Sheet music vs chord sheets?

[Acidic Pool]

The nice thing about a chart is it's often concise. Sometimes sheet music can have too much information; if there's a repeating riff, I don't need to see it written out over and over again. And I hate having to turn pages!

 

[mrcbass]

"You guys sound great, how long have you been together?" We never met before and we have been together as long as it took me to set up my gear. That is the value of learning to legitimately read music.

Just goes to show there's more than one way to get things done. I've had similar responses to sub gigs simply based on my ability to use generic grooves at the right time while using chord/lyric charts.

 

[lfmn16]

Our experience of how much literacy is "needed" depends on how much literacy we have.

+1

I always laugh at these guys that claim they’ve never lost a gig because they can’t read music so why bother. You have no idea what gigs you’ve lost because no one bothered to call you.

 

[LBS-bass]

I have never been handed full notation with the expectation of using it at that moment, except as a singer.

It's always been a chord chart that's usually no more detailed than chord names written above lyrics. My sight reading skill on bass in real time is poor, so if someone offered me notation I'd have to know the song fairly well by ear already in order to follow it. Most situations aren't serious enough that sight reading like that is expected. Both are great skills to have and being able to read better than I can will elevate you into other possible situations. But as a general rule in casual situations, chord charts are pretty common.

Editing to add that I have recently started doing online jams with a guy who does transcribe notation, and sometimes he'll send me notation for songs he wants to do, which is helpful for learning them, but I don't attempt them straight from the sheets. I'll read them on my on time and then play them the following week.

 

[WrapRough]

Sheet Music isn't that helpful as it is lyrics and a piano score 99% of the time. It's not really a rhythm section chart and many times, they are not very well transcribed.

Chord charts don't contain rhythms most of the time, nor do they address how chords are voiced...most of the time which informs us, as bass players, what to play. With so much contemporary music containing signature bass lines, this is not a great solution.

I have a reputation for being able to sub on anybody's gig because I am a good reader. Many times opportunities come my way to play for people I have never met. First, I get a song list with keys. I am able to do their gigs because I will write a bass chart for anything I don't know, note for note.

What good reading skills do is, it allows you to sound like you have rehearsed with this band and played with them for years by accurately reading transcriptions. Also, transcribing will greatly improve your reading.

"You guys sound great, how long have you been together?" We never met before and we have been together as long as it took me to set up my gear. That is the value of learning to legitimately read music.

So you're in the "get really good at sight-reading proper sheet" camp?

 

[MCS4]

It does depend in part on whether you care about keeping certain options open or not. My ability to read sheet music is rudimentary -- I can work out a written bass part if given time to study it in advance, but would not be able to do much on the fly -- but this has not had any real impact on my options as a bassist, simply because I am not particularly interested in gigs that would require me to read sheet music on the fly. I did put in some time in situations that required use of chord charts and occasionally optional sheet music reading (primarily contemporary worship stuff), but at this point I'm pretty much set on spending my time in original music projects where reading anything simply does not come up.

I absolutely can see the value in learning how to read better, and I do chip away at it every now and again, but frankly I think there are much more practical ways (in terms of my specific needs) that I can spend my limited practice time on a typical basis.

Edit: To put it a different way, I do wish that I spent more time working on my overall musical knowledge when I was younger and had more time, but even if I could do it all over again I still would have spent most of my time on things other than sight reading.

 

[Pings Bass]

I don't think sheet music is much use to most rock situations, unless you're in a very well-organized cover band that provides a bass book. The last rock band I played in, I ended up doing some transcriptions for my own good, because I could never come up with lines the leader liked, and it was nice to have notes on staff for reference.

On reeds, most of my work involved sheet music. On bass, it's been a mix of ear, chord charts (or Nashville number) and sheet music, depending on genre. Church gigs is where I've personally encountered the most sheet music. I prefer it in that scenario, because there's no doubt about what I should be playing.

 

[JimmyM]

I've been investing time lately in improving my reading, and I have been mixing it up between sheet music and chord sheets. It's slow going but i'm improving, which is the main thing. Last night i got to thinking about which one gives me more bang for my buck in musical situations. I know the advice here will be "learn both", which I am doing.. But, in my head, it would seem that a more common scenario would be that I would be handed a chord sheet rather than a piece of sheet music that I need to play note for note. I dont plan on being a pro, or a session player, but I do plan on finding other musicians to play and jam with, and maybe some open mic jazz nights in the future. I am finding much more enjoyment and value from playing to chord sheets as it's really helping with my (lack of) improvisation skills.

So, which is the more common scenario you find yourself in? Being handed a sheet that you have to play note for note, or being handed a chord sheet and you deciding what to play? Would you rather be "ok" at sight-reading sheet and a demon with a chord sheet, or vice versa? And yes, i know, demon at both would be the ideal situation

Yes, chord sheets are probably more common, especially in rock and pop, but I got plenty of notated charts as well. Sight reading chord charts is considerably easier than sight reading notation, so I would totally concentrate the most on notation. lfmn16's words should be taken as gospel:

+1

I always laugh at these guys that claim they’ve never lost a gig because they can’t read music so why bother. You have no idea what gigs you’ve lost because no one bothered to call you.

I DO know what kinds of gigs you get offered if you can sight read notation well, and they consistently pay much better than ones that don't.

 

[Manticore]

I've read standard notation for as long as I can remember. That said, I believe if you can read standard notation well you can play the song. Further, you will be able to understand the progressions. As such, learning to read standard notation will make reading chord charts a breeze. The opposite is not true. In other words, learning to read chord charts well does nothing to help read standard notation.

It isn't for everyone, but there are "reading" bands wherever people gather. The larger the city, the more likely you are to find bands where people gather for the sole intent to read new music. A reading band can be a fun way to sharpen your skills, or retain existing skills, without gigging.

 

[micguy]

My world (church gigs) I do completely with chord charts. But I don't read anything on a gig - I've always got stuff memorized well before the gig, so when I'm there, I can pay atention to what's going on around me, not what the chord structure of the song is. Chord charts for me are a starting point to learning a new song, nothing more.

 

[Rip Van Dan]

I've been investing time lately in improving my reading, and I have been mixing it up between sheet music and chord sheets. It's slow going but i'm improving, which is the main thing. Last night i got to thinking about which one gives me more bang for my buck in musical situations. I know the advice here will be "learn both", which I am doing.. But, in my head, it would seem that a more common scenario would be that I would be handed a chord sheet rather than a piece of sheet music that I need to play note for note. I dont plan on being a pro, or a session player, but I do plan on finding other musicians to play and jam with, and maybe some open mic jazz nights in the future. I am finding much more enjoyment and value from playing to chord sheets as it's really helping with my (lack of) improvisation skills.

So, which is the more common scenario you find yourself in? Being handed a sheet that you have to play note for note, or being handed a chord sheet and you deciding what to play? Would you rather be "ok" at sight-reading sheet and a demon with a chord sheet, or vice versa? And yes, i know, demon at both would be the ideal situation

LOL...In the bands I play with, I'm more commonly the one handing out the charts than receiving them. For most of my 56-years of playing bass, it's been chord charts. Early on it was, "we're going to play this song so listen to the record and figure out your part." Then we went to rehearse it we might move the key up or down for the vocalist if needed. I toured with a nightclub group in the early 70's for three years and typically it was, "Here are the chords I'm playing for the verse, and here's the chorus." We were very successful and I did that for 3-years.

Since then it's all been charts. Another thing you will find is a chart with Roman Numerals on it such as I, IV, I, V, IV, I. That's telling you the tonic, the 4th, the tonic, the 5th, the 4th, and the tonic again. Then they will tell you what key they are in, which defines where the tonic is, and those Roman Numerals show you the relationship of the chords from the tonic. That's really common in blues and in jam band situations. For instance, in the Key of G, here is what that would be:

I=G, IV=C, V=D. Change that to the key of C and I=C, IV=F, and V=G.

The relationship of the notes (the pattern) is the same, you're just moving them around the fretboard to play them in the appropriate key.

The place where you will find yourself handed "real" sheet music is if you join a band being put together for something like a cruise ship. Real common for them to hand out the parts and have one rehearsal before they play their first night. You absolutely need to have great sight-reading skills for gigs like that. You may possibly get sheet music in a band with horns, but more typically the horns have their music written out and don't try to read from their music. If they are a Bb instrument, the concert Bb appears as a C on their music. You'll more typically get a lyric sheet with chords on it to work from.

The thing that drives me crazy though, and a lot of people really like them, are tab sheets. Just hate them. Tell me the dang notes or put them on the bass staff. I'm not a fan of tabs because I rarely finger them the way people write them. I try to keep all the notes under my hand if at all possible instead of moving up and down the neck a lot. And, I am not averse to a few open string notes particularly if I need to shift hand position for the next note. It's easy to shift while that open string is playing. So not a fan of tabs. Plus tabs are often lacking the rhythm notations and a lot of the time they are just plain wrong anyhow. I can read and figure it out from the music notations and by ear if I need to do note by note.

 

[MichelD]

LOL...In the bands I play with, I'm more commonly the one handing out the charts than receiving them. For most of my 56-years of playing bass, it's been chord charts. Early on it was, "we're going to play this song so listen to the record and figure out your part." Then we went to rehearse it we might move the key up or down for the vocalist if needed. I toured with a nightclub group in the early 70's for three years and typically it was, "Here are the chords I'm playing for the verse, and here's the chorus." We were very successful and I did that for 3-years.

Since then it's all been charts. Another thing you will find is a chart with Roman Numerals on it such as I, IV, I, V, IV, I. That's telling you the tonic, the 4th, the tonic, the 5th, the 4th, and the tonic again. Then they will tell you what key they are in, which defines where the tonic is, and those Roman Numerals show you the relationship of the chords from the tonic. That's really common in blues and in jam band situations. For instance, in the Key of G, here is what that would be:

I=G, IV=C, V=D. Change that to the key of C and I=C, IV=F, and V=G.

The relationship of the notes (the pattern) is the same, you're just moving them around the fretboard to play them in the appropriate key.

The place where you will find yourself handed "real" sheet music is if you join a band being put together for something like a cruise ship. Real common for them to hand out the parts and have one rehearsal before they play their first night. You absolutely need to have great sight-reading skills for gigs like that. You may possibly get sheet music in a band with horns, but more typically the horns have their music written out and don't try to read from their music. If they are a Bb instrument, the concert Bb appears as a C on their music. You'll more typically get a lyric sheet with chords on it to work from.

The thing that drives me crazy though, and a lot of people really like them, are tab sheets. Just hate them. Tell me the dang notes or put them on the bass staff. I'm not a fan of tabs because I rarely finger them the way people write them. I try to keep all the notes under my hand if at all possible instead of moving up and down the neck a lot. And, I am not averse to a few open string notes particularly if I need to shift hand position for the next note. It's easy to shift while that open string is playing. So not a fan of tabs. Plus tabs are often lacking the rhythm notations and a lot of the time they are just plain wrong anyhow. I can read and figure it out from the music notations and by ear if I need to do note by note.

Same here. Hate tabs. Why do all the work learning an alternate way or writing and reading music when a better one already exists?

 

[lfmn16]

I DO know what kinds of gigs you get offered if you can sight read notation well, and they consistently pay much better than ones that don't.

It's almost like the more you know, the more you get paid!

 

[Snarf]

I've been investing time lately in improving my reading, and I have been mixing it up between sheet music and chord sheets. It's slow going but i'm improving, which is the main thing. Last night i got to thinking about which one gives me more bang for my buck in musical situations. I know the advice here will be "learn both", which I am doing.. But, in my head, it would seem that a more common scenario would be that I would be handed a chord sheet rather than a piece of sheet music that I need to play note for note. I dont plan on being a pro, or a session player, but I do plan on finding other musicians to play and jam with, and maybe some open mic jazz nights in the future. I am finding much more enjoyment and value from playing to chord sheets as it's really helping with my (lack of) improvisation skills.

So, which is the more common scenario you find yourself in? Being handed a sheet that you have to play note for note, or being handed a chord sheet and you deciding what to play? Would you rather be "ok" at sight-reading sheet and a demon with a chord sheet, or vice versa? And yes, i know, demon at both would be the ideal situation

These days? Neither. All I read are emails cancelling gigs.

Normally? It's 80% chord charts (I mean real chord charts with hits, not stupid lyric sheets or anything like that), 20% reading. My wedding band will often send out arrangements for the rhythm section with the most important lines written out when they come up, and then slashes for most of the rest of the changes.

 

[CallMeAl]

Sounds to me like chord charts will be more practical and useful for you. There are some riffs in the Real Books that pop up from time to time, so it’s useful to read to some degree. (Night in Tunisia or So What come to mind.)

I will add Ive been a chord chart player most of my time as a bass player. I’ve been investing in my reading skills the past few years. Not really with any performance-based or gig-landing goals in mind; but it’s helped me access a whole other cannon of music and riffs, and helps me grow as a player.

So based on your goals, I’d offer the suggestion of focusing on chord sheets, with a few daily reading exercises.

 

[MichelD]

I posted earlier but I'll add more. Except for playing with my my jazz Real book buddies which is a relatively recent tack for me, all of my previous experience with playing with others in the past 45 years has been either head arrangements with nothing written down at all or some kind of chord charts.

This has been with a couple western swing outfits, a rockbilly/r&b band, a punkabilly street busking band, numerous singer songwriters and a honky-tonk country band.

Some have been just the lyrics with chords on top, some simply a page with a few chords written out, sometimes charts with each chord notated with one slash per beat or actual music paper with chords written out correctly over bar markings.

 

[JimmyM]

Sounds to me like chord charts will be more practical and useful for you. There are some riffs in the Real Books that pop up from time to time, so it’s useful to read to some degree. (Night in Tunisia or So What come to mind.)

I will add Ive been a chord chart player most of my time as a bass player. I’ve been investing in my reading skills the past few years. Not really with any performance-based or gig-landing goals in mind; but it’s helped me access a whole other cannon of music and riffs, and helps me grow as a player.

So based on your goals, I’d offer the suggestion of focusing on chord sheets, with a few daily reading exercises.

I don't get this type of logic. Why work on the easiest stuff and skip the harder stuff when the harder stuff provides more benefit, not only for doing harder stuff, but for doing easier stuff as well? I consider it looking for the easy way out, which is fine if you have no plans on doing something beyond tinkering at home, but not so good otherwise.

 

[LBS-bass]

Same here. Hate tabs. Why do all the work learning an alternate way or writing and reading music when a better one already exists?

This is what I don't get. It's not super easy to read tab so why not just learn how to read standard notation and get a lot more useful info?

 

[WrapRough]

I don't get this type of logic. Why work on the easiest stuff and skip the harder stuff when the harder stuff provides more benefit, not only for doing harder stuff, but for doing easier stuff as well? I consider it looking for the easy way out, which is fine if you have no plans on doing something beyond tinkering at home, but not so good otherwise.

I dunno it seems like good logic to me. He is suggesting focusing on the thing I will be using the majority of the time, while still allowing time to do the harder stuff. From this thread it seems that the ability to sight-read on the fly is probably not that valuable for someone like me. It would rarely be used and therefore it would also be difficult to maintain. I'd essentially be practicing in perpetuity for no reason. The ability to read sheet to learn a song, sure, and that's what I am working towards... But I see massive value in being very good at taking a chord sheet and being able to create a line.

So it's not one or the other, but just how much of one or the other.

 

[micahwc]

You will most often see either chord sheets or NNS sheets; followed distantly by sheet music. That being said; I've gotten gigs because I could read sheet music. It can be a valuable skill.