Adding guitar chord symbols

A fretboard symbol of a guitar chord can be inserted anywhere in the score.

Guitar symbols are found in the “Guitar Symbols” section and the Other section in the Symbols Inspector.

• The Guitar Symbols section contains all Guitar symbols of the current guitar library. If the symbol that you want to insert is among these, select it and insert it as you would any other symbol, see above.

To insert a guitar symbol not present in the guitar library, proceed as follows:

1. Open the other section.
2. Click on the guitar chord symbol, so that the Draw tool is selected.

   

3. Click in the score, at the position where you want the symbol to appear.

   The Guitar Symbol dialog appears.

   

   • To put a dot on any fret and string, click on it.

     To remove it, click again.

   • To add a symbol just above the string, outside the fretboard, click there.

     Consecutive clicks allow you to select between a ring (open string), a cross (do not play this string) and no symbol.

   • To add a capodaster number, click to the left of the symbol.

     Consecutive clicks allow you to step through the possibilities.

   • You can also add a capodaster symbol (a line over the strings), by setting the “Capo String” parameter to a value higher than 0.

     By adjusting the Capo End and Start values, you can create capodaster symbols that span fewer strings.

   • Use the “Size” value field to adjust the size of the chord symbol.

   • If you want the symbol to be horizontal, activate the “Horizontal” checkbox.

   • To display more or fewer frets than the default six, change the “Frets” value.

4. Click Apply.

   The guitar symbol appears in the score.

   • Clicking the Insert Notes button inserts the actual notes in the chord into the score.

     You can also right-click on a guitar symbol and select “Insert Notes” from the context menu.

     You can edit the symbol at any time by double-clicking it, changing the settings in the dialog and clicking Apply. Note that you can also access the symbols that you defined in the guitar library by right-clicking a guitar symbol.

   Note

   If you select “Make Chord Symbol” from the context menu, the corresponding chord symbol is displayed above the guitar symbol. This function is very useful when writing lead sheets, for example.