LilyPond Notation Reference: 5.3.4 The \tweak command

### 5.3.4 The `\tweak` command

Changing grob properties with `\override` causes the changes to apply to all of the given grobs in the context at the moment the change applies. Sometimes, however, it is desirable to have changes apply to just one grob, rather than to all grobs in the affected context. This is accomplished with the `\tweak` command, which has the following syntax:

>     \tweak #'grob-property #value

The `\tweak` command applies to the object that immediately follows `value` in the music stream.

For an introduction to the syntax and uses of the tweak command see Tweaking methods.

When several similar items are placed at the same musical moment, the `\override` command cannot be used to modify just one of them – this is where the `\tweak` command must be used. Items which may appear more than once at the same musical moment include the following:

- note heads of notes inside a chord
- articulation signs on a single note
- ties between notes in a chord
- tuplet brackets starting at the same time

In this example, the color of one note head and the type of another note head are modified within a single chord:

>     < c
>       \tweak #'color #red
>       d
>       g
>       \tweak #'duration-log #1
>       a
>     > 4

`\tweak` can be used to modify slurs:

>     c-\tweak #'thickness #5 ( d e f)

For the `\tweak` command to work, it must remain immediately adjacent to the object to which it is to apply after the input file has been converted to a music stream. At times, LilyPond may insert additional items into the music stream during the parsing process. For example, when a note that is not explicitly part of a chord will be placed in a chord by LilyPond, so notes to be modified with `\tweak` must be placed inside a chord construct:

>     \tweak #'color #red c4
>     <\tweak #'color #red c>4

The `\tweak` command cannot be used to modify any item that does not appear explicitly in the input file. In particular it cannot be used to modify stems, beams or accidentals directly, since these are generated later by note heads, rather than by music elements in the input stream. Nor can `\tweak` be used to modify clefs or time signatures, since these become separated from any preceding `\tweak` command in the input stream by the automatic insertion of extra elements required to specify the context.

Several `\tweak` commands may be placed before a notational element – all affect it:

>     c
>     -\tweak #'style #'dashed-line
>     -\tweak #'dash-fraction #0.2
>     -\tweak #'thickness #3
>     -\tweak #'color #red
>      \glissando
>     f'

The music stream which is generated from a section of an input file, including any automatically inserted elements, may be examined, see Displaying music expressions. This may be helpful in determining what may be modified by a `\tweak` command, or in determining how to adjust the input to make a `\tweak` apply.

#### See also

Learning Manual: Tweaking methods.

Extending: Displaying music expressions.

#### Known issues and warnings

The `\tweak` command cannot be used inside a variable.

The `\tweak` commands cannot be used in `\lyricmode`.

The `\tweak` command will apply to only the first of several generated ties in a chord.

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