chord names

• Jul 12, 2012 - 20:36

can you alter the distance between chord names and the system so less distance is used as i cannot find anything in the hand book


Comments

Positions of most text elements is controlled by Style->Edit Text Style. The Chordname section is what you want. You may need to load the score for it to take effect on chords already entered. Most already-entered text elements actually won't listen to changes made in that dialog at all - you need to use the Text Properties right click menu. But chords are not regular text - they are special, generated on the fly based on the chord description file.

In reply to by Marc Sabatella

Yes I did as you said but couldn't seem to get anywhere, However I have found a solution in another part of the forum which said that if I right clicked one of the chord letters and and selected all similar elements I could click and drag them to where I wanted them and this seems to work thanks again

In reply to by bstn40

While I am on the subject of chord names is there a way to seperate the chord letter from the flat sign by a fraction in so could you explain to me just how as some of my E flats look like B flats
thanks again

In reply to by bstn40

That works, but so does changing the chordname text style, which also has the advantage of still working if you add more chords. Again, if you post a score you are having problems with, we can probably help.

As for the flat sign, also note there are multplie chirdname styles to choose from in your *general* as opposed to text) style, as described inthe handbook section on Chord name . the issue you refer to only applies to stdcchords.xml, I believe. The other chord styles already have the flat sign further removed. If you start from the Jazz Lead Sheet template instead of the original Lead Sheet templatw, this style is loaded by default. You might like the chird height better in that template too. It also uses larger chord symbols with a a "hanrdwritten" font, which may may not be something you want.

After I had already added chords to my piece, I noticed they were too far from the system. I selected one chord, right clicked, and selected " text properties." Under "Offset" I entered a smaller number in the "Y" field. Then checked "Apply to all elements of the same type." and clicked "OK." All chords in the piece were moved closer to the system.

In reply to by musicjam

Did they stay there after saving and reloading the file? Normally, they don't. Also, newly entered chords will still show in the original location. And sometimes, using the text porperties dialog as you did actually causes the chords to disappear, although they reappear - in their original locations - upon reload. I would again emphasize the best way to move chords permanently is via Style / edit text style / chord names - altering the Y parameter, as you did - and then reloading. It's really the only way that truly works for all cases.

In reply to by musicjam

No, I mean you have to save and close the score then open it again. Or use file->reload, which is essentially the same thing. After reload, changes made to chirds using properties get lost, but changes made using style finally get applied. Assuming you were eventually going to save and close then open it again anyhow, that's why using the style settings is really the omly way to go.

you were right - the text properties menu did not save the changes. I tried your method and it worked. Glad you have such know how with this somewhat capricious program -- very helpful. What I think is strange is that when I change the y parameter and click apply and OK - nothing happens. It looks as if the program is not responding. But then I save and reload, and voila - the changes are there.

In reply to by musicjam

In 1.2, text style changes usually only affect items created after the change. That will change for 2.0 - text style changes will start affecting existing items too (unless you explicitly set your text to not use the style). It"s just kind of a fluke that this works at all for chords, but chords are not ordinary text. They are special in that they are regenerated on the fly according to the rules in the Chord descriptor XML file - upon reload. This is also why the text properties method *doesn't* work.

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