Reading a Song Chart

Reading a song chart is not as hard as it looks. Let's go through everything you need to know to be able to read any song chord chart from start to finish.

The first Bar

Here is our first bar of music:

𝄞

C

Notice starting from the left we have a treble clef, time signature, chord and a barline .

    The treble clef tells the reader the register of the music we will be playing. Every instrument has their own unique register. When we read guitar music we read in the treble register.

    The time signature lets us know how many beats are in a bar. In this case, there are 4 beats in a bar (which happens to be the most common).

    The chord shows us what chord to play in that particular bar.

    The barline signifies the end of the bar.

When bars of music follow one another, we have a collection of bars. Below is an example of what four bars of music looks like:

𝄞

C

Am

G

F

Sections

Sections are used to map out songs in a logical way that makes it easier to visualise and memorise. Sections are made up of two components a start section and an end section. Both are marked by double bar lines.

Chorus

C

Am

G

F

    A start section tells the reader where the section begins.

    An end section tells the reader where the section ends.

Repeated Sections

Songs are made up of repetition and patterns. Rather than writing out a section multiple times we use a repeat sign. The repeat sign is also made up of two components: a start repeat and an end repeat.

. .

C

Am

G

F

. .

    A start repeat tells the reader where the repeat section begins. Note if you do not see a start repeat this usually means to return back to the start of the song.

    An end repeat tells the reader where the repeat section ends and usually followed by how many times the section is repeated.

Alternative Endings

Another component we sometimes see alongside repeated sections are alternative endings. Alternative endings are used to change the ending of a repeated section. They are marked by a number enclosed by a line which represents which bars to play on that particular repetition. For example:

1.

𝄞

C

Am

C

G

. .

2.

F

G

Bar Repeats

As mentioned before, songs use lots of repetition and patterns and just like repeating a section a shorthand has been devised to repeat bars. By using a bar repeat symbol we can make music more legible to read.

To see this in action lets look at the following example:

Rather than writing a chord chart like:

C

C

G

G

It is more concise to write the same chord chart like:

C

G