Piano Chord diagrams using "Keyboard Chord Diagram" font
Occasionally, the request for piano chord diagrams comes up. I came across the Keyboard Chord Diagram font by Jochen Pietsch which enables the user to put in any chord voicing they want:
https://www.fontspace.com/keyboard-chord-diagram-font-f25876
Once you have installed the font you simply enter "w" or "b" for an unplayed key and "W" or "B" for a played key and use "|" as the end and beginning of a diagram and two separate two adjacent white keys.
So the text for Cmaj7 would be: "|WbwbW|wbWbwbW|"
.. or C13#11 upper-structure (a two hand chord): "|WbwbW|wbWbwBw|wbWbw|wBwbWbw|"
The user might have some minor workflow issues (e.g. use "Lyrics" placement to position chords above staff or use offset to separate the chords from lyrics) but once you have figured these out it works very well.
Comments
Hello Friend!
Thank you so much for sharing this wonderful website which has amazing fonts.
Could you guide me which key I use to write "|" as the end and beginning of a diagram and two separate two adjacent white keys. I don't know exactly what the exact key I use on my keyboard would be.
How did you discover these shortcut letters?
Hug!
In reply to Hello Friend! Thank you so… by mjbartemusica1
Hi,
I came across fonts for tin whistle fingerings and thought someone must have done something similar for piano chords - I looked and I found! It seems that, back in the day, it was very common for people to use fonts as diagrams for music purposes which, when you think about it, is a lot simpler than writing a whole lot of code.
I presume that you cut and paste the "|" character from my post (as the character you used is the one suggested). On the UK keyboard the vertical "|" key is found on the lower left of UK windows keyboards (it is the uppercase option above "\") right next to the "Shift" (upward arrow) key - press "Shift" and "|" at the same time:
It is on the right above "Enter" on US windows keyboards:
If you are using a non-US/UK or non-standard keyboard the "|" character may be missing but you should be able to use the unicode for the "|" character (which is U+007C).
Regards!
Thanks, in past I would have indeed needed also sometimes such a "tool" and from time to time come up similar requests in the forum. Maybe MuseScore 4.x alternatively should have once an inbuild feature similar to the fretboard diagrams for keyboard diagrams.
How can I install it and have musescore recognize it?