The course › Unit 11: Accompanying a song
Lesson 61 of 72 · Symbols, measures, repeats: the map of the song
To accompany a song, you don’t need a full score. Most pop, rock and singer-songwriter pianists read a chord chart: a few symbols, measure after measure. The rhythm, the bass, where you place the chords: that’s up to you.
You already know the start of the code (lessons 43 to 45): the letter names the root, and m means minor. Here’s the rest:
Did you know?: In German, B natural is called H, and the letter B means B♭. Bach used this to spell his own name in notes: B♭ – A – C – B♮.
Read the symbol and play the chord: any octave, any order of notes. For a slash chord (C/E), the note after the slash must be the lowest.
You read a chart like a text, from left to right. Each box, between two bar lines, is a measure. In 4/4, a chord alone in its box lasts 4 beats; two chords in the same box share the measure, 2 beats each.
In a songbook, the chords are written above the lyrics, right over the syllable where they change. On websites and in apps, they’re often put in square brackets inside the text. Here’s a made-up line:
“[C]Here’s a little [G]tune to start, [Am]here’s another [F]one to follow”
The C falls on “Here’s,” the G on “tune”… Each chord lasts until the next one. Find the syllable it lands on, count the beats, and play the chord right at that moment: most often, on the first beat of a measure.
Why this way: Pop and jazz piano methods teach you to play from a chord chart, the way studio musicians do: first the block chord, on the first beat; then, once the chart “runs” on its own, you add the bass, the rhythm and the inversions. That’s exactly the path of this unit.
The chart: | C | % | F | G | Am | % | F G | C |. Two half notes per box; in the “F G” box, one half note each; a whole note to finish. The positions from lesson 48: C = C – E – G, F = C – F – A, G = B – D – G, Am = C – E – A. Read the chart before you look at the keys that light up!
A real chart, % signs and all: just like a page from a songbook. Your eyes read one box ahead, and your hands follow. Read the chart shown above: one chord per beat (four quarter notes per box, two per chord in the “F G” box). The computer plays the bass.
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