Chord notation systems

To enter notes, see Voices chapter.

A chord notation Text describes harmony. MuseScore supports

• Chord symbol: alphabetical chord name plus chord quality eg Am (wikipedia),
• Nashville Number System (NNS) (MuseScore 3.3 and above): arabic numeral plus chord quality eg 6m (wikipedia), and
• Roman Numeral Analysis (RNA) (MuseScore 3.3 and above): roman numeral plus chord quality eg vi (wikipedia).

Side note: To fill measures with slashes as shown above, see Fill with slashes or Toggle rhythmic slash notation.

Chord symbol

Adding a chord symbol

1. Select a note or a rhythmic slash symbol;
2. Press Ctrl+K (Mac: Cmd+K) to create an empty symbol. It is now in Text editing mode;
3. Enter as explained below without any space;
4. Optionally use keyboard shortcuts to proceed to edit a neighbouring chord symbol;
5. Press Esc to exit Text editing mode. Once exited, the text assumes correct format.

To enter root (shown below Standard spelling, eg Am7. See "Note spelling" section for alternatives.)

• Letter name: A, B, C, D, E, F, G, and their lowercase. See "Automatic Capitalization" section.
• Sharp: # (hash symbol, Alt+3 on a UK keyboard).
• Flat: b (small letter "b").
• Double sharp: x (small letter "x") or ## (hash character twice).
• Double flat: bb (small letter "b" twice).

To enter extension and modifiers

• Major: (no extension), M, Ma, Maj, ma, maj, Δ (entered with lowercase t or ˆ, the latter doesn't seem to work on Windows though).
• Minor: m, mi, min, -.
• Augmented: aug, +.
• Diminished triad: dim, ° (entered with o, lowercase "o". Shows as superscript if using the Jazz style, as o, the Greek omicron, otherwise).
• Dominant seventh: 7 (shows as superscript if using the Jazz style).
• Diminished seventh: dim7, °7 (entered with o7, lowercase "o" and number seven).
• Half-diminished seventh: m7b5, mi7b5, -7b5, ø7 (entered with 07, number zero and seven. Shows as superscript if using the Jazz style).
• Major seventh: M7, Ma7, Maj7, ma7, maj7, Δ7 (Δ alone is interpreted as major triad).
• Minor-major seventh: mM7 ...
• 69: 69, 6/9.
• Suspended and others: sus, sus4, sus2, 4 (4 = add11), 6, add6, 6-9 (6-9 = 6b9), 6+9 (6+9 = 6#9), 9, 7(add9), b9, 11, 7#5, no3 (no3 = omit the third), alt ...
• Commas; and Parentheses enclosing part or the whole symbol.
• Unsupported: drop2

To enter slash chord and inversion eg C7/E, use /. Fine vertical adjustment unsupported.

Advanced users can add the following characters, which are incompatible with playback, transposition and MusicXML export.

• To enter natural(♮): Ctrl+Shift+H. (Mac: Cmd+Shift+H)
• To enter blank space: Ctrl+Space (Mac: Alt+Space).

Navigation keyboard shortcuts

Use these to navigate while in text-editing mode. New item is automatically created where necessary. Beat information is obtained from Time signatures only.

• One note, rest, or beat forward: Space.
• One note, rest, or beat backward: Shift+Space.
• One beat forward: ;.
• One beat backward: :.
• One measure forward: Tab.
• One measure backward: Shift+Tab.
• A duration forward: Ctrl+1-9(Mac: Cmd+1-9).

Editing a chord symbol

1. Double click a chord symbol.
2. Follow step 3 onwards in "Adding a chord symbol" section.

Appearance settings

Covered in the Layout and formatting chapter. With regard to chord symbols, there are

• Properties of individual score item editable in Inspector; and
• Global profiles (the "Full Score" and each Musescore Part has its own independent set)
  • Format → Style → Chord Symbols, which contains rendering style; and
  • Format → Style → Text Styles → Chord Symbol, or any other TextStyle applied manually, such as Format → Style → Text Styles → Chord Symbol (Alternative), an unused, separate profile desinated for reharmonization scores.

Rendering style

Rendering style (term used in handbook only) is chord symbol's specialized automatic formatting feature. It is

• not a property of individual score item, but
• a global setting in Format → Style → Chord Symbols: Style.
  • Standard: No extra automatic formatting. This is the default if a non-Jazz template is used to create the score.
  • Jazz: Automatic formatting such as superscripting extensions and modifiers (eg the 7 in G7); Applies MuseJazzText fontface. Other fontface settings are ignored. This is the default if a Jazz template (eg "Jazz Lead Sheet") is used to create the score.
  • Custom: Use a custom chord symbols style file (*.xml) under the "styles" directory (in Windows 10 C:\Program Files\MuseScore 3\styles\). For advanced user and file compatibility only. See documentation under the same folder, and "External links" section.

Font face

Font (font face, typeface, or font family) is available as

• a property of individual score item (higher priority); and
• a global setting in Format → Style → Text Styles → Chord Symbol, or the profile applied to the score item.

Not as useful as rendering style, because assigning a fontface (eg MuseJazzText) does not automatically apply appropiate superscript or subscript to extension and modifiers, but see "Adjusting position" section. Fontface assignments are ignored when using "Jazz" rendering style, as shown below.

Note spelling

Chord root note spelling convention is a global setting in Format → Style → Chord Symbols. Options are,

• Standard: A, B♭, B, C, C♯,... The default setting.
• German: A, B♭, H, C, C♯,...
• Full German: A, B, H, C, Cis,...
• Solfeggio: Do, Do♯, Re♭, Re,...
• French: Do, Do♯, Ré♭, Ré,...

Automatic capitalization

Automatic capitalization is a global setting in Format → Style → Chord Symbols. Options are,

• Check box: Enabled by default.
• Lower case minor chords: Disable conversion if the chord is a minor, diminished, half-diminished 7th, or diminished 7th chord. When disabled, "c, cm, cm7" converts to "C, Cm, Cm7". When enabled, "c, cm, cm7" converts to "C, cm, cm7".
• Lower case bass notes: Disable conversion of note after slash. When disabled, "c/e" converts to "C/E". When enabled, "c/e" converts to "C/e".
• All caps note names: For "Solfeggio" and "French" spelling only. eg "do, re, mi" to "DO, RE, MI"

Adjusting position and size

Position and size adjustments of the extension and modifier portion are global settings in Format → Style → Chord Symbols → Extension scaling, Modifier scaling, Extension vertical offset, Modifier vertical offset.

Position adjustments affecting the whole symbol are culminative. They are available as

• Properties of individual score item
  • Offset X and Y, and
• Global settings
  • Under Format → Style → Chord Symbols: Positioning.
    • Distance to fretboard diagram: Above the diagram.
    • Minimum chord spacing: Between neighbouring chord symbols.
    • Maximum barline distance: Between a measure's last chord symbol and the following barline. Increase this value to remove overlapping between symbols across a barline. Rarely needed.
    • Maximum shift above/below: Adjust to align symbols vertically.
  • Under Format → Style → Text Styles → Chord Symbol, or the profile applied to the score item.
    • Offset X and Y

Automatically create extra chord symbols with capo

For capo device users. Enable this feature to create extra bracketed chord symbol next to each existing chord symbol on the score. The bracketed symbol, when played using capo, sounds identical to the unbracketed one.

• In Format → Style → Chord Symbols: Capo fret position.
• Assign the capo position for the appended extra chord symbol. Default value 0 does not create extra chord symbols.

Converting chord symbols into notes

To lay down chord notes onto a score,

1. Select one or more measures
2. From the menu, select Tools → Realize Chord Symbols.

Configuration of which notes to lay down is covered in the Playback: Chord symbols / Nashville numbers chapter.

Editing notes afterwards is covered in the Voices chapter. There are also plugins such as,

• Chord Level Selector
• PruneStack
• Next inversion: replaces all chord(s) in (keyboard) selection with their next inversion

Transpose chord symbols

Chord symbols within the selection are transposed with Transpose command unless "Transpose chord symbols" option is unchecked.

Playback of Chord symbols

(MuseScore 3.3 and above)

See Playback: Chord symbols / Nashville numbers.
Note: The triangle symbol Δ in Musescore creates a Major triad only.

Nashville Number System

(MuseScore 3.3 and above)

The Nashville Number System is a shorthand way of representing chords based on scale degrees rather than chord letters. This allows an accompaniment to be played in any key from the same chord chart.

To start entering Nashville notation:

1. Select a start note;
2. Add → Text → Nashville Number.

Input syntax and navigation keyboard shortcuts are similar to that of chord symbols.

Convert Nashville into notes

Same as chord symbol, see "Convert chord symbols into notes" section.

Playback of Nashville

(MuseScore 3.3 and above)

See Playback: Chord symbols / Nashville numbers.

Roman Numeral Analysis

Not to be confused with Figured bass.

(MuseScore 3.3 and above)

The Roman Numeral Analysis system is a type of musical analysis where chords are represented by upper and lower case Roman numerals (I, ii, III, iv etc.), superscripts, subscripts and other modifying symbols.

Enter RNA

1. Select a start note;
2. Add → Text → Roman Numeral Analysis, or the keyboard shortcut assigned in Preferences;
3. Input the RNA symbols for the chord just like normal text, as follows;
   • Major chord: Upper case roman numerals
   • Minor chord: Lower case roman numerals
   • Diminished chord: o (lower case)
   • Half-diminished chord: 0 (zero)
   • Augmented chord: +
   • Seventh chord and inversions: Enter up to 3 single-digit numbers, top note first.
   • Accidentals: enter hash character (#) for a sharp, small letter b for a flat and h for natural. Do not use unicode eg U+226D (flat sign, ♭).
   • To disable automatic conversion into professional glyph or superscript, prefix the character with a backslash, "\". For example, "\h" adds a literal letter "h" instead of a natural symbol.
   • Inversion notation using alphabet a,b,c,d can be created with the method described above.
   • Inversion notation using vertically aligned arabic numerals without accidentals such as 64 can be created with the method described below.
   • Inversion notation using vertically aligned arabic numerals with accidentals such as 6#3, ie altered chord, is unsupported, workaround : create Figured bass text instead; or create separate text objects and manually nudge them into place.
   • For other symbols, see the images below.
4. Move the cursor forward or backwards to continue entering or editing symbols for other chords;
5. When RNA is completed, exit by pressing Esc, or by clicking on a blank section of the score.

RNA input offers the same keyboard shortcuts for navigation as in chord symbols (see above ).

Upon each computer keyboard input, characters are automatically converted to the correct format. MuseScore uses a specialist font, Campania, to provide the correct formatting for RNA. See also Fonts.

Examples of RNA

Type this:

To get this:

Playback of RNA

Musescore 3.6.2 does not create playback for RNA.

Identify harmony or chord

Use a plugin such as:

• Chord Identifier (Pop & Jazz) for music that features harmonic chromaticism heavily, as the RNA created has jazz influence.
• Chord ID and Roman numeral analysis for music that features stable tonality, as conventional RNA are created.
• Harmony analysis tool (keys, chords and harmonies)

External Links

• Campania font
• Chord Symbol Voicings for Playback

Chord symbols style file (*.xml):

• chords.xml with sub/superscript and stacked chord alterations shared by RunasSudo
• github issue Support for chords with stacked extensions #16241 workaround by MarcSabatella