Jack Campin wrote: >In Barfly, "x" doesn't print but does play, like a "z". So that example >is in 5/4 with a rest and chord change on the 5th beat. > >Neither does the same thing using the "y" non-printing non-playing space >work. Try lining it up with a parallel voice containing four crotchets >and see what you get. > >This ugly mess is the best I can do in BarFly to get those chords to line >up with four crotchets in another voice while retaining the semibreve: > > V:1 "A" C4 "Am"y4 | > V:2 GyGy Gy2G| > >and every additional voice would require quadratically more y's to sort >the misalignments out. An example of why I don't show other people the >ABCs I've written with y's in.
Not true. The timing of 'y' counts for vertical alignment only, so all bars should contain the same total amount of time (and therefore the same time value of ys) to align. Each additional voice will need to contain exactly y4 (divided up appropriately to the notes) to keep the alignment right The real problem here is not with abc at all - it's the fact that guitar chords by convention do not contain any timing information. When you write two chords over a single note in conventional notation you are leaving the timing of the chords to be decided by the intelligent musician who reads it. You can't expect a computer to do that. Using invisible rests (x or y) won't help a player program to play the chords in the correct places either. The only way to do that would be to introduce time values into the chords (or put them in a separate voice with rests as Atte did in the first place). Actually, I think I like that method best of all, even if it's not what happens in conventional notation. Phil Taylor To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html
