Inca Slash Chord Method for Sibelius

A method for writing stacked chords

in Sibelius using (legacy*) chord symbol text

In order to make chord charts with stacked Chords, we have devised a method using two free fonts (Inca Slash and
Inca SlashEXT) and these instructions for using them.

Inca Slash offers 20 slashes (via font characters) of varying lengths and angles. This should accommodate most
slash chord needs. Inca SlashEXT offers 80 slashes for exceptional circumstances where the basic 20 options won't suit
the chord's needs. Users can choose their favorite method. Examples in this tutorial use the 20 slashes offered by
Inca Slash. The slashes of this simpler font were carefully selected for speed in workflow and ease of use.

Here is an example demonstrating the 20 slashes found in Inca Slash.

B 1 B¨ 2 B¨ 3 B 4 B¨7 5 B¨Ø 6 B¨- 7 B¨-7 8 BØ7 9 B^6 0

&4 U U U U U U U U U U
1
F 2
F 3
F 4
F^ 5F 6F 7
F^ 8F 9 0F
F
4

6 B¨^11 q B¨^11 w B¨^11 e B¨aug13 r B¨aug13 t B¨aug13 y B¨omit5 u B¨^omit5 i B¨^9omit5 o B¨^9omit5 p

& U U U U U U U U U U
q F aw F z e F^ r F t F y F h u F i F^ o F p F^

How to enter stacked chords with the aid of these fonts:

First, you will need to create a new "Text Style". In Sibelius, go to House Styles/Edit Text Styles. Select the Chord Symbol
text style and press "New". Name the new text style "Chord Symbol (slashed)" or choose a different name if you prefer.
Leave the font at it's default setting (examples here use Inkpen2). Press the "Vertical Posn" tab and set the Line Spacing
somewhere between 40-50%. Press "OK".

Next add some Chord Symbol text above your stave as you normally would by using the default text style "Chord Symbol"
and the normally used font. Whenever you need to stack your chords, type your chord name, press enter, type a character
from your top two rows (1-0 or q-p for QWERTY users), press enter again, type your bass line or bottom chord characters.
An example might be Bb-[enter]-3-[enter]-F.

Now, select that chord, go to your Properties Window and change the text style to your newly created
"Chord Symbol (slashed)" which shrinks the vertical spacing. Now double-click the chord, select the number you entered
(this was "3" in our example) and in the Properties Window change the font from Inkpen2 to Inca Slash. This should
convert the "3" into a slash (3). You can experiment with various slashes as demonstrated in the example above.
That's how it works!
Inca Slash uses characters on the top two rows of most computer keyboards. In the above example, the numbers/letters
in red show which key is used to produce the slash in each chord. Inca Slash is designed to work on all QWERTY and
AZERTY keyboards and also works on QWERTZ keyboards except that the "H" should be used in place of the "Z" key.
Inca SlashEXT uses 40 keys plus the shift key to produce 80 slashes. Using USA QWERTY keyboard as an example,
the top keys have the steapest slant whereas the bottom keys are nearly horizontal. Also, the left most keys produce the
shortest lines whereas the right most keys produce the longest lines. Therefore 1 produces 1, 0 produces 0,
z produces z, and / produces / . If you use a different keyboard, all slashes are available but their length and slant
scheme may be disrupted. However using the simpler 20 choices offered by Inca Slash should work well on all keyboards
that use the Roman Alphabet.
A couple of helpful tips. Users can adjust the vertical spacing of stacked chords as described above via the Line Spacing in the
text style used for stacked chords. Horizontal spacing can be adjusted in each stacked chord by using Option+Spacebar on Mac
or Alt+Spacebar on Windows. Experiment with these adjustments to fine-tune your stacked chords.

*Sibelius 6 introduced a newly engineered method for inputing chords which combined and enhanced what was formerly known as
Chord Symbols and Chord Diagrams into one technique referred to "Chord Symbols". The text style formerly known as "chord symbols"
is still available and now called (Legacy) Chord Symbol Text. The method presented here interfaces with this Text Style and therefore
works with Sibelius 6 and earlier versions.