Chord structure for instrumental sections?

bradcraig

Hi,

What's the best way to format lyrics to include chord structures for intros or instrumental sections?
For example, sometimes I need a reminder of how many bars the intro goes for before a verse comes in.
I would write it like this:
Intro:
[C] [F] [G] [x4]

However, if I format it like that in the ST3 lyric editor the [x4] gets pushed down to the lyric line and it's hard to read. Does anyone have a solution for this?

Thanks!

Damir

bradcraig hi Brad here’s what I do.
It’s more involved but on stage it’s perfectly simple and helpful as a visual guide.
I simply type the chord progressions in this way
C,F,G four times instead
C
F
G
C
F
G
C
F
G
C
F
G
Then I simply time stamp every chord, this is really quick to do
Short example,
[01:12:07]C
[01:12:07]F
[01:12:07]G

Then I place a 4 space gap to seperate the chords you can choose your own spacing am-mount.
Short example,
[01:12:07]C
[01:12:07]F
[01:12:07]G

Then place all the chords in line
Short example,
[01:12:07]C [01:12:07]F [01:12:07]G

This is the end result of all C,F,G x4 , but the difference is you get a visual cue of where you are at any point,

C F G C F G C F G C F G

this is a great guide to when you are getting close to starting and no matter if you pause and restart you still know exactly where you are as every note is highlighted for you at the correct time,
I also always timecode my first chord to [00:00:01] so as the song gets loaded the fist note won’t highlight until I press start and as soon as it highlights I know I am away.
I have had occasional false starts where I was not totally concentrating on my foot pedal position and as I press the button normally I don’t start till I see my first note highlighted
If it’s not lit it means I’ve done a bummer foot hit,
This seems complicated but it’s actually really fast and easy once you know exactly what you need and what you will end up with.
I use to do it your way to keep it very simple but then you get the occasional hard song with complicated chords and a song you don’t perform often, so my method absolutely works in those cases, so now I program even the simple songs in this way because it always helps when everything just guides you to a perfect result every time even when slightly tipsy if you know what I mean🥴
C F G C F G C F G C F G

This method I use for solos as well as it guides you to know exactly where you are in a solo so you have time to decide where to go next as you have a good idea of where you are at all times.

Hope this opens up some users eyes to help them on stage.
Cheers Damir

Lishy

bradcraig or the much simpler way if you don’t need to do all that it is put this apostrophe at the start without brackets and the entire line will show up in one line as chords like this -
`C F G x4

bradcraig

Damir Thanks for the reply! It does sound like a bit more work but I do like how you've incorporated it with the time stamps.

SuperBisDak

Damir
Thanks for sharing Damir. I tried the chord progression in a single line with time stamps on each chord provided with 7 space between chords, but it will highlight all the chords simultaneously.

example:
[00:02:00]Am [00:03:00]F [00:04:00]Dm [00:05:00]G

If I run the above format all chords will be highlighted at [00:02:00]. So I end up putting each chord its own line.

bradcraig

Lishy Thanks! I didn't know about the apostrophe!

bradcraig

Lishy Thanks! I didn't know about the apostrophe!

Riff

I use slashes to keep the count.

[G]/ / / / | / / / / | [D]/ / / / | [C]/ / / / |

ingemyking

Riff

I'm coming from the world of the onsongapp and normally will do it this way, but to get all in one line I had to do
[|][G][][][][|][][][][][|][D][][][][|][C][][][][|]

I've tried to do something like this in ST3, but failed. I'm using the ChordPro charts where the chords are placed in-line.

Any idea what I can do to get the info I need at the chord line? I also would like to be able to add special instructions if possible. In OnSong I would just add a info like [(keys inn here)]. As long as it's info that doesn't look like a chord, it won't be transposed, but still stay at the place I want it to be. Are there a way to do this.

I've seen that I can add timestamp to each chord and also to additional inormation, just looking for a way to do it without the timestamp...

Damir

SuperBisDak that’s strange, because all my chords light up as the appropriate timecode is passed .
The way I enter the chord time codes is each chord is on a seperate line first then I enter the time codes then I place them on one line.

A
B
C

Then time code them

Timecode A
Timecode B
Timecode C

Then place them on one line with spacing required in my case 4 spaces

Timecode A Timecode B Timecode C

Perhaps if you type it all in on one line without
Doing it my way you might be missing line data that recognises it’s a different section so all is highlighted as one.

SuperBisDak

Oh I got it. What I did wrong was, I enclosed the chord with the close/open bracket. When I omitted the brackets it worked perfectly as you described. My chord chart looks neat now. Thanks much, Damir!

peter

You also do have a syntax error in your timestamps, it should read [00:02.00] and not [00:02:00]

ingemyking

ingemyking
Sorry, the empty brachettes are supposed to include a \ to signal the 2'nd, third and fourth beat of the bar. The chord gives the 1'st or wherever it's suppose to come. The website wasn't able to edit the post the way I wanted it, but I guess you got it...

peter

If you only have chords, you can omit the brackets. See here: https://stagetraxx.com/user-guide/lyrics/#adding-chords