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This must have been already asked, but I didn't find anything with search. Anyway, I would like to have BIAB show the chord tones for each chord in the song, either as note names or musical notation (so G7 would show G,B,D,F). I assume this is possible, as BIAB does a gazillion things. Please don't tell me to "just go memorize all the chords/chord tones".

Additionally, if you can tell me how to do that, is there a way to only show *certain* chord tones? For example, show only the 3 (so G7 would show G,B). This would be useful for learning and for sparking creative ideas, I think.



Go do a search for "Chord Dictionary" at this site (Top RH corner @ 'Search Site') I use the Piano dictionary. Program costs $19. You enter just about any chord. The program can play it back and lists all the notes in that chord.

But that's not all it does. Below is a copy of the help file excluding the excellent graphics.

(From the Pgmusic Chord Dictionary Help File)
The upper portion of the Chord Display Area shows the currently selected chord (symbol) in extra large type. Clicking anywhere in this area plays and displays the most recently selected variation of that chord.
The middle portion of the Chord Display Area has a [This Chord Contains] button. If you click on this button, it plays the chord in root position with the root at the bottom of the chord followed by the 3rd, 5th, 7th, 9th, 11th, and 13th. To the right of this button, there are two rows of text. The top row shows the Chord Scale Degrees of the notes in the chord (for example maj 3, min 3, flat 9), while the bottom row shows the actual notes that the chord contains (for example C, E, Bb).
The bottom potion of the Chord Display area lists a number of different Variations, or Voicings of the same chord. You can select (single-click on) any variation in this list, and the variation you select will be displayed on the keyboard. If you double-click on a variation, you will hear it play.
Abbreviations used to identify the notes in the chord are:
R Root
min Minor
maj Major
sus Suspended
dim Diminished
P Perfect
aug Augmented
Play (Chord / Arpeggio)
If you select ‘Chord’, the notes in the selected chord will all play at the same time. If you select ‘Arpeggio’, the notes will play as an Arpeggio, one note after another in quick succession.
Display (Note Names / Scale Degrees)
If you select ‘Note Names’, the notes displayed on the virtual piano keyboard will show the actual name of that note, for example D or C#. If you select ‘Scale Degrees’, they will show the note as R (root), Maj 3, and so on.
Volume Control Button

This opens up the Volume or Play Control panel of the standard Windows mixer. This allows you to adjust volume levels for the various sound devices on your computer. If you don’t hear any sound in the program, make sure that there is nothing muted, and that the volume levels are turned up. Specifically, you are looking for the volume control that affects the output of the MIDI driver you have selected in the Settings Dialog. This varies between computers and sound cards, but you can experiment to find out which one it is if you are not sure.
Note: You can change the controls that Windows displays in the Volume Control window by going to the Options menu in that window and selecting Properties.
Settings Button
This opens the Settings Dialog, where you can select your MIDI driver and change other program settings.
Help button
This brings up the help file.
PG Music logo
When you click on the PG Music logo on the far right, this will open a splash screen with PG Music contact information and the exact version of the program you are running. Check our website for updates periodically to make sure you have the latest version of the program:
http://www.pgmusic.com/support_other.htm
Reverse Chord Finder

The Reverse Chord Finder allows you to enter two or more notes on the piano keyboard, and the program then displays a list of all chords that contain those notes. The Reverse Chord Finder can be turned on or off by simply clicking on the button.
There are two options when using this feature. You can either have it search for any chord that contains the notes you entered, or you can have it search for specific voicings. This selection is made by clicking on the arrow on the Reverse Chord Finder button, and selecting either "Show all chords" or "Show Specific Voicings".
To enter notes on the keyboard, simply click on them. To remove notes, click on them again. In this example, we have entered middle C and E. We have it set to "Show all chords", so the list contains all chords that have C or E anywhere in them:
Chord Voicings Selection

This allows you to narrow the list of chords to only include specific voicings. Solo – 2H (2 hands) are voicings that have the root in the bottom, and would be used, for example, in backing up a singer when there are no other band members. Trio – 2H (2 hands) are voicings that don’t necessarily have the root in the bass, and would typically be used when you are playing in a band with a bass player. Trio – LH (Left-hand only) are voicings that are intended to be played with the left-hand only, which frees up the right hand for melody lines or soloing.
MIDI Driver
This program uses a MIDI device to generate sounds. You choose the MIDI device you want to use from this pull-down menu. The specific drivers that you see in the pull-down box, vary between computers, depending on your setup (operating system, sound card, software synths installed, etc.). If you aren’t sure which is the best one to select, just try each one in turn.
Note: When you first open the program, it will default to the first available MIDI device in the Windows operating system settings (Control Panel | Sounds and Audio Devices | Audio – MIDI Playback).
Show Fly-by Hints
If enabled, text boxes with hints will appear when you position your mouse over certain items in the program. These hints also tell you the hotkey that is associated with that item.
Convert Double-flats / Double sharps to their Enharmonic Equivalents
When this is enabled, then whenever the following notes are displayed (either in the Chord Display area, or on the piano keyboard, the note names will be changed to their Enharmonic Equivalents:
B# changed to C
Dbb changed to C
B## changed to C#
C## changed to D
Ebb changed to D
Fbb changed to Eb
D## changed to E
Fb changed to E
E# changed to F
Gbb changed to F
E## changed to F#
F## changed to G
Abb changed to G
G## changed to A
Bbb changed to A
Cbb changed to Bb
A## changed to B
Cb changed to B
Display chord tones in different colors
When this is enabled, chord tones will appear on the piano keyboard in different colors. For example, all b3 notes will appear in one color, all #5 notes will appear in a different color, etc.
Root / Chord
These pull-down boxes allows you to select the instrument you would like to have play the Root and the rest of the notes of the chord. For example, you could choose "Acoustic Bass" for the Root, and Acoustic Grand Piano for the rest of the notes. You can also set the volume of each of the instruments using the two slider controls.
Note: The list of instruments that you see is the complete General MIDI instrument set of 128 instruments.
Arpeggio staggers notes at x ms
When you have selected "Arpeggio" for chord playback, this setting determines how closely the various notes of the chord are played together. You can enter a value from 0 (which would mean the notes are all played



Cheers F

Last edited by FrankK; 10/02/12 01:41 PM.