Music charts

Almost nothing a musician has to learn early on is difficult. It is invisible, which is a different problem: which notes the key signature carries, where the same shape sits three frets up, how long a dotted quaver actually lasts. A sheet on the wall answers that without the instrument leaving your hands, and that is the whole difference between looking something up and losing the thread.

Three kinds of sheet sit under this tag. Theory that does not change — the circle of fifths, note values, intervals. The geography of an instrument — the notes along the fretboard, the layout of the keyboard, first chords for guitar and ukulele, the pentatonic box, scale fingering, and the alternate tunings from drop D to open C. And two working references for anyone who records rather than only plays: which instruments occupy which part of the spectrum, and where things usually sit across the stereo field.

They are made for a practice room, the wall above a piano, or the space beside a desk in a small studio. A3 is the sensible default; A4 only if it hangs within reach of the stool.