Glossary of jazz and popular music

This is a glossary of jazz and popular music terms that are likely to be encountered in printed popular music songbooks, fake books and vocal scores, big band scores, jazz, and rock concert reviews, and album liner notes. This glossary includes terms for musical instruments, playing or singing techniques, amplifiers, effects units, sound reinforcement equipment, and recording gear and techniques which are widely used in jazz and popular music. Most of the terms are in English, but in some cases, terms from other languages are encountered (e.g. to do an "encore", which is a French term).
1x10"
1x12"
1x15"
1x18"
1x21"
2x10"
2x12"
2x15"
2x18"
4x10"
4x12"
4-track (or "four-track")
5-string (or five-string)
6-string (or six-string)
7 inch
7-string (or seven-string)
8-string (or eight-string)
8-track
8x10"
10
11th
12 inch
12-string
13th
33 1/3
45
78
303
808
A section
accordion
acid rock
ad libitum (commonly ad lib; Latin)
alt (English), alt dom, or altered dominant
altissimo
alto
amp
analog
arpeggio
arrangement
art rock
artist and repertoire (A&R)
as is
autotune
B-3
B-section
back-beat
backmasking
ballad
barre chord or bar chord
bass
bassline
beat
bend
bin or bass bin
binary
bleeding, bleed, or bleed-through
block chords
blow
boogie
bootleg
blue note
blues
board
bomb
break
bridge
broken chord
brushes
bubbles
cabinet (cab)
cadence
call and response
capo
changes
channel
chicken pickin'
chord
chorus
chromatic scale
clavinet
clean
clean channel
click track
clipping
clonewheel or clonewheel organ
coda
colosseum ending
combo
comping
comping takes
compressor
condenser microphone or condenser mic
cover or cover song
crossfader
crossover
crunch
cut time
dead
decibel (dB)
demo
desk
DI or DI unit
digital signal processing (DSP)
double-time feel
doubling
downtuned or detuned
dragging
drive
drop
drop 1
DSP
dry
dynamics
DX-7
ear candy
effects unit
encore (Fr)
engineer
fader
fakebook
fall
falsetto
feedback
fiddle
fill (English)
flat
foldback
forte or (f)
fortepiano (fp)
fortissimo (ff)
fortississimo (fff)
front of house (FOH)
four on the floor
fuzz bass
ghostwriter
gig
gliss
half-time feel
harmony vocals or harmony parts
harp
harpsichord
homophony
head
honky-tonk
hook
horn
horn section
house band
ignore changes
inside
intro
J-bass
jam or jam session
jazz standard or standard
keyboardist
keyboard amp
lay out
lead
lead bass
leading note
Leslie
line
line in
line out
marcato (marc.)'
master
measure
mezzo forte
mezzo piano
Mic
MIDI
mixdown
monitor
monitor mix
Moog synthesizer
natural
neck
notch filter
noodling
note-for-note solo
octave
octave pedal
organ trio
ostinato
outside
PA system
P-bass
pad
pedal
pedalboard
pedale (ped)
pedal point
performance art
pianissimo (pp)
piano (p)
piano-vocal score
pickup or pick-up
pickup group or pickup band
pizzicato (pizz)
portamento
power chord
producer
quantize
quarter tone
R&B
rallentando (rall.)
register
registration
reggae
remix
reverb
Rhodes
rig
rit.
ritardando (ritard., rit.)
RMS
roadie
Roland
rolled chord
rushing
sample or sampling
scratch
segue
semitone
session musician, session player, or session man
shake
sharp
shred
sidefills
sideman or sidemen
sibilance
sign
sit in
skins
slapping or slap bass
snake
solid-state
solo break
solo
soli
soprano
standard tuning
stompbox
stage piano
Stratocaster (Strat)
Surf Ballroom
subwoofer (sub)
sweetening
sweet spot
syncopation
tablature (tab)
tacet
take
tech
Tele (Telecaster)
tempo
tenor
ticky tack
tight sound
timbre
time
track
trainwreck or train wreck
transcription or note-for-note solo
tribute band
tremolo
tube amplifier or valve amplifier
tubs
tuner
turnaround
unison
utility player
vamp
vamp till cue
vanity record
'verb
virtuoso
vocal score or piano-vocal score
voicing
VU meter
wah-wah pedal
walking bass
wall of sound
weekend warrior
whammy bar
woodshed
XLR
Y-cable or Y-cord
Z
zeppelin
zither
Zydeco