Sheet music is defined as a musical document that describes arrangements, melodies, and chord changes. With the exception of solo performances, where memorization is the norm, rock musicians generally have a sheet music at hand when performing on stage. In fact, professional musicians are expected to develop the art of sight-reading i.e. the ability to perform an unfamiliar work of music upon viewing the sheet music for the first time.

Although all kinds of sheet music is readily at hand, many of the rock singers nowadays prefer to memorize the piece and perform impromptu, either in the practice space or in front of the audience. Music of other cultures, both folk and classical, is often conveyed verbally; though some have sheet music as an aid, a few performers even go the extent of using hand signals or a similar device as a learning aid.

Sheet music may come in several different forms. If a sheet is written for just one instrument, the music will be written on a single piece of sheet music. If it is to be played by more than one person, each person will usually have his or her own piece of sheet music, termed as a part. If there are a large number of performers required for a piece, there may also be a score, which is a piece of sheet music that shows all or most of the instruments' music in one place.

Rock sheet music can be downloaded from a number of websites; the more popular sites include 8notes.com, streetmusicplus.com, freesheetmusicguide.com, www.musicnotes.com, and www.capitolmusiccentre.com.