This article is written by Toru Hoshino, a jazz bassist and instructor based in Japan who teaches online lessons to students worldwide. In this article, he shares a quick refresher on the notation symbols and chord notation you’ve probably been reading on autopilot without ever stopping to look up what they actually mean.
You’re playing through tunes just fine, but could you actually explain what every symbol and notation marking in front of you is doing? Let’s take a moment to get the common ones straight.
Contents
Sharp, Flat, Natural
Sharp
#
Raises the note a half step.
Flat
♭
Lowers the note a half step.
Natural
♮
Cancels out a sharp or flat that was applied earlier in the same measure, restoring the note to its original pitch.
Final Barline, Double Barline, and Repeat Marks
Final Barline
This marks the end of one full chorus of the tune. A “chorus” here means one full pass through the tune’s form — verse, B section, and hook all together, like one complete “lap.”
Double Barline
This is used to mark a transition — the end of the verse section, the end of the B section, and so on.
Repeat Marks
When you hit this mark,
you jump back to wherever this matching mark is.
First Ending and Second Ending Brackets
Here’s how to read first-ending and second-ending brackets like the ones below.
Being able to read first- and second-ending brackets is essential if you want to avoid getting lost in a tune.
Major, Minor, Diminished, and the Rest
I’ll skip over the theory behind what each of these actually does and just cover how to read them.
Major Seventh
△7
Read as a triangle plus “7” — “major seventh.”
C△7 ← “C major seven”
B♭△7 ← “B-flat major seven”
Some published charts write C△7 as CM7 instead, with a capital M. Same chord, different notation.
Seventh
7
Sometimes you’ll just see a plain “7” with no triangle at all. That’s a dominant seventh.
C7 ← “C seven”
B♭7 ← “B-flat seven”
Minor
m7
Cm7 ← “C minor seven”
B♭m7 ← “B-flat minor seven”
You’ll also sometimes see m7 written as “-7” instead (C-7, B♭-7, etc.) — same chord, just different notation.
Diminished
dim
Cdim (“C diminished”)
B♭dim (“B-flat diminished”)
Diminished is sometimes written as a small circle instead (C°, B♭°, etc.) — same chord either way.
Minor Seventh Flat Five (Half-Diminished)
m7(♭5), -7♭5
Read as “minor seven flat five,” also called “half-diminished.”
Cm7(♭5) (“C minor seven flat five” / “C half-diminished”)
B♭m7(♭5) (“B-flat minor seven flat five” / “B-flat half-diminished”)
Since the full name is a mouthful, players often just shorten it to “C half-dim,” “B-flat half-dim,” and so on. You’ll also sometimes see it written with a Ø symbol (CØ, BØ, etc.) — same chord.
Slash Chords
A7/F, C7/E, etc.
Sometimes you’ll see two chords written together separated by a slash, like A7/F or C7/E. This is called a “slash chord” — the chord to the left of the slash is the chord itself, and the note to the right is the bass note underneath it. It mostly comes up because of what’s happening in the piano or other harmony instruments.
In these cases, the safest bet for the bass is to play the root note on the right side of the slash (F for A7/F, E for C7/E) — that’ll keep things solid and in place.
There are plenty more symbols used in music notation beyond these, but knowing the ones above will already make reading through well-known jazz standards a lot smoother.
I hope this gives you something useful for your day-to-day practice — and once you’re reading these symbols comfortably, working on translating that into clean, confident playing is exactly the next step worth getting feedback on.
Want Personalized Feedback on Your Playing?
This is exactly the kind of thing that’s hard to fix alone — and where having a teacher makes all the difference.
At Line on Bass, I offer an online lesson service where you send me a video of your playing, and I give you specific, detailed feedback — every single day if you want.
Students from around the world are using this to fix exactly these kinds of issues and steadily improve their jazz bass skills.