Reusable simulateous notes?

[Stig Brautaset]

Hi!

I'm trying to transcribe the guitar parts of songs I like using
LilyPond. One thing I've found is that my score gets verbose quickly.
Here's a (minimal?) sample:

\version "2.19.80"
\new Staff {
  \clef "treble_8"
  <e, b, e b e'>4->
  <e, b, e b e'>
  \deadNote e,
  <e, b, e b e'>8->
  <e, b, e b e'>
}

My first attempt at making this a bit more readable, by assigning the
simultaneous note expression(?) a name, doesn't work as I expect.
Firstly using \accent (or ->) now becomes a syntax error, but more
importantly changing the duration of individual invocation doesn't work.
(It insert an _extra_ note of the new duration, it seems.)

\version "2.19.80"
e_five = <e, b, e b e'>4
\new Staff {
  \clef "treble_8"
  \e_five
  \e_five
  \deadNote e,
  \e_five8
  \e_five
}

I also tried using \chordmode. Whil this allows me to use the (long
form) of \accent, and allows me to change chord duractions, I find it
less readable than my original attempt.

\version "2.19.80"
\new Staff {
  \clef "treble_8"
  \chordmode {
    e,,4:5.8.12.15\accent
    e,,:5.8.12.15
  }
  \deadNote e,
  \chordmode {
    e,,8:5.8.12.15\accent
    e,,:5.8.12.15
  }
}


Is there any way I can reduce the duplication of simultaneous notes and
make my scores a little bit more readable?

Regards,

Stig