Alternate Chord Entry
I would like to see the ability to add alternate chords to a score and a shortcut for entry. I'm guessing it would have to be added to General>Style>Chord Symbols Fretboard Diagrams. See the attached image for example.
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You can create this, and it's much simpler in 2.0 than in 1.3, but a simpler method still would be ncie someday indeed.
Here's how to do it in 2.0 builds:
1) go to Style / Text / Chord Symbol, hit the "New" button to create a new style based on this one, and make your changes there. Maybe call it "Alternate Chord Symbol", make it smaller and with a negative vertical offset.
2) Now you can enter chords and use Inspector to assign them this style. It's probably easiest to enter the alternate chords. Then you can right click one, Select / All similar elements, and change the style to move them up out of the way. Then go back to enter the standard chords.
Ultimately, I'd like to see it so that after entering one chord with an alternate text style and hitting space / tab to move to the next input position, it would automatically get the same text style. So you could enter one alternate chord, set its text style to Alternate, then enter the rest of the chords and they would automatically come out that style. I could see a similar thing for lyrics, to allow for lyrics above and below the staff. Something I have in mind for 2.1.
In reply to You can create this, and it's by Marc Sabatella
I'm using a recent build.
Before entering this post I had your #1 in place naming it Alternate Chord Symbols(What else?). It then went through my mind, how would it know what chord symbol file to use? Is this an issue? The rest is a good work around. Thanks.
In reply to I'm using a recent by rwmol
What do you mean by "chord symbol file"? For 2.0, we've done away with the old-style chord description files; there are now simple radio buttons and checkboxes in Style / General / Chord Symbols. And they apply to all chord symbols regardless of what text style you use. If you intend to do this much, it would be worth creating an empty score set up this way and saving it as a template to use later. Or use Style / General / Save Style and load that style file into other scores.
In reply to What do you mean by "chord by Marc Sabatella
[Quote}What do you mean by "chord symbol file"? For 2.0, we've done away with the old-style chord description files; there are now simple radio buttons and checkboxes in Style / General / Chord Symbols. And they apply to all chord symbols regardless of what text style you use. If you intend to do this much, it would be worth creating an empty score set up this way and saving it as a template to use later. Or use Style / General / Save Style and load that style file into other scores.[Quote}.
It shows that under General>Chord Symbols, Fretboard Diagrams. I was unaware it defaulted to that type of entry.
Anyway, I tried it on a new score. It works fine except for one small issue. If you enter all the Alternate cords and move them with new text (Alternate Chord Symbols) with Inspector, if you go back to enter the other chords, the first chord enters fine but when you use Shift to move to the next chord it moves up to the Alternate Chord symbol. This shouldn't be a problem. Simply move it back down Chord Symbol. A bit of a hassle because you must scroll up to fine Chord Symbol. I would recommend making Style>Text where they can be sorted manually.
Thanks for providing this help it's been a quandary for awhile.
In reply to [Quote}What do you mean by by rwmol
Hmm, yes, you're right. I guess I seldom do a whole line of alternate chords like that so I hadn't thought about that (it's usually one or two substitute chords). Yes, definitely will be a good to have a more streamlined mechanism at some point.
In reply to Hmm, yes, you're right. I by Marc Sabatella
When you have 4/4 time and a measure with a whole note only, using the method above doesn't work. After creating the alternate chord you can't shift to the primary chord. I use this method: create two half notes in a different voice. Create the primary chord. Change it to an Alternate Chord symbol. Now you can make a primary chord then delete the voice and your done.
In reply to [Quote}What do you mean by by rwmol
Here's another method that just occurred to me:
1) enter original chords
2) select them all
3) Ctrl+X to cut
4) optional - paste them somewhere else for safe keeping
5) now enter the alternate chords
6) change their text style and/or position
7) click first note of passage
8) Ctrl+V to paste the original chords back
OK.... Using latest released beta not the nightly builds. I have set up the new style called "Alt Chords" with the same font but smaller size and a negative vertical offset as described here. I have all the primary chords already entered. Now it says you're supposed to "enter the alt chords" and use inspector to set them to this new style. Maybe I could figure out this inspector thing if I knew how to "enter the alt chords" in the first place. I am befuddled how to do this. EXACTLY. and I do mean EXACTLY. Keystroke by keystroke how do I "enter the alt chords"?
P.S. "SELECT all similar elements" does not seem to work on my 2.0 beta 2. didn't on beta 1 either. Using Mac. I get the contextual menu for that and choose "SELECT all similar elements" and nothing happens.
In reply to OK.... Using latest released by Tixrus
Entering the alternate chord is not different from the regular chords: click a note, press Ctrl+K, type the chord symbol. It's not an alternature chord until *after* you enter the chord and change its text style. Until then, it's just an ordinary chord, entered in the ordinary way.
Not sure what you mean about Select all similar elements not working. It works fine in both betas and in the RC. Not sure what you might be doing wrong, but the steps are
1) right click (Mac: ctrl+click) a specific element
2) click Select all similar from the context menu
After this, all elements similar to the one you originally right/ctrl+clicked will be selected. So if you start by right/ctrl clicking a chord symbol, all chord symbols will be selected.
In reply to OK.... Using latest released by Tixrus
With Inspector open, select the note where you want the alternate chord. Press Ctrl K. Enter the alternate cord. Now select the alternate chord. In Inspector under Text, change the Chord Symbol Style to you're new Alt Chord Style. You're new alternate chord is now in it's proper location. Now go back and enter the standard chord. Using space bar doesn't work well for alternate chords. I recommend doing each chord individually.
Is there a simple way to have chord names below the stave rather than above? I can't find any way to do this.
Thanks for any help :)
Bill
In reply to Is there a simple way to have by DrBillBass
Style->Text Style->Chord Symbols->Vertical Offset to, say, 12
In reply to Style->Text Style->Chord by Jojo-Schmitz
Thanks for that. I can see it works for a new file, which is good, but is there any way of editing existing files in .mscz format to change the position of the chord names?
Also, is there a way of setting a chord name below the stave as the default position?
Thanks :)
In reply to Thanks for that. I can see it by DrBillBass
In 2.0 it does apply immediately (in 1.x after a reload I think)
To set as default, use a template or save style as default
In reply to Thanks for that. I can see it by DrBillBass
In 2.0, either of those style settings should affect existing chords, and this does make it the defualt for that score. If you mean make it the default for other scores, perhaps best way is to save your score as a template, and then create scores from that template when you want this style. Or save the style file (Style / Save). In 2.0, you can also specify a saved style file to be the default for *all* scores, in Edit / Preferences.
In reply to Is there a simple way to have by DrBillBass
For most text, the text style setting mentioned above is the way to set default position, and it works for chord symbols. For chord symbols specifically, there is also a default position in style / *general* / chord symbols. The two combine.