Dear All
I am trying to add a G(9) chord symbol but it always appears as G9. I can’t see an option in Engraving Options to change this. Am I missing a setting somewhere please? Many thanks, Michael
What chord exactly do you mean by G(9)? It’s likely not included in the engraving options because it’s not a standard chord symbol.
I’m trying to recreate a score as closely as I can as a learning exercise. The chord is in the attached image. The score I’m copying seems to be quite carefully arranged in other respects. If it is non standard, is there a way to substitute the non standard notation for the standard wherever that chord appears in the project? Still learning, so any advice very gratefully received.
G9 is a dominant seventh chord with an added ninth. This is fairly standard.
In Dorico you can add this by entering “G7(9)”, and it will be displayed as “G7(add9)” by default.
It looks like Dorico does not have an engraving option to display this chord as “G9”.
But you can make this change manually. Either scroll to the bottom of Engraving Options—Chord Symbols and edit the project defaults, or double click on the individual chord in Engrave mode and edit it there.
I think this would be G (add9) or Gadd9 if anything, not G9.
It would not be a dominant 7 based chord (which G9 implies) because there is no 7 (F natural) in the notation shown nor in the guitar diagram.
That’s G(add9). G(9) looks like G9, which is a dominant chord. I absolutely would use it with G(add9).
Thanks for your comments everyone. Yes, as there is no dominant 7th in the chord, just the added 9th, G(add9) would describe it, but G(9) doesn’t seem wrong either. As my intention is to reproduce the original, I will try to edit as Dan suggests and then look for a way to extend the use of my edited version to other instances of the chord in the project.
This starts sounding like the argument about G2 vs. G(add2) now.
I guess that’s what happens when an area like chord symbols has not been standardized.
I know this isn’t the point of the thread, but I’ll add another voice saying that G(9) = G9 = G-B-D-F-A!
Update: I put in Gadd9 for these chords, which was displayed as G(add9). I then edited it and deleted the ‘add’, which replaced all those chords with G(9), so goal achieved, at the expense of making those of you who think G(9) is the same as G9 wince. I did some half-hearted googling on this to try to find a definitive reference but couldn’t find anything. I suspect the person who produced the original version thought G(add9) looked too poncy for a pop score, or perhaps there was another (unscored) instrument playing the 7th in the recording. I know one thing: we’ll never know.
Thanks for your help!