Skip to main content ↑ ↓
Topic: Saving Frequently Used Chords? (Read 5240 times) previous topic - next topic

Saving Frequently Used Chords?

Is it possoble, after constructing a chord note-by-note, to save that chord so in future sessions (on different songs where copying and pasting is not possible) you can easily recall and insert that chord without having to reconstruct it note-by-note?

Re: Saving Frequently Used Chords?

Reply #1 –
You can't save a chord as a "chord file," if that's what you mean.

But it is possible to open more than one *.nwc document window within NWC. You can copy from one music file, and paste to another. There are already several users who have created utility files of their favorite things, for just that purpose.

Keep in mind that if a note (or chord) is shifted vertically on the staff, it is just that: a vertical shift of the selected notes. For example, suppose your staff is in the key of C Major, and that your chord is C Major (CEG). If you shift that chord up one staff position, it becomes DFA, which is not a Major chord.

Re: Saving Frequently Used Chords?

Reply #2 –
For example, suppose your staff is in the key of C Major, and that your chord is C Major (CEG). If you shift that chord up one staff position, it becomes DFA, which is not a Major chord.

Personally, I wish if I shifted CEG up one position that I would end up with C#FG# and not DFA. That is it would be one semitone up, not one staff position up.

As for the original question, there is a way, but it may be too much of a hassle. You could copy the selection to the clipboard and save that in a file. Windows comes with a little utility that can display the contents of the clipboard, save them in a file, and later load the clipboard from the file. In older versions of Windows it was accessible from the Start/Programs/Accessories menu. In XP it is no longer listed there but it is in C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\clipbrd.exe. Personally, I have a shortcut on my desktop because I use it all the time.

Now, NWC uses its own format, so the clipboard program may not be able to show you the information, but it can save it to a file and it can load it back from the file, and then you can safely paste it to a NWC staff.

Re: Saving Frequently Used Chords?

Reply #3 –
C#FG#?!?! C#FG#!?!?  What kind of chord is that?
It's C#E#G#, or DbFAb.
But C#FG#?!?!  C'mon!

Re: Saving Frequently Used Chords?

Reply #4 –
C#FG#!?!? What kind of chord is that?

C#sus(dim4)? :-p

More seriously, there are occasions when it's useful to use alternate spellings for chords. For instance, some would claim that there is no such thing as an augmented minor, but I beg to differ. For example: C. Eb. G#. Individuals steeped in equal-tempered tonality would argue that this is simply an inversion of the flat 6 (Ab) major chord. However, in certain progressions, it has much more of the feel of an augmented chord. For example, play this progression:

C Eb G
C Eb G#
C F A
D F Bb

Is the second chord an Ab major, or a C minor augmented fifth?

Cheers,
Fred

Re: Saving Frequently Used Chords?

Reply #5 –
What kind of chord is that?

A good sounding one. :) One that my computer has keys for. I will not stoop so low as to use a lower-case 'b' for a similar looking but clearly distinct musical symbol.

Of course, I could have written it the way we say it in my region, i.e. Des F As, but I don't know how many Yankies would understand. ;)

Re: Saving Frequently Used Chords?

Reply #6 –
On behalf of Fred, I'll ask: Who are you calling a Yankee? :)

Re: Saving Frequently Used Chords?

Reply #7 –
!i(...there are occasions when it's useful to use alternate spellings for chords.
This is not one of them.
And in your example -
C Eb G  = i
C Eb G# = VI
C F A  =V/V/III
D F Bb  =V/III (the next chord being-
Eb G Bb =III (or in the key of Eb: vi IV V/V V I).
the second chord is Ab major.
I hear it this way even without a bass line.

What kind of chord is that?  A good sounding one.
C# Fb Bbb sounds good, too, but I would never notate that in real music.

I will not stoop so low as to use a lower-case 'b' for a similar looking but clearly distinct musical symbol.
You stooped low enough to use a # for a sharp, though.

Many of us Yankees have learned Des F As.
 

Re: Saving Frequently Used Chords?

Reply #8 –
Many of us Yankees have learned Des F As.

Good for you. :)

Just for the record, our scale is C D E F G A H C. B to us is what you call Bb. C sharp we call Cis (etc). I was very confused when I came to America and saw the letter B used in a totally different way. Also, we do not talk of C major but C dur (and mol for the minor).

Thank goodness the notation is the same everywhere. :)