The Fifth Position, Sixteenth Notes and More on Chart Notations

In the previous lesson we learned that the fifth position for a guitar player gives each of the fingers of the left hand one fret. This works well most of the time, however, there are a few notes that require the hand to stretch out of position. One such note is B, written on the third line of the staff. It can be played either on the third string, fourth fret, with your index finger, or on the fourth string, ninth fret, with your fourth finger.

The matter of fingering is up to your discretion. Your choice depends on the direction of the melody and the comfort of the stretch. If the melody is ascending from notes below B to notes above, use the fingering on the third string. The reasons being that the notes immediately below B can be played with the third or fourth fingers, making the index finger available to fret the B on the third string.

Sixteenth Notes

Remembering that a quarter note in 4/4 time is given the value of 1 beat, what would happen if we divided it into two eighth notes or four sixteenth notes? Different timing and speed of playing the notes; one quarter note, one count. Two eighth notes, still one court. Four sixteenth notes still must be played within one full count. Do you see where speed is a factor here?

A sixteenth note looks like an eighth note but with an extra flag or beam (in the case of more than one note). To count sixteenth notes, we will need to articulate each part of the beat; just like we did with eighth notes and the connective “and”. So when counting sixteenth notes we use “e” and “a” to represent the other parts of the beat.

Eighth notes and sixteenth notes can also be beamed to each other. This makes it easier to read rhythm groups.

More Elements of Chart Reading

We have learned a few designations within our road map of chord charts thus far. Now let’s learn how to repeat songs which contain different endings.

Often, a section needs to be repeated but will have different phrases at the end of each repeated section. When this happens, multiple endings are given us along with the repeat sign. An ending consists of both a bracket and a number; and this number tells you on which pass to use the ending.

Measure numbers are placed at the beginning of each line, above the staff, to help rehearsals flow more smoothly. They also may appear below the staff, beneath each measure, or above each staff placed in boxes. Section letters are also used to simplify rehearsals. They are written above the staff, at the start of each new section, and are enclosed in boxes so that they appear differently from chord symbols.

A bar song form is one of the most popular forms of musical composition. As chart readers, we need a strong understanding of this form. Often, a 32-bar song form can be divided into four eight-bar phrases. The first eight bars are called the head of the tune and are marked as Section A. This section is repeated in the next eight-bar phrases, often with a different ending.

The third phrase is a contrasting section called the bridge and is usually marked as Section B. The final eight-bar phrase is a restating of the head or A Section. Sometimes this section can be marked with the letter C.

This 32-bar song format is very American and can be traced back almost 100 years to the days of Cole Porter, George Gershwin, and Jerome Kern. Many jazz and country tunes – even the most memorable hits of the Beatles – were composed using this form. A wise musician would not ignore this system as too simplistic because it WORKS.

Introductions are short sections (usually four to eight bars) played at the beginning of a chart. These introductions are usually separated from the song by a thin double bar line and labeled with the abbreviation “Intro” rather than a section letter.
Rhythm Guitar Notation

In modern chart notation, when specific rhythms are needed from the guitarist, special note heads are used by the composer. This special rhythm guitar notation is more detailed than slash notation, yet keeps the reader from confusing when to play pitches and when to strum chords. With this method of notation, a quarter note or smaller is represented with a short slash attached to a stem, and a half note or larger is shown as a diamond-shaped note head. Flags and beams remain the same.