Directives: define
See also: chord.
Defining chords for string instruments
This directive defines a chord in terms of fret/string positions and, optionally, finger settings.
{define:
name base-fret
offset frets
pos pos … pos}
{define:
name base-fret
offset frets
pos pos … pos fingers
pos pos … pos}
A fret position is designated with a
number, e.g. 5th position, 7th position, etc, and the number is based
on what fret the first finger would naturally lie on depending on
where you are on the neck. (see
e.g.)
In practice, the term fret is often used to indicate position, which is
unfortunate.
In the left diagram the first (topmost) finger is in position 1, it
presses the string against fret number 1. The finger positions are,
from low to high, x (muted), 3, 2, 3, 1, 0 (open). The corresponding
define
directive is
{define: C7 base-fret 1 frets x 3 2 3 1 0}
In the middle diagram, the first finger is in position 3, it presses the string against fret 3. The finger positions are, from low to high, x, 5, 4, 5, 3, x.
{define: D7 base-fret 1 frets x 5 4 5 3 x}
The right diagram shows the same chord as the middle diagram, but it
has been shifted towards the top. The 3
left of the top row
indicates that the top row of the diagram is really the row at
position 3. This can be obtained by adjusting the value of
base-fret
in the define
directive:
{define: D7 base-fret 3 frets x 3 2 3 1 x}
The define
directive details:
{define:
name base-fret
offset frets
pos pos … pos}
{define:
name base-fret
offset frets
pos pos … pos fingers
pos pos … pos}
-
name is the name to be used for this chord. If it is an already known chord the new definition will overwrite the previous one.
-
base-fret
offset defines the offset for the chord, which is the position of the topmost finger. The offset must be 1 or higher.When printing chord diagrams, the top row of the diagram corresponds to the actual row at the indicated position, see the discussion above.
-
frets
pos pos … pos defines the string positions.
Strings are enumerated from left (lowest) to right (highest), as they appear in the chord diagrams.
Fret positions are relative to the offset minus one, so withbase-fret 1
(the default), the topmost fret position is1
. Withbase-fret 3
, fret position1
indicates the 3rd position.
0
(zero) denotes an open string. UseN
orx
to denote a non-sounding string. -
fingers
pos pos … pos defines finger settings. This part may be omitted.For the
frets
and thefingers
positions, there must be exactly as many positions as there are strings, which is 6 by default. For thefingers
positions, values corresponding to open or damped strings are ignored.
Finger settings may be numeric (0
..9
) or uppercase letters (A
..Z
). Note that the values-
,x
,X
, andN
are used to designate a string without finger setting.
Example:
{define: Bes base-fret 1 frets 1 1 3 3 3 1 fingers 1 1 2 3 4 1}
{define: As base-fret 4 frets 1 3 3 2 1 1 fingers 1 3 4 2 1 1}
The resultant chord diagrams are:
The asterisk after the chord names indiciates that the chords have been defined in the song, possibly overriding built-in definitions.
Defining chords for keyboard instruments
For keyboard chords, only the chord notes relative to the root note must be specified:
{define:
name keys
note … note}
-
name is the name to be used for this chord. If it is an already known chord the new definition will overwrite the previous one.
-
keys
note … note defines the keys.
Key0
denotes the root note,7
is the fifth,11
dominant seventh, and so on.Chords in the root position always start with note
0
. The first inversion starts with4
(major) or3
(minor) third. The second inversion starts with the fifth7
.
Example:
{define: D keys 0 4 7}
{define: D² keys 7 12 16}
The resultant chord diagrams are:
Note that keys that would exceed the diagram are silently wrapped.