Chords
I'm new to MuseScore and so far very impressed - except for one thing...
I've searched hard on the forums to find how to do what seems to me to be the most basic operation imaginable: in a piano stave, write two or more notes to make a chord. The instructions say holding the shift key is the trick, but this just doesn't work. It's not a question of the second (or third or more) notes being added in the wrong place. Whatever I do with the shift key my second note always replaces the existing one. I work by keying in the main melody line then want to come back and add chorded notes where required (NB not as a second voice!), but just can't MuseScore to do this. Can anyone help, please?
Comments
Hi, I do add chords a lot, this way: to enter a note ABOVE the one you already have, select it with your mouse (it turns blue) and press Alt + number key for the interval you want. To enter a note BELOW, press Shift + number key. On the first case, I can use the key numbers on the main keyboard or the expanded numeric keyboard, on the right side (only in expanded keyboards). BUT in the second case, it only works with the numeric keys of the main keyboard (the expanded one creates tuplets).
In reply to Hi, I do add chords a lot, by pdro74
Very many thanks for this! Works just fine.
Let's hope a future implementation will allow for a straightforward Shift+note from a mouse or midi keyboard.
In reply to Very many thanks for this! by FrankO
I'm not sure what you mean. I do this all the time, and it works exactly as expected. To wit:
1. select a meausre
2. hit "N" for note entry mode
3. hit "C" to enter a C
4. hit "shift-E" to enter an E
5. hit "shift-G" to enter a G
I ended up with a single chord consisting of C, E, and G all on one stem. Are you saying you are seeing something different?
In reply to I'm not sure what you mean. I by Marc Sabatella
Many thanks: you're right and this works perfectly. But I was entering notes either from my MIDI keyboard or with a mouse. So now I've learned, thanks to these two pieces of kind feedback. The trick works with the Shift key and a computer keyboard entry but not with the two other recommended methods for entering notes. Or I can use the alt key and the keypad by putting in an interval. My novice mistake was to assume that if one has three different ways of inputting a single note, the same three methods would work to generate a chord with the Shift key held down. Maybe it will in future versions?
In reply to Many thanks: you're right and by FrankO
It's the point of mouse and midi entry to not use the shift key.
To enter a chord note in the mouse, just click where you want the note to appear (in note entry mode)
In midi entry, just play the chord on your keyboard.
In reply to It's the point of mouse and by [DELETED] 5
Hmmm... then the interface is a bit illogical. Fair enough; I've learned a lot from you guys in a very short time. So if one is correcting a first pass with mouse or MIDI one just clicks the note (mouse) or plays the chord (MIDI). But if you do press the shift key you then get the opposite effect with mouse and MIDI from what happens with the computer keyboard. Obviously I'll adapt to this now I know what's what, but wouldn't a rational interface, offering a lot of alternative input modes, be best using the shift function for 'insert extra' in all modes rather than insert in some and replace in others?