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: where: 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. 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. 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. 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. 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.