I'm trying to chart out a song, just so I have a chord chart to use for comping. It's in 4/4, and most chord changes happen on the strong beats (1 and 3), but there's a couple of places where beat 3 is anticipated (by an 8th note). For reference, the song is "Sultans of Swing" by Dire Straights.
Is there any sort of convention used to notate, in this example, that the Bb in measure 16 should be anticipated, rather than played right on beat 3?
(I don't have enough reputation points yet to comment, so I'll make this an answer instead. Will convert to comments on other answers later, or to edits on other answers, once I have enough cred to ask those answers' authors whether they welcome the edit.)
I don't see any convention specified in either the "Concise Dictionary of Music" (Wm Collins Sons) or the "Essential Dictionary of Music Notation" (Alfred). Seems like you're on your own to come up with an approach that works best for you. As pointed out in the answer from @Tim, if you're already using staves, then why not jot out just those notes that are pushed, tying them to the downbeat chords to which they push?
Or if you want to go with chord notation, maybe just use that same "Ant." abbreviation that you saw in the examples given at http://www.musicarrangerspage.com/1493/how-to-use-anticipation-in-music/, not as markings on written-out notes in the staff as they do there, but as stand-alone markings prior to the anticipated chord, e.g.
Bb Bb Dmi ant. Bb
Since you're using a stave (don't know why), you can write in the last quaver of the bar previous to the chord to be pushed, with a tie mark across the barline. Write the actual chord over that quaver, thus before the bar. Shortly after that part, there's a syncopated Bb to C part, which really needs writing out in dots, as that rhythm pattern is crucial to the piece. Use notes as suggested by jjmusicnotes to show exactly how it's played. It's the only way.
