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transpose guitar chords into sheet music

21 Feb 09 - 07:54 AM (#2572392)
Subject: transpose guitar chords into sheet music
From: GUEST,gezell

Is there a free software program that will translate Guitar chords into sheet music. In other words, if I have the chords worked out for a song, but need to have it in sheet music format, is there a program where I can type in the chords and have sheet music created from that?


21 Feb 09 - 08:06 AM (#2572396)
Subject: RE: transpose guitar chords into sheet music
From: GUEST,Ed

Not as far as I'm aware.

How could the software know which inversion of any given chord you were playing???


21 Feb 09 - 08:42 AM (#2572404)
Subject: RE: transpose guitar chords into sheet music
From: GUEST,Jack Campin

What market is there for chords in staff notation without the tune?

There are ABC utilities that can convert guitar chord names into explicit pitches, like BarFly for the Mac. But chords voiced for the guitar are no use to players of any other instrument (they will never fit under the hands on a keyboard) and guitarists themselves prefer to just read chord names. So the point of this capability eludes me.

What are you actually trying to do? More details please.


21 Feb 09 - 10:50 AM (#2572466)
Subject: RE: transpose guitar chords into sheet music
From: GUEST,Mark

You can't do it. Years ago I did some work for a publisher of folk songs and had to convert guitar chord symbols into a piano score. It's not just a matter of converting the symbols into notes, you also have to work out how the chord is played- is it strummed, picked, etc., and convert that into a pianistic style.

There is a good piece of software called Virtual Guitarist that will generate MIDI information from chords and will simulate a finger-picking style. You could then feed the MIDI info into a scorewriting program like Finale and produce your score from that. But you have to be able to play the chords on a keyboard first.


22 Feb 09 - 10:22 AM (#2572992)
Subject: RE: transpose guitar chords into sheet music
From: Nick

You can easily do it with Guitar Pro 5 and choose the inversion you want etc but it's not free. It will produce what you want though


22 Feb 09 - 07:57 PM (#2573344)
Subject: RE: transpose guitar chords into sheet music
From: Leadfingers

But the Chord run has a choice of notes , minimum three notes to a chord , so NO WAY can any programme sort which note of several is intended . I think you are asking the wrong question !


23 Feb 09 - 12:05 AM (#2573466)
Subject: RE: transpose guitar chords into sheet music
From: GUEST,DonMeixner

And somewhere along the way the melody of the song needs to be considered. The computer won't have clue what the melody is.
Unless you are just sticking in staff notations and if so, why bother, A pianist who reads music will likely know the chord structures anyway if you just use common chord notation over the words to the song. A piano just clobbering chords can be a bit ponderous.
Chord inversions create a worry I suppose but not so much.

Them pianists will sort it out to suit themselves anyway.

Don


23 Feb 09 - 03:12 AM (#2573505)
Subject: RE: transpose guitar chords into sheet music
From: GUEST,Mark

My mistake- my earlier post should have read REAL GUITAR not Virtual Guitarist, which is something else.


23 Feb 09 - 04:04 AM (#2573526)
Subject: RE: transpose guitar chords into sheet music
From: Nick

Well whatever anyone else keeps saying Guitar Pro 5 DOES do it. You have the option to add a chord but then have the option of choosing which particular inversion or position that you play the chord - I'll post a couple of screenshots later to demonstrate what it does and what the output looks like


23 Feb 09 - 09:40 AM (#2573703)
Subject: RE: transpose guitar chords into sheet music
From: Nick

Here are a few links to how Guitar Pro 5 works. You can download a demo for 14 days so if you have limited amounts to do you might even be able to do it for free.

When you enter a Chord into the tab and choose C,F,G or whatever it comes up with one of these boxes which allows you to choose which fingering/inversion of the chord you want. It will then put the notes in (and tab with fingering) as below:

C chord
F chord
G chord

As sheet music


23 Feb 09 - 09:53 AM (#2573710)
Subject: RE: transpose guitar chords into sheet music
From: Jack Campin

It does the same as BarFly.

Do you expect a pianist to play from a score like that?

And where's the tune?

What use is that staff notation to anyone?


23 Feb 09 - 11:39 AM (#2573820)
Subject: RE: transpose guitar chords into sheet music
From: Nick

Absolutely useless. Couldn't agree with you more, Jack.

But that wasn't the question.

It's much like if someone asked - "Is it possible to play the fiddle with your feet?" If the answer is 'yes' it doesn't mean that it's a desirable thing to do.