Would sheet music help???

[bubinga5]

Hey people. Am working through some theory at the mo. Unfortunately im not in a position to jam/play with other musicians and wont be for a while. Im looking at.... and practicing chord progressions in songs. At the moment i cant do this because when im playing a song i have no idea what chords they are playing, so in turn cant experiment with my own combination of notes, or analize the chords in the song!
Might it be a good idea to buy some sheet music for a certain band with chord symbols at the top, so i can analize these chord progressions and learn from them???

Really need some advice on this one as i feel as if im holding myself back by not jamming with others(ie, chordal instruments)!! Might getting hold of sheet music help me here?

Any help much appriciated.

[jimbob]

http://www.jamcenter.com/

I love this site.

[uhdum]

That jamcenter website is an awesome site... good for giving you practice playing along with a "band."

There's certainly nothing wrong with getting sheet music for a song you want to play along with. If you're just wanting to know what the chord progression is for the song, you can probably find that by doing a simple search on the internet. Then, play along with the song.. listen to how the bass player handles each chord and how he locks in with his bandmates.

I'll try to find some links on understanding chord progressions for you. Because once you understand the basic theory, you can pretty much know that the song's chord choices are going to be limited.

Of course, you need ear practice too, so you DO need to listen to songs without the chords in front of you at times. Use your ear and try to find what sounds good. If you can find the key of the song, then you can go from there.