Reading lead sheets

A lead sheet contains three things: the melody on one staff, chord symbols above it, and sometimes lyrics. It's the basic format of jazz fake books (the famous “Real Books”), pop songbooks and church music. Everything else — the left hand, the voicings, the accompaniment rhythm — is up to you.

Here is “Au clair de la lune” (a traditional French song) as a lead sheet:

M:4/4
L:1/4
K:C
"C"C C C D | "C"E2 "G"D2 | "C"C E "G7"D D | "C"C4 |]

Each symbol lasts until the next one. Here: C for all of bar 1, C then G in bar 2, and so on.

Realising a lead sheet in five steps

1. Scan for the key, the time signature, the form (repeated sections, repeat signs) and the places where the harmony changes quickly.
2. Play the melody alone in the right hand until you know it.
3. Left hand: roots in whole or half notes, in the rhythm of the chord changes.
4. Enrich the left hand: root + fifth, then alternating root–fifth, then small patterns.
5. Enrich the right hand: add one or two chord tones under the melody on the strong beats.

The result, for our example:

M:4/4
L:1/4
%%staves {RH LH}
V:RH clef=treble
V:LH clef=bass
K:C
[V:RH] "C"[Ec] c c d | "C"[Ge]2 "G"[Bd]2 | "C"[Ec] [ce] "G7"[Bd] [Fd] | "C"[Ec]4 |]
[V:LH] C,2 G,2 | C,2 G,,2 | C,2 G,,2 | C,4 |]

Harmonic rhythm

Harmonic rhythm is how often the chords change. In our song it's slow (one or two chords per bar). In a jazz standard there can be two chords per bar for pages on end. Spotting it before you play will save you many surprises.

Now try other songs on the site, such as “Frère Jacques” (a single chord is enough!) or the “Ode to Joy”.