Chords

Chord Symbols

Chord names follow standard notation. The root note is a capital letter (A–G) followed by an optional accidental (b for flat, # for sharp).

Example Chord
C C major
Cm C minor
C7 C dominant seventh
CM7 C major seventh
Cm7 C minor seventh
CmM7 C minor-major seventh
Cm7b5 C half-diminished (m7 flat 5)
Cdim C diminished
Cdim7 C diminished seventh
C+ C augmented
Csus4 C suspended fourth
Cadd9 C add ninth
C9, C11, C13 Dominant extensions
CM9, CM11, CM13 Major extensions
C7b9, C7#11 Altered tensions
C/G C over G bass
/G G bass only (root unchanged)

Beat Slots and Dot Notation

The content of each measure is a sequence of chord names and dots. The beat unit is determined by the time signature denominator (e.g. a quarter note in 4/4 or 3/4; an eighth note in 6/8 or 3/8).

Without dots: chords share the bar equally

When a bar contains only chord names, the chords divide the bar into equal portions:

| C |          (4/4) → C for 4 beats
| C G |        (4/4) → C for 2 beats, G for 2 beats
| C G Am F |   (4/4) → C G Am F, 1 beat each
| Em D |       (6/8) → Em for 3 eighths, D for 3 eighths

With dots: each item is one beat unit

When a bar contains one or more dots (.), every item — chord name or dot — occupies exactly one beat unit. A dot continues (holds) the preceding chord for one more beat:

| C . . G |    (4/4) → C for 3 beats, G for 1 beat
| C G . . |    (4/4) → C for 1 beat, G for 3 beats
| G . A |      (3/4) → G for 2 beats, A for 1 beat
| Bb . C F . . | (6/8) → Bb for 2 eighths, C for 1 eighth, F for 3 eighths

The total number of items (chords + dots) in such a bar must equal the number of beat units in the bar.

Mixing within a row

Different bars within the same row may independently use either notation:

| (4/4) C G | Am . . F | C | G . . . |

Simile Marks

The % symbol means "repeat the previous bar". It is shorthand for writing the same chord content again:

| Am | G | G | G |     ← longhand
| Am | G | % | % |     ← shorthand, same meaning

Both forms parse to the same AST. Whether the output uses % or writes chords out in full is controlled by the renderer configuration, not the source.

There is no double-bar simile symbol in grigson. To repeat two bars, write % twice.

Multi-bar Rests

A rest within a bar is written as -:

| - | - | - | - |

In the source, each bar is written out individually. The renderer may choose to display a run of consecutive rest bars as a single multi-bar rest symbol with a count.