In the Chord Generation View you can specify and start the calculation to determine possible fingerings for a certain chord. Additionally, you can specify a wide range of restrictions to reduce the size of the result set. The results of the calculation will be displayed in the Chord Results View.
It is possible to place less important or complicated restrictions in a collapsable Advanced Section. You can define the restrictions you want to hide in this section in the views preferences.
Note: When you change the settings (new active instrument, changed chord list, etc.) the content of some fields of this view may change automatically.
Here you can specify the chord for which you want to generate the fingerings. A chord consists of the fundamental tone (C, D, ...) and the chord name (maj, min, 7, ...).
If you could not find a chord name in the list it is also possible to use the search option. Click on the search button to open a dialog box which lists all defined chord names including the aka names (also known as).
Here you can specify the desired bass tone of the generated chords. The bass tone is the lowest tone of a chord. If you don't want to make any restrictions concerning the bass tone just select "I don't care".
In addition to the bass tone you can also specify the desired lead tone of the generated chords. The lead tone is the highest tone of a chord. Select "I don't care" if you want to ignore this restriction.
Here you can define the minimum and maximum level of the generated chords. Possible levels are easy, medium, hard, very hard and hell. Of course, the division of chords into levels is subjective and depends on your capabilities. However, the division could be characterized, in principle, as follows:
Here you can specify the fret range in which the chords should be calculated.
Here you can specify the string range in which the chords should be calculated.
Here you can specify the maximum width of your calculated fingerings. The width can be defined in (number of) frets or even millimeters (or inches). With the measurement in inches or millimeters you can specify the maximum span of your hand. Since the fret distance decreases the higher the fret number gets, it is possible to have a larger fret span in the lower frets.
Here you can specify how often each single tone is allowed to occur in your chords. With this setting, it is possible to create well-balanced chords. Okay, that sounds a little bit complicated - let�s explain it with an example. Imagine you are playing a 6-stringed instrument and you want to find possible fingerings for a C-major chord. A C-major chord consists of the tones C-E-G. So, one of the possible calculations for this chord could be 3xC, 1xE and 2xG. But that�s not really a well-balanced chord. It would definitely be better if each single tone would only occur twice - so simply set this field to "2". If that still is confusing you just ignore this restriction by selecting "I don�t care".
Here you can specify whether or not your chords are allowed to contain open strings. An open string indicates a string which is played without being fretted. Especially for electrically amplified instruments which are played distorted it is better to avoid chords with open strings.
In addition to open strings you can also specify whether or not your chords are allowed to contain muted strings. A muted string indicates a string which is not played. A muted string can either be simply not played or you have to mute the string with a finger of your fretting hand. Therefore, the chords with muted strings do not use all strings of your instrument.
For chords with muted strings you can additionally specify that the played strings have to adjoin one another. Therefore the non-muted strings will not be interrupted by muted strings and it becomes possible to play the block of non-muted strings with one strike.
Here you can make further restrictions on chords with muted strings, for example allow only one single muted string in the chord. Thus, there will never be two or more muted strings in a row. This restriction takes into consideration that in most cases it is easy to mute a single string with a finger of your fretting hand, whereas it becomes more and more complicated to mute several strings in a row. Such chords can easily be filtered with this restriction.
Here you can specify whether or not your generated chords are allowed to contain double tones. Double tones are identical tones (with the same tone height). Especially for electrically amplified instruments which are played distorted it is better to avoid chords with double tones.
Here you can specify that your generated chords are only allowed to have ascending or descending tone sequences. This restriction makes sense if you want to play a chord arpeggiated (tone after tone). If you simply want to strike the chords this restriction is probably not really interesting for you.
Here you can specify whether certain intervals of the chords (root, third, fifth) shall be left out of
the calculation. With the exclusion of intervals some chords may become easier.
Some instruments with only a few strings even require the exclusion of certain intervals to play chords
with many tones.
Note: With the exclusion of tones the character of chords may change more (root, third) or less (fifth).
The Chord Generation View supports Drag&Drop - the possibility to drag elements from one view to another. In this case it is possible to drag chords from the Chords View and the Chord Results View into this view. If you drop a chord into this view the chord will be automatically selected - you do not have to select this chord on your own (search for this chord in the list).
The menu of this view contains just the following action:
Opens the preferences dialog. The page with the preferences for this view is already pre-selected.
Workbench → Preferences → Views → Chord Generation
Workbench → Preferences → Calculations
Workbench → Views → Chords
Workbench → Views → Chord Results