Analyzing Lead Sheets

[David M Brown]

Finally to address what David M. Brown pointed out in this chart: he'd prefer that the Bb9 be written as a Bb9b5. The reason being the melody note of E natural is the b5 of Bb, which is correct. He has a valid point.

Here's my take...this is a gray area of personal preference and music theory.

As a working class musician who went to public school in Hawai'i, I'd prefer that it just be written as a simple Bb7. Bb7 is the V of Em7b5. Everything is just going V to I. Here's my reasoning: Yes, the melody note is E. That said, the melody would be played in a higher octave, especially if a trumpet or sax had the head. So it wouldn't rub against the F of the Bb7.

As a rhythm guitarist, you're mostly chunking the 3rds and 7th anyway. You never know what the piano player will do, but if they're cool, they'll know how to support the melody too.

Furthermore, a Dominant 7 chord is a Dominant 7 chord. Whether it's a plain jane Bb7, or a Bbalt, or a Bb#9#5, or a Bbb9#5... They all function as a dominant 7 chord.

I'd rather read "Bb7" and then as the musician reading the chart, I have the option of coloring the Bb7 however I want. But if you write it as "Bb9b5". THAT is VERY confusing to the eye. For example is it a B with a b9b5, or is it a Bb with a 9 and b5?

That kind of stuff will drive you CRAZY. Keep it simple. Bb7 works, and it's easy to sight read and get right the first time.

Thanks for making a good point.

There's a lot to be said for keeping the changes as simple as possible.

So I can accept that E natural as a #11 over the Bb7 chord.

[Rick Rienks]

Well, Howdy there folks!

I was interested in the topic “Analyzing . . . Etc.” the criteria as listed make perfect sense to anyone who has taken jobs where the charts follow the singer(s). You walk in and, “Rehearse? No time. We go on tonight.”

As regards sight reading: I had years of learning by ear. New tunes were coming out each week and bands had to stay current. Eventually you put in the study time and added sight reading.

After buying a lap steel, I realized this was a whole new dimension. Select a tuning, find the notes, what about chords? Early on I looked at TAB but found it not too useful. Not enough information, rhythmically, and tuning dependent.

To encourage people to learn sight reading. It may become an interesting part of the Hands-on guitar time. Starting with the staff, look at the spaces: bottom up you have F - A - C - E. Find those 4 notes on your instrument.

Next, play them. Ignore the notes on the lines for now. Since the musical alphabet is C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C(octave) you will begin to find the staff easier to negotiate. In Music, there are only 8 notes with the first and the 8th the same name, defining one octave.

The next step is read those notes for time value. In 3/4 or 4/4, a quarter note is one beat. As you may have guessed, breaking down a few disjointed notes is just a way to open a door. You are following the listed exercise for 5 or 10 minutes. Then go back to what ever else you do for practice. At the end of practice just flang away for 5 or 10 minutes, just for fun. Later in the day you might find yourself going back for another short session. What I am saying, reading a chart is possible taken a bit at a time. The more exotic conversations will begin to make sense as you move into that world.