The Chord Tools
The seven chord boxes above the onscreen piano will display the customary chords of whatever key was last chosen using the Key choice box. The usual chords for the key of C major, for example, would be listed in their simplest form, as C major, d minor, e minor, F major, G major, a minor, b diminished.
To enter one of these provided chords in the music, click on the appropriate chord box and then click in the music where you want that chord to go. Notice that when you select a chord tool, the appearance of the music window will alter as the chord layer is activated. There will be a series of triangles in a line, each of which marks a beat - you can enter the chord at any beat marker.
Changing the standard chord names and types
You can change any of these chord tools to whatever you like, and you can also change any chord that's already been entered to whatever you like. You can use any combination of up to six notes, and can give the chord any name.
If the chord you want is of a standard type you can change either a chord tool or an already-entered-chord to that new type by first selecting the chord tool or chord symbol, and then choosing the desired chord type from the Type box. The same can be done to change the root of the selected chord. If, for example, you're going to frequently use a 9th chord instead of a 7th in your music, you could set one of the chord tools to that chord so that it's easily available.
Nonstandard chords
The chord types listed in the Type window are pretty extensive, but you're not limited to them. Choose the "other" box in the type window, or press command-i to see the information window for the selected chord, and you'll see a window appear that lets you change both the pitches and the name of the chord to whatever you like.
Entering chords by playing them
Another way to enter non standard chords can save you some time. Activate the chord layer by choosing a chord tool or by clicking on the "handle" of the chord line, and then just play the chord you want to use, and while its notes are highlighted on the screen piano press the Enter key to enter that chord at the current insertion point.
Notice that as you play the chord, Songworks is analyzing its notes and is giving it an appropriate name! When you press Enter that name will be the one that appears in the chord symbol box, but you can change it if desired, using the information window for the chord.
If you are using the mouse and screen piano to do this, the notes will "stick" on the piano as you play them, and will turn off if you click the same key again. If you are using a MIDI keyboard the notes will turn off when you release the keys of the piano.
Transposing chords
If you choose the Tranpose command in the score menu both the notes of your song and its chords will be transposed to the new key, including the names of the chords. Or you can choose to transpose just the chords, or (using the Transforms in the Staff menu), just the staff notes.
You can also transpose any particular chord by selecting it and choosing a new root from the Root box in the tools palette. The nature of the chord will not be altered, but its notes and its name will be moved appropriately.
Play patterns
When playing back music that uses chord symbols you will want to hear the chords, and probably you will want to hear them played in a way that at least somewhat approximates an actual accompaniest, rather than just as block chords. The Playpatterns window lets you assign any of a variety of accompaniment patterns to each chord in your song - or the same pattern to all of them. You can have anything from a boogie pattern to a gentle arpeggio. You make the assignment in the same way as with chord types and roots: select the chord or chords, and choose the desired playpattern. Chords will play continuously, repeating their chosen pattern, until the next chord change or the end of the piece.
Note that some play patterns will more appropriate to certain meters. For example, a pattern that uses triplets would be best used in a simple meter such as 4/4 or 3/4. In a compound meter like 6/8 notes are already grouped in threes, so a triplet wouldn't make sense.
Moving chord symbols and making space for new chords
Chord symbols can be copied and pasted like any other symbols, and selected chord symbols can also be dragged left or right using the arrow tool.
Since the chord symbols stick to the beat structure of the piece, not to specific notes, you may sometimes want to either open up some space in a song for new chords, or to remove part of the space available. For instance, you might have decided to add another measure of music after the second measure, but you had already entered chord symbols for the rest of the piece. Inserting new notes will mean that the chords past the new measure won't line up as originally intended. What you can do is to use the Spreader and Shrinker tools to add or remove space between chord symbols. These tools are usually used in the staff layer to add or remove extra pixels following a staff symbol, but when the chord layer is active each click of the Spreader moves all chords to the right of the click rightward one beat. Each click of the Shrinker causes all chords rightward of the click to move one beat to the left.
Playing live chords
The number keys 1-7 can be used to play whatever chords are currently selected in the seven chord boxes. Press one of these numbers and the corresponding chord will being playing in the chosen playpattern; you can even play along with it using the letter keys "piano" or a MIDI keyboard!
If you record a melody in real time using the Record command, Songworks will record your choice of chord as well if you can manage to play number keys whenever you need a chord change.