Guitar fretboard diagrams

• Nov 25, 2013 - 16:25

re: guitar fretboard diagrams.
Nothing esoteric here.
These are all very basic feature requests.

Right now (v. 2 nightly) guitar fretboard diagrams and chord symbols are fighting with each other.
They are both vying for the *exact same space* above the staff.
This is obviously not good.

1. I propose (request) a default placement of guitar fretboard diagrams above the chord symbols and also the ability to tweak the exact vertical/horizontal placement of each item.
Also the ability to lock in these new 'tweaked' placements both for a specific song and also as a new default for all future songs/pieces.

2. I request the ability to *select multiple* fretboard diagrams and copy/cut/paste them to a new location.
I am currently able to select multiple diagrams (using the Ctrl key) and copy/cut them, but can't paste
them!

Guitar fretboard diagram Shortcut keys:

3. To add a guitar fretboard diagram above a note/chord.
4. To access "Fretboard diagram properties" (ie. entering the actual chord in the fretboard diagram).
5. To move to the next beat and insert a new fretboard diagram.


Comments

I don't know if my requests at the bottom of my post got lost in the shuffle...
Besides getting the positioning right for the diagrams above the stave (with or without chord diagrams) I would like to remind of my shortcut key requests...

Guitar fretboard diagram Shortcut keys:

- To add a guitar fretboard diagram above a note/chord.
When the fretboard has been added the "Fretboard diagram properties" should pop-up *automatically* at the same time. That is after all, the meat and potatoes of inserting a new diagram.
- To move to the next beat.

In reply to by ScoreMark

Without checking, I thought that the convention was to have the chord name on top of the diagram. It should also be an option. I prefer not to have both, it wastes too much space and generates too many pages. I can read either, but that is just my preference.

In reply to by ScoreMark

I would like to expand a bit on my last request "To move to the next beat".
This is quite important.

Just as you enter 'Note Input' mode by typing 'n' and you remain in that mode until
you type 'n' again (moving to the next note happens automatically) AND

just as you enter 'Chord Symbol" mode by typing 'Ctrl-k' and you remain in that mode until
you hit the 'Esc' key (moving to the next Chord Symbol by hitting the 'Space bar')

It would be nice if the 'Guitar fretboard diagram' functionality worked the same way.
ie. A hotkey to enter Guitar fretboard diagram mode and remain in the mode until the Esc key is hit.

Once the fretboard diagram has been entered, 'Space bar' to move to the next beat and the next chord diagram pops up, ready for the chord to be entered.
If a chord isn't needed on that beat, then another 'Space bar' would remove the chord diagram
from that beat, move to the next beat and place a new chord diagram there.

In reply to by ScoreMark

These are very good suggestions, and I thin they would help with usability quite a bit. Although the word I keep hearing is that we're pretty much done adding features for 2.0, so these improvements may have to wait. The only one I am personally thinking has a chance for 2.0 is the automatic positioning of chord symbols relative to fretboard diagrams, because it seems that is *supposed* to work but doesn't (eg, it's a bug, not a missing feature). As I think you've seen, there is a setting that supposedly controls this, but it doesn't seem to do anything.

Meanwhile, though, there is something you might not know about that can help with basic entry of fretboard diagrams, and that is customizable palettes. Once you have created a fretboard diagram (or text, or just about any other element) the way you like, you can add it to a palette by dragging it there while holding Ctrl+Shift. Thus, if you have a song that has eight different chords that keep being reused (a not uncommon situation), by adding them to a palette it becomes easy to then add them your score without being in "fretboard diagram mode". You can even add the same diagram to several places in your score all at once: Ctrl+ the relevant notes to select them, then double click the diagram in the palette.

In reply to by Marc Sabatella

Thanks Marc.
Hopefully the suggestions will make their way to 2.0 sooner rather than later. :)

Thanks for the tip on the palette. I hadn't discovered it yet.
But when I was entering a ton of chord diagrams a few weeks ago, I discovered a work-around to always dragging a new chord diagram from the 'symbols' box onto the score.

I just copied a line of chords from one stave to the next and then modified each one as necessary.
At least they were already line up at the correct height, and I could go in fairly quickly to change the fingerings.

I did a variation on the palette entry also. I would just look back in the score and find a chord I needed and copy it to my new location. :)

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