Section 6.2 Lead-Sheet Symbols
Lead-sheet symbols (also known as “lead-sheet notation” and “lead-sheet chord symbols”) are often used as shorthand for chords in popular music and jazz. These symbols allow a guitarist or pianist to choose how to “voice” the chords, i.e., how they want to arrange the notes.
Lead-sheet symbols for triads communicate the root and quality of a chord.
| Lead-sheet Symbol | Chord Quality | Notes in the Chord |
| \(\left.\text{F}\right.\) | major | \(\text{F}\)–\(\text{A}\)–\(\text{C}\) |
| \(\left.\text{G}\text{m}\right.\) | minor | \(\text{G}\)–\(\text{B}^♭\)–\(\text{D}\) |
| \(\left.\text{D}^{\circ}{}\right.\) | diminished | \(\text{D}\)–\(\text{F}\)–\(\text{A}^♭\) |
| \(\left.\text{C}{+}\right.\) | augmented | \(\text{C}\)–\(\text{E}\)–\(\text{G}^♯\) |
Here is a musical example with lead-sheet symbols and guitar tablature.
As you can see in the example above, major triads are represented by an uppercase letter (\(\left.\text{A}\right.\), \(\left.\text{E}\right.\), and \(\left.\text{D}\right.\)) while minor triads are represented with the root in uppercase followed by a lowercase “m” (e.g., \(\left.\text{F}^♯{}\text{m}\right.\)). Diminished triads are represented by including the diminished symbol (\(\left.\text{}^{\circ}{}\right.\)) after the chord root (e.g., \(\left.\text{C}^{\circ}{}\right.\)) while augmented triads are represented by including the augmented symbol after the root (\(\left.\text{C}{+}\right.\)).
