ChordPro Implementation: Chords

In ChordPro files, lyrics are interspersed with chords between brackets [ and ]. Strictly speaking it doesn’t matter what you put between the [], it is put on top of the syllable whatever it is. But there are situations where it does matter: for chord diagrams and transpositions.

In general, ChordPro will try to interpret what is between the brackets as a valid chord name, unless the first character is an asterisk, *. In that case ChordPro will remove the asterisk and treat everything else as a text that will be printed just like the chord names. This can be used to add small annotations, e.g. [*Coda] and [*Rit.].

ChordPro can parse chord names in two modes: strict and relaxed.

In strict mode, enabled by default, chord names are only recognized if they consist of

  • a root note, e.g. C, F# or Bb.
  • a qualifier, e.g. m (minor), aug (augmented), or empty.
  • an extension, which must be one of the extension names built-in.

In relaxed mode, the same rules apply for root note and qualifier, but the extension is not required to be known. You are free to make up your own. In relaxed mode, [Coda] would be a valid chord name: root C plus extension oda.

Many ChordPro implementations (formatters) provide chord diagrams at the end of a song, using a built-in list of known chords and fingerings. Clearly, this can only work when the chords in the ChordPro file can be recognized, either in strict mode, or in relaxed mode.

For transposition it is slightly easier. For example, when you’re transposing from A to C, you can replace everything chord-like that starts with ‘A’ by ‘C’ and whatever follows the ‘A’. ‘Am7’ becomes ‘Cm7’ and ‘Alpha’ would become ‘Clpha’, who cares?

Although the ChordPro File Format Specification deliberately doesn’t say anything about valid chords, it is advised to stick to commonly accepted chord names. The ChordPro Reference Implementation supports at least:

  • A, B, C, …, G (European/Dutch), H (German)
  • I, II, III, …, VII (Roman)
  • 1, 2, 3, …, 7 (Nashville)
  • b for flat, and # for sharp
  • Common qualifiers like m, dim, etc.
  • Common extensions like 7, alt, etc.

ChordPro Implementation: Notes

If enabled in the config, ChordPro will understand lowercase root-only chords to mean note names. Note names will be treated (shown, transposed) exactly as chords, but will not account for diagrams.

This can be used for example for intro’s that start with some single notes before the chords:

{comment: Intro [f] [g] [a] [E] }

ChordPro Implementation: Understandable versus known

An often made mistake is to confuse understandable with known.

For example, in the default configuration for guitar, the chord Bbm is understood to be the root key B♭ and qualifier m for minor. Likewise, Besm and B♭m are understood to mean the same chord, and so are Aism and A#m and A♯m. When it comes to transposing and transcoding, ChordPro knows how to handle these.

Root key names and equivalents are defined in the notes section of the config files.

However, when a chord diagram must be drawn, the chord must be known by name. In the default configuration a chord with name Bbm is defined, so it is known and has the information to draw the chord diagram. The chord named Besm is not defined, hence it is not known, and ChordPro can not draw a diagram for it.

Chords are defined in the chords section of the config files, usually in an instrument specific config file, e.g. guitar or ukulele.

ChordPro Implementation: Chord Extensions

The following chord extensions are currently built-in.

Extensions for major chords

Note that ^ is an alternative for maj.

   2
   3
   4
   5
   6
   69
   7
   7-5
   7#5 7#9 7#9#5 7#9b5 7#9#11
   7b5 7b9 7b9#5 7b9#9 7b9#11 7b9b13 7b9b5 7b9sus 7b13 7b13sus
   7-9 7-9#11 7-9#5 7-9#9 7-9-13 7-9-5 7-9sus
   711
   7#11
   7-13 7-13sus
   7sus 7susadd3
   7+
   7alt
   9
   9+
   9#5
   9b5
   9-5
   9sus
   9add6
   maj7 maj711 maj7#11 maj13 maj7#5 maj7sus2 maj7sus4
   ^7 ^711 ^7#11 ^7#5 ^7sus2 ^7sus4
   maj9 maj911
   ^9 ^911
   ^13
   ^9#11
   11
   911
   9#11
   13
   13#11
   13#9
   13b9
   alt
   add2 add4 add9
   sus2 sus4 sus9
   6sus2 6sus4
   7sus2 7sus4
   13sus2 13sus4

Extensions for minor chords

A minus sign - may be used instead of the m to denote a minor chord.

   m#5
   -#5
   m11
   -11
   m6
   -6
   m69
   -69
   m7b5
   -7b5
   m7-5
   -7-5
   mmaj7
   -maj7
   mmaj9
   -maj9
   m9maj7
   -9maj7
   m9^7
   -9^7
   madd9
   -add9
   mb6
   -b6
   m#7
   -#7
   msus4 msus9
   -sus4 -sus9
   m7sus4
   -7sus4

Other extensions 

   aug +
   dim 0
   dim7
   h h7
   h9