Finally, tabs are used to notate the frets in a guitar composition. Lead sheets display just the melody and chords. Chord charts are a notation system that only display the chords with the lyrics and/or rhythm of a piece. Sheet music is the most common musical notation system that displays all notes of a composition on staves.

The key similarity is that both systems notate every single note of the composition. This means that tabs are idiomatic to the guitar, while sheet music is used for any instrument. The main difference between tab vs sheet music notation is that tabs display fret numbers in lieu of notes on a staff. Chord charts are especially used for pop songs, while lead sheets are especially used in jazz music. This makes lead sheets slightly more challenging to read in general. The main difference between a chord chart and a lead sheet is that a lead sheet displays the melody line on the staff – usually using the treble clef. A guitarist that knows their chords well can pick up new songs quickly, however, reading tabs can help them explore new finger picking patterns. If you are a guitarist it can be good to learn both notation systems at some point. The main difference between a tab and a chord chart is that a tab dictates every note leaving no ambiguity on where to place your fingers, while a chord chart only displays chords allowing the guitarist to choose how and where they want to place their fingers. Sheet music is frequently used to notate music in any genre, but especially classical music. Lead sheets are more commonly used to notate jazz, pop, and folk tunes, but are rarely if ever used for classical music. Lead sheets lend themselves better to creative interpretation, while sheet music eliminates ambiguity. Lead sheets, on the other hand, notate the melody on the staff, but leave it up to the musician to interpret the chords.

The main difference between lead sheets and sheet music is that sheet music notates every single note. To better understand each notation type, let’s directly compare some of them.

It’s more challenging to see the bigger picture because every single note is notated.

The notation format is not available to non-guitarists.

Guitarists won’t grow as musicians if they always rely on tab notation and never branch out into learning chords or sheet music notation.

Chord charts on the other hand only list chords.

Similar to sheet music, a composer can notate exactly which notes they want played.

Even beginners can work off of tabs because it tells you exactly what to play.

Mintz l, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

In the end piano tabs