playtab 0.05

playtab can print chords of songs in a tabular fashion.

SYNOPSIS

playtab [options] [file ...]

Options:

-transpose +/-N transpose all songs
-output XXX set outout file
-ident show identification
-help brief help message
-verbose verbose information

OPTIONS

-transpose amount

Transposes all songs by amount. This can be + or - 11 semitones.

When transposing up, chords will de represented sharp if necessary; when transposing down, chords will de represented flat if necessary. For example, chord A transposed +1 will become A-sharp, but when transposed -11 it will become B-flat.

-output file

Designates file as the output file for the program.

-help

Print a brief help message and exits.

-ident

Prints program identification.

-verbose

More verbose information.

file

Input file(s).

The input for playtab is plain ASCII. It contains the chords, the division in bars, with optional annotations.

An example:

!t Blue Bossa

Bossanova
=
| c-9 ... | f-9 ... | d% . g7 . | c-9 ... |
| es-9 . as6 . | desmaj7 ... | d% . g7 . | c-9 . d% g7 |

The first line, !t denotes the title of the song. Each song must start with a title line.

The title line may be followed by one or more !s, subtitles, for example to indicate the composer.

The text "Bossanova" is printed below the title and subtitle.

The "=" indicates some vertical space.

The next lines show the bars of the song. In the first bar is the c-9 chord (Cminor9), followed by three dots. The dots indicate that this chord is repeated for all 4 beats of this bar. In the 3rd bar each chord take two beats: d5% (d half dim), a dot, g7 and another dot.

Run playtab with -h or --help for the syntax of chords.

If you use "=" followed by some text, the printout is indented and the text sticks out to the left. With this you can tag groups of bars, for example the parts of a song that must be played in a certain order. For example:

!t Donna Lee
!s Charlie Parker

Order: A B A B

= A
| as . | f7 . | bes7 . | bes7 . |
| bes-7 . | es7 . | as . | es-7 D7 |
| des . | des-7 . | as . | f7 . |
| bes7 . | bes7 . | bes-7 . | es7 . |

= B
| as . | f7 . | bes7 . | bes7 . |
| c7 . | c7 . | f- . | c7#9 . |
| f- . | c7 . | f- . | aso . |
| as f7 | bes-7 es7 | as - | bes-7 es7 |

You can modify the width of the bars with a !w control. Standard width of a beat is 30. !w +5 increases the width to 35. !w 25 sets it to 25. You get the idea. You can also change the height with !h (default is 15) and margin with !m (default width is 40).

You can transpose an individual song with !x amount, where amount can range from -11 to +11, inclusive.

Look at the examples, that is (currently) the best way to get grip on what the program does.

Oh, I almost forgot: it can print guitar chord diagrams as well. See "bluebossa", "sophisticatedlady" and some others.

Have fun, and let me know your ideas!

INPUT SYNTAX

Notes: C, D, E, F, G, A, B.
Raised with # or suffix is, e.g. A#, Ais.
Lowered with b or suffix s or es, e.g. Bes, As, Eb.

Chords: note + optional modifiers.
Chord modifiers Meaning [examples]
--------------------------------------------------------------
nothing major triad [C]
- or min or m minor triad [Cm Fmin Gb-]
+ or aug augmented triad [Caug B+]
o or 0 or dim diminished triad [Co D0 Fdim]
--------------------------------------------------------------
maj7 major 7th chord [Cmaj7]
% half-diminished 7 chord [C%]
6,7,9,11,13 chord additions [C69]
--------------------------------------------------------------
# raise the pitch of the note to a sharp [C11#9]
b lower the pitch of the note to a flat [C11b9]
--------------------------------------------------------------
no substract a note from a chord [C9no11]
--------------------------------------------------------------
Whitespace and () may be used to avoid ambiguity, e.g. C(#9) <-> C#9 <-> C#(9)

Other: Meaning
--------------------------------------------------------------
. Chord space
- Rest
% Repeat
/ Powerchord constructor [D/G D/E-]
--------------------------------------------------------------