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Topic: chord names above the staff (Read 10222 times) previous topic - next topic

chord names above the staff

I am evaluating NoteWorthy Composer for printing songs with different verses and guitar chord names.
I very much like the ability to add up to 8 lyric lines below the staff,
but I haven't found yet a way to easily add the chord names above
the staff
Any solution ?

Re: chord names above the staff

Reply #1 –
Add them as Text - but you will have to have a note or rest pattern in the staff to hang the text on.
Try writing or copying a bass line into the staff then add chords as text without preserving width - position the text to the left of the note to which it applies and it should appear above the note..

Re: chord names above the staff

Reply #2 –
Barry and I have both played with this. For something like an Am7b5b9, you'll have to go to the text "x" function and go to a higher offset to put the b5 on the next line up. It's awkward, but doable. It's one of those tedious chores that isn't worth it until you've actually completed it.
I'd like to see a setting so that you could set a temporary default height for adding text/chords to the score all at once.
And it'd really be nice to be able to lock it into text mode and tab it to the next chord positions. Maybe soon. Anyone else like this idea?

Re: chord names above the staff

Reply #3 –
I'd like to chip into this debate yet again with a plea for an in-built system for chord symbols, and please make it transposable so that when the relevant stave is transposed, the chord symbols are transposed by the same amount. Oh and the use of a proper "flat" synbol instead of a lower case "b" would also be nice too.

Re: chord names above the staff

Reply #4 –
Chord notation is the one thing that keeps me from finally dumping Cakewalk Pro altogether. Even just chord names, without transposition would suffice. I love Noteworthy, and absolutely LOATHE Cakewalk, but without the ability to notate chords I always wind up having to do my final cut on Cakewalk.

Re: chord names above the staff

Reply #5 –
notes for diminished chord with c# as the third.

Re: chord names above the staff

Reply #6 –
Hi

Re: chord names above the staff

Reply #7 –
Here it is 2002 and I'm still having the same problem? Is it just me, or is this still a BIG problem?

Re: chord names above the staff

Reply #8 –
>>...or is this still a BIG problem?

No problem at all.  Replies 1&2 pretty much solve the problem.  The original problem was to "add the chord names above the staff."  As long as they have to be added, why not enter them as text items?  As far as "setting...a temporary default height for adding text/chords," I add the first chord symbol, set the alignment and all other parameters, and then copy & paste it to the next location.  All that's needed is to change the actual chord symbol each time.  I do agree, though, that an "in-built system" which is automatically transposable would be great.  I can figure out the transposition effortlessly, but actually changing all of the symbols does require quite a bit of time.  Also, I do have "a proper 'flat' synbol [sic] instead of a lower case 'b'" in one of my fonts.  It is even raised to the proper vertical position, as are the #, the numbers, and a few other items.

Re: chord names above the staff

Reply #9 –
My favourite font for adding chord symbols is "Opus" - either "Opus Chords" or "Opus Plain Chords"; to be honest, I cannot recall where these fonts came from, whether here or in connection with some other programme I may have briefly tried out in the past.

Whilst I agree that adding chord symbols can be a tedious task, I have developped my own way of speeding up the process: before any other text entries are made to the stave,I copy it onto a new stave and make it invisible. Then enter the chord symbols in the appropriate places over the notes in the invisible stave; at this stage don't worry about the expression placement or anything else; just add the chord names as text items anywhere; you will probably find as I do that you have chord names all over the stave, and even sometimes below; as long as the chord names are immediately before the notes to which they refer, it doesn't matter, and you will find that not having to worry, at this stage, about placement speeds up the process considerably. When you have added all the chord names, select the entire stave, then choose a universal expression placement value for the whole stave - I usually find 11, 12 or 13 works best, and select "at next note/bar" for the whole stave; all your chord symbols are now neatly arrayed in the right place above the "invisible" notes they refer to. Now layer the original stave with this one and - hey presto, the chords appear where they should be over your original stave. If you are adding chord names to a stave containing comping slashes (about which there was a thread quite recently in this forum), it is best not to try to add the comping slashes and chords to the same stave, unless you want your comping slashes floating above the stave.

Re: chord names above the staff

Reply #10 –
"Opus" - either "Opus Chords" or "Opus Plain Chords"

Those fonts ship with the "Opus viewer" and other Opus products distributed by vivaldistudio.com (formerly allegroassai). As for other proprietary fonts, I'm sure there wouldn't be a problem using them for personal use, but wonder about the implications of embedding them in published PDF or PostScript files.

Any lawyers out there who could clarify copyright issues surrounding the use of fonts?

Re: chord names above the staff

Reply #11 –
The one thing about layering, though, is that there ends up being a bar line at the left end of the staff, which is incorrect.  When layering was experimental, it did not do this, but now it does.  All of my guitar parts now have this left barline, and it just looks so bad...
While I agree that Graham's method does seem to save a little bit of time, to me, it's just not worth it.

The Opus family of fonts got onto my computer when I installed a plug-in to view music samples at some other site.  With it, I also got the Inkpen family of fonts, which looks like a jazzer's calligraphy.

Re: chord names above the staff

Reply #12 –
Benton, that there ends up being a bar line at the left end of the staff, which is incorrect: I can't see what you're talking about. Could you let us an URL of a file with this??

Re: chord names above the staff

Reply #13 –
When there is just one staff in the system, it is considered "normal" to have the left end of the staff open. However, when layering there are actually two staves, so NWC inserts the barline.

I happen to prefer having the left staff end closed, so for me this behavior is a bonus...

Re: chord names above the staff

Reply #14 –
Thanks Fred, now I see what Benton meant. What was confusing me is that what he calld the "left bar line" is not a bar line, just a vertical line.  I think it's not related to layering then, rather with staves vertically linked.  It depends on whether you consider that 2 staves layered have to be considered as one or two.

However, if we set the left margin to a value small enough, this left "bar" will disappear, because it will be off the area where the printer can... print.  As well as the score name, by the way (if set to each system); but it shouldn't be an issue, as this problem is in the sole case where you have *one* staff visible per system. In that case you know what staff is the one :)
When there is more than one staff per system, the vertical line should remain, layered or not.

HTH!

Re: chord names above the staff

Reply #15 –
...set the left margin to a value small enough...
No good.  The first line on music needs to be indented.
And preferred or not, that line is incorrect.  I just can't accept having it there.

Re: chord names above the staff

Reply #16 –
Well, as a last workaround, you still can export the pages one by one into .WMF, and modify it into a graphic editor (just remove the little bar on the left end of the staves).

You may have to do it only once on the first page if you use the trick up above... On the indented first staff of first page (select First System on "Staff Label" in Page Setup)

HTH!

Re: chord names above the staff

Reply #17 –
Something else that happens when setting the left margin to a smaller value is the loss of the measure numbers.

...export the pages one by one...
Try this with a chart that's over 400 measures.
All of the horn parts are 5 pages each, the keyboard part is 9 pages, guitar and bass are also 5 each, and I managed to squeeze the drum part onto 3 pages.
And then there's the score...

Re: chord names above the staff

Reply #18 –
Then, your last choice is to ask in the wish list for a new score option:
  • automatic left end (open for one staff, closed for more)
  • left end always open
  • left end always closed