Printing chord names - GNU LilyPond

4.13.2 Printing chord names

For displaying printed chord names, use the ChordNames (lilypond-internals) context. The chords may be entered either using the notation described above, or directly using < and >:

     scheme = \notes {
       \chords {a1 b c} <d' f' a'>  <e' g' b'>
     }
     \score {
       \notes<<
         \context ChordNames \scheme
         \context Staff \scheme
       >>
     }

You can make the chord changes stand out by setting ChordNames (lilypond-internals).chordChanges to true. This will only display chord names when there is a change in the chords scheme and at the start of a new line:

     scheme = \chords {
       c1:m c:m \break c:m c:m d
     }
     \score {
       \notes <<
         \context ChordNames {
             \property ChordNames.chordChanges = ##t
             \scheme }
         \context Staff \transpose c c' \scheme
       >>
     }

The default chord name layout is a system for Jazz music, proposed by Klaus Ignatzek (see Literature list). It can be tuned through the following properties:

chordNameExceptions

This is a list that contains the chords that have special formatting. For an example, see input/regression/chord-name-exceptions.ly.

majorSevenSymbol

This property contains the markup object used for the 7th step, when it is major. Predefined options are whiteTriangleMarkup and blackTriangleMarkup. See input/regression/chord-name-major7.ly for an example.

chordNameSeparator

Different parts of a chord name are normally separated by a slash. By setting chordNameSeparator, you can specify other separators, e.g.

          \context ChordNames \chords {
                c:7sus4
                \property ChordNames.chordNameSeparator
                  = \markup { \typewriter "|" }
                c:7sus4 }

chordRootNamer

The root of a chord is usually printed as a letter with an optional alteration. The transformation from pitch to letter is done by this function. Special note names (for example, the German “H” for a B-chord) can be produced by storing a new function in this property.

The pre-defined variables \germanChords, \semiGermanChords set these variables.

chordNoteNamer

The default is to print single pitch, e.g. the bass note, using the chordRootNamer. The chordNoteNamer property can be set to a specialized function to change this behavior. For example, the base can be printed in lower case.

There are also two other chord name schemes implemented: an alternate Jazz chord notation, and a systematic scheme called Banter chords. The alternate jazz notation is also shown on the chart in Chord name chart. Turning on these styles is described in the input file input/test/chord-names-jazz.ly.

Predefined commands

\germanChords, \semiGermanChords.

Bugs

Chord names are determined solely from the list of pitches. Chord inversions are not identified, and neither are added bass notes. This may result in strange chord names when chords are entered with the < .. > syntax.

This page is for LilyPond-2.0.3 (stable-branch).

Report errors to <bug-lilypond@gnu.org>.

4.13.2 Printing chord names

Predefined commands

See also

Bugs