Creating Melody Notes

Here's how to create melody notes:

1. Start with an empty melody staff.


(If you don't see a melody staff like this, here's how to show it).

2. Click the Start Note tool in the Tools window to place the mouse in "note mode".


(If the Tools window is not showing, use the Tools > Tool Box menu command to show it.)

3. Enlarge the staff (using the Zoom button on the toolbar) for easier note placement.

4. Click in the staff where you want the note to start. The note will continue to the end of the measure (we'll discuss creating shorter notes later).

Pitches on the Staff

ChordSong uses a "chromatic" staff, which means that there is a separate bar in the staff for each of the 12 chromatic pitches in each octave. (For ChordSong's old "Lines & Spaces" staff, see The Lines & Spaces Staff.)

When the Start Note tool is selected and the mouse is in the staff, the name of the pitch under the mouse is displayed in the Tools window:

The pitch name (such as "B" or "C#/Db") is followed by an octave number (such as 4, 5, or 6). C 5 is "middle C", C 6 is the C an octave above middle C, and so on.

The staff is tinted to help you find pitches. First, the sharp/flat pitches (black notes on a piano) are tinted gray:

Then, the chord tones are tinted green:

So, choosing the green or gray-green pitches is an easy way to find notes which sound good with your chords.