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A chord chart (or chart) is a form of musical notation that describes the basic harmony and information for a song or tune. It is the most common form of notation used by professional playing jazz or popular music. It is intended primarily for a rhythm section (usually consisting of piano, guitar, Drum kit and Bass guitar). In these genres the musicians are expected to be able to improvise the individual notes used for the chords (the "voicing") and the appropriate ornamentation, counter melody or bassline.
In some chord charts, the harmony is given as a series of above a traditional musical staff. The rhythmic information can be very specific and written using a form of traditional notation, sometimes called rhythmic notation, or it can be completely unspecified using slash notation, allowing the musician to fill the bar with chords or fills any way they see fit (called comping). In Nashville notation the key is left unspecified on the chart by substituting numbers for chord names. This facilitates on-the-spot key changes to songs. Chord charts may also include explicit parts written in music notation (such as a musical riff that the song is dependent on for character), lyrics or lyric fragments, and various other information to help the musician compose and play their part.
Slash notation and rhythmic notation may both be used in the same piece, for example, with the more specific rhythmic notation used in a section where the horn section is playing a specific melody or rhythmic figure that the pianist must support, and with slash notation written for the pianist for use underneath improvised solos.
"The musicians in Nashville use the Nashville Number System almost exclusively for conveying a song's structure and arrangement in the recording studio."
In Nashville Notation, the chord numbers map to the chord built Diatonic on each scale degrees in the Major key -- or the closest Relative key Musical key -- of the song.
| + Example mappings of chord numbers to chord letters and qualities |
| G-Major |
| A-minor |
| B-minor |
| C-Major |
| D-Major |
| E-minor |
| F#-diminished |
Therefore, in the key of C, this chord progression
| C / / / | F / / / | G / / / | C / / / |--and in the key of G, this chord progression
| G / / / | C / / / | D / / / | G / / / |--in Nashville notation, the chord chart for both would be Musical notation as
1 4 5 1
By convention, Nashville notation eliminates the forward slash and bar lines that denote the beats in the measure: "With the number system it’s understood that each number written on your chart is given the value of one measure of music. In 4/4 time, that’s a total of four beats per number on the chart."
This method of Musical notation allows musicians who are familiar with basic music theory to play the same song in any Musical key.
Squares can also be separated diagonally for bars having two chords, as in the example below:
Below is a non-exhaustive list of plain text chord chart representations, including examples for reference. (You can help improve this article by adding other plain text representations of chord charts to this section.)
To illustrate, the following ASCII text represents the first verse of the Public Domain hymn Amazing Grace, in 3/4 meter:
Amazing Grace (Traditional)
Verse 1:
| G / / | G7 / / | C / / | G / / |
| G / / | G/B / / | D / / | D7 / / |
| G / / | G7/B / / | C / / | G / G/F# |
| Em / / | G/D / D7 | G / / | G / / ||
The performer should interpret this such that each chord symbol occupies one beat, with each forward slash signifying that the preceding chord should be played for additional beats, represented by the number of additional forward slash after the chord symbol. For example, the first measure (bar) of this chord chart consists of three beats of the G major chord.
A more compact form of this could be represented as:
Amazing Grace (Traditional)
Verse 1:
| G | G7 | C | G |
| G | G/B | D | D7 |
| G | G7/B | C | G / G/F# |
| Em | G/D / D7 | G | G ||
/ref>
Continuing with the Amazing Grace example, a "" version of the chord chart could be represented as follows:
Amazing Grace (Traditional)
Verse
G G7 C G
Amazing grace, how sweet the sound
G G/B D D7
That saved a wretch like me
G G7/B C G
I once was lost, but now I'm found
G/F# Em G/D D7 G
Was blind, but now I see
/ref>
In ChordPro format, Amazing Grace could be notated as follows:
{title: Amazing Grace}
{key: G}
{start_of_verse}
A-Gmazing G7grace, how Csweet the Gsound
That Gsaved a G/Bwretch like Dme D7
I Gonce was G7/Blost, but Cnow I'm Gfound
G/F#Was Emblind, but G/Dnow D7I Gsee
{end_of_verse}
ChordPro files often have the file extensions .cho, .crd, .chopro, .chord and .pro, but could also have the common .txt extension.
Multiple open source and commercial software support ChordPro format chord charts, including:
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