![]() like this: (1 minute 6 seconds into the video) If the written-out notes have a iv minor chord halfway through a bar, but the chord symbols only show a IV major chord for the whole bar, than that's just plain laziness and bad quality from the publisher.Īs an interesting example of how chord symbols might be used, here's one bar from the written sheet music of the tune Paint The World by Chick Corea:Īnd on the recording the "E7" chord symbol is done e.g. Like Supercat says in a comment: " Unfortunately, publishers seldom give any indication of how their chord symbols should be used", and this is so true. However, if the sheet music's notes don't go together with simple chords played from the chord symbols, then the sheet music wasn't done very well. It's a choice and a trade-off: I need to think about what sort of band will be reading the music.Ĭompare the chord symbols and the notation: If you play from the chord symbols on the guitar, and a pianist plays from the notation, it still works, right? You could think that the additional notes not reflected in the chord symbols are just extra stuffing and texture. For a guitar-oriented accompaniment, one or at most two chord symbols per bar is about right, except maybe for special hooks. In my own experience, the arrangements that I've written sitting on the piano and for groups where I'm playing piano myself, tend to have too many chord symbols for a guitar rock oriented band. For pianists, it's easier to change chords very fast, but if the song is to be played by a guitar pop/rock group, writing fewer chord symbols works better. Perhaps in this particular case, the person who wrote the sheet music thought, "the guitarists reading this will only be able to play so many different things in a single bar, so let's keep it simple". But an actual song is not a theory class. Chord symbols can also be used in music theory classes and in composition and arrangement work, for writing down and discussing chords in a theory-oriented way. Sometimes, people try to use chord symbols very literally and try to squeeze all aspects of the music into them, but in my opinion this is not very practical. ![]() ![]() Quite often, chord symbols are used to only deliver a rough approximation of essential harmonic changes. It's a multipurpose vehicle, and different writers and readers have different ideas of what should be done with chord symbols. It does not say "after a rigorous and thorough music-theoretical analysis it is hereby declared and guaranteed that the following chord symbols are a complete and correct view of which notes should be felt as so-called chord tones". It says "accompany this song with these chords". ![]() ![]() Chord symbols are a guideline for accompaniment. TL DR: In sheet music, chord symbols are not a harmonic analysis of the song. ![]()
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