1

Chapter Four
Musical Shorthand: Lead Sheets and Figured Bass

Lead-Sheet Notation

A.

# # www www
1 2 3 4 5
& b b www b www w
b ww

bw
6 7 8 9 10
# ww b ww
& w # www b b b www b www
B.
b ww
b wwww bw
1 2 3 4 5
ww b www #w b b www
& # www bw

b www
b ww b ∫ bb wwww w
6 7 8 9 10
& # ww b b wwww bw b b b www

C. Note: Each of these chords may be symbolized another way. Refer to Example
4-2 in your text.

1 FMaj7 2 Bm7-5 3 Edim 4 Cø7 5 Dm7

6 AMaj7 7 Bo7 8 G 9 Em7 10 BAug

D.

1 2 3 4 5
bw www
& ww b ww # # # www b ww
w
w
? w bw bw w bw
 2

6 7 8 * 9 10
b ww ww b ww w w
& #w ww b b ww w
#w
? w bw w
w bw
* Erratum: The intended chord symbol was Eø7/D, making the bass Dn.
E. F/G E-/G Dm7/G C/G Gb/Ab Fm/Bb
F#/B DbM7 CMaj7/D D/E EbM7/F Fm/G GbM7/Ab

F. F F/E * Dm Dm/C BbMA7 F/A Am7/D D G7 Gm7/F *

* Where the bass note is also the chord seventh, the chord may be symbolized either
as a triad or as a seventh chord. Both symbols are accurate reflections of the harmony.

G. Am Am7/G F FM7/E Bo/D Bø7/F E Am D7

R 3 R 3 1 2 R R R

GM7 GM7/F# Em7 A D D7 G

R 3 R R R R R

Figured Bass Notation

w 4 ww
# # # www
1 2 3 5
A.
? b # ww b b b b ww bbbbb w # # ww
w w
M M M o o

? # www
6 7
# # # ww b
8
ww 9
# # www
10
w b
b b bb w b b b www
M m m m M

# # www
14 15
? # www ww # # # www
11 12 13
w
b b b b ww b
b w
M* m o M o
3

* What was I thinking?? As it stands, the sharp is redundant given the key. I
believe a “5” was inadvertently left out, and the symbol should have been “#5”,
making this an augmented triad. RT
b6 6 6
B. 1 #6 2 # 3 4 4 n 5 6 6 # 7 n 8 n6 9 n 10 6

œ œ œœ œœ n ˙˙˙
?1 b b c œœ n œœ œœ
C.

b b
œ œ œ n œœœ

œœ œœ œœ œœ # œœ
?2 # # œœœ œ œ œ œ œ œœ œœ œœœ œœ
œ
˙˙
˙
œ œ
œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ
?3 b b œœœ œ œ œ œ œ œ œœœ

4 # œœœ
? œœ œœ œœ # www
œ œ # œœœ œ œœ
œ
œ
# # œœ # œœœ