View the full lesson at Basic Chord Chart Writing | JustinGuitar
I am at the stage where I am looking to learn songs that Justin has not done lessons for so there is none of his tabs available so I am using Option 4.
However from a source like UG the chord lyric does not indicate how many beats that chord is played for, so you have to work that out for yourself, so that’s fair enough.
However I wonder if there is standard way of writing this out. For instance if there are two chords in a bar Justin in his tabs generally shows two vertical lines with the two chords between the lines.
However in his recently published Christmas Songs he also shows / to indicate the number of strums after the chord reference, explanation and example below.
Just wondered if this was conventional way of doing things and worth doing especially if there was three chords in a bar.
Or are there any other conventions to show this information.
Michael
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Here’s what the lesson text says in regards to your question:
MORE THEN ONE CHORD IN A BAR
So far we have just looked at having one chord in a bar, but as you have probably noticed, chords often change more than once a bar.
If you have two chords in a bar and the chord changes half way through the bar then you can probably get away with having one chord at the start of the bar and one written half way. I do this most of the time and most people will assume that that if there are two chords written in a bar then the change will happen half way through.
If the chord changes on a different beat, the easiest way to write it is to add 4 slash lines in the bar (which will represent the 4 beats in the bar) and then write the new chord above whichever beat the change happens. Easy done.
Working this out can be a little challenging at first, but like everything else it just takes a little practice. One of the best things you can do is count along with songs as you listen and just get used to hearing (and instinctively knowing) where “1” is - that is you just get a feeling for beat one, and therefore every other beat too!
Hope this helps 
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@MAT1953 A couple of examples …
For the ‘blank’ bars I would often write suggested strumming patterns.
I hope that helps.
Cheers 
| Richard_close2u | JustinGuitar Official Guide, Approved Teacher & Moderator
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Eddie @Fast-Eddie
Thanks for pointing me in the direction of the lesson, makes sense and I can follow the logic.
Richard @Richard_close2u
Thanks for the example, all clear to me now.
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