Need Help: defining capo for chord symbols

[falhousen]

Hi all, in a bit of a pickle here.

In the section “Defining capos for chord symbols/diagrams”
The D4.3 manual shows the procedure:

It warns here that, “These steps do not affect used chord diagram grids or pitches on notation staves/tablature.”

That line scared me, I literally can’t parse it–and I’m at a loss. I don’t know how/whether that statement affects what I’m trying to do, but here is what I need:

I have a chart in Eb, and my first chord is the tonic, Ebmaj9.

I want the 2nd of my 2 guitarists to use a capo on the 1st fret. I want guitar 2 to display “Dmaj9” and show this voicing:

With the capo on fret one, this chord sounds a half step higher (sounds like “Ebmaj9”), but looks like Dmaj9. In this way I can use all my nifty open string voicings in the chord diagrams.

Reading through all the related topics in the manual got me to the point where the Guitar 2 part is:

1. in the key of D
2. shows the chord name as Dmaj9
   But… If I edit the chord diagram so I can set my fingering, it says the chord is “Ebmaj9”, and shows only shapes appropriate for this chord.

If I change the shape to what I want, it shows me in red pitch names that I’m selecting incorrect chord tones.
Additionally the Chord Name shows “Ebmaj9”, and the Tuning says “Standard guitar tuning”. (neither of these fields is editable).

By the way, I’ve messed with “Edit Strings and Tuning…”, and think I am using this correctly…?

I feeeel like I’m close, here, but… am I? Cut down project attached (with “Silence” playback template) with thanks for your attention, time, and patience.
Capo-ChordDiagrams.dorico (684.6 KB)

[Lillie_Harris]

Hi @falhousen – this is all easily sorted, thankfully. You just did a bit more work than you needed to!

In the Edit Strings and Tuning dialog, you had edited all the strings manually, so that they all started at fret 1 and had a lower pitch. This meant that correctly defining a capo for chord symbols (as per the instructions you quoted above) didn’t result in the correct underlying chord symbols.

Capos can work at several levels, independently of each other:

• They can affect just tablature, but not the pitches on notation staves
• They can affect the pitches on notation staves in addition to tablature
• They can affect the chord symbols and/or diagrams shown above staves in the music
• They can affect the chord diagrams shown in used chord diagram grids, at the beginning of the flow

That’s what the warning at the start of the topic is referring to: it’s just making sure (or trying to) that you understand the scope of what will be affected by your changes; in this case, chord symbols/diagrams in the music, and nothing else from the list above.

The best thing to do, is input the music/pitches/chord symbols that are correct fundamentally, then apply the adjustments that are required to make the notation reflect that underlying “data”. Likewise, keep the instrument’s strings set up correctly, to match the real-life instrument that will play the notes.

So, here’s your project back:

• In the Edit Strings and Tuning dialog, I reset the instrument’s strings back to standard, but added a capo to the instrument: you’ll see the capo represented graphically on the fretboard. I did this using the big “Capo” button at the bottom, which lets you set a capo for the instrument. (The fretted instrument transposition is different to the capo, they can be independent)
• I set the chord symbol transposition for the Guitar 2 Capo 1 player to be +1 half-step
• I set the player to show only transposed (ie capo) chord symbols in the music
• I selected the first Dmaj9 chord symbol, and changed the diagram shape

Capo-ChordDiagrams_LH.dorico (685.8 KB)

[falhousen]

Thank you Lillie!