> [someday we may standardize the syntax for defining chords and assigning
> synonyms, but that can wait]
No it can't wait. The current proposals are tending towards minuscule
tinkering with the existing spec, adding no new functionality. Frank's
tirade about ABC being mired in the idioms of British Isles folk music
was dead on target; the one genre where a much more expressive chord
system would help is jazz, and there is *no point whatever* in fidgety
little tweaks if they don't *fully* support its harmonic idioms. The
only remotely plausible way to do it is by allowing user extensibility.
Get this right and a whole new user community can make use of ABC. In
comparison with something like the V: or w: fields this is trivial, so
why standardize a half-arsed modificaltion?
: To be honest, I wouldn't feel bad if, at this stage in the development
: of abc, there were no notation for chords with missing notes.
Nowadays, the most popular button boxes for Irish music omit the thirds
in the bass chords (and some other designs let you switch them in and
out). It's crazy not to support one of the central instruments of the
most popular genre ABC is used for.
=================== <http://www.purr.demon.co.uk/jack/> ===================
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