What software for drawing chord charts?

[matonanjin]

Anyone know of any? Anyone using a package?

Here is what I am wanting to do. I want to make a chord chart as a graphic file. Then I'm going to use that graphic in a labeling program. I'm going to print a label for many different chords to go on 3x5 cards for, you guessed it, flash cards.

There are packages out there like the most famous, probably, Neck Diagrams. But that is for designing the entire neck or a large part of it.

What I am looking for is a package that will

1. just draw the few, or 4 or 5 frets of a chord,
   
2. identify where it is at on the neck, i.e. 5th fret
3. number which fingers are fretting which notes
4. Save the diagram as a graphic file (jpg or TIFF)

This is the type of graphic I want to generate. I'm not even sure where I grabbed this. This is ideal but I don't need all frets identified numerically. Just one number identifying where it is at, 5 or 7 etc. And, again, it would be ideal but I don't need all notes identified along the bottom.

Here is a 3x5 card I just hand drew for a D7 with what I am trying to achieve. You can clearly see why I need to improve my system

Here is what I did a while back using Excel. You Excel users will understand I put borders around every cell and had some tiny graphics to superimpose with fingering. But this was hugely time consuming. Way too time consuming to do it this way.

 

[jxe]

inkscape https://inkscape.org/ or paint.net https://www.getpaint.net/

 

[veinbuster]

I took a photo of the top few frets of the neck of my guitar, copied it, then put dots on the appropriate spots. It worked well for open chords.

 

[matonanjin]

@jxe, I appreciate your response. But I need some sort of software more specific for the chord diagrams, not just graphics software. I have Adobe Photoshop CC (and Lightroom and others). Thanks again.

 

[jxe]

@jxe, I appreciate your response. But I need some sort of software more specific for the chord diagrams, not just graphics software. I have Adobe Photoshop CC (and Lightroom and others). Thanks again.

sorry guy — i was thinking you could use the veinbuster technique to make a set of fretboard templates for your labels and then draw the fingerings on top. not the first time i missed the brief for sure.

 

[dogrocketp]

I’m old. I just write them out on music paper.

 

[pac90]

Google chord posters and print out?

I like the tabs app, has a chord library in there

 

[Frank McNerney]

There is an program called Neck Diagrams that I think will give you what you are looking for. You can try it for free and purchase if you like it.

 

[CandidPicker]

I think I located (or put together myself) a template that displays the basic chord chart diagrams. You just use a pencil to add chord name, fret positions, and finger placements marks. Here's a copy of the diagram sheet, if this helps...when downloading save as pdf...

 

[SmasLeeviy]

My brother does a similar thing to share new chords in his telegram channel and then shows how to play it on youtube. He says it's pretty hard to draw these things. It would probably be great if you had exceptional service for this. Unfortunately, I can't recommend any because I never deal with chords. However, I'm a digital caricature artist. I use many apps when drawing, but I'm not sure they have the demanded option. I hope you'll find a solution to this problem; let me know then so that I could suggest my brother

 

[Wakester]

I have stamps that I used to use. I got them on Amazon i believe.

 

[Moondog Wily]

I know this is a necrobump on this thread, but I have the "chords bible" I made a while back in PSD format. I think it is about 50 pages total when printed out. Here is an example page, If anybody wants it, PM me! I did it as a PSD so that I could easily move stuff around to properly fit whatever page sizes I wanted and to keep things organized (layers of all notes with sub layers inside each note layer of 1-9 pages within that note).

 

[jak3af3r]

I know this is a necrobump on this thread, but I have the "chords bible" I made a while back in PSD format. I think it is about 50 pages total when printed out. Here is an example page, If anybody wants it, PM me! I did it as a PSD so that I could easily move stuff around to properly fit whatever page sizes I wanted and to keep things organized (layers of all notes with sub layers inside each note layer of 1-9 pages within that note).

That looks really slick!

I do see some inaccuracies with your slash-chords. You can rephrase those as "C over A bass note." So all of them should have the lowest note in the chord as the note on the right side of the slash UNLESS there's a bassist involved and then it's their responsibility to get the right note.

 

[CandidPicker]

I know this is a necrobump on this thread, but I have the "chords bible" I made a while back in PSD format. I think it is about 50 pages total when printed out. Here is an example page, If anybody wants it, PM me! I did it as a PSD so that I could easily move stuff around to properly fit whatever page sizes I wanted and to keep things organized (layers of all notes with sub layers inside each note layer of 1-9 pages within that note).

PM sent.

 

[Moondog Wily]

That looks really slick!

I do see some inaccuracies with your slash-chords. You can rephrase those as "C over A bass note." So all of them should have the lowest note in the chord as the note on the right side of the slash UNLESS there's a bassist involved and then it's their responsibility to get the right note.

Thanks jak3af3r, I was not aware of that. I captured this info and then put it into PSD but did not "draw" any of the chord charts or names. I would love to properly correct it, so if you are willing to take a closer look at it and let me know what the proper way to do some of them, I would appreciate it. I already sent to Alnus and CandidPicker, but I am sure they will take updates once made. I will send you a PM with a link to the PSD. If you do not have Photoshop, let me know and I will try and generate a PDF, but that will take some time.

I am a big advocate of accuracy, so if any of this is wrong, I do want to correct it.

 

[trisd]

Free guitar chord diagram creator

It has never been easier to create beautiful chord diagrams.

chordpic.com

 

[trisd]

I am a big advocate of accuracy, so if any of this is wrong, I do want to correct

Ted Greene's "Chord Chemistry" is really worth its weight in gold. If you do not know it Moondog you should really check it out, it is a classic for a reason.

 

[Moondog Wily]

Ted Greene's "Chord Chemistry" is really worth its weight in gold. If you do not know it Moondog you should really check it out, it is a classic for a reason.

Thanks trisd! I will check that out!! I appreciate the feedback!!!

 

[Song]