% ), is located.

Coda

The Coda sign ( ) is another symbol that you will see. The term ‘Coda’ means ‘ending’. When you see the Coda symbol, you are being directed to the section at the end of the song marked ‘CODA’.

Let’s take a look at some examples of jump marks. I suggest playing through these charts as we go through them to get some practice navigating through charts that use jump marks.

SPECIAL DETAILS

Often chord charts have more information than simply the the form and chords. Let's take a look at some other special details:

Ensemble Rhythm Figures

If a rhythm figure is played by the entire ensemble it’s usually noted in the chart. It’s typical for bands to play certain rhythm figures together and notating them on a chord chart is normal. It’s a common level of detail and not considered ‘extra’. Even though this module is ‘special details’, these ensemble rhythm figures can be considered essential.

Signature Riff Notation

As mentioned earlier when discussing clef signs, many songs have signature melodic riffs that define the song. These might be riffs played by one instrument or all instruments;  specific instructions can be written above or below the staff. These riffs can be considered essential to the character of the tune, meaning that if they aren’t played the song won’t sound like the song.

Top Note of a Voicing Notation

Sometimes the specific voicing of chords is critical to the sound of a song. It’s rare for an entire voicing to be notated on the staff but if the top note is played, the chord has a good chance of sounding like what is on the recording. In these cases, the top note is notated with a note head and a downward stem that extends upward slightly beyond the note head, and the chord symbol is written above in its normal location. This is an effective compromise between spelling the entire voicing and only writing the chord symbol. It’s amazing how playing the same note voiced on the top of the original version makes it sound ‘right’. Some people follow the standard rules about stem direction and point stems up if below the middle line of the staff.

Transposition Markings

There are times the creator of a chart may write a signature bass line or riff but not place it in the correct octave. There are various reasons for this. The most common is to avoid writing groups of notes above or below the staff which requires reading many ledger lines. Ledger lines are challenging for most readers and devastating for those who barely read.

If the creator of the chart writes the line within the staff and can indicate it should be played an octave higher or lower, the use of ledger lines can be avoided. In other words, the notes are to be ‘transposed’ to a different octave.

MORE DETAIL

There is even more musical information that can be included on a chord chart than we have discussed thus far, but the further we go in this series of Chart Reading modules, the less common it is. This in no way means that this information isn’t important and doesn’t affect the sound of the song, but rather it’s just that the chord chart is really an elaborate cheat sheet and often just shows the minimum.

HOW TO APPROACH A CHART

Let’s talk about how to approach a chart when you see it for the first time. You will see charts in these environments:

• On a gig where you are sight reading.

• At a rehearsal where you see the chart for the very first time and are sight reading.

• At home preparing for a rehearsal or gig.

Regardless of the situation, use a pre-game checklist. If you’re on a gig, this needs to be swift and efficient, and the same is true for a rehearsal. If you’re at home, you have more time. The pre-game checklist is basically the same regardless of which environment; what’s different is how much time you have to go through the list. You can customize the checklist for your personal comfort, but I suggest you consider my suggestion and use it as a starting point as you develop your own checklist.

Chart Checklist

Here is a typical way to look at a chart. It can be done, to some degree, in a few seconds. Obviously, any extra seconds or even minutes that you can spend on this will make you feel more secure.

Take a look at this six-item Chart Checklist.

Look at the top left corner where all the preliminary information is:

  a.  Key signature: At the very minimum you need to know the key.

  b.  Time signature: At the very minimum you need to know the feel.

  c.   Style: At the very minimum you need to know the style. This determines the

      kind of part you play and the tone you use.

With this information you can at least fake it.

Tempo: The drummer will count off the song, but it’s important to prepare yourself for the ‘tempo attitude’ of the song.

Scan the form: Form refers to the various sections and in what order they’re arranged. I suggest you do this before looking at chords or rhythm figures. Avoid getting lost by scanning the road map. If you’re lost, nothing else matters unless it’s a really easy song and you can hear the chord changes. Scan the form in reverse hierarchical order. Look for jump marks (DS, DC) first. Then look for start and end repeat signs with endings. And last, look for two-bar and one-bar repeats and simile markings.

Seek out any figures that need to be played. These could be rhythm hits the whole band plays together or a riff that you play alone or with other band members. In particular, look at the first and last figures written. The audience will notice the first thing played and the last thing played. You don’t want to stumble out of the blocks or crash land at the end.

Scan the chords for the ones that are new or difficult for you. The temptation is always to look at the chords first. As your skill with chords develops you will have more confidence that if you see a chord, you can play it. Style determines a lot about the voicings you use. If there are challenging chords, quickly determine a ‘Plan B’ if necessary. That might include playing just the triad of a tough chord or perhaps playing just the root. Just don’t play a wrong chord. You will develop survival ‘fake it’ skills. Everyone does. Use what you learned in the Rhythm Guitar modules to create an appropriate part ‘in the style of’.

Seek out more detailed instructions like dynamics, accents, and expression markings.

One of the best phrases you can keep in mind is: “When in doubt, lay out.” This means that if you are unsure of what to play in a particular passage, don’t play anything! This is so important. If you play wrong notes and rhythms, it’ll probably be heard by someone in the band or audience. If you are silent for a second, at least the wrong stuff won’t be played and therefore won’t be heard!