Why Learn to Read Charts?
While tablature is a great tool to help a young player get their initial chops together, playing along with tabs will only get you so far. To become a well rounded, sociable guitar player, you will need to understand chord charts. The first situation where a guitar player usually encounters chord charts is in a group jam session. It is an extremely rare occurrence to walk into a band’s rehearsal and see all the musicians reading along with tablature. There are a few reasons why this is likely to be the case. First of all, anyone who has ever visited a tablature website knows that there may be ten or more versions of a particular song transcribed, and some of the versions are likely not correct. In addition, tablature is a very specific type of musical notation where every note is recorded. This is almost too specific for group sessions where listening to other players is more important than focusing on every single note you are playing. Guitar chord charts can be thought of as guidepos
