Chord Charts:

What are chord charts?:

Chord charts are a basic form of notation often used in jazz, pop and worship music. The chart displays basic harmonic and rhythmic information about the piece including chords, key and/or any additional information about the piece (e.g. dynamics, tempo and tone). The charts are mainly designed for use by the rhythm section (piano, guitar and bass).

Musicians with a chord chart are able to use the basic information on the charts to 'comp' or improvise over the top of them. This is commonly found in jazz.

How to read chord charts:

Chord charts will mostly show the chords and when they change. But sometimes if the song is a pop song they will include lyrics aswell. If the chart is designed for a guitarist they will also tell the musician if they need to use a capo. Sometimes they will also include chord diagrams showing the musician what the chords look like (see picture on the right).

On the left is a chord chart for Your Song by Elton John. This chart is designed specifically for the guitar as it mentions the use of a capo on the 3rd fret (see Unit 3 Lesson 1 for info on frets). This means that if a pianist had to play this they would have to transpose all of the chords down by 3 semitones.

As you can see the time signature is indicated and the bar lines are written. This shows the musician the chord changes and that a chord should be played for one bar. However the rhythm isn't indicated, this gives the guitarist freedom to choose how they play the chords. The structure of the song is also laid out including repeats.

Why do we use chord charts?:

Chord charts are a really easy way for musicians to perform music without having loads of complicated sheet music. Most professional musicians will use chord charts, even when jamming because it puts all the members of the band/ensemble on the same page. Along with this it makes most songs incredibly accessible to all musicians as chord charts layout the foundations of the song.