MUSIC READING: Understanding Stage/Slash/Lead Charts

Andrew Wasson of Creative Guitar Studio answer's a viewers question:

Q: I like your videos where it shows you going to gigs and playing at them. One thing I want to know about, is how you can learn so many songs so quickly when you have to play as a sub in a band.

You once made mention that you sometimes only get a few days notice to learn an entire evenings worth of material. This sounds incredible. I am 17 years old and I want to do what you do as a career but the idea of learning so many songs with such short notice is really intimidating.

Can you please do a video talking about this whole concept? I am very curious how musicians do this.

Thanks,
Bradley - Murrells Inlet, SC.

A: To do this kind of gig a musician would either receive or have to write out a quick stage chart, (also referred to as; "lead sheet or slash chart"). This isn't all that hard to do since what we are after here is simply a "rough sketch," of the harmony and overall arrangement of all of the songs that are unknown in a set-list.

In the video I cover many areas of doing a gig like this. Including showing real charts that I have used to do gigs where I had to jump in as a sub.

Material associated to this video is available for download off of the Creative Guitar website.
Follow the link below:
Creative Guitar Studio Stage/Slash/Lead Charts

To watch the videos Bradley had mentioned, follow the link below to the YouTube playlist:
"Events & Live Playing Playlist"