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3.2.4 Combining notes into chords

Music Glossary: chord.

We saw earlier how notes can be combined into chords: by enclosing them in double angle brackets we indicated that they are simultaneous. However, the normal way of producing a chord is to surround the pitches with single angle brackets. Note that all notes in a chord must have the same duration, and that the duration is placed after the closing bracket.

\relative { r4 <c'' e g> <c f a>2 }

Think of chords as almost equivalent to single notes: virtually everything you can attach to a single note can be attached to a chord, and usually these attachments must be put outside the angle brackets. For example, you can combine markings like beams and ties with chords.

\relative {
  r4 <c'' e g>~ <c f a>2 |
  <c e g>8[ <c f a> <c e g> <c f a>]
    <c e g>8\>[ <c f a> q q]\! |
  r4 <c e g>8.\p q16( q4-. <c f a>) |
}

The above example also demonstrates a very useful feature: a chord can be repeated by using the symbol ‘q’. This even works with interspersed single notes.

\relative { c'8 <e g>8 q q g, q q q }

See also

Notation Reference: Chorded notes.