PIano Tabs -- Chord Symbols

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Piano Tabs: Shorthand Chord Symbols


Piano tabs are like shorthand: instead of using written music notation, symbols are used instead to indicate what chords are being used (or in primitive cases, what melody notes are being used).

Piano tabs have been used forever by musicians in one form or another. Bach used them -- but then they were called "figured bass". They looked something like this:

I I6 V7 ii6/4 ii I etc.

Roman numerals were used to indicate the primary and secondary chords of a song, and when they were inverted. A "I" chord meant the "home base" chord -- also known as the tonic chord of a key. A "V" meant the chord 5 scale notes higher than the I chord. A "IV" meant the chord 4 scale notes above the tonic. "6/4" after a Roman numeral indicated that the chord should be played in 2nd inversion: "6" after a Roman numeral meant that the first inversion of the chord should be used.

Now fast forward to 1950 or so when modern jazz was coming on the scene in places like "Birdland" in NY, with people like Charlie Parker and Thelonious Monk and Miles Davis. They used piano tabs too, except then they were called chord symbols. Jazz musicians would often play "head arrangements" of familiar tunes and indicate the chord changes on a "lead sheet", which usually consisted of the tune of the song with the chord symbols written above the melody line.

They looked like this:

Fm7 Bbm7 Eb7 Abmaj7 Db G7 C etc.

Fast forward another 50 years or so to the Rock Era, and we arrive at piano tabs as we know them today.



Piano Tabs: Shorthand Chord Symbols

For more information on playing from chord symbols (piano tabs), please go over to www.chordpiano.com

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