Re: Chords and what they mean

[Simon Albrecht]

Hello Kaj,

On 17.09.2015 09:27, address@hidden wrote:
> First I will declare, that I am not 100 percent sure this is a bug, 
> but friends of mine, musicians, say it probably is. Also, as I am not 
> an expert, I have tried to learn by searching on among others Wikipedia.
>
> It is about chords, a few of them. It started when I should clean 
> write a score from a manuscript. In one measure there were noted two 
> chords, C5 and C. Obviously not the same, as they stood just beside of 
> each other. A search on Wikipedia also told me, and this was also 
> confirmed, the author's intention, that C5 means C(no 3), hence <c g>, 
> while the chord C means <c e g>. But LilyPond treats these two the 
> same and produces the same notes. This is also clearly said e.g. in 
> Appendices A.1 and A.2 of Notation Reference, as well as in the text 
> part. However even if possibly a correct procedure, is it a correct 
> practise?
>
> Another such discrepancy is about Csus, which Wikipedia (and my 
> friends) says is equivalent to Csus4, hence <c f g>. But LilyPond 
> produces <c g>, hence what should come from the notation C5 as in the 
> previous paragraph.
>
> So, what is the truth?

There are others who are more into the subject, but I may say:
There is no ‘truth’. With chord names, there are so many different 
conventions and fiercely defended convictions that it’s impossible to 
define a single ‘standard’ naming scheme. (Edit: just like the NR says)

Many things in the chords rendering may be overridden in LilyPond. In 
case you’re not aware yet, check out 
<http://lilypond.org/doc/v2.18/Documentation/notation/displaying-chords#customizing-chord-names> 
and perhaps the LSR <http://lsr.di.unimi.it>. If that doesn’t cover your 
wishes, you may come back with a code example, I’d suggest.

HTH, Simon