page_title: Chord chart
section_title: Slash notation
hierarchical_section_title: Chord chart / Slash notation
caption_attribution_description: English: Slash notation in 4/4 with a slash on each beat under a i7 iv7-V7 chord progression in B♭ minor.
context_page_description: A chord chart is a form of musical notation that describes the basic harmonic and rhythmic information for a song or tune. It is the most common form of notation used by professional session musicians playing jazz or popular music. It is intended primarily for a rhythm section. In these genres the musicians are expected to be able to improvise the individual notes used for the chords and the appropriate ornamentation, counter melody or bassline.
  In some chord charts, the harmony is given as a series of chord symbols above a traditional musical staff. The rhythmic information can be very specific and written using a form of traditional notation, sometimes called rhythmic notation, or it can be completely unspecified using slash notation, allowing the musician to fill the bar with chords or fills any way he or she sees fit. In Nashville notation the key is left unspecified on the chart by substituting numbers for chord names. This facilitates on-the-spot key changes to songs. Chord charts may also include explicit parts written in modern music notation, lyrics or lyric fragments, and various other information to help the musician compose and play their part.
context_section_description: Slash notation is a form of purposefully vague musical notation which indicates or requires that an accompaniment player or players improvise their own rhythm pattern or comp according to the chord symbol given above the staff. On the staff a slash is placed on each beat (so that there are four slashes per measure in 4/4 time).
  Slash notation and rhythmic notation may both be used in the same piece, for example, with the more specific rhythmic notation used in a section where the horn section is playing a specific melody or rhythmic figure that the pianist must support, and with slash notation written for the pianist for use underneath improvised solos.
caption: Slash notation in 4/4 with a slash on each beat under a i7 iv7-V7 chord progression in B♭ minor
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