Chord Notation

November 9th, 2022
contra, music
When I want to write chords I use a quick chord chart notation. There are lots of different ways of doing this, so I wanted to explain how the particular system I've ended up using works. Here's an example:

|: Am AmG Am  CG  Am AmG FG Am :|
|: Am /   AmC DE  Am /   G  Am :|

Compare to chords written above standard musical notation:

Each letter normally represents two beats. When there's a different chord for each beat you write them squished together: "AmG" is two beats, while "Am G" is four. A slash ("/") means to stay on the previous chord for another two beats. There's an extra space every eight beats and a new line every sixteen, so you can keep track of where you are in the form. I'll also add extra spaces to line things up vertically to again make it clearer how it fits the form. It works best in a monospaced font.

Here's another example:

|: A  AD A E  A  AD AE A :|
|: Bm /  A /  Bm /  AE A :|

Sometimes I'll use numbers instead of chord names, to make it easier to think about what's happening musically. The previous tune would be:

|: 1  14 1 5  1  14 15 1 :|
|: 2m /  1 /  2m /  15 1 :|

Note that "14" is "1" and "4" on successive beats, not the fourteenth scale degree.

Referenced in:

Comment via: facebook, lesswrong, mastodon, substack

Recent posts on blogs I like:

On Apologizing To Kids

Everyone is so weird about apologizing to children.

via Thing of Things August 25, 2025

Against the Teapot Hold in Contra Dancing

The teapot hold is the most dangerous common contra dancing figure, so I’ve been avoiding it. The teapot hold, sometimes called a "courtesy turn hold,” requires one dancer to connect with their hand behind their back. When I realized I could avoid put…

via Emma Azelborn August 25, 2025

Little Puppy

She's very little and she likes to do stuff with me. She also likes to bark around and run around and jump around. She also likes to go to places with me and that's all I have.

via Nora Wise's Blog Posts August 23, 2025

more     (via openring)