|Instruction manual - Pizzicato 3.6.2||EN533 - Revision of 2013/05/29|
The chords library
Consulting the library [Light] [Beginner] [Professional] [Notation] [Composition Light] [Composition Pro] [Drums and Percussion] [Guitar] [Choir] [Keyboard] [Soloist]
Pizzicato contains a chords library. As we have learned, a chord is a set of notes played simultaneously. Conventions exist to represent chords in the form of numbers and letters.
In a general way a chord will be written as follows:
Note Chord / Bass
- Note is the note name, with or without an accidental, for example C#
- Chord is the abbreviation of the chord type
- Bass is optional and is the name of the note (with an optional accidental) played by the bass (i.e. the lowest note). This note may or may not belong to the chord.
The most common abbreviations are available in the Pizzicato chords library. In the Options menu, select the Chords library item. The following dialog box appears:
According to the Pizzicato version, some elements are not present.
The chord types list is located on the left. For now, the first line is selected. The chord notes list (located in the center of the dialog box) displays how the chord is built, by taking the C note as the root note.
This first chord is a particular case. It is the Major chord. Its abbreviation is empty, in other words it is the chord by default. A chord may be called C and it means the three notes C, E and G. If you speak about an F chord it means Major F and contains the F, A and C notes. To better understand how chords are structured, see for example the lesson about composition.
Click for example on the chord named min b5. The notes which constitute it appear on the right : C, flat E and flat G.
You can thus examine each chord. The notes are visualized each time in relation to the C notes.
In the top right corner, a multiple choice determines how notes will be named. You may select the French denomination (Do, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La, Si, Do) or the international name by letters C, D, E, F, G, A and B. If you change this choice, you must click OK to validate. From there on, Pizzicato will display note names using that preference.
Another option, named Notation, is by default on Standard. The two other choices are used in the case of the C, D, F,... notation, to use the german and semi-german notation convention. When selecting German, the "B" will be displayed as "H" and the "Bb" will be displayed as "B". When selecting Semi-German, the "B" will be displayed as "H" and the "Bb" will be displayed as "Bb".
Two check boxes may be used to save the space used by a chord on the score, by replacing "Maj" by "M" and "min" by "m". They are checked by default.
Modifying the symbols [Beginner] [Professional] [Notation] [Composition Pro] [Drums and Percussion] [Guitar] [Choir] [Keyboard] [Soloist]
In the right part of the dialog box, a series of items determine how chords symbols are placed and drawn.
- Vertical position determines the height at which the default chord symbol is placed. It is a negative distance, compared to the upper line of the staff. Its normal value is -24 (-12 before Pizzicato 3.2).
- Horizontal justification offers three choices: Left, Center or Right. It affects the position of the chord regarding the beat of the measure associated with it.
- The Symbol button lets you modify the structure of the default symbol chord. The following dialog box appears:
If you wish to modify this symbol, see the lesson explaining the drawing tools. The modifications you can make must only concern the colour or the position of the objects. The objects above should never be removed nor exchanged. To proceed otherwise would cause a bad chord display. The six graphic objects display the chord symbol in the format explained at the beginning of this lesson. The third object is the type of the chord, i.e. the name which appears in the library list.
- The Font button fixes the characters font used to draw the text of the chords symbols.
These adjustments are valid for all chords of the list.
However, it is possible to personalize the drawing of one particular chord. Click for example on the chord named Maj7 (# 5). Notice that the Default symbol check box is not checked. It means that the name of the chord (here Maj7 (# 5)) will be replaced by a personalized picture for this chord. Click on the Symbol button just to the right and the following drawing appears:
It is constructed by two text blocks. The first is a triangle resulting from the Pizzicato musical font and the other is a simple text line containing (# 5). In the score, a chord of this type built on the C # note, with a flat E at the bass would thus be represented as follows:
Modifying the library [Professional] [Notation] [Composition Pro]
You can modify the library by adding new chords to it.
- Click on the Add a chord button. A new chord appears. It is named Chord. The text box entitled Chord name is used to modify this name.
- Check the box entitled Note 2. The menu located just to the right becomes active and allows you to select a note. Click on this menu and select the Flat E item.
By clicking the Note 3 box, you can then add a third note to the chord, and so on.
To modify an existing chord, select it on the left list. Its notes appear and you can modify, add or remove notes.
The Down and Up buttons let you to modify the order of the list.
- Select the chord named Chord and click three times on the Down button then on the Up button. Observe the chord position.
- Now erase this chord by selecting it and by clicking on the Delete chord button. It disappears from the list.
We advise you to keep most of the existing chords, so as to keep a compatibility with the following versions of Pizzicato. On the other hand, do not hesitate to complete the library by adding other chords or alternatives to the original chords.