Copy and paste notes only without using the mouse?

• Aug 20, 2018 - 22:21

So I know you can use the Selection Filter to copy only the notes, but that's still very cumbersome to me, as it requires me to get away from the keyboard(s) and bring the mouse into it.

Is there a simple way to, after selecting a few measures, copy and paste only the notes to a new set of measures without having to use the mouse in the Selection Filter?

It seems that it would be such a common occurrence that it would warrant its own special command key (such as "paste notes only" or something to that effect).

For example, any time you're dealing with notation and tab, you don't want to copy fingerings, chord symbols, etc. into the tab; you only want the notes.

Thanks


Comments

The Selection Filter is not currently keyboard navigable that I can see. Making more of the UI keyboard-friendly is high on the list of things I'd like to see for MuseScore 3, and some work has already been done in that area.

Meanwhile, are you saying you have a standard staff and a tab staff, and you want to copy the notes but not the finger or chord symbols from standard to tab? That's what linked staves are for, so you shouldn't need to copy and paste at all. But if for some reason you are electing to do things manually - copying and pasting rather than taking advantage of linked staves - than indeed you must manually customize what you want copied. Note that fingerings won't display by default on tab staves anyhow.

Other than that, actually, the need to copy notes only without the things attached isn't a particular common thing at all. I mean, sure it happens sometimes, but that's precisely what the Selection Filter is for. And it's probably more common to want some items attached than none.

In reply to by famous beagle

Instead of clicking "Add staff" to add the tab staff, click "Add linked staff". Then change the type to tab just as you presumably are doing already. Or just start from the template that has this set up for you. Either way, you'll find as you add notes to one staff they show in the other automatically. And MuseScore tries to be intelligent about which markings to duplicate.

In reply to by famous beagle

Ok, so I got the linked notation and tab staff working, and it's going well. The only big pain in the butt is that the ties in the notation also show up in the tab. Interestingly, the tie shows up, but not the second tab number. So you just have this tie going to nowhere in the tab. This is, of course, not the way tab normally works (unless it's "rhythm tab," in which their are rhythmic stems attached to the tab numbers, which is not the case here).

Is there any way to change this behavior so that the ties just don't show up in the tab at all?

If not, is there a way to select the ties in the tab by navigating with the keyboard only and not using the mouse?

And one other thing: Is there a way to toggle or remove a slur or tie? For example, pressing "+" adds a tie to a note and pressing "s" adds a slur to a note. Is there a way to remove a slur or a tie once it's been added without having to click on it with the mouse and hit delete?

Thanks!

Attachment Size
tab ties.jpg 40.78 KB

In reply to by mike320

The mouse slows down my work flow a lot. It's much faster when I don't have to move between my mouse and keyboard. I've looked through the manual, and from what I can tell, I can't find a way to select elements like slurs and ties without using the mouse.

The closest I've seen is CTRL-ALT-SHFT + arrow key, but, although that selects things like bar lines, it doesn't select ties or slurs.

In reply to by famous beagle

Take a look at the attached. This isn't even 1/4th of the song (and it's only the top voice). As it stands now, I'm going to have to go back and select each one of those ties in the tab with the mouse to delete them. (I know about CTRL+select to select multiple ones, but I still have to move the mouse to each one.

I'm not sure why the tab is default to show ties in the first place, because tab is not supposed to show ties, but that's the way it is, apparently.

Attachment Size
ties.jpg 102.83 KB

In reply to by famous beagle

Different publishers represent rhythms in tablature in different ways, that's why we provide options. If you prefer the style that shows both sides of a tie, go to Staff Properties / Advanced Style Properties and enable "Show back-tied fret marks". If you prefer to not show ties at all, select them all at once with Right-click / Select / Similar Elements on Same Staff, then press V to make them invisible. You can also define keyboard shortcuts for the various select similar elements commands.

In reply to by Marc Sabatella

Thank you for the options, Marc.

Will all due respect, I would suggest that you change the default nature of this in subsequent updates. I work for Hal Leonard Corporation, which is by far the largest publisher of tab materials in the world, and they don't use ties in tab. Neither does Cherry Lane (another big one), Mel Bay, or any other big name I can think of.

And it seems the defaults should coincide with the most popular way of doing something. That's what I would think, anyway.

In reply to by famous beagle

FWIW, I think the defaults probably come from an attempt to mimic Guitar Pro, either that from an attempt to reflect Renaissance practice (lute et al), as those were the main models that guided the implementation.

Anyhow, adding an option here makes sense to me, and wouldn't be that difficult, I suggest you make a formal feature request via the issue tracker (last item in Support menu above).

In reply to by famous beagle

It is always faster to do something right the first time and fixing mistakes often takes much more time than it takes to do it the first time.

Having said that, do not think I'm berating you. I don't understand why you want to do anything with the ties or slurs on the tablature.

tablature ties.png

The arrow points at the option to show both numbers in a tie in tablature. Note the Fret Marks tab is selected. I got there by clicking Advanced Style Properties... in the Staff Properties dialog.

In reply to by mike320

Thanks for the reply, but this is not what I'm wanting. I don't want to show a number tied to a number in the tab. I want there to be no ties at all in the tab.

This is the way Hal Leonard, Cherry Lane, Mel Bay, etc., etc. does it, and that's what I'd like to do.

See the attached---no ties in the tab at all. This is far-and-above the most common approach to guitar tab music by professional publishers.

Attachment Size
free fallin - excerpt.jpg 154.4 KB

In reply to by famous beagle

"I don't want to show a number tied to a number in the tab. I want there to be no ties at all in the tab."

As said: right-click on a tie from Tab staff-> Select -> All similar elements in same staff -> hit "V" shortcut

(and to hide completely if wished: menu "View" -> Untick 'Show Invisible', but anyway, they won't print)

This is had been discuted a few years ago (I recall one thread or two about this). Nothing had been done, partly because it's not a big deal to hide the ties if desired, it's done in two-three clicks (or/and shortcuts)

But your argument is recevable of course. You can submit a feature request for this in the Issue Tracker: https://musescore.org/en/project/issues/musescore

In reply to by cadiz1

Thank you. Yes I saw Marc's suggestion for this and thanked him for it.

That works well, although it's not perfect. There are a few instances, for instance when a slur extends to the next system over a tie, where it doesn't seem to work. In those instances, I can't make the slur in the tab invisible, so I have to hand-draw them. But that's not a big deal, since it's relatively pretty rare.

In reply to by famous beagle

Slurs can be made invisible with the same way, "V"shortcut.
To check, by clicking on it (slur or tie), the denomination/name appears in the Status bar (bottom)

Edit: Or possibly you have encountered a small bug when the tie stretches on two systems. I meet it sometimes, but I have trouble catching it!
It's so easy to hit "V" that I omit always to go further and fill a report.

In reply to by cadiz1

Yes, thank you. I know slurs can be made invisible by the same way.

What I meant is, when you have a note that's slurred to a note that's then tied to another note, I want the slur to extend over all three notes in the notation. Say ... you're slurring C to D, but then D is tied across the bar line to another D.

For the tab, normally this just means making the tie invisible and then shortening the slur so that it just spans from C to D (instead to the invisible second D).

But when this happens across a system break, it doesn't work, because the slur is broken up into two pieces in the tab. And if I make the left one (the second half of the slur) invisible, then it makes the first half invisible too.

So in cases like this (see attached), I have to leave them unslurred completely and just draw one in with the line tool. As I said, this isn't too big of a deal because it's relatively rare.

Edit: Didn't see your edit until after I typed this.

Attachment Size
slurs and ties.jpg 132.15 KB

In reply to by famous beagle

Thank you for the attachment. I see something unexpected in measure 7. The tuning of the guitar is in DADGAD (traditionnal/celtic music).
So, the A second string should be an open second string, number 0. Now, it appears with the number 2, third string, in the TAB. Image below.

tie slur.jpg
And I also see an unexpected slur in the TAB that arrives on this A.
But I do not see it anymore on your attachement.
I do not know what you did, or wanted to do exactly. I fixed this A (in open string so)

See: 1 First Day of Autumn.mscz

Then I do not understand well when you wrote: " shortening the slur so that it just spans from C to D (instead to the invisible second D)."
Or maybe I'm not in the right place (measure 13 maybe?), but I do not see invisible D notes (bass).

As a recall: for the slurs input: select the first note, hold down Ctrl, select the last note that you want the slur to cover, press S, and the slur does not go beyond the selection.

If I have forgotten something, please specify exactly where you are, and what you are trying to do (and how)

In reply to by cadiz1

Thanks for the note. That slur in the tab (with the blue arrow in your picture) was not supposed to be there. I'm not sure how it got there. I had to mess with those two measures a good bit and must have missed that. It's fixed now.

Regarding the tab note being on fret 2, string 3 instead of the open string 2, that was intentional, because I want it to ring together with the following B note.

Regarding the "shortening the slur" phrase, I just used a C to D as an example. I wasn't referring to those notes happening anywhere in the actual song. I just meant the situation that happens at the end of measure 2, for example, where there's a slur from D to F#, but the F# is tied to another F#. In that instance, I had to shorten the slur in the tab so that it didn't extend to the second F# (which isn't visible right now).

In reply to by famous beagle

The score you posted. I didn't see anything hand-drawn. Maybe I'm looking in the wrong place? I'm talking about bar 6-7. On the tab staff I see a perfectly normal slur from the A to the C. Oh, wait, maybe you mean on the standard staff, where you do want the slur to continue? Just add the slur to the firt note - it will appear on both staves - then extend the one on the standard staff only. Actually as far as I am concerned that shouldn't work - it should extend them both, but apparently it does not. So, a bug in your favor, perhaps :-)

FWIW, if this is a bug and then gets fixed, the solution I'd suggest is to add two slurs, making one invisible on one staff, the other on the other.

In reply to by Marc Sabatella

Yes I am talking about the end of measure 6 (not counting the pickup as a measure number), so .. the end of the second system.

That slur above the notation staff was hand-drawn using the first of the "line" tools. Even when you do that (use that curved line tool), it still shows up as a slur when you select it. (At least it does for me .. I just checked.)

The reason I had to do that was because, since the staves are linked, it split the tab slur across two systems. And when I tried to make the one in measure 7 invisible, it also made the one in measure 6 invisible.

So I had to use the hand tool to draw them in, and that worked.

So, yes, all three of those slurs (notation and tab staff at the end of measure 6 and beginning of notation staff in measure 7) were hand-drawn with that curved line tool.

In reply to by famous beagle

There is no "curved line tool", which is why I am confused. All you did was added a slur but do it in a slower way :-)

As I said above, the easy method is to add the slur to the first note only - and yes, it will be linked - but then extend it on the top staff only. For better or for worse, this won't extend the linked slur on the bottom staff. So you get exactly what you want with no fuss. But to me, that's a bug, so if it ever gets fix, use the other method I suggested.

In reply to by Marc Sabatella

Sorry, I didn't know that the curved line in the "lines" menu was actually called a slur. I thought it was for hand-drawing things when you needed to because of some issue like I was having.

I know how to add a slur (by pressing S).

The problem was that I wasn't using the extend function on the slur. I was selecting a group of notes that I wanted the slur to encompass and hitting "S." This normally works fine when you're on the same system, but when there's a system break during the slur, you get the issue I was having.

And I also misunderstood what you meant by "extend the slur." I thought you meant add the slur to the first note and then double-click it so that you can drag it to encompass more notes. I see now that you meant to use the Shift+arrow key to move it to the next note.

When I try that, you're right. It does indeed extend the slur in the notation to the next system but does not do that on the tab. And that is what I needed.

Thanks much!

In reply to by famous beagle

You're welcome! FWIW, hovering the mouse over any palette will show its name; that's another way to have learned you were actually adding a slur.

You mention working for Hal Leonard - can you share more about that, and if you're using MuseScore in that capacity at all? Feel free to contact me offline if you'd prefer. FYI I did some transcribing / editing for them on the "Real Book" project (working with Jeff Arnold) back when those were just coming out. That predated my involvement with MuseScore by a fair amount though.

In reply to by Marc Sabatella

"where there's a slur from D to F#, but the F# is tied to another F#. In that instance, I had to shorten the slur in the tab so that it didn't extend to the second F#"

Ok, understood now. Other way without re-drawn for shorten the slur in the tab, eg in measure 2:
click on the slur in TAB staff -> hit "V" ->
click on the 0 in TAB staff -> hit "S"
(the slur is correctly drawn to the next note/number 4)

In reply to by cadiz1

The problem with that is that the staves are linked. So when I add a slur to the tab staff, it automatically adds one to the notation staff too. So in that example, I'd end up with two slurs (one encompassing three notes and one encompassing two notes) in the notation.
Unless I'm not understanding you...

In reply to by famous beagle

"So in that example, I'd end up with two slurs (one encompassing three notes and one encompassing two notes) in the notation."
Well, I forgot a last step in the previous sequence, ie make invisible the added slur in notation staff too!
To sum: make invisible the slur in TAB/hit S on 0/make invisible the added slur in notation staff.

So, in terms of key strokes, I concede it's not a better idea.
And editing a slur is usual.

"The problem with that is that the staves are linked"
The solution may be to try with non linked staves (and so, use copy-paste). But now for a next score of course :)

In reply to by Marc Sabatella

Hey, small world! I know Jeff well and work with him on a semi-regular basis.

I'm an author and editor for HL and have been freelancing for them since 2000. I did work in-house at their Milwaukee office from 2006-2009 but then went back to freelancing when we moved to NC after the birth of our son. (We've been back in TX, which is my home state, since 2011.)

We don't use MuseScore in any official capacity at HL, but I often use it when submitting manuscripts for books that I write. That's what I'm doing now (I'm writing a book called "Fingerstyle Guitar Coordination"). HL uses Sibelius for all their engraving, but since I'm not paid to engrave the music, I didn't want to shell out several hundred for that program when there's an awesome program like MuseScore for free. :) If it's faster than writing by hand, I'll use MuseScore. In this case (notwithstanding all the time we've spent on this particular issue), it certainly was. Not to mention the fact that I had 180 exercises to write and didn't want to get hand cramps.

I have recommended MuseScore to dozens of people over the years whenever they ask me about notation programs.

In reply to by famous beagle

Cool! I think the RB project was typeset using Score, so pretty much all transcriptions were done by people using their own favorite programs and then submitted as PDF, then someone in-house re-engraved it all. And then someone else added the text by hand (!) for the "semi-handwritten" look. Crazy process, but it worked.

Say hi to Jeff if you talk to him again soon!

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