Ask most people what they think of when they hear the phrase “sheet music” and there’s a good chance they’ll come back with some Classical concept, such as the score to an orchestral piece or something to be played on a solo piano. But actually, this forms only part of the sheet music available. Rock and pop is extremely well represented in the sheet music departments of most good music stores, with everything from mainstream pop hits to the latest avant-garde sounds on the shelves.

Rock and pop sheet music will range from simple guitar and vocals to full instrumental scores, and from singles to whole albums. You’ll also find “best of” collections, complete works and volumes focusing on specific time periods of artists, or compilations of a genre or era. If you’re looking for a certain piece to play along to, there’s a good chance it will be in one of the many books available.

Difficulty is an important factor when choosing sheet music. Although individual songs on sheet music tend to be faithful representations of the recorded version, books vary widely in complexity and accuracy of reproduction. Some books are strictly for beginners and are designed to be used as a learning tool, teaching your chosen instrument by playing songs you love rather than Frere Jacques and London’s Burning. But beware. Sometimes the songs are not meant to be played along with the recorded versions, but are to play solo or sing along to. With the guitar, for example, songs in the keys of C, E, A and D are generally much easier to play than are songs in B flat or F sharp, so songs written in these harder keys could be transposed to make learning simpler. Similarly, songs whose sheet music is in the same key as the recordings might swap some of the difficult, advanced chords with simplified versions, so the song can be played along with the recording, but might sound slightly different.

Guitar sheet music will use one of three means of presenting the chords and melodies in a simpler way than traditional musical notation. They are detailed below.

First there are the chord diagrams, which use a little grid-like diagram representing the six strings of the guitar (vertical) and several frets (horizontal), with black dots showing where the fingers go. In theory you don’t need to know any chords and you don’t need to know what notes you’re playing.

Second is tablature, usually called tab. This uses six continuous lines (four for bass guitar) just like normal sheet music, but instead of notes there are numbers representing the fret onto which the string should be pressed. The tab method lets you play both tunes and chords, and you don’t need to be able to read music. The downside with tab and chord diagrams is that the music can only be played on the instrument it is written for.

With the third method, the name of the chord (e.g. Em, Cmaj) is written above the normal music at every chord change. This has the advantage of allowing the chords to be played on any instrument, but the chords themselves will need to be learnt first.

Playing your favourite songs is a fantastic way to learn an instrument, and once you’re an accomplished musician you can learn songs exactly as they are recorded. It’s much easier with sheet music than trying to learn by listening and continually pausing!

Author Bio: Clive Oliver Blacksmith is a guitarist and writer working for Chappell of Bond Street and has used part songs and sheet music from various sources, so can comment with some experience on the subject.

Category: Entertainment
Keywords: sheet music, music books, part songs