guitar chord symbols above words?

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ruth3265

I want to type out words of songs using 1.5 line spacing and then insert
guitar chord symbols in appropriate places in a different colour.
 
Using just ordinary text, this can be tricky because of proportional spacing
issues -- different characters take up different horizontal space. This
makes things very sensitive to minor changes and corrections.

The most tempting solution is the direct method. Use a fixed pitch font,
such as Courier New, for everything. That way, you can match the chord lines
and the lyric lines space for space. Done this way, you simply space over to
where the chord needs to be above the words, and type.

An easier solution, IMO is to use whatever font you want, and then use text
boxes (not set for In line with text) for placing the chords where desired.
The easiest way to apply this approach is--after the first chord text box
has been created--to use Ctrl+drag to make copies of that textbox for
subsequent chords. Make the needed changes for the new chord and color.
Thereafter, each time you need to reuse a particular chord, go back and drag
the existing chord of that type. This can save you some work since you
really need to create one text box. And, once all of the needed chords
exist, they serve as templates for subsequent chords.

If you just want functionality, both approaches work. If you want "pretty",
the 2nd approach works better, since it lets you pretty the chords up with
boxes, shading, etc. If you're going to do this a lot, then you can create a
library of chords for future use, using AutoText or AutoCorrect entries to
speed the process.
 
You mean, just things like "C7"? You could make each line a separate
paragraph and use tabs in the chord-symbol line paragraphs to align
them with the words below.

If you mean the tablature diagrams that show the fingering on the
strings, you'll need music "engraving" software like Finale.
 
I wanted to type out the words of songs in 1.5 pitch so that they would fit
on the page easily and just squash in the chord symbol in between the
writing. I haven't actually tried what you say on an actual document, just
on a couple of lines of text I typed, but the text box seemed to want to go
 
You need to set the wrapping style for the text box to something other than
In line with text. If it's going onto any line at all, instead of where you
drag it, it sounds like it's set to In line with text.

Right-click the text text box, choose Format Text Box, Layout tab. See if In
Front of text gives you the control you want (just need to make sure you
don't cover up lyrics when you place the box). If that works, use the first
text box as a template for new ones you create (Ctrl+Drag to create a copy
of it), since the copies will inherit the same attributes.

The other thing that can interfere with exact placement is the Snap to Grid
setting. You don't say which version of Word you're using...

In Word 2007, in the Text Box Tools - Format tab, click Align - Grid
Settings, and turn off Snap objects to grid....

In Word 2003, in the Drawing toolbar, choose Draw - Grid to access the
setting.
 
Why are you advocating text boxes instead of simply typing lyrics and
symbols on alternating lines, with tabs?
 
I gave two methods in my original reply. The textbox approach is a good one
if the user will need to do this a lot and wants to create an AutoText
"library" for chords for reuse.

Using tabs can work if the user is careful about placement and understands
how Word's tabs work. However, if lyrics are changed, then tabs need to be
changed. This can be even more laborious than simply using spaces and a
fixed-pitch font. You need different tabs for each and every line of chords.
This can get quite tedious.

Having done this a variety of ways myself, IMO, the textbox approach yields
the most professional-looking results (unless you happen to have guitar
chord clip art), and fixed-pitch brute force yields the quickest.

--
Herb Tyson MS MVP
Author of the Word 2007 Bible
Blog: http://word2007bible.herbtyson.com
Web: http://www.herbtyson.com
 
Thanks. That is great. The whole point is that I wanted the lyrics
large-ish to read from a distance and alternate lines creates too much space
in between.

Ruth
 
You can set the spacing between lines or between paragraphs to
anything you'd like, including smaller than the size of the type, in
Format > Paragraph.
 
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