The Ultimate Guide to Lead Sheets: Everything you need to know to play jazz songs from a real book

To play jazz songs from a real book, you need to understand the notation style of jazz (which is different to other styles of music).

In this article we’ll cover:

  • Key Signatures

  • Time Signatures

  • Chord symbols

  • Turnarounds

  • Other notation markings

Key Signatures

The first thing you’ll see in the very first bar of a lead sheet (top left) is the key signature. This is a display of sharps, or flats, which looks like this:

IMAGE - key signature demo

The key signature tells you to play each of the notes displayed - either as a flat, or a sharp.

So if the key signature says ‘Bb, Eb, Ab’ - then every B, E, and A that you encounter throughout the music should be flattened, and played as Bb, Eb, and Ab.

By using a key signature, the arranger reduces the number of accidentals that need to be written throughout the score. However, since the key signature is only shown once (at the beginning), it’s very important that you check the key signature first, before you start playing.

The key signature stays in effect throughout the entire song - unless it is replaced with a new key signature later in the music (which occasionally happens).

NOTE: In jazz, the key signature only applies to the melody line. It does not apply to the chord symbols written above the music.

So if the key signature says ‘Bb’, but the chord symbol says ‘B7’, then you would still play a B7 chord (B D# F# A) in your left hand - and you wouldn’t need to tweak any of the chord’s notes to fit with the key signature.

That said, most chords will fit with the notes of the key signature.

Time Signatures

The time signature is also found in the very first bar of the song (before the music starts). Time signatures are displayed as two numbers on top of each other, like this:

IMAGE - time signature demo

The top number tells you how many beats are in the bar - ‘3’ means ‘3 beats’, ‘4’ means ‘4 beats’, etc.

The bottom number tells you the length of those beats - ‘4’ means ‘quarter note’, ‘8’ means ‘eighth note’, etc.

So if a time signature says ‘3/4’ - this means there are three quarter notes in every bar throughout the song.

Or if a time signature says ‘6/8’ - this means there are siz eighth-notes in every bar throughout the song.

Most jazz songs will be in ‘4/4’ time, which is written as two 4s stacked vertically (this is the most common time signature for all music styles).

Swing Time & Straight Time

An additional factor when it comes to time signatures in jazz, is whether a song is in ‘swing time’ or ‘straight time’:

  • ‘Swing time’ means to divide each quarter note into three triplet eighth notes (three equal length notes played in the space of two normal eighth notes). We then play the on-beats exactly as written, but the off-beat eighth notes all get shifted back and are played as the third eighth note of the three triplets.

Playing in ‘swing time’ is a characteristic feature of jazz. It creates a light-hearted skipping type of feel any eighth note passages.

To write a swing song using triplet notation would use a lot of ink and look very complicated. So instead, the arranger just writes ‘4/4 swing’ - to tell you that the eighth notes are to be played in swing time.

  • ‘Straight time’ means to play the rhythms exactly as they are written without altering their phrasing (i.e. there’s nothing complicated about straight time).

Most North-American jazz songs will be written in swing time (tunes like ‘So What’, ‘Fly Me To The Moon’, ‘Satin Doll’, ‘Stompin’ at the Savoy’ are all in swing time).

Most South-American jazz styles are written in straight time (Bossa Nova tunes like ‘Girl from Ipanema’, ‘Blue Bossa’, ‘One Note Samba’, ‘So Nice’ are all in straight time).

Most Ballads (slower tempo tunes) are also played in straight time (tunes like ‘Misty’, ‘Cry Me A River’, ‘Georgia On My Mind’ are also in straight time).

So when you’re looking at the song’s time signature, also look to see if the arranger has written ‘swing’ or ‘straight’ above the music.

NOTE: Sometimes other words will be used to mean ‘straight’ - including ‘latin’, ‘bossa’, ‘cuban’ - all of which tell you the music is in straight time.

Tempo Markings

Arrangers will often indicate the tempo of a song - using all sorts of phrases:

‘Fast Swing’, ‘Med. Swing’, ‘Bright’, ‘Up’, and many other phrases.

Sometimes a metronome mark will be given, e.g. ‘quarter note = 120’ (which means 120 beats per minute).

If you’re unsure how a song should sound (tempo, rhythm, etc), I recommend listening to a recording first.

Chord Symbols

To play jazz songs from a real book, you’ll have to understand the different types of 7th chord which are written above the music.

There are multiple notation styles used for each chord, and you’ll see slight variations from one real book to another (based on each arranger’s preference).

Here are the three most common types of chord symbol in jazz:

  • C major 7 (written ‘C maj 7’ or ‘CΔ’) = C E G B.

  • C minor 7 (written ‘C-7’ or ‘Cm7’) = C Eb G Bb.

  • C dominant 7 (written ‘C7’) = C E G Bb.

Less commonly, you’ll also encounter the following types of chord:

  • C half-diminished - A.K.A. ‘C minor 7 flat 5’ (written ‘Cø’ or ‘Cm7b5’) = C Eb Gb Bb.

  • C diminished 7 (written ‘Co7’ or ‘C dim 7’) = C Eb Gb Bbb (or A).

  • C minor-major 7 (written ‘CmΔ’ or ‘C-Δ’) = C Eb G B.

For a full list of jazz chords and chord symbols, download my free Jazz Piano Chord Symbol Guide - which covers 6th chords, 9th chords, 11th chords, sus 4 chords, and more.

Click here to download the Jazz Piano Chord Symbol Guide.

To play jazz songs from a real book you must be able to build each type of jazz chord from any note. This requires you to count the interval pattern of each chord - which will always be a combination of the major 3rd interval (C - E) and the minor 3rd interval (C - Eb).

CHALLENGE: See if you can build all of the 6 chord types above from all 12 notes:

IMAGE - 6 chords from C. 6 chords from F

The Melody line

The melody of a jazz song is notated simply on a treble clef staff (usually this is the only staff provided - there’s no bass clef to most songs).

The melody can be transposed up an octave from the written pitches, if you want. Sometimes this sounds better for some songs.

It’s common to play the melody exactly as written the first time you play through the song. But for any repeats you play, you might want to ‘embellish’ the melody - which means to vary the rhythm slightly, or add ornaments (like a grace note, or a glissando), or change it in some way.

Now let’s look at some of the notation markings found in jazz:

What is a ‘Turnaround’?

At the end of a song (the bottom right corner of the page) you’ll often see a set of chords that are written in brackets. This is known as the ‘turnaround’.

If you’re about to repeat the song a 2nd, 3rd, 4th time - then play the turnaround chords. They’ll lead you nicely back to the beginning of the song - just as the composer intended.

But if you’re playing the final round of the melody - don’t play the turnaround chords. Simply end on the final chord that isn’t written in brackets.

Repeat Markings

Like most musical styles, jazz uses repeat markings in its notation. So when a song plays the same 8 bar section two times in a row (lasting 16 bars), the arranger will probably write the first 8 bars, and then they’ll put a repeat marking at the end. This tells the musician to go back and repeat the section a second time.

Normally you’ll see an ‘end repeat’, and a ‘beginning repeat’ which look like this:

IMAGE - repeats. Beginning and end repeat. Write it on.

First Time Repeats & Second Time Repeats

Sometimes, when there’s a repeating passage of music, the composer will add slightly different endings to both sections - which are identical up until the end.

For example, if there’s an 8 bar repeating section, the first 6 bars will be identical, but there’ll be slightly different endings given to each of the sections (the final 2 bars).

When this happens, the arranger might still use a repeat - but they’ll specify a ‘first time ending’ and a ‘second time ending’ - which look like this:

IMAGE - repeats. 1st time repeat, 2nd time repeat.

The lines above the music tell you which to play - the line numbered ‘1’ is what you play the first time, and the line numbered ‘2’ is what you play the second time.

Coda

Some songs have an ending that is different to the previous rounds. This ‘special ending’ is to be played at the end of the final round only - and NOT for the previous rounds.

Usually this ‘special ending’ has different chords to the previous rounds - which is why it needs to be separated from the rest of the song and notated on its own.

There are two parts to the coda - first, the coda symbol, which looks like this (a circle with a crosshair in the middle):

IMAGE - coda marking.

Second, there’s the coda ending, which is written as a separate ending section (usually 4-8 bars long) and this appears at the bottom of the page, after the normal song ends.

So if you’re playing a song that has this coda symbol - ignore the coda sign for the first few rounds that you play of the song. But when you get to the final round and you’re ready to end, play up to the coda symbol (as normal). Then when you reach the coda symbol, jump to the ‘special ending’ at the bottom of the page.

Practice Tip

Look through your real book to see all of these notation styles in action:

  • Key signatures, time signatures, swing time vs straight time, chord symbols, turnardounds, repeat markings, and codas.

If you don’t have a real book yet, click here to get my real book guide - which shows you the 4 real books I use.

Jazz Piano Chord Symbol Guide

Get clarity on all commonly used chord symbols in jazz - I’ve put together a free Jazz Piano Chord Symbol Guide - which shows you 7th chords, 6th chords, 9th chords, 11th chords, 13th chords, and sus 4 chords, all one one page:

Click here to download my Jazz Piano Chord Symbol Guide (free).

Free Jazz Piano Resources

Get my free sheet music collection sent to your email inbox:

  • 29 Jazz Piano Licks (sheet music)

  • The Jazz Piano Chord Voicing Guide (ebook)

  • Instagram Jazz Piano Riffs (sheet music + MIDI)

  • Jazz Chords Ultimate Guide

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About the Author

Julian Bradley is a jazz pianist and music educator from the U.K. He has a masters degree in music from Bristol University, and has played with and composed for a variety of big bands.
Julian runs the popular Jazz Tutorial YouTube channel and writes educational jazz lessons at JazzTutorial.com