Re: guitar chords

Just some clarification:

"Chord" can mean two different things:
- Several notes played together on any instrument. E.g. placing your
elbow on the piano could be considered playing a chord
- An abstract concept that music theory has established of a
collection of notes with a certain function.

E.g. music theory has established that we can call C, E, and G
together (with C being the root note) a C major chord. We can call C,
E, G, B a C major seven (C being root note again). 

However, when you play a chord, you have to decide which notes exactly
to play. E.g. for C major, you could decide to play C, E, G; or E, G,
C; or C in the left hand and E, G, E in the right hand, or ... . 
For C major seven, you might play C in the left hand, then G, B, E in
the right hand. Note we are leaving away the C because it's rather
close to B. A jazz pianist might opt for G, B, D, thus adding the nine
and leaving away the third. And you still have to decide the order of
notes and the octave etc. And of course you should make choices that
let the chords that follow each other flow nicely into each other. And
then we move on to expression, phrasing, dynamics etc.

The decision of which notes you play is called a voicing. Note that we have
left the area of "correctness" and enterd into the sphere of "sounding
good" :-).

So, in that sense, there are no "guitar" and "piano chords". The
software mentioned probably can deal with any chords and will output
something. If all you wish is to have an accompaniment that sounds
correct, that should be enough. If you want something that sounds like
a guitarist, you will need a software that plays guitar voicings (and
also simulates strumming, I guess).

Greetings,
   Christian

-- 
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