Table of Contents

Background

JotChord™️ is an application for creating number charts - sometimes called "Nashville Number System" or "NNS" for short.

ChordText™ is a simple text format for authoring Nashville Number System chord sheets, that JotChord™️ can automatically format into a PDF. With ChordText™, musicians can focus on the structure and contents of the chart -- the promise of NNS! -- without having to worry about column layouts, or drawing symbols that are unique to NNS. With ChordText™, you can simply type chord numbers in plain text, enabling you to chart a song in minutes - often in as much time as it takes you to listen to the song once.

Like Tablature is to guitar notation, ChordText™ aspires to be to Nashville-style notation.

This article is a quick reference guide to the conventions and specific syntax that JotChord™️ supports: ChordText™.

Overview of ChordText™

You can think of the structure of a number chart as represented in the following diagram:

├── Metadata:
│   ├── Title
│   ├── Key
│   ├── Tempo
│   ├── Meter
│   ├── Style
│   ├── Feel
|   ├── $customProperty
├── Section1:
│   ├── measures
│   │   ├── chords
│   │   │   ├── rhythms, articulations and other symbols
│   ├── comments
├── Section2:
...

Metadata

Optional metadata

Title

A song title:
```
Title: Need You Now
```

Key

The key of E
```
Key: E
```
The key of B-flat
```
Key: Bb
```
The key of F-sharp
```
Key: F#
```

Tempo

A tempo of 108 bpm:
```
Tempo: 108
```
Optionally include "bpm" for legibility when scanning the ChordText™ format:
```
Tempo: 108bpm
```

Meter

A meter of 12/8
```
Meter: 12/8
```
JotChord™ assumes 4/4 if the meter is not declared.

Style

A Bossa nova style:
```
Style: Bossa nova
```
JotChord™ only displays Style: if both Style: and Feel: are provided.

Feel

A "Swing feel":
```
Feel: Swing
```
JotChord™ appends the word "feel" to the end of the provided feel.
JotChord™ only displays Style: if both Style: and Feel: are provided.

Custom metadata

${name}:, where {name} is replaced by a label containing any alphanumeric characters
```
$Artist: The Beatles
```
```
$Arranger: John Smith
```

Song sections

Section headers

The first verse:
```
V1:
```
A chorus section:
```
CH:
```

Measures ("bars") & split bars

Separate measures with spaces or tabs:
```
1 1 4 5
```

Split bar with an underline

A split bar with 2 chords:
```
1_6-
```
A split bar with 4 chords:
```
4_3-_2_1
```

Split bar with parentheses

A split bar with 2 chords:
```
(1 6-)
```
A split bar with 4 chords:
```
(4 3- 2 1)
```
An implicit meter change from 4/4 to a single 2/4 bar:
```
1 4 5 (5..)
1 1
```

Measure group separator

A group of 4 measures, separated from another group of 4 measures:
```
1 1 1 1 * 4 4 5 5
```

Chords

Diatonic chords

The natural ("diatonic") chords in C-Major are:

NNS chord symbol:	1	2-	3-	4	5	6-	7o
Chord name:	C-Major	D-minor	E-minor	F-Major	G-Major	A-minor	B-diminished
Traditional chord symbol:	C	Dm or D-	Em or E-	F	G	Am or A-	B-dim or Bo

A progression through all eight diatonic chords:
```
1 2- 3- 4
5 6- 7o 1
```

Non-diatonic chords / accidentals

Symbol name	ChordText™ symbol	ChordText™ expression	Example
Flat	`b` (lower-case letter "b")	`b{number}`	b7
Sharp	`#` (the hash symbol)	`#{number}`	#5

A flat-7 chord, common in pop music
```
b7
```

Chord qualities

Chord quality	ChordText™ expression	Example(s)
Major	`{number}` or `{number}^` or `{number}M`	`1` or `2^` or `2M`
minor	`{number}-` or `{number}m`	`2-` or `6m`
diminished	`{number}o` or `{number}dim`	`7o` or `7dim`
augmented	`{number}+` or `{number}aug`	`3+` or `3aug`
suspended	`{number}sus{number}`	`5sus4`
added	`{number}add{number}`	`4add9`

An 8-bar progression with seven different chord qualities
```
7o  1   3^  6-
4add9 #4+ 5sus4 1
```

No Chord - N.C., tacet or rest

Whole measure rest:
```
X
```
Half-note rest:
```
X_5
```
In context:
```
1 6- 5 X
```

Beyond triads - tetrads, extended and altered chords

General "exponent" form (**)
```
{number}**{exponent}
```
A 5-dominant-7th chord (V7 in jazz):
```
5**7
```

Examples and shorthand forms

Chord type	ChordText™ verbose form	ChordText™ short form
Major-7	`1**^7`	`1^7`
minor-7	`6-**7`	`6-7`
diminished-7	`7o**7`	`7o7`
Dominant-7	`5**7`	`5D7` or `5d7`
Major-7 flat-5	`1**^7(b5)`	`1^7b5`
Major-7 sharp-11	`1**^7(#11)`	`1^7#11`
Dominant-7 flat-5 sharp-9	`3**7(b5,#9)`	`3D7b5#9`

Slash chords (incl. inversions)

General form
```
{chord}/{bass-scale-degree}
```
A first-inversion 1-chord:
```
1/3
```
A non-diatonic 3-Major-chord with a sharp-5 scale degree in the bass (a first-inversion Maj-3 chord):
```
3^/#5
```

Rhythms

Diamonds (e.g., whole notes and/or let it ring)

A whole-note 1-chord:
```
<1>
```
A whole-note 1Maj7-chord:
```
<1^7>
```
A whole-note slash chord:
```
<4/5>
```
A split bar with half-note chords:
```
<4>_<1>
```

Pushes (e.g., syncopation)

Early-push the 4-chord (e.g., by 1/8 in 4/4):
```
1 4<
```
Late-push several chords in a split bar:
```
1 5>_4> 1 5>_4>
```
Early-push a diamond chord:
```
<5><
```
Late-push a diamond chord:
```
<5>>
```
NOTE: pushes and tick marks occupy the same space. Use one or the other. If you need both, let us know!

Tick marks (clarifying beats)

3 beats of a 1-chord, followed by 1 beat of a 4-chord:
```
1..._4.
```
Quick changes: 1 beat each of 4 different chords
```
6-.5.4.3-
```
NOTE: pushes and tick marks occupy the same space. Use one or the other. If you need both, let us know!

Ties

A 1-chord struck and then ringing for two full measures (8 beats in 4/4)
```
<1>= <1>
```
A half-note 4-chord tied to the first beat of the second bar
```
1_<4>= 4.<5>...
```

Mutes / cut-offs / marcato

A mute on the downbeat of a measure
```
1!
```
Mutes on beats 1 and 3 of a 4/4 measure
```
1!_1!
```
Five James Brown hits
```
5D9!_5D9!_5D9!_5D9! 5D9!
```

Fermatas ("bird eyes")

A whole-note 1-chord with a fermata:
```
<1>~
```

Meter changes (inline)

Change to 3/8:
```
[3/8] 5
```
Change to 3/8 and then back to 6/8:
```
[3/8] 5 [6/8] 5
```
An implicit change from 4/4 to a single 2/4 bar:
```
1 4 5 (5..)
1 1
```

Repeats

4 bars repeated once:
```
||: 1   4   4   1 :||
```

Repeat multiple times

Repeat 4 times:
```
||: 1   4   4   1 :||{4}
```

Multi-measure repeats

Repeat the previous bar:
```
%
```
Repeat the previous 2 bars:
```
%%
```
Repeat the previous 4 bars
```
%%%%
```
Up to 8 bars
```
%%%%%%%%
```

Modulations

Modulate up one whole step (two half-steps):
```
mod+2
```
Modulate down two whole steps (four half-steps):
```
mod-4
```

Freeform text

Comment lines

A double-forward-slash indicates the line is a comment
```
//this is a comment line
```
Provide instructions to performers with comments
```
//Drums and bass enter
```

Inline comments

Inline comments attached to chords
```
1/*-crunchy*/
```
Inline comment instead of chords
```
/*vamp*/ 1 /*cue is flam on beat 4*/
```