| Does MIDI Maestro support chords?
MIDI Maestro ships with a database of more than 3700 chords with guitar chord chart fingering grids. You may customize this database with your own chords and/or chord "groups." To access the following window, you must "draw" or edit an existing chord object in the Staff View. To "draw" a chord, select the draw icon (a pencil) from the toolbar, select the text/chord icon (a letter A), move the cursor above a staff until you see a pencil with a chord grid, then click.
The window will open with the cursor in the "chord" box. You now simply may type the short-name of the standard chord you want (e.g., C or A#, or Eb+) and then press Enter.
It's also easy to search for a chord that you may not know the short-name for. You may begin by typing the first letter, such as "C". Then, you can use the list pull-down arrow to continue your search alphabetically. When you find the chord that you want, click on it.
The pre-loaded chords are divided into two groups: Standard and Variations. The Standard group contains the most common representation for each chord. The Variations group may contain a dozen or more guitar fingerings for each of the standard chords. For example, there is one "C" chord in the Standard group; however, the Variations group contains 14 versions of a "C" chord.
Can I add and edit my own chords?
The Add button will become active when you've entered a group/chord name combination that is not already in the database. Conversely, the Remove button will become active whenever you've selected a group/chord name combination that has an exact match in the database. Also, if you make changes to an existing chord's guitar grid, the Add button will become active so that you may save a new version of an existing chord. If your intention is to correct or modify an existing chord, you first must use Add to create your new chord, then find the original and then use the Remove button. To cancel changes that you've made to a chord before using the Add button, simply select another chord in the chord box. Once you've used the Add or Remove button, changes are made to the database, and are not be canceled with the Cancel button.
What if I don't want the grids?
If you want to add a chord to a song without a guitar grid, click the Hide Grid button. The button then will change to "Show Grid." Click it again to bring the grid back.
Making changes to a guitar grid is easy--select the finger that you want to place, and then click on the grid in the appropriate position. After you place a finger, MIDI Maestro will automatically cycle through fingers 1, 2, 3, and 4. Arced lines will be drawn to designate fingers which must be used on more than one string. O's are used to show open strings where no finger is used. X's are used to show strings which should not be played. Use the Fret +/- arrows to move all fingers up or down the guitar a fret at a time. A fret number will be drawn to the right of the grid whenever necessary.
To hear the chord as it might sound, click the Play button. Each "string" will be played in turn from left to right.
NOTE that it is not necessary to add a new chord to the database before adding it to the song. Each chord in the song may be a one-of-a-kind! | 
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