Note names

smartChord supports beneath the common musical notation also Solfège and Nashville Number System. In the ‘Names’ settings, you can choose your preferred tone names:

Either the common musical notation: C-D-E-F-G-A-B

or Solfège: Do-Re-Mi-Fa-Sol-La-Si

or Nashville Number System: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7
(please see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nashville_number_system)

This setting affects every feature. The chords, the scales, the ear training, … even the songbook. You can use every song from the internet which is mostly in the notation C-D-E-F-G-A-B and smartChord shows you Do-Re-Mi-Fa-Sol-La-Si or 1-2-3-4-5-6-7

German H

In Germany it is used too. And it’s on our todo list. But it’s much more effort than it looks like.

The “German H” is not supported. Think about getting used to the B instead. ABCEDFG is much more clear and more consistent than AHCDEFG. If everybody would switch to B, we could forget this mistake of the monk in our global world ?

SO instead of SOL

smartChord uses the valid abbreviation SO as an equivalent to the more common SOL. We have chosen this because there is less space for the note names. Furthermore, it makes things much easier and more consistent if all tone names have the same length.

Enharmonic equivalents

Enharmonic equivalents refer to musical notes that are written differently but sound the same when played. Here are some common enharmonic equivalents:

1. C♯ (C sharp) is enharmonic to D♭ (D flat).
2. E♯ (E sharp) is enharmonic to F.
3. G♯ (G sharp) is enharmonic to A♭ (A flat).
4. A♯ (A sharp) is enharmonic to B♭ (B flat).

These examples demonstrate how the same pitch can be represented by different note names, depending on the key signature or musical context. Enharmonic equivalents allow musicians to choose the notation that is most appropriate for a particular musical composition or key signature.

Accidentals

smartChord allows individualized tone names and symbols. You can define your personal preferences in the general settings. These settings affect all of the smartChord features.

The chord diagrams shows the notes according the settings. But you can change the setting “Diagram info” to ‘Theory’ so the notes are displayed according the musical theory.

The songbook shows the chord names according to your ‘Names’ settings. The intention is to see always the same chord names independent of the source of your song texts. So you’ll always get a C#, even if the original chord of the song is written as Db. But there is a songbook option to force the songbook to show the original chords. But keep in mind, that with this option activated, the transposing is deactivated!