NAME
playtab - print chords of songs in a tabular fashion
SYNOPSIS
playtab [options] [file ...]
Options:
-output XXX set outout file
-ident show identification
-help brief help message
-verbose verbose informationOPTIONS
- -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).
DESCRIPTION
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 '!s', a subtitle, 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).
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-]
--------------------------------------------------------------AUTHOR
Johan Vromans, Squirrel Consultancy <jvromans@squirrel.nl>
COPYRIGHT AND DISCLAIMER
This program is Copyright 1990,2007 by Johan Vromans. This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the Perl Artistic License or the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.
If you do not have a copy of the GNU General Public License write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 675 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.