Double Row of Chords in Jazz Lead Sheets

• Jan 23, 2020 - 03:37

Is there any "native" capability to enter two rows of chords above the staff in a jazz lead sheet. It would be similar to the capability that exists for entering double rows of lyrics below the staff.

Thanks

Comments

• Jan 23, 2020 - 10:00

Try.
Select a note(head)/or rest, press Ctrl + k and type in any chord.
Press the "esc" key
select the same notehead/or rest, press Ctrl + k and type another chord.

Although not like that of the Lyrics*1, the Musescore software will stack these chords in a row.
chrds.png

*1 The software does not classify and label chords in the form of first line, second line, ... etc.

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• Jan 23, 2020 - 23:30

In most cases, the top line are considered "alternate" chords, and chord be marked as such using the Style setting in the Inspector. Then they will be aligned properly whether there is a corresponding "main" chord on that beat or not.

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• Jan 24, 2020 - 16:43

To enter the parenthesis, you can type them as part of the chord symbol: "(Bmi7" for the first in the sequence above, "Eb7)" for the last, We do automatically parse that and try to lay it out reasonably. But if you want to position the parentheses individually, you'll need to enter them as separate "chord symbols" (e.g., to move the closing paren to the end of the measure in the above example).

The default style for alternate chord symbols places them above the standard chords, as mentioned. It's also italic, and in the jazz templates, smaller. But as with any text style, you can customize these settings, just use the Inspector then hit the "Set as style" button.

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