When to start playing the chord when a measure starts with a rest symbol?

Question

When a measure starts with a rest symbol should I start playing the measure's chord right when I get to the measure (so there will be a brief period of hearing only the chord without any note) or should I wait with pressing the chords keys until I reach to the 2nd sign of the measure which is an actual note (interpreting the rest symbol as silence for everything, including any chord)?

And what if the rest symbol appeared in the middle of a measure - should I release the chord keys when I reach the rest symbol and re-press them later, or should I hold the chord through the rest?

I'm asking specifically regarding playing a piano.

Answer 1

As a general rule, you play the chord at its "natural" time (e.g., on beat 1) even if there's a rest. A lead sheet shows the melody, which might contain rests or various rhythmic figures, and the harmony (chord symbols), but they are treated as separate parts that can operate independently of each other.

The chord part is the "rhythm section", so handles the rhythmic and harmonic role, while the melody part is the "lead singer", who sits on top of the feel set by the rhythm section.

An exception would be in a song where the rest is there to create a syncopated emphasis on a weak beat (or part of a beat). In that case, the rhythm section (so to speak) will rest with the melody to them emphasize the syncopation.

Answer 2

A lead sheet tells you next to nothing about when to play a chord. You can play the C chord on the downbeat, or you can play a low C on the downbeat and the chord on beat three, or you can play a low G on the downbeat, the chord on beat two, and a low C on beat three, and the chord again on beat 4, or you can play any of dozens of other possibilities.

The rests in the melody belong to the melody only. The rhythm of the accompaniment is at the discretion of the people playing the accompaniment.

In a comment, you ask

What does is mean to "play a low C" - a single press only on the C key?

There are several C keys. "Low C" typically means the one that is two octaves below middle C. And the answer to that question is "yes."

What I am trying to convey is that any of the following examples would be acceptable (though the F on beat three of the second measure is a bit odd with the C chord, so one of them might be wrong -- if not, you may want to choose a figuration that minimizes the clash such as the second example).

X:1
%%score { RH | LH }
L:1/4
V:RH clef=treble
V:LH clef=bass
K:C
V:RH
CCCA|zCFC|
V:LH
F,,2[C,F,A,]2|C,2[C,E,G,]2|
V:RH
CCCA|zCFC|
V:LH
F,,[C,F,A,]C,,[C,F,A,]|C,,[C,E,G,]G,,[C,E,G,]|
V:RH
CCCA|zCFC|
V:LH
F,,[C,F,A,]C,,[C,F,A,]|C,,[C,E,G,]G,,[C,E,G,]|
V:RH
CCCA|zCFC|
V:LH
L:1/8
F,,A,,C,A,, F,,A,,C,A,,|C,C,,E,,G,, C,G,,E,,C,,|
V:RH
L:1/4
CCCA|zCFC|
V:LH
L:1/8
F,,>C,D,>C, F,,>C,D,>C,|C,,>G,,A,,>G,, C,,>G,,A,,>G,,|
V:RH
L:1/4
[F,A,C][F,A,C][F,A,C][CFA]|z[E,G,C][G,CEF][E,G,C]|
V:LH
L:1/8
F,,>C,D,>C, F,,>C,D,>C,|C,,>G,,A,,>G,, C,,>G,,A,,>G,,|

In a comment, Todd Wilcox wrote

IMHO if the lead sheet writer doesn't want the chord to be played on the first beat, they should offset the chord symbol to line up with where they want it played.

Many lead sheets do employ this degree of precision in the placement of chord symbols. Others don't. (Similarly, some are more precise than others about specifying the bass line with slash chords.) Over time, you will learn to judge what the author of the lead sheet is trying to convey and how much liberty you can take with their prescriptions.

But keep in mind: Inherently, the very purpose of a lead sheet is to leave the details to the performer. The lead sheet is the wrong tool for a composer or arranger who wants a specific rhythm in an accompaniment; the right tool for that is staff notation.

Answer 3

The C chord in your example is clearly denoted on the first beat, so, assuming the sheet is correct, you start playing it with the start of the bar.

This is also by far the most likely time for a chord change, statistically speaking.

If the chord symbol was written above the note on the third beat, you'd change chord on the third beat. (But, as noted, it'd be pretty uncommon.)

If you were supposed to stop the accompaniment, you should see the "N.C." symbol for "no chord". This is something that doesn't usually happen in the middle of a phrase, though; a much more typical point would be between verses. The reason you don't see this symbol all that often is that with most songs, the chord accompaniment is meant to be played throughout without any gaps.

Answer 4

That rest only refers to the melody. It needs to be there (or wherever) to signify no note from the tune itself is played.

It has very little bearing on the accompaniment, which is where the chords, and/or bass are played. That whole bar is a bar of chord C, but what you play and when you play it is entirely up to you.

You may decide to, indeed, play a C chord on that 1st beat, nothing at all wrong with that. Or, you may decide to play a bass note C, and follow up with a triad, for instance. It will depend on the style of music being played, so I can't advocate anything specific.

Were there another chord half way through the bar, the symbol would be at that point, above the 3rd beat. But as it is, it's right at the beginning, and lasts the whole bar, so there's certainly no compunction to play it starting on beat 2. That might not be the case if it's a reggae tune, which defers the accent but I very much doubt that's the case here. You might even 'push' the C chord, so it gets played on the & of 4, in the previous bar!

Answer 5

Afaik, these chord symbols in lead sheets are more or less there to give you an idea of the general chord progression of the accompaniment.

So from what I've seen it's actually quite common to really only denote when something changes. So if both of these bars would be F you'd only have an F on the start of bar 1 for example and that should tell you to... "Do something that sounds F-major-ish". Whether you strike the chord on every beat, only on 1 and 3 or only on 2 and 4 or play the base not on the first beat and the rest of the chord later, whether you arpeggiate that or just only strike the chord or it's base note and let the melody take it from there.

All of that is not encoded in that notation, so if not defined elsewhere it's free for interpretation.

Also as other's have mentioned the accompaniment and the melody do not have to play at the same time and the melody line is not imperative for the accompaniment. So as said it's possible to form that chord by having the accompaniment start with a droning base note to establish the tone and then the melody adds the flavor of the chord. Or you could have the instruments mimic or respond to each other. Or you just provide some background music, where a rest in the melody could make the listener appreciate the background before it's going to get overshadowed by what the melody is doing. So not playing at the same time can very much be a deliberate choice.

So as Divizna has mentioned if there should be a solo, the accompaniment could also include a N.C. (no chord) symbol, which would serve as a rest for that section.

Also if there are chord changes within a bar, that can also be indicated by aligning the symbol with a beat, so idk 1 and 3 would be possible or idk 1, 2 and the 3rd chord for the rest of the bar or something like that.

Though if the chord progression gets more complex it probably would make more sense to notate that in a format which encodes more information.