Slurs, Slides, and Bends

• Jun 6, 2020 - 23:00

I hope I'm not being redundant in reposting this message, but it seems that I made the original post before I activated my account.

I understand how to use slurs as a workaround for hammer-ons and pull-offs in guitar tab. Is it possible to use them between pairs of notes, e.g., pulling off from D over F# to C over E? Also, what is the best symbol to indicate a slide? And can one indicate a slide from one pair of notes or from one chord to another? And finally, is there anyway to notate string bends?


Comments

In reply to by jeetee

Thank you for your response. I am now using the oblique lines for slides, though they don't quite look like the slide symbols I have used in other programs. I don't see anything in the arpeggio and glissandi palette that remotely resembles any bend symbol I have ever seen, which always indicates a 1/4, a 1/2, or a whole-step bend. Which of these symbols do you recommend? Also, can you please explain how to put a slide, bend, hammer-on, or pull-off on a pair of notes or, in some cases such as a slide, even an entire chord? In other words, how do I indicate that two notes are to be bent at once or that a chord should be slid into from one fret above or below? I have been using Musescore for just a few days now and find it rather intuitive for the most part. There are just a few things that I haven't figured out or been able to find in the manual.

In reply to by stephenarndt

Please read the handbook page on bends again. They are indeed not to be found in the glissandi palette, but in the articulations palette.

I'm not familiar enough with guitar notation to decisively answer your other questions, but I know that the bend symbol can be attached to all notes of a chord by first selecting that chord and then clicking on the symbol in the palette

In reply to by jeetee

Thank you again for your response, though why a bend, which is a gradual transition from a lower note to a higher one is classed under articulations rather than glissandi I confess I do not know, since "glissando" is the present participle of the Italian infinitive "glissare," meaning "to slide," a derivative of the French "glisser," probably of Frankish origin, also meaning "to slide." (I should think that anyone who is halfway musically literate would know this.) The only difference on the guitar is that a bend is a gradual transition between two notes on the same string and fret, whereas a slide is such a transition, though not quite so gradual, between two notes on the same string, but on different frets. If anything, a bend has a better claim to being called a glissando than a slide.

Be that as it may, as far as I can see, the only option in Musescore is a full bend, and there seems to be no way to edit the word "full." If I could get just the arrow without the word "full," I could use the text palette to add "1/4" or "1/2" if I don't want a full bend.

The online handbook doesn't seem to be searchable, but I just discovered that I can download a pdf of the handbook, which I can easily search. In addition to articulations, it says that bends are included in the ornament palette, though I can't see that such is the case. In any event, I should be able to find answers to some questions more easily now.

You say that you are not particularly familiar with guitar notion. I get the impression that the creators of Musescore aren't either. Good enough. I am not primarily a guitarist myself. I play a dozen instruments, my primary ones being members of the lute family. Still, I wouldn't be surprised if guitarists outnumbered all other musicians put together, and it would be nice if Musescore were a little more guitar friendly.

In reply to by stephenarndt

To adjust a bend to become a 1/4 1/2 whatever... edit its properties to change the vertical points in the graph display. I agree that the handbook isn't too clear on this matter, all it gives you is "one unit on the vertical axis equals a quarter-tone"

306417-adjust-bend-range.gif

If you feel the bend should be under gliss and not as an articulation, then feel free to (ctrl-shift-)drag it from the score into the glissando palette to have it available there as well.
You can also do this after changing the bend to a 1/4 or 1/2 so those variants will be easily available in the future.

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