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Guitar chord forum - chordie → About Chordie → Repeating Chord format
How do you address holding a chord for more than one beat? What Chordie format is most common? Such as a chord at the end of a line in a verse that stays on D for 3 beats.
I've seen many chord diagrams that all use different formats.
[E] [A] [D]||
[E] [A] [D]//
[E] [A] [D]././.
What, in your opinion, is the most common and easy to read?
Good Morning Steve, Well according to a text reference I have which is: Guitar Chords, printed by Flame Tree Publishing (a handy book to have for figuring out some of those "strange" chord variations):
"Where two or more chords appear within a single bar, the division is shown by a dot or diagonal line after each chord to indicate another beat."
So I would think that a / for each additional beat would be most common and easier to read in most cases. If for no other reason that most folks would be more familiar with it IF it appears...... usually we know what the tune is supposed to sound like (from recordings) and adjust as needed to fit the song.
For me, it depends on how complex the chord changes are. If it's a song with standard form and timing (12 bar blues, rhythm changes, that sort of thing), I just write the chord and play that chord until I see another one. 
If the song is trickier I will either use //// to indicate beats, dropping chords in between beats if necessary, or only when necessary I'll write it out on a staff.
I would find example 3 slightly confusing as in reading music the dot would extend the note, or notes by half. In playing the middle example is far easier to read, and at the end of a line as an acoustic player tap out the beats on the guitar body to keep the timing.
Using ChordPro you are governed by their formatting so I always write songs out as below so I, and my students, know exactly what we are doing. Assuming there are four beats in a bar will put a chord for every bar, if it is less then I will add a superscript number for the beats it should be. Three dots after a chord indicates that it should strummed once and allowed to resonate for the allotted number of beats. (I will also use two dots to indicate that a chord is strummed once and immediately deadened and one dot to indicate that the chord is not played at all). The example below is the final couple of lines of James Blunts "You're Beautiful" showing 1, 2, 4 and 8 beats for chord and, in the final line single strums held for two, two and four beats.
Roger
What does the raw chordpro look like to add superscript formatting like you do? That's a great idea.
Using ChordPro you are governed by their formatting so I always write songs out as below so I, and my students, know exactly what we are doing. Assuming there are four beats in a bar will put a chord for every bar, if it is less then I will add a superscript number for the beats it should be. Three dots after a chord indicates that it should strummed once and allowed to resonate for the allotted number of beats. (I will also use two dots to indicate that a chord is strummed once and immediately deadened and one dot to indicate that the chord is not played at all). The example below is the final couple of lines of James Blunts "You're Beautiful" showing 1, 2, 4 and 8 beats for chord and, in the final line single strums held for two, two and four beats.
Roger
As I said you cannot use ChordPro as you are governed by their formatting and rules. I hand write in this manner as I find ChordPro too restricting.
Roger
Roger, just out of curiosity if you use superscript to indicate beats, how do you notate chord extensions, e.g. C7, G major 7, etc?
With my notation Superscripts are only for beats. Other chords are written C7, Csus, Cmaj7, Csus2, so I use normal script here, upper case for the chord, and lower case for the extensions and I always use bold print to be seen easier.
I started doing this years ago and so I have hundreds of songs written this way.
Roger
That's a great innovation...so in every case the chord and all extensions would be in the regular script and superscript is reserved for beats...what about chords that change on an "and" or an "uh"?
That's a great innovation...so in every case the chord and all extensions would be in the regular script and superscript is reserved for beats...what about chords that change on an "and" or an "uh"?
If you are good enough to do that then you know how to, and when to, so do not need it writing down 
I do not think using C with a superscript 3.5; F with a superscript 0.5; G with a superscript 4 would work very well.
OK there are some limitations but the only way to show everything would be to write a full music score.
Roger
Gotcha. Great idea. Gonna steal.
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