Problem entering drum notation
I’m puzzled by an issue I encounter when I attempt to add drum parts. I’ve added bass drum and snare for a bar. The snare is syncopated. When I attempt to add a ride symbol on each beat it removes the snare. See pics. When I try to add a ride symbol on beat three in post4a I get post4b with the snare deleted. What am I doing wrong?
| Attachment | Size |
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| post4a.png | 4.51 KB |
| post4b.png | 3.9 KB |
Comments
Ride and snare are both in voice 1 normally, so you they need to be entered as a "chord". If you're clicking on the staff to enter notes, this happens automatically. If you're using the keyboard shortcuts, use Shift to plus letter to create chords. For MIDI input, just play both notes simultaneously. This is the same as how to create chords in standard pitched notation as well. I don't think there is currently a way to create a chord by double-clicking in the drum palette, although maybe I just haven't figured it out either :-). Offhand I can't think of a good reason why it shouldn't be made to work with Shift.
Click below for my Quick Answer on how to enter drum notation:
Enter Drum Notation
https://masteringmusescore.com/quick-answers/enter-drum-notation
In reply to Ride and snare are both in… by Marc Sabatella
Scratch my response, I probably misunderstood, and Matt's answer is better. I was thinkiing you wanted the ride and snare both on beat three, but not I see you want the ride on 3 and the snare on 3&. In which case, absolutely the ride should be an eighth. It's important to remember that durations mean little for drums, so there is no advantage to forcing that ride to be a quarter and the snare to be in another voice. So it's pretty much universally standard for durations to be notated however is most convenient to allow the notes to be entered on the correct beats without requiring more than two voices (indeed, some editors refuse to go beyond one voice).
Note this also means that dotted quarters or half notes are almost never used in drum notation either - neither is actually going to sound any different from a quarter, or from an eighth. So instead of dotted quarter, we right quarter followed by eighth rest. Instead of half, we write quarter followed by quarter rest. Although you might think it looks more cluttered, it actually simplifies the reading, because a) it shows the beat more clearly, and b) it's what drummers are used to reading, so they don't have to stop and ponder the unfamilarness of it. And FWIW, dotted rests are not used in 4/4, period - not for drums or for any other instrument.
In reply to Scratch my response, I… by Marc Sabatella
Great, Thanks :)
You must either enter the ride with an eighth note duration or else move the snare to another voice.
In reply to You must either enter the… by mattmcclinch
Great, Thanks :)