musescore / musescore/MuseScore
Expose vertical offset control for slash bass note in Standard chord symbols
@miiizen is already working on this.
Since Jun 16, 2026.
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Description
Your idea
Add a simple control for adjusting the vertical position of slash bass notes (e.g. C/E) in Standard chord symbols, without affecting chord quality rendering. This would allow fine-tuning of bass note placement independently from chord formatting. Suggest the "Positioning" section in Style/Chord symbols.
Problem to be solved
Standard chord symbols render chord qualities correctly (including dim and half-dim), but slash bass notes have fixed vertical positioning that can appear too low or overly diagonal.
There is currently no way to adjust this offset without switching to Legacy style (which compromises chord quality rendering) or manually adding text workarounds.
This creates a trade-off between correct harmonic notation and visually optimal slash chord layout.
Prior art
Legacy MuseScore style improves slash bass alignment, but has poorer handling of chord qualities (e.g. diminished and half-diminished symbols).
Other notation systems and engraving workflows typically allow finer control over symbol positioning, or separate control of bass note alignment in slash chords, avoiding this compromise.
Additional context
This change would allow users to retain Standard chord rendering while making small engraving adjustments for professional lead sheets and jazz/pop notation.
It would eliminate the need for manual text overrides or switching to Legacy style purely for visual alignment reasons.
Checklist
- This request follows the guidelines for reporting issues
- I have verified that this feature request has not been logged before, by searching the issue tracker for similar requests
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