I use a lot of patient preferred music in sessions by playing actual songs that people request. So, I spend time learning how to sing and play popular (and not so popular) music from different decades and making the lyric/chord sheets so that I can play them later on. Now, I have four binders to prove it!
As a result, I am very particular about how I write my lyric/chord sheets.
Here is a list of tips I’ve learned along the way to help you make your lyric/chord sheets:
- Make each song one page. You may have to organize the lyrics into two columns to accomplish this.
- Use the biggest font you can. You won’t have great eyesight forever and eventually you may be squinting at song sheets you used to see really well before. Also, sometimes sessions are in dimly lit places, big font will help you see in these situations.
- Don’t write all the chords for the second (third, fourth, etc) chorus if they are the same as the first. This will help you save space.
- Bold the chord font AND make it a different color. This is especially helpful when you do the previous tip. Your eye will find the chords faster… or maybe peripheral vision is in play here.
- Write in any unfamiliar chords. Some songs use chords that I don’t necessarily use frequently and would have to sit and think to remember them. So, I just pencil in a fingering chart in the margins for any trick chords. I find that when I do this the unfamiliar chord eventually becomes a familiar chord.
- Write in any finger picking patterns. Same reasons for #5.
- Include information about the song. I always add the year the song was made popular (sometimes there are two or more dates), the author and the artist who made the song popular (there may be more than one). This is just interesting information and can lead into discussions.
What about you? What are your chord/lyric sheet requirements?
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I agree with your ideas. Large print helps in so many ways. I have had clients who like their room with low lights. Larger print is easier to read under these conditions.
Right! It’s amazing how much just big print can help you
Plus they are easy to then hand out to clients if you know the chords well enough!
These are all good tips, Michelle. Sometimes I add in a starting pitch, too, especially if the song is unfamiliar.
Do you carry all four binders with you all the time? If so, wow! If not, how do you decide which songs to leave in whatever your travel bag and which to leave at home? I’m really bad about taking song sheets in and out.
I bring all of them in one of those rolling cubes with the telescopic handle from Office Max. Don’t have to bring all of my binders into every session but I think it’s easier to just leave them all in my cube. I have to bring my cube because my purse is in there
Nice! I do this too but I definitely want to try out color coding! thanks.
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