linking notation and tab for guitar score

• Nov 29, 2020 - 16:59

Anyone on Win 10 have trouble generating linked staves so that entering notes in notation automatically fills in the tab stave? I have repeatedly followed the manual, and when I add the tab stave, the option of adding a linked stave is grayed out, not available. After adding it unlinked, I can't find any way to change it to linked. Any suggestions?


Comments

You need to select the staff you want to link to, not its instrument, for "Add linked staff' to become visible.
Same for the 'normal' "Add Staff".

If you can't get it to work, share the score.

In reply to by Jojo-Schmitz

Please understand that my earlier comment was not meant as a criticism, and I did say I would have another look. Just to clarify, I thought that I had followed the instructions because I thought that the staff line was already selected because the upper line in the instrument/staff description was already highlighted. I did not know that the staff line was a separate entity that required or permitted its own selection. Perhaps I missed this detail elsewhere, but that failure on my part is where my confusion came from.

At any rate, perhaps a new user like me could benefit from a note explaining that the two lines in the instrument/staff description require separate selection, and that until the staff line itself is specifically selected, the option to choose a linked staff will not appear. This is meant just as a suggestion for consideration, not as a criticism. I know that this software and its documentation is a collective effort involving a huge amount of volunteer time, and am very grateful for being able to use it.

Thanks again for your replies, it is clear from the forum records that you help a lot of people on this forum, for which you deserve sincere thanks.

In reply to by Jojo-Schmitz

I added clarification text where the manual explains how to generate linked Tab staves in the Tablature section. I tried to insert an image to accomplish what was needed, but couldn't figure out how to do it. The text should suffice unless you think otherwise, in which case I can edit again if you advise how to insert an image.

In reply to by Jojo-Schmitz

You know, there really is no reason we couldn't enable the "add staff" and even "add linked staff" button with an instrument selected. Makes little sense to me that "add staff" at least isn't enabled. For "add linked staff", I guess the only issue is if there are already multiple staves present, which staff would the new one be linked to. So, put up a dialog in that case.

In reply to by Jojo-Schmitz

"Not taken as criticism, really would like to know how to make the handbook clearer."
By adding images or/and Gif and videos.
Handbook is an incredible amount of text... more text... and always more text (on 250 pages...) for a few miserable illustrations (no one has the time, the courage and the desire to read at everything in detail, it's just too much)
It should be the other way around!

In reply to by cadiz1

So I've been thinking about this sort of thing a lot. A video can be great bto learn from, if you don't mind sitting through several minutes of explanation to really learn something well. But sometimes you don't even know if the video you are about to watch is relevant. And sometimes all you need is a quick demo.

I am starting to think the ideal format is a document that is text-based for searching and quick skimming, but includes plenty of GIF or video demos. At one time I started putting a series of these together, but it got overwhelming.

I'm kind of thinking that's where I'd like to see the MuseScore 4 handbook go, though.

In reply to by Marc Sabatella

"I am starting to think the ideal format is a document that is text-based for searching and quick skimming, but includes plenty of GIF or video demos"

Absolutely, that's exactly my thinking.

"At one time I started putting a series of these together, but it got overwhelming."

I had seen, and I understand. Maybe plan something wih volunteers? (but it's need time... and everyone is more or less running after😟)

In reply to by cadiz1

+1

Text is important, as it naturally contributes to making the documentation searchable. And text is more easily skimmed or scanned. Plus people can easily reference it, and perhaps copy it to a compendium of topics and notes.

But a picture is worth a thousand words. And at 30 frames per second a concise a video could be worth 30,000 words per second! The problem with videos is that presenters tend to ramble and speak imprecisely. So quality is of the utmost importance.

Imagine the handbook without any pictures, and only verbal descriptions ...

In reply to by Alned

Mea culpa it seems. All sorted, and, yes, when I study the instructions again, they do include reference to the staff line. I did not understand that the two lines in an instrument description allowed/needed separate selection. As you indicated, once the staff line is selected, the option to link shows up.

I deleted the unlinked staff, re-entered a linked one, and all notes entered to date showed up on the tab line.

Thanks again for the quick and helpful reply. Much appreciated. :)

Above an FWIW: If I'm correct, after adding the linked tab staff to a treble clef staff you've also to change the staff type inside the instrument dialogue to "tab" for the linked staff and to delete the treble clef afterwards in the sore to get the tab clef.

Using M3 on a Mac, I was able to create a two-instrument score, Piano and Ukulele Tab, with the two staves linked, so that as I entered notes on the Piano stave, the correct tablature would automatically appear on the Ukulele stave. I can't seem to figure out how to do this is M4. Has anyone figured this out?

In reply to by mikewach

Don't know if this will work in MuseScore 4.

However, I like the idea of a single treble clef staff (say, any non-transposing instrument) and the option for a number linked tablature staves, for instance, one for guitar, mandolin, ukulele ... or even guitar in a couple of different tunings.

I don't think I ever accomplished that in MS3. So I'd be interested to see your score.

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