KVR Audio

David Larsen · Post by **David Larsen** » Sun Oct 30, 2011 1:27 am

I've recently been experimenting with sampled guitars, and I've found that they sound best if you play the actual notes that are in each chord on the guitar (duh).. Thing is, I don't have a guitar of my own, and even if I did, it would be tiresome to keep checking every new chord for the notes.
So does anybody know of a cheat sheet so you can see which notes precisely are being played in each chord on a guitar? Or maybe even just a midi file with the chords.

The question is a bit strange, so if you don't understand what I'm asking for, let me know and I'll try and elaborate as much as I can

ps. while I'm at it, does anybody have any good tips on simulating guitars with midi?

synthgeek · Post by **synthgeek** » Sun Oct 30, 2011 1:43 am

Try looking for a guitar chord chart (a google image search for that phrase should work), the type that shows the fingering on a fretboard. That should help.

tapper mike · Post by **tapper mike** » Sun Oct 30, 2011 1:58 am

There is so much more behind the approach to playing guitar which makes emulation difficult on a keyboard at best.

Honestly the best solution is to start with something designed to emulate the technique as well as the sound.

Keytar Jeff really does wonders with realguitar/realstrat/reallespaul

David Larsen · Post by **David Larsen** » Sun Oct 30, 2011 2:55 am

I should have mentioned that I'm going for basic chords on an acoustic guitar. If I used a normal chord chart I'd have to calculate what each notes it from the note of the string and position of the fingers... I can do that and make my own cheat sheet of course, but I was hoping that somebody somewhere had already had the problem and made a solution

Thanks for sharing the video, that guy is spectacular! I do have plugins that emulate guitars with sampled chords and runs, but nothing like that, I'll definitely look into those. Original question still stands though, as I wanted to try working my way from the bottom up, to get a better understanding of it.

Shabdahbriah · Post by **Shabdahbriah** » Sun Oct 30, 2011 3:37 am

David Larsen wrote:I should have mentioned that I'm going for basic chords on an acoustic guitar. If I used a normal chord chart I'd have to calculate what each notes it from the note of the string and position of the fingers... I can do that and make my own cheat sheet of course, but I was hoping that somebody somewhere had already had the problem and made a solution

Thanks for sharing the video, that guy is spectacular! I do have plugins that emulate guitars with sampled chords and runs, but nothing like that, I'll definitely look into those. Original question still stands though, as I wanted to try working my way from the bottom up, to get a better understanding of it.

This may not be what you want to hear, but it may also work for you. Key word there being "work"

Since you're willing to: "try working my way from the bottom up, to get a better understanding of it" - perhaps you could use any charts you find that are appropriate FOR your needs, and manually transfer them onto a midi "roll" in the appropriate key/chord ranges???

A 'loose' or independant collection of pre-defined midi files notwithstanding, another way I know of would be to extract/copy those chords which you like, FROM an existing "acoustic" guitar emu app, to play the key-mapped samples you have - OR - play that emu and mute its (audio) output, while having its midi trigger your samples.

Though this method may still leave much to be desired, even beyond depending on those samples interaction with each other.

[2c]

tapper mike · Post by **tapper mike** » Sun Oct 30, 2011 4:58 am

Chords are chords whether they are played on the piano or on a guitar. While all guitar shapes are generally accessable via the keyboard the reverse is not true.

Guitars performance has a different treatment to how the notes are articulated then would be achieved by simply using a keyboard. This is why products such as RealGuitar with special unique controls was invented.

Lets take a simple four note D major chord spelled DADF#

The chord without adding voices or changing the order appears in three locations. Open, 5th fret and 10th fret.
Though tne notes are the same in all three locations they sound different due to the timbre of the strings. The location of the chord on the fretboard, the pick or finger stroke and the location of the picking hand on an acoustic guitar will greatly vary the tonality of the performance. As well there are other factors which affect tonality and performance value.

Having the spelling of the chord will only help you slightly in the pursuit of representing a guitarist performance of the chord. Guitarists' (I'm one)
utilize different rhythmic patterns and use the unique characteristics of the guitar to bring out the life of the instrument in performance. Things like chops and muting which guitarists do naturally are not easily recreated on a keyboard. Hence my link to Jeff Abbot and real guitar which has special tools in the program to bring out the expressive side of the instrument.

raintalk · Post by **raintalk** » Sun Oct 30, 2011 6:38 am

PDF here for playing guitar chords, or if you have Kontakt there's a demo for strummaker

http://www.indiginus.com/freedownloads.html

Musiclab mentioned above is really the ultimate keyboard playable guitar, and it sounds great.

lingyai · Post by **lingyai** » Sun Oct 30, 2011 7:02 pm

raintalk wrote:PDF here for playing guitar chords, or if you have Kontakt there's a demo for strummaker

http://www.indiginus.com/freedownloads.html

Musiclab mentioned above is really the ultimate keyboard playable guitar, and it sounds great.

+1 on both counts -- though be sure to demo RealGuitar throughly before deciding whether to buy, it works well with many, but not all, DAWs.

A midi chord played through RealGuitar will be displayed as neck fingering. A less expensive alternative (if you have Kontakt) is one of the guitar instruments from Indiginus, which let you name a chord and also see the fretting.

Finally, though perhaps more tedious that what you might be seeking, there is this chord database of fretboard diagrams:

http://www.scales-chords.com/chdbmain.php

David Larsen · Post by **David Larsen** » Sun Oct 30, 2011 10:15 pm

Thanks everybody, I really appreciate the advices and links!
Raintalk, that is perfect, JUST what I was looking for. Thanks a bunch

harmoniumapp · Post by **harmoniumapp** » Mon Jul 06, 2026 3:02 pm

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Nice cheat sheet — I've been going through similar chord charts trying to translate them across instruments. On my end I've been mapping guitar voicings onto a virtual harmonium (https://web-harmonium.app) to hear the same shapes as sustained reeds instead of decaying strings; it's surprisingly useful for hearing which notes actually carry the harmony vs. which are just adding color. Anyone else practicing chord voicings across different instrument sounds?

Cheat sheet for midi guitar chords