PG Music Home Forums General Discussion Woodshedding - Learning to Play! Chords don't tell you what you need to know

I'll grant your point on the "chord chart only" kind of musician. While I tend to fall into that category myself, preferring the chart to reading the notes. My sight reading skill is poor at best on piano, and non-existent on guitar. Oh I can look at the notes on the staff and figure it out if I need to, but essentially I do not read music. Not at a functional level.

Absolutely, I know and understand that the chord charts only give me a portion of what's happening but for what it does, it does it well. On guitar, mostly I am playing a chording pattern behind the other instruments anyway.

IF I, or any other chord chart user really wanted or needed to know what was going on 100% with the sheet music, I, or they, would need to learn to sight read that music on our instrument. And yes, I do freely admit that it is my lack of knowledge and skill in sight reading that is the problem in my case. However, I see no immediate or pressing advantage to spending the time to learn to sight read. For me, if and when I need to provide guitar in some circumstance where sheet music is used, I do one of two things.... I either read the chord charts for the chords I play, or I play by ear knowing from looking at the sheet music the key of the song from it's key signature.

I do believe that ALL needed information can be given through the sheet music including the feel of the music and pauses and other nuances, through the symbols that are used to indicate such things.


An interesting side note to this: I played guitar for many years in the church orchestra. There was rarely ever a part of the songs where the guitar did anything other than play chords. We had several really well classically trained piano players. Several of which who could play anything in any key you put in front of them on sight. And play it like they have known that song all their lives. However, if you asked two of them to play following a chord chart or an impromptu jam in C major and they were totally at a loss on what or how to play it.

I still believe that the time tested musical staff and notes gives the most and the best information to the players involved. Perhaps someone will develop some other better, more efficient system but for now, no.... that's the best we have.

The other systems, such as you mentioned, and in particular, the Nashville chord chart system were developed to fill a particular need and were not intended to be the cure to the music world's ills. Nashville musicians needed a charting system that allowed for ease of understanding and was translatable into any key instantly and thus developed that system for studio use. What it does, it does better than the lines and staff but yes, it lacks in other areas, however, the information it doesn't provide is generally not needed anyway in that system. It filled the need in a particular area of music and that's what mattered most.

Perhaps to be able to understand music fully, the way the composer intended it to be played using our current systems is impossible. However, I believe we can get to the 99.9% mark using the systems we have.