So you’ve got a basic chord chart down, with all the chords on it. But a song chords do not make. There must be dynamics! Instruments must enter and exit, they must lead and paint the background of the song. And the vocalists sometimes must sing in unison, sometimes in parts, and sometimes only one or two should sing. (hint, if you’re not doing these things with your team then you really should start!). But how do they know when to do these things?

In short: you tell them!

Actually, you can do better than that. You can notate it in your chord chart. Of course, note that if you begin including notes for the musicians (singers and instrumentalists) in your chord charts, they will more often than not run into the two page range of length. Which is fine, at least in most scenarios (and in my experience).

Here’s an example to check out. As a side note, did you catch the what was not on that chord sheet that was supposed to be? Copyright/License information. Yep, this was a chord sheet emailed to me (I won’t say from who… . Suffice it to say they have since changed their ways – but do not make the same mistake. including that information covers the legality (through your church’s CCLI license) to distribute copies of the music of a song.

Okay, back to the task at hand. Did you note how there were, in blue, notes on when certain instruments entered? This is a song that builds, but you can also include a note such as “no piano”, or “no electric/acoustic guitar” as well. You will have to draw attention to these specific notes on entrances and exits for your band, but as they get used to having the notes they will begin looking for where you have them in and out.

Here’s a short list of “commands” you can use  - you don’t have to use these or just these. As long as your team understands what you intend is the key.

• Full Band – this means all band members in, playing their respective parts at the strongest dynamic
• Break – an instrumental break where all instrumentalists mute their instruments
• Piano only – piano is the only instrument playing
• add Bass – a common phrase to indicate the entrance of the Bass into the song
• Vocals melody – all vocalists on the melody line
• Vocals parts – all vocalists on their respective parts (however they have been divided up for the song)

The key to understand is that you can notate within your chord chart when you want specific instruments and singers. This serves two purposes: first, to help you remember how you decided you wanted the song to be arranged; second, to cut down on questions in practice on entrances and exits. Always be open to suggestions and input from your team, but having a plan already in place for a song cuts down on you having to make a call on the spot about something you should have already figured out.

Next up, indicating measures and providing more specific information on chord changes to your team in the chord chart: Part 3!