Chord symbols

Finale’s chord symbols are intelligent with respect to key; if you decide to change the key, the chord symbols are automatically transposed. Similarly, if you copy chord symbols to a passage in another key, they’ll be transposed when you paste them. Even Finale’s guitar fretboard diagrams, which can be created automatically, transpose according to the key.

If you’re going to add chord symbols to your score, you should prepare in two ways. First, load (or build) a Chord Suffix Library (unless you’re working from the Maestro Font Default file). Second, choose a font for the chord letter names. (The font for the suffixes is determined by the Chord Suffix Library you use in your Libraries folder. You can change chord suffix fonts either globally, by region, or one by one; see the appropriate sub-entries. See Fonts and Document Options-Fonts for help in choosing fonts to meet your needs.)

 

Note that Finale offers two systems of chord labeling. The primary method operates according to the standard rules of chord theory and allows Finale to “recognize” almost any kind of chord it encounters—major, minor, augmented, diminished, suspended, sevenths, ninths, elevenths, and so on, even with alternate bass notes.

 

Occasionally, however, you’ll want to create a chord that Finale doesn’t ordinarily recognize, such as C V/11, or you’ll want Finale to think of a certain chord in a different way. For example, where Finale displays Am7/C, you may prefer C6. For these situations, you can use Finale’s second system of creating chords: you can create a learned chord, a symbol that you’ve defined to represent a particular pattern of notes. Once you’ve defined a learned chord, Finale will correctly identify it in the future, regardless of the voicing or register, and automatically display the correct symbol. Instructions for creating and editing learned chords appear below.

Note, however, that Finale will only recognize a learned chord if the root of the chord falls on the same scale degree as the one you originally taught it. For example, if you teach Finale to recognize a C6 in the key of C, it won’t recognize F6 or G6 in the same key. It will, however, recognize an A6 in the key of A, because the A6 is built on the same scale degree in A as the C6 was in C. In other words, it’s sometimes helpful to define the same learned chord for several different scale degrees within a single key—such as C6, F6, and G6 in the key of C.

To enter chord symbols automatically

You’re about to learn three different methods for adding chord symbols to your score; all three depend on Finale’s intelligence in recognizing patterns of notes. Occasionally, you may encounter a dialog box telling you that Finale doesn’t recognize the chord you just played (or the chord it just analyzed).

If you click the I’ll Do It button, Finale displays the Chord Definition dialog box; construct the chord as described in “To enter a chord symbol manually by typing numbers,” below. At that point, you will be building a learned chord; in other words, Finale will recognize the chord the next time. Read the introduction to this entry for details on learned chords.

If you click Let Finale Do It instead, Finale will construct the correct suffix automatically, displaying the chord symbol on the screen and adding its suffix to its current library of chord suffixes. If you don’t care for Finale’s labeling of a chord (for example, if it calls a chord “Gm7” but you prefer “G–7”), you can edit the chord suffix (see “To edit a chord suffix”).

If, however, you disagree with Finale’s analysis of a chord (for example, if it calls a chord Am7/C but you prefer C6), remove the chord symbol from the score (see “To move and delete chord symbols”). Then teach Finale how you’d like the chord to be recognized henceforth (as a learned chord), using the procedure described below in “To teach Finale ‘learned chords,’” and reenter the chord. 

  1. Click the Chord Tool  image\Chord_Tool.gif. The Chord Menu appears.
  2. If you want to add chord symbols to the score by playing them, one by one, on a MIDI keyboard, choose MIDI Input from the Chord Menu, and then click a note or rest in the score. The ear-shaped cursor appears, indicating that Finale is listening to your MIDI instrument. (Technically, you can’t add a chord symbol to an empty measure. But see “To enter a chord symbol when there’s no note below it.”) More

    Play a chord, in any register, on your synthesizer; Finale places the chord symbol into the score, aligned with the baseline (controlled by the four triangles at the left side of the screen). If you don’t play the chord in root position, Finale writes it as a chord-slash-bass note, as in “Am/E.”

    To advance the ear cursor to the next note position, play any single key above middle C; to move the ear cursor backward to the previous note position, play any single key below middle C. If you play two successive chords without moving the cursor, Finale will stack the chord symbols on top of each other.

  3. If you want Finale to analyze a chord notated in the score, choose One-Staff Analysis from the Chord Menu, and then click the chord. Finale immediately analyzes the chord you clicked, and places the chord symbol into the score. Click again on each note for which you want a chord symbol to appear.

To enter chords (Type Into Score)

  1. Click the Chord Tool image\Chord_Tool.gif. The Chord Menu appears.
  2. Choose Type Into Score from the Chord Menu.
  3. Click on the note on which you want the chord to appear. A cursor appears above the note, aligned with the chord positioning triangles.
  4. Type the chord that you want to appear in the score, such as “BbM7/C”. Type an underscore (shift-hyphen) instead of a slash if you want the alternate bass note (C in this example) placed under the root.

 

  1. An alternate method of entering suffixes is to type a colon followed by the slot number of the suffix shown in the Chord Suffix Selection dialog box. Or, type a colon followed by zero. If you type a slot number, Finale displays the corresponding suffix from the Chord Suffix Selection dialog box. If you type a zero, the Chord Suffix Selection dialog box appears, where you can choose a suffix.

 

Note: Regardless of the chord style selected in the Chord Style submenu, you must type letters (C, D, E and so on) for the chord root and alternate bass note. Finale will not accept Roman numerals (I, IV, V and so on) or scale degrees typed into the score. For example, when Roman is selected (a checkmark appears next to Roman in the Chord Style submenu), you’d type the letter “F” to display IV in the key of C Major.

  1. Type uppercase letters unless you want the root and alternate bass note to use lowercase letters. For example, Roman numerals typically indicate quality (I for Major, ii for minor), so in the key of C Major, you’d type a lowercase “d” to display “ii” in the score (as opposed to “II” that appears if you type an uppercase “D”).

 

Tip: Use the Caps Lock key when you know you want only uppercase chords.

 

  1. Press enter to accept the change. Or, press spacebar, tab, or shift-right arrow to move to the next entry, or click the next note on which you want a chord to appear. To move to the previous entry, press shift-spacebar, shift-tab, or shift-left arrow.

If Finale doesn’t recognize the suffix a dialog box appears in which you can choose to add the suffix to the chord suffix library.

  1. If you want to enter or edit another alternate chord on the same note, press the up or down arrows.
  2. Continue entering the chords in this manner.

To edit chords (Type Into Score)

  1. Click the Chord Tool  image\Chord_Tool.gif. The Chord Menu appears.
  2. Choose Type Into Score from the Chord Menu.
  3. Click on the note containing the chord you want to edit.
  4. If more than one chord is assigned to the same note, press the up and down arrows to select the chord you want to edit.
  5. Select the portion of the chord you want to change, and type the change.
  6. Press enter to accept the change. Or, press spacebar, tab, or shift-right arrow to move to the next entry, or click the next note on which you want a chord to appear. To move to the previous entry, press shift-spacebar, shift-tab, or shift-left arrow.

If Finale doesn’t recognize the suffix a dialog box appears in which you can choose to add the suffix to the chord suffix library.

To enter a chord symbol manually by typing numbers

  1. Click the Chord Tool  image\Chord_Tool.gif. From the Chord Menu, choose Manual Input.
  2. Click the note or rest on which the chord symbol is to be centered. The Chord Definition dialog box appears.
  3. Click on the Show Advanced button. The dialog box expands to show the Number Definition.
  4. Enter the root scale tone number. If there’s a different bass note, click Alternate Bass and enter its scale tone in the Alternate Bass text box. For an F/G chord in the key of C, for example, the Root Scale Tone (F) is 4, the Alternate Bass is 5.
  5. If you need to alter the scale degree chromatically, type a number into the Alteration boxes. This number, positive or negative, alters the scale tone by half steps. To create an A chord in the key of F, for example, the Root Scale Tone is 3 (the third note of the scale) and the Alteration is –1.

Note the Alteration box is especially important if you want a chord symbol that’s out of the key and Simplify Spelling is turned on in the Chord Menu. Suppose, for example, that you’re in the key of A, but you want an A flat chord symbol. You might assume that entering a scale degree of 1 (A) and an Alteration of –1 would do the trick—but in fact, you’d get a G chord symbol. To solve the problem, enter 2 in the Root box, and –3 in the Alteration box. In effect, you get an A flat chord symbol by specifying a B triple-flat.

  1. Click Select button next to Suffix. The Chord Suffix Selection box appears. If you have loaded or created a Chord Suffix Library, the suffixes appear here.
  2. Double-click the desired suffix. If there are no suffixes in the palette, either click Create to create a new suffix, or load a chord-suffix library, as described in “To create or load a Chord Suffix Library.”

If you don’t want the chord symbol to play back, uncheck the appropriate Play box.

  1. Click OK (or press return).

To enter a chord symbol manually with MIDI data input

Instead of creating a chord symbol by typing numbers and clicking a chord suffix, you can play this data from your MIDI keyboard.

  1. Click the Chord Tool  image\Chord_Tool.gif. Choose Manual Input from the Chord Menu.
  2. Click the note or rest on which the chord symbol is to be centered. The Chord Definition dialog box appears.
  3. Click the Listen box at the top right side of the box. Play the root scale tone on your synthesizer. Finale automatically fills in the Root Scale Tone and Alteration text boxes for you.
  4. Click the second Listen button. Play the bass note on your synthesizer. If the bass note is different from the root, Finale fills in the Alternate Bass text boxes.
  5. Click the third Listen button. Play the rest of the chord on your synthesizer. Finale will only fill in the Suffix ID if it recognizes the suffix—in other words, if it matches a suffix definition in its Chord Suffix Library. (If no library has been loaded, or if Finale doesn’t find a match, nothing happens.)
  6. Click OK (or press return).

To edit chords (Manual Input)

  1. Click the Chord Tool  image\Chord_Tool.gif. The Chord Menu appears.
  2. Choose Manual Input from the Chord Menu.
  3. Click on the note that contains the chord you want to edit.
  4. Double-click the handle of the chord. The Chord Definition dialog box appears.
  5. Make the necessary changes in the Chord Definition dialog box. To force the root or alternate bass to appear in lowercase, click Lowercase to select it. If you want the root or alternate bass to appear in uppercase, make sure that Lowercase is not selected.
  6. Click OK to return to the document, where the changes now appear.

To edit a chord suffix

When you edit a chord suffix, the changes you make affect every occurrence of this chord suffix in the score.

  1. Click the Chord Tool  image\Chord_Tool.gif. Choose Manual Input from the Chord Menu.
  2. Click the note to which the chord is attached. Its handle appears.
  3. Double-click the handle. The Chord Definition dialog box appears.
  4. Click Chord Suffix ID. The Chord Suffix Editor appears. In this window, you edit each character in the chord suffix individually, moving from one to the next with the Prev and Next buttons.
  5. Change a character by editing the Symbol box. You can only type one letter at a time into this text box, unless you select Number, which lets you type a multidigit number into the box. Instead of typing a character into the Symbol box, you can simply click Symbol, and you’ll see the complete palette of characters for the selected font.

Note that you can prefix any chunk in the suffix box with a +, -, or character: click Prefix With and select the appropriate button.

  1. Change the type style of the current character by clicking Set Font. Remember, you must set the font for each character individually. Be careful to match this chord suffix font with a complementary chord root font (which you choose in Document Options-Fonts. From the Document Menu, choose Document Options and select Fonts). You can also change the font for all chord symbols in a piece; see “To change chord symbol fonts.”
  2. Adjust the position of a character by dragging its handle. To produce its handle, you must be editing this character (move from one to the next with the Prev and Next buttons). Alternatively, you can type coordinates into the H: (how far to the right?) and V: (how high up?) boxes. The units are whatever you’ve selected using the Measurement Units command (Edit Menu). (The numbers you type, however, won’t affect the display until you click the Update box.)

If you’re having trouble positioning a character because the square handle obscures it, de-select the Show Handles checkbox. The handles become invisible but are still draggable—just click where a handle used to be.

  1. Define the voicing this suffix is to use for playback by clicking Set Play. The Suffix Keynumber Offsets box appears, presenting a series of text boxes into which you can type the numbers that represent the notes of the suffix, as measured in half steps from the root. A quick way to enter this data is to click Listen; Finale displays a message asking you to play the root of the chord, so it will have a point of reference from which to compute the keynumber offsets. Immediately after you do so, Finale tells you that it’s still listening; now play the suffix itself. Finale enters the appropriate numbers in the text boxes. SeeSuffix Keynumber Offsets dialog box. 

Remember that even though you just played a specific root and voicing, this suffix will remember the voicing no matter what its root—you define the playback voicing for your Fmaj7, Emaj7, and Cmaj7 chords all at once, for example.

To teach Finale “learned chords”

(For a full description of learned chords, see Chord symbols. These instructions describe how to teach Finale several learned chords before you enter them with either of the automatic chord symbol entry methods described above. Of course, you can always create a learned chord while you’re entering chord symbols; when Finale displays its Unknown Chord Suffix“Finale cannot find a match” dialog box, click I’ll Do It. The chord you then construct in the Chord Suffix Editor dialog box is a learned chord.)

If you plan to enter chords from your MIDI keyboard (or by letting Finale analyze existing chords in the score), you can save time by anticipating the learned chords you’ll need to teach Finale. For example, if your piece contains “V11” chords (such as F/G or Dm7/G), major sixth chords, or any chords with nonstandard names (C2, for example), use this method to teach them to Finale before you enter them. Once Finale has learned such chords, it will automatically display the proper symbol when it encounters them (via MIDI or by analyzing the notes in the score).

  1. Click the Chord Tool image\Chord_Tool.gif, and choose Edit Learned Chords from the Chord Menu. The Edit Learned Chords dialog box appears. Remember that Finale always associates a learned chord with a particular scale degree; therefore, if the key signature in the display isn’t the correct one for the music to which you’ll be adding chord symbols, click the Set Key button and specify the correct key, so that Finale will be able to recognize the new chord in the correct context.
  2. Click Learn. Finale asks you to play the chord on your MIDI keyboard.
  3. Play the chord. What counts is the bass note and the selection of pitches in the chord; the voicing and the octave register don’t matter. As soon as you play the chord, Finale displays the Chord Definition dialog box, where you can build the actual chord symbol you want to associate with the pattern of notes you just played.
  4. Construct the chord symbol in the usual way. Click OK (or press return). See “To enter a chord symbol manually by typing numbers” or “To enter a chord symbol manually with MIDI data input,” for instructions in the use of the Chord Definition dialog box. 

When you return to the Edit Learned Chords dialog box, you can once again click Learn to repeat the process, teaching Finale as many new chord symbols as you want. Note that Finale stores learned chords along with regular Chord Suffixes in a Chord Suffix Library (see “To create or load a Chord Suffix Library”). Therefore, you can load the learned chords you create in one document into another one without having to redefine them.

  1. Click OK (or press return). The next time you add chord symbols to your score using Finale’s automatic (MIDI or note-analysis) methods, Finale will recognize the chord you’ve just taught it, and it will display the chord symbol you’ve told Finale to use. (Finale will also recognize the learned chord in other keys—but only if it falls on the same scale degree. That is, if you teach Finale to recognize Csus2 in the key of C, it will also recognize Fsus2 in the key of F—but it won’t recognize Fsus2 in the key of C, unless you teach it that chord too.)

To edit or delete a learned chord

  1. Click the Chord Tool  image\Chord_Tool.gif, and choose Edit Learned Chords from the Chord Menu. The Edit Learned Chords dialog box appears.
  2. Click Find. Finale asks you to play the learned chord you want to edit. (If you prefer to locate the chord you want to edit by scrolling through the existing learned chords, click the Prev and Next buttons until it appears in the display.)
  3. Play the chord. If Finale recognizes what you played as a learned chord that it already knows, the corresponding chord symbol appears in the display. (If Finale doesn’t recognize the chord you played, it will tell you so, and offer you the option of adding it to its existing bank of learned chords.)

At this point you can edit the chord in one of several ways. To delete it, click Delete. To edit the chord symbol itself, click Edit to enter the Chord Definition dialog box.

  1. When you’re finished editing, click OK (or press return).

To move and delete chord symbols

  1. Click the Chord Tool  image\Chord_Tool.gif. If it is not already selected, choose Manual Input from the Chord Menu.
  2. Click the staff containing the chord symbols. Four small arrows appear at the left edge of the screen. These arrows control the baseline for the chord symbols—the line against which the bottoms of the chord symbols align. (Make sure Position Chords is selected in the Chord Menu.)
  3. If you want to move more than one chord symbol, drag the positioning triangles up or down. Drag the first (leftmost) triangle up or down to move all the chords in the piece. Drag the second triangle to move the chords in this staff only, regardless of the position of the leftmost triangle. Drag the third triangle, in Page View, to move the chords in this staff in this system only. Dragging the rightmost triangle doesn’t move any existing chord symbols; instead, it sets the position for the next one you enter.
  4. If you want to move a single chord symbol, click the note to which it’s attached. The chord’s handle appears.
  5. Drag the handle to move the chord. Select it and press the arrow keys to “nudge” it for fine positioning; select it and press delete to remove it.

To transpose chord symbols

Finale’s chord symbols are intelligent enough to transpose automatically when you change the key signature; a Cmaj7 in the key of C will become an Fmaj7 in the key of F.

If you inadvertently enter chord symbols before setting the key signature, however, you can use the following method to transpose the chord symbols independently of the key and the existing music.

  1. Click the Selection Tool  image\Selection_Tool.gif, and select the region containing the chord symbols that you want to transpose. See Selecting music for some region-selecting shortcuts.
  2. From the Utilities Menu, choose Change, then Chord Assignments. The Change Chord Assignments dialog box appears.
  3. Click Transpose. The Transposition dialog box appears.
  4. Specify the interval by which you want the chord symbols transposed, and click OK. Click OK again.

To enter a chord symbol when there’s no note below it

Thus far, you’ve seen that chord symbols must be attached to a note or rest (except that you can’t attach them to Finale’s default whole rests). There will certainly be times, however, when you want to put a chord symbol where no note appears—such as several chord symbols over a single whole note, or even over a blank measure.

Begin by entering the whole note (or whatever notes you want to appear) in Layer 1 (or 2 or 3). If you’ve already entered them in the Layer 4, it’s easy to send them into another layer; see To move music from one layer to another. Once you’ve emptied Layer 4, proceed as follows:

  1. Enter “dummy” notes in Layer 4, one for each chord symbol you’ll want to add. It makes no difference what pitches you select; these notes won't appear.
  2. Attach chord symbols to the “dummy” notes in the usual way. See “To enter chord symbols automatically.”
  3. Click the Staff Tool s, and select the “dummy” measures.
  4. Select Apply Staff Styles from the Staff Menu. The Apply Staff Styles dialog box appears.
  5. Select Blank Notation - Layer 4, and click OK (or press return). The “dummy” notes vanish, and your chord symbols remain in place. Using the Speedy Entry Tool, however, you can still view your hidden Layer 4 notes (for spacing purposes, for example). For more information about creating Staff Styles, see Staff styles.

In Layer 4, add some “dummy” notes, and attach your chord symbols to them. In the Layer 1 (or 2 or 3), enter the whole note (or whatever music you want ultimately to appear). When you apply Blank Notation to Layer 4, the notes disappear, leaving the chord symbols behind.

To erase chords from a region

  1. Click the Selection Tool  image\Selection_Tool.gif and select a region. See Selecting music for some region-selecting shortcuts.
  2. Choose Clear Items from the Edit Menu. The Clear Items dialog box appears, listing two categories of items to clear: Measures and Entries.
  3. Click Only the Selected Items, then Entries, then Chords.
  4. Click OK (or press return) twice. Finale erases the chord symbols.

To copy chords from one region to another

In this discussion, the source region is the music that currently contain the chords, and the target region is the music to which you want to copy them.

  1. Click the Selection Tool  image\Selection_Tool.gif. Choose Edit Filter from the Edit Menu. The Entry Items dialog box appears.
  2. Select Chords (only). Click OK.
  3. Select the source region. See Selecting music for some region-selecting shortcuts.
  4. Drag the highlighted region so that it’s superimposed on the beginning of the target region. If the target passage is offscreen, scroll to it; then, while pressing option and shift simultaneously, click it.

If you’re copying chords horizontally, the “How many times?” dialog box appears.Specify the number of times you want the chords copied, and click OK.

Finale only places chords on notes that fall on the same beats as they did in the source measures. The chords will automatically transpose if the source and target passages are in different keys.

To change the display or position of all chord symbols in a region

See “To prevent chord symbols from playing back” and Change Chord Assignments.

To prevent chord symbols from playing back

When you create a chord symbol, the Play checkboxes in its Chord Definition window are initially selected—in other words, the chord will play back unless you specify otherwise. Unchecking the Play checkboxes for each chord symbol would be one way to prevent the chords from playing, but it’s a technique best used on a case-by-case basis. To prevent all chord symbols from playing back, use the following technique.

  1. From the Window Menu, choose Instrument List. The Instrument List appears.
  2. Click on the arrow next to the name of the staff that has chords attached. The list expands to display the components of the staff, including Chords.
  3. Click the square next to Chords in the P column. The chord symbols will no longer playback from this staff.

To program a chord symbol Metatool

You can assign a complete chord symbol to each of the number keys and each of the letter key on your keyboard, for use as described below in “To enter a chord using a Metatool.”

  1. Click the Chord Tool image\Chord_Tool.gif. While pressing shift, press a number or letter key. The Chord Definition dialog box appears.
  2. Define the chord. See “To enter a chord symbol manually by typing numbers” and To enter a chord symbol manually with MIDI data input” for full instructions on creating chord symbols. 
  3. Click OK (or press return). When you return to the document, it will appear as though nothing has happened. In fact, you have prepared Finale to enter the chord you just described whenever you use the Metatool.

To enter a chord using a Metatool

This example assumes that you have programmed a Chord Symbol Metatool (see above).

  1. Click the Chord Tool  image\Chord_Tool.gif.
  2. While pressing the number or letter key corresponding to the desired Metatool, click a note or rest. The chord symbol appears. Using this method, you can rapidly click fully-formed chord symbols into your score. (You still can’t enter a chord symbol over a default whole rest, however.)

To create or load a Chord Suffix Library

Once you’ve created or edited chord suffixes (or taught Finale to recognize “learned chords”) in a document, you can save them in a separate library with its own title and icon on your hard disk. The next time you want to add chord symbols to a piece, you can load this library, thus saving yourself the time it would take to create or edit the chord symbols (or learned chords) again.

  1. To make a Chord Suffix Library of the chord suffixes and learned chords in a piece, choose Save Library from the File Menu. The Save Library dialog box appears.
  2. Click Chord Suffixes, and then click OK (or press return). You’re then asked to title the new library.
  3. Type in a title and click Save (or press return). The next time you want to add those chord symbols to a piece, simply load the library you just created (choose Load Library from the File Menu) and enter chord symbols in the usual way.

To change chord symbol fonts

This entry provides a quick way to change the font and size of the chord symbols and suffixes in your entire piece.

  1. To change the font for the chord-symbol letter name, from The Document Menu, choose Document Options and select Fonts. The Font Options appear.
  2. Click Symbol. The Font dialog box appears. You’re about to choose a typeface for the root portion of all chord symbols in the piece—that is, the “C” portion of “Cmaj7.”
  3. Make your type style selection; then click OK twice.
  4. To change the font for chord-symbol suffixes, click the Chord Tool  image\Chord_Tool.gif. You’re now going to be changing the font for the suffix—for example, the “maj7” portion of your chord symbols.
  5. From the Chord Menu, choose Change Chord Suffix Fonts. The Change Chord Suffix Fonts dialog box appears.
  6. To change the entire library of chord suffixes at once, click the Set Font button in the lower half of the screen. The FontFont dialog box appears, letting you specify new font, size, and style characteristics for the suffixes.

To change one aspect of the suffixes—such as the size—select the appropriate checkbox in the upper half of the Font dialog box. Click Set Font to specify which point size you want to replace (such as all 12-point elements). Then repeat the process in the lower half of the Font dialog box, this time clicking the lower Set Font button to specify a new point size.

Similarly, you can, in effect, search-and-replace for one specific type style and replace it with another; Finale will leave suffixes in other type styles untouched. For example, in the upper half of the Font dialog box, you could click Selected Fonts, then click all three checkboxes, click Set Font and specify Times New RomanGeneva 12-point Plain. Repeat the process in the lower half of the FontFont dialog box, but this time choose, for example, Helvetica 10-point Italic; Finale would replace every occurrence of the former type style with the latter.

Finally, for best results, be sure that the Fix Chord Suffix Spacing checkbox is selected, so that Finale automatically adjusts the individual characters in each chord suffix to compensate for the new font and size.

  1. Select a type style, and then click OK. You return to the document, where Finale has changed the font for your chord suffixes. Finale is smart enough, however, not to change any musical symbols within the suffix, such as the in F79.

To left-justify chord symbols above the notes

Generally, Finale centers each chord symbol above the note to which it’s attached. If you wish, you can specify that each chord symbol be left-justified, so that the first letter of the chord name falls above the note to which it’s attached.

 

Click the Chord Tool  image\Chord_Tool.gif. From the Chord Menu, choose Left-Align Chords. To restore the chords, choose this command a second time.

To prevent changing the size of chord symbols attached to cue notes

See To prevent attached lyrics and chord symbols from shrinking.

 

See also:

Chord Tool

 

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