Stacked chords vs slash chords and why both are important
It might be good to implement stacked chords in addition to slash chords. Stacked chords are not cosmetic. Stacked chords are a different way of expressing complex chords. For example, Bb13b9#11 can be written in stacked fashion like this:
Em7
=====
Bb7
Same exact notes. Here's a grounding theory on why this might be preferable. Basically it's called "chunking". In the first example you have a chord (Bb13b9#11) with 7 distinct notes. In the second example you have the the same notes, but they are referenced as two "chunks" played together. The idea is the brain can more easily handle 2 chunks of something better than 7 individual units. Hope that makes sense.
See the new 2016 "Real Book - Enhanced Chords Edition" by pianist David Hazeltine. He gives a short explaination of his use slash chords in the forward.
Comments
That's good. I concur.
This is actually pretty easy to do - just enter the bottom cord first, then enter the top - automatic placement will put it directly above Then set the top to underline using the Inspector.
In reply to This is actually pretty easy… by Marc Sabatella
Thank you. That works.
In reply to This is actually pretty easy… by Marc Sabatella
I tried that and ended up with this: Ab7Bb. The Bb chord did not end up above the Ab7. What did I do wrong?
In reply to I tried that and ended up… by stever808
Hard to say if you don't attach your score. Works fine for me. My guess is you didn't enter them as two separate chords, but simply typed all that text into a single chord.
In reply to Hard to say if you don't… by Marc Sabatella
You are correct. I type them into the same chord. I do not understand what you mean by "enter them as two separate chords." I click on the note above which I want the stacked chord. I click "Command K" (I am using a MAC). A box appears above the note. I type a capital "D." The "D" appears in the box. I next type a capital "C" which appears next to the "D." I then type escape and the chord I am left with is DC rather than a D with a C directly above it. So, when you say "two separate chords" what exactly to you mean? If I type a "D" then hit the space bar, it takes me to the next note and a different or separate chord.
In reply to Hard to say if you don't… by Marc Sabatella
Never mind. I see it.
In reply to Hard to say if you don't… by Marc Sabatella
Last question, I hope: After I have entered the two chords, I would like to underline the chord on top. However, I can't get the inspector to appear. How do i highlight the upper chord and get the inspector to appear?
In reply to Last question, I hope: … by stever808
Got it.
I may have spoken too soon. It almost works. The underline attribute (using the inspector) is uneven under each of the three characters, especially the superscripted 7 as shown. I'm using MS 3.1.0 beta.
In reply to I may have spoken too soon… by DrumDog79
Good point, the positioning in the Jazz style defeats this. You could switch to Standard style (and still use MuseJazz for the font).
So, another idea, use three chord symbols, the second is just "____". Here, the problem is the underlines don't fully connect. So, instead, create it as staff text, turn off autoplace, and then move it into position. Not as convenient, but works for now. In 3.1, disable autloplace for a symbol is as easy as pressing "=", so that followed by up arrow a few clicks should do it.
I wholeheartedly second that this notation is plenty standard/common/published/performed enough to warrant a self-contained feature. Workarounds per se are bound not to survive future updates. I can personally vouch for the Sisyphean quality of that exercise re: "stacked chords."
In reply to I would wholeheartedly… by kacattac
The nice thing about the method I described is that it is pretty well guaranteed to survive future updates - it doesn't rely on anything "funny". That said, sure, someday it will be nice to support this out of the box.
See #311431: Support Stacked Chords