Voicings for Chord playback
I love the feature that chords sound during playback (and that you can mute if desired). However, in the current implementation, the chord sounded does not contain the note to which it is attached. Different chord inversions and octaves currently produce the same sound. For example, a C-chord could contain the first E note above middle-C, or (moving up) a G note, a C note, etc. Each produces a higher sound. Can a new chord voicing option be added to contain the note to which it is attached?
Comments
Not sure what you mean here - a C chord always contains a C, E, and G, regardless of which note it is attached to or whether there is a note there at (often, there isn't). Do you mean you'd like it to also add a D if the melody happens to also have a D, so now you have two D's? That's wouldn't be very realistic to how people would typically play chords - normally we don't double melody notes that are non-chord tones.
In reply to Not sure what you mean here … by Marc Sabatella
No, that's not it at all. Consider a piano keyboard. You can form a chord (to keep it simple) in different octaves. They don't sound the same. In MS, you can attach a C chord to a C note in different octaves. They shouldn't produce the same sound, which is what MS currently does.
On a guitar, (or banjo or other stringed instrument) a C chord can be formed up and down the neck with different "grabs" or "inversions", which produces different "voicings" of the chord. You can attach the chord designation to C, or E, or G, as you noted. Or any note in the C scale for that matter.
What I'm seeking is a sounding (or voicing) of the chord that follows the melody note as the notes go higher -- or lower.
In reply to No, that's not it at all. … by banjogr8mjv
The rudimentary "chord accompaniment" playback allows options for chord interpretation and voicing.
See:
https://musescore.org/en/handbook/3/playback-chord-symbols-nashville-nu…
However...
To "read" or "follow" a melody line and produce some sort of "chord melody", with different "grabs" (re: banjo, guitar, mandolin) or "inversions" (re: piano, organ) is beyond the intended purpose.
You can, though, by using Tool -> Realize Chord Symbols notate the "chord accompaniment" playback and then change the inversions as you see fit for your particular instrument.
In reply to The rudimentary "chord… by Jm6stringer
Thanks for pointing out Realize Chord Symbols. It's helpful to see what notes are being played and the possibility to change the notes. To accomplish what I'm seeking, it appears that I'd need to add a clef just for the chords and leave the melody line by itself (sans chords) on the original clef. It could get really messy, especially if using jazz chords. I wish there was an easier way to produce "chordal melodies."
In reply to No, that's not it at all. … by banjogr8mjv
I'm still not totally following. As a pianist, or a guitarist, I play the same basic C chord regardless of what the melody note happens to be. It doesn't matter what octave the melody is in, the accompaniment would normally be in the octave around middle C. Now, it's true I might choose to play the chord higher or lower, but actually, it wouldn't be to follow the melody, but to get out of its way. In other words, if the melody is hanging in the octave just above middle C, I might move my accompaniment just below. Or if the melody is hanging out in the octave below middle C, I might move my accompaniment up higher. Or I might elect to play it higher just for some sort of special musical effect that has nothing to do with the melody.
But it is true that when playing a "block chord" harmonization of a melody 0- with each and every note harmonized using a chord voicing - then you necessarily to follow the melody. But that's not what the chord symbol playback is doing. That would be a pretty nifty kind of AI algorithm to consider implementing some day, maybe someone would want to try their hand at it via a plugin. But it's not the intended purpose of the existing chord symbol playback facility, which is more for a separate accompaniment part than a block chord harmonization.
In reply to I'm still not totally… by Marc Sabatella
It's weird to see this exchange because I am pretty horrid about my understanding of music theory and sometimes don't even consider myself a real musician, but.. I think I understand the original post and came here looking for something similar. And I think this might be really basic, so I don't understand responses like yours.
We obviously play different notes on the same chords all the time. Inversions, for instance. And many times, we play the same chord symbols with different notes - it's not all just inversions where you use slash notation to identify the form. Almost all drop 2 notation, for instance, uses the exact same chord symbol even though you have changed which octaves notes are played. Obviously the chord is still hitting the same elements of the chord, but which octave they occur in is different. And this affects the sound of the melody. The same is of course true on the guitar, where you might choose to play an open E major chord, or a barre of the A on 7th or... all use the same chord symbol.
So why not actually play the notes that are listed? Why not be able to, at least, connect the two elements. No AI. Nothing to "infer" here. Just play the song as it is notated when playing the chord notation so it sounds expected?
Indeed, I'm struggling generally with the chord workflow generally. I'd love to be able to specify a chord (say a C7sus4) and then immediately compare different voicings by a simple selection menu (say, classic / block / drop 2 / drop 3 / common inversions / etc.) - and use that to generate the notes. That workflow would naturally tie the chord symbol to the notes which the app could track and play correctly.
Am I missing something in the original posts purpose? All this talk about "it's always the same notes" is just really odd to me.
In reply to It's weird to see this… by nkh7390851332
I'm with you for the first couple of paragraphs, but then I'm completely stumped as to what you mean when you say "why not actually play the notes that are listed". Listed where/how? MuseScore does play exactly the notes called for by the chord symbol. If you write "G7", you get a G, B, D, and F - those notes exactly, none others.
And to be clear: you can change voicings, via the Inspector. You can also generate the notes themselves onto the staff, using the Realize Chord Symbols command.
In reply to It's weird to see this… by nkh7390851332
Take a look at https://musescore.org/en/handbook/3/playback-chord-symbols-nashville-nu… for the "choose a voicing" possibilities.
The playing of chord-symbols in Musescore is just to give an idea.
I did not find it realistic to change the playing position of the chord symbol according to the melody. // For Classical music with strict rules, yes, but chord symbols such as C, Dm7 are not written in this music style anyway.
In pop music and the like, you really don't know in which position the guitarist and keyboard player will play the chords you have written.
If you really want these chords to be struck at a certain position and/or included in the score, you must write them according to the position you want.
Otherwise, the person who will read the chord you have written will only see the chord symbol and play it however they want.
The most realistic thing to do about this is to add some options like "Keep the chords in a (1)lower/(2)upper/(3)mixed(auto) position than the melody".
"Voicing" as a term is something else entirely. Musescore has more or less some options in this regard. Ex: Open voicing, Drop2 voicing, six note, four note, root only... // Of course there are normally more options for voicing than listed here, but those listed here are the ones currently available in the Musecore software.
In reply to The playing of chord-symbols… by Ziya Mete Demircan
Thanks Marc and Ziya. Your comments make perfect sense. I also backup the singer (or soloist) so as to stay out of the way. But on some songs, when it's time for me to take a break (and the song is slow enough), I might play a chordal melody for my break. It's different coming from a banjo, which usually is rolling over arpeggios and finding a melody note occasionally. And chordal melodies are rather pretty IMO.
You've given me great insights on how to score chordal melodies. I was hoping that the program might do it for me. Maybe someday?
In reply to Thanks Marc and Ziya. Your… by banjogr8mjv
Maybe indeed, although as I said, to me that's something better suited for a plugin, and someone could conceivably try their hand at that today, no need to wait! Doing a good job of this is quite complex, choosing passing chords to harmonize non-chord tones, etc. But I know there are programs and even audio processing device out there that do a passable job of this.