> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://pkhambat.mintlify.site/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Chords

> The chords type: a chart of bars on an instrument's line.

An [instrument](https://pkhambat.mintlify.site/pitched/instruments.md)'s line says which type it holds: `chords` in front of a chart, or [`notes`](https://pkhambat.mintlify.site/pitched/notes) in front of notes. A line without one of them is an error.

```composer-nb theme={"theme":{"light":"github-light","dark":"github-dark"},"languages":{"custom":["/languages/composer-nb.json"]}}
play guitar: chords C - - G|Am - F G|%|F - _ -
```

## Charts

`|` separates bars. Inside a bar, the tokens split the bar into equal slots.

| Token | In its slot |
| - | - |
| A chord symbol | Starts the chord. |
| A Roman numeral | Starts the chord on that degree of the [`key`](https://pkhambat.mintlify.site/pitched/key). |
| A numeral `of` a chord | Starts the chord on that degree of another chord's root, a numeral or a name: [`v7 of v`](#counting-from-a-chord). |
| `-` | Holds the chord. |
| `_` | Silence. |
| `%` | Repeats the bar before. It stands alone in its bar. |

Each slot must be a whole number of sixteenth notes, so a `4 over 4` bar takes 1, 2, 4, 8 or 16 slots. Rhythm comes from the slots: `_ Am _ Am` plays on the off-beats.

A chart written as the same bars more than once is an error, because a pattern repeats it: `Am F|Am F` and `Am F|%` are `Am F`. Inside a bar, `C C` strikes the chord twice.

A long chart continues on the next line when that line starts with `|`.

## Chord symbols

A symbol is a root, a quality and an optional bass note: `C`, `Am`, `F#m`, `Bb7`, `Cmaj7`, `G7sus4`, `Em7b5`, `Cadd9`, `C6/9`, `C/E`. No quality means major.

A 6/9 chord is written as on a lead sheet, `C6/9` or `Cm6/9`. Its `/` is part of the chord, so `C6/9/E` is C6/9 over E. `C69`, `C6add9` and `Cmaj6/9` are errors.

## Roman numerals

A Roman numeral is written in lowercase, and the key's mode makes its chord. A plain numeral is the triad the scale has on that degree, so it is major, minor or diminished as the scale makes it: in C major `i` is C, `ii` is Dm and `vii` is Bdim, and in C minor `i` is Cm, `iii` is Eb and `ii` is Ddim. A `7` after it is the scale's seventh chord on that degree: `i7` is Cmaj7, `ii7` is Dm7 and `v7` is G7 in C major. The same chart in another mode plays that mode's own chords, which is how to hear what a mode does.

Degrees count on the key's own scale, as [degrees in notes](https://pkhambat.mintlify.site/pitched/notes.md#degrees) do: in A minor `iii` is C and `vii` is G, and in A major they're C# and G#. A `b` or `#` in front moves the root off the scale, to a major chord: `bvii` in C major is Bb. A numeral takes `'` marks as a degree does: `i'` is the tonic chord an octave up and `'i` an octave down, so a chart that climbs the scale ends higher than it began. To say a chord outright instead of taking the scale's, write its quality after the numeral as you would after a chord's root: `vm`, `vM`, `vdim`, `vmaj7`, `v7alt`, and `vdom7` for a dominant seventh.

```composer-nb theme={"theme":{"light":"github-light","dark":"github-dark"},"languages":{"custom":["/languages/composer-nb.json"]}}
chords chart = i ii|iii iv|v vi|vii i'

with key D, mode dorian { play piano: chords chart }
with key D, mode minor { play piano: chords chart }
with key D, mode lydian { play piano: chords chart }
```

The first plays Dm Em F G Am Bdim C Dm, the second Dm Edim F Gm Am Bb C Dm, and the third D E F#m G#dim A Bm C#m D.

## Counting from a chord

`of` counts a numeral from another chord's root instead of from the key's: `v7 of v` is the `v7` built on the key's `v`, a secondary dominant. The numeral counts on the major scale of that root, so in C, `v7 of v` is `D7` and `ii7 of iv` is `Gm7`. After `of` goes any chord, a numeral of the key or a name of any type: `v of Am` is `E`, and `v7 of Cmaj7` is `D7`. Only its root counts, so `v of Am` is the same as `v of Am7`. A bass note goes at the end: `v7 of v/F#`.

To count from a chord that is itself counted with `of`, put it in brackets, as with notes. `v7 of (v of v)` is the `v7` of D, which is `A7`.

```composer-nb theme={"theme":{"light":"github-light","dark":"github-dark"},"languages":{"custom":["/languages/composer-nb.json"]}}
play piano: chords v7 of (v of v)|v7 of v|v7|i
```

In C, this plays `A7`, `D7`, `G7`, `C`.

## Voicing

Guitars play the fretboard shape for each chord where one is known. [`transpose`](https://pkhambat.mintlify.site/pitched/instruments#transpose) moves the sound of any instrument's chords and keeps their names, so a guitar's shapes under `set transpose 2` sound as with a capo at the 2nd fret. Other instruments stack the chord's notes upward from its root, with the bass note an octave below. A numeral's root counts up from the key's root in the current `octave`, as a [degree](https://pkhambat.mintlify.site/pitched/notes.md#degrees) does, so a progression keeps its shape in every key: `i vi iv v` is C3 A3 F3 G3 in C and E3 C#4 A3 B3 in E. A chord symbol's root is in the current `octave`, counted from C. A numeral `of` another one counts up from where that chord's root sounds, so in A, `v7 of v` is B4, a 5th above V's E4. A bass note after `/` goes in the octave below, counted up from the key's root for a numeral and from C for a symbol.


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