ChordCompanion was designed as a simple-to-use chord analysis software for blossoming or professionals guitarists. The interface was kept as simple as possible so you could use it as rapidly as possible.
ChordCompanion is shareware. So please, if you like it, pay the $25 registration fee. Payment methods are described in the Read Me File.
All of ChordCompanion's features are fully functional so you can truly appreciate its capabilities.
This manual is composed of a quick user guide followed by miscellaneous information section.
Quick User Guide
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Here is a quick overview of ChordCompanion features. Full balloon help is also available from within ChordCompanion.
How to tune the guitar
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ChordCompanion is very flexible when it comes to tuning the guitar. You can tune the guitar directly on the fretboard or use the tuning dialogue.
To tune from the fretboard, click on a string and hold the mouse button. A menu will appear showing all possible notes in the scale. Select the note wanted for the string.
Or, use the menu Fretboard:Tuning. You will the see the ChordCompanion tuning dialogue.
To revert to the standard guitar tuning, select the menu Fretboard:Standard Tuning. The standard tuning is E, B, G, D, A, E.
The tuning dialogue
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The tuning dialogue can be used to do three things:
- Select the number of strings that chordCompanion will display on the fretboard.
- Change each strings' tuning.
- Change each string octave. The octave number is the standard MIDI octave number. The lower the number, the lower the note for the string will sound.
The chord database
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ChordCompanion maintains a list of user-created chords in memory. The list is called the chord database. The chord database can be accessed from the main window database popup menu, located at the right of the edit field. The popup menu offers two commands, Add and Delete.
The Add command is used to insert the chord displayed on the fretboard into the database using the name written in the edit field.
The Delete command is used to remove the chord whose name is written in the edit field from the database.
All chords added to the database can be selected again from the database popup menu. The chord selected this way becomes the current chord. All the modifications made to the chord will be automatically preserved in the database. If you wish to end the edition of a chord, you can select another chord or create a new chord using the menu Edit:New Chord.
The tools
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The main window contains four tool buttons which are used to accomplish the following tasks:
- Mark the root note for a chord
- Add a finger to a chord
- To barre a chord.
- Mute a string.
The root note tool
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To use this tool, click on this button (first from the left). Then click on a string at the desired fret location. The root note is useful when naming a chord. It allows ChordCompanion to restrict the number of suggestions for a chord name. To make an open string the root note, press the option key before clicking on a string.
The finger tool
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The finger tool is used to add a 'finger' to the chord. To use the tool, click on this button (2nd from left) and click on a string at the desired fret location. You can remove a finger by clicking on a string at a fret location where a finger was previously added.
The barre tool
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The barre tool is used to create barre chord. To use this tool, click on the barre button (2nd to the right). Click on an existing finger on the fretboard. While holding the mouse button, drag the mouse over an existing finger on the same fret. Release the mouse button. Now, all strings intersecting the barre will sound at that fret.
The mute tool
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The mute tool is used to prevent a string from sounding. To use the tool, click on its button (first to the right). Click on a string. A muted string is gray. A sounding string is black. ChordCompanion removes any finger on a string before muting it. To make a string sound again, click on the string.
The menus
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The File Menu
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New Chord File: Initializes ChordCompanion for a new chord file. This is similar to 'New Document' in Microsoft Word.
Open Chord File: Opens a ChordCompanion chord file. The file is read in memory. The previous file is discarded.
Append Chord File: Open a chord file and append its content to the current chord file.
Save Chord File: Saves the chord file to disk.
Quit: Exits ChordCompanion
The Edit Menu
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Undo: Undoes the last command, if possible.
Cut: Moves the current chord into the clipboard.
Copy: Copy the current chord into the clipboard. The chord image is also stored in the clipboard as a picture. You can set the size of the chord picture stored in the clipboard by doing an option-Copy. This brings up a special dialogue used to set the dimension of the picture.
Paste: Copy the chord from the clipboard into the fretboard.
Clear: Clear the chord on the fretboard.
Important: The Cut, Paste and Clear command modifies the chord in the chord database. Do not use the Cut command, for instance, to clear the fretboard for a new chord. To create a new chord, use Edit:New Chord, as described below.
New Chord: Creates a new empty chord. The chord must be added to the database if you want to keep it. To do so, name your chord (by typing in the edit field or by letting ChordCompanion analyse it), click on the database popup menu and select Add.
The Chord Menu
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Include Name: If checked, the chord name is added to the clipboard image.
Pop/Rock: If checked, a Pop/Rock notation is used when analysing a chord.
Jazz: If checked, a jazz notation is used when analysing a chord.
Classical: If checked, a classical notation is used when analysing a chord.
Anglo-Saxon Notation: If checked, chord names are generated using the English note C, D, E, F, G, A, B. If not checked, the French note names Do, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La, Si are used.
Full Chord Name: If checked, chord names generated include each degree of the chord, i.e. the third, fifth, seventh, ninth, eleventh and thirteenth. If not checked, ChordCompanion tries to simplify the chord name by removing superfluous degrees.
Auto Analyse: If checked, ChordCompanion analyses the current chord each time you modify it. This is useful to see the changes you make to your chord in real time.
Analyse chord: Perform an analysis of the current chord. ChordCompanion then suggest the names that can be applied to the chord. The name suggestions can be found in the analyse popup menu situated on the left side of the edit field.
Hint: To limit the number of suggestions, tell ChordCompanion where the chord's root note is.
Parse Chord Name: Does the opposite of the Analysis. From a chord name in the edit field, ChordCompanion finds the notes (or fingers) that form the chord and displays them on the fretboard. ChordCompanion erases the fretboard before doing this so be sure that you created a new chord.
Move Up and Move Down: Move the current chord up and down the fretboard.
Play Chord: Play the current chord. The chord is played using sampled guitar strings. Sorry, no MIDI.
The Fretboard menu
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4 Strings, 5 Strings and 6 Strings: Display the fretboard using the specified number of strings.
Standard Tuning: Changes ChordCompanion's tuning to the standard guitar tuning E,B,G,D,A,E.
Tuning: Brings the ChordCompanion tuning dialogue.
Left/Right Handed: Displays the fretboard for left-handed or right-handed people.
Tablature/Normal Neck: The tablature neck displays the fretboard with the low strings at the bottom of the neck. This is similar to tablature notation in guitar magazines and books. Normal neck is with the low strings at the top.
Miscellaneous Information
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Known bugs
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- Chords will not sound correctly on Macintoshes using system 7.1.
- Under certain circumstances, the database menu will not draw correctly.
Please report any bugs
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Because of the complexity of music notations, we could not test all the possibilities of chord name generation. So please, if you find a case that you feel is not satisfactory or downright wrong, please contact us.
- Because of limited resources, i could not test on many machines/system configurations. ChordCompanion was tested on: PB540 PPC using system 7.5.3, 7.5.5 & 7.6. PowerMac 6100/66 using system 7.1 and 7.6. Macintosh Quadra 700 using system 7.5.3, 7.5.5 & 7.6. PowerMac 7300 (unknown system). Contact us for any incompatibility issues.
Where to contact us
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Antaya systems is located in Montreal, Canada. You can send us mail for the registration fee, bug report or to comment.
