deleting notes

• Mar 15, 2012 - 09:31

I find this program very very difficult and inconvenient. I can't even press the delete button in edit mode to delete a note. I have to delete the whole measure and start over. How in the world do you delete notes when you make a mistake? Why do they make things so difficult?

Comments

• Mar 15, 2012 - 15:07

Also, normally, you don;'t *need* to delete notes. Simply replace them with whatever you want instead. Definitely give the tutorials and other documentation a chance. Any sufficiently complex program take a little while to get used to, but once you get the hang of the note entry system (which is based on that of the single most popular notation program in the world), you should find it exceedingly simple.

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• Mar 15, 2012 - 20:55

The tutorials and handbook don't make it easy to answer my questions; they only cover basics, although they are useful to get started. I don't know why in this program you can't select a group of notes together and change their velocity (quarter to 8th, etc.) by pressing the 8th note key. Having to change each note individually is cumbersome. Selecting a group of them only allows you to delete all of them.

I find that this program seems to take time to get it to work. Many times I do what the handbook says and nothing happens; then it happens more frequently later. Quite strange. Also, having to switch in and out of note entry mode so often is cumbersome. Replacing notes works, but usually the new note will be of a different velocity (8th to 4th etc.). so I'm not sure that will work. Also, the program always seems to assume that you want a quarter note unless you tell it otherwise. That is taking some adjusting.

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• Mar 15, 2012 - 22:15

xhanging from quarter to eighth has nothing to do with velocity - that's duration. What you are describing isn't an operation that would occur very often in normal editing and that's why there is currently no facility to do it, but it is something that has been requested pn occasion (by me, among others) so hopefully some day it will be implemented.

As for getting sifferent results than what you see in the handbook, you will need to post specific examples if we are to help. And do so in separate threada, pne for each specific problem you are having. Most lokely, they will turn out to be simple misunderstandings - you weren't quite doing what the handbook says. Because the program really does work. Many of us use MuseScore on a daily basis for some pretty complex project that we formerly would have needed expensive programs like Finale or Sibelius for, and we an assure you, MuseScore really is just as capable and in many cases considerably simpler. You can't expect to master it on your first day, though.

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• Mar 17, 2012 - 18:49

Yes duration, I am not very familiar with the terms; I just remember them as quarter and eighth notes. All I know is the handbook doesn't have a good index and it's hard to find things, and most of the time it did not answer my questions. I will perservere, and I hope it works without too much more frustration. I would think a way to change several selected notes in duration or in other ways would be useful, and in the case of duration, I bet mistakes are common because you have to indicate the duration on every measure, it seems; it does not stay in the one you are using, so you have to remember to indicate it. I am glad people answer on this forum.

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• Mar 16, 2012 - 05:01

I'm sure it will get easier as you go on.

I'm just a bit curious about your use of the word "velocity". In my experience, velocity applies to the speed with which a note is pressed, leading to a louder or softer sound. You talk about 1/8s and 1/4s which is commonly expressed as duration, not velocity.

It is true that it would be great if the program could always easily understand and achieve what we want. I find this program a wonderful gift, although it has taken me many hours just to understand what I do, and I know there is so much more.

Don't give up, persevere. It's agreat way to express yourself.

Regards,

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• Aug 30, 2018 - 16:36

If you read the handbook, you will see that selecting a note and pressing delete results in a rest. If you select the rest and press delete it will become invisible. So pressing delete gives you the expected results. There is no way to delete a voice 1 rest in MuseScore version 2.x. There will be a different way do delete an entire note from a measure in version 3.0. It currently does not seem likely that you will be able to get the entire score to shift to fill the space though. The measure will be short of the time signature as a result.

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• Mar 19, 2012 - 06:20

Just another recent experience of how hard it is finding answers in the handbook. I wanted to know how to change the direction of a beam. Under beam it lists no info whatsoever. I just had to locate for myself the icon that indicates this, and try it. Luckily I found it. It would be nice if help manuals and indexes had more information, and writers didn't assume we know things already.

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• Mar 19, 2012 - 14:34

Yes, more extensive documentation would be nice. This is an open source program, so feel free to volunteer to contribute to improve the documentation. Meanwhile, though, you will find that simply asking questions here in the support forums will usually get you answers pretty quickly. A very supportive user community is one of the many benefits of open source software.

Generally, it is best to start new threads for new questions.

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• Mar 15, 2012 - 19:07

I suggest to have a delete icon on the menu so that when user click on delete icon it'll escape the current mode:( entry Note mode).
If user in Note entry mode, click delete icon -> escape entry mode
if user is not in entry mode, if selected note(s) and click delete icon -> delete selected notes
This delete icon should has the same affect as delete key

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• Nov 5, 2012 - 04:26

I think a lot of the confusion about deleting notes on apple computers has existed due to the combination of the "Backspace" and "delete" keys, which traditionally have had very different functions. I have found that you can still delete individual notes and groups of selected notes by holding the function key (the key with letters fn in the bottom left side of apple keyboards) while pressing delete. This will "delete" the note and replace whatever duration those notes occupied with the corresponding rests.

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• Mar 12, 2013 - 08:30

That fn + delete tip was gold - as a mac user this makes me very happy, as until now the only way I could figure out to get rid of anything (dynamics, articulation etc.) was to cut (⌘X).

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• Jul 16, 2013 - 15:22

I still cannot find how to delete a note that I have written [and saved and moved on] - it plays OK.

It is - for example - on the first bar of 20.

In the treble I have chord [going up] B flat D and G and in the bass G.

So what I want to do [being of simple mind] is to cancel the B flat in the treble and add it to the bass.

I have done the adding to the bass easily [note entry] but cannot get rid of the note in the treble.

And yes I know that i should be able to "think" the change with the left hand "helping out" but I am not that proficient

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• Jul 16, 2013 - 15:49

Yes, while *not* in note entry mode, click the note you wish to remove from a chord and hit Del (not Backspace, not Fn-Del, - the key labeled Del or Delete, at least on Windows).

If you continue to have problems, please start a *new thread* describing your problem in more detail, since your issue seems unrelated to the one being disucssed here. Also, attach the actual score you are having trouble with, and list the exact steps you are following (eg, "open score, click Bb in treble clef in measure 20, press Del"). That makes it much easier to offer useful help.

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• Nov 2, 2016 - 01:51

The Delete key on most keyboards is located toward the upper right. Same key you'd use to delete something in any other program.

Note on some keyboards it is labeled "Del". On others, the key labeled that way might actually be a backspace key and you might need to press Fn to make it act like a true Delete. But again, it will be the same key or key combination as for deleting things on any other program on your computer.

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• Apr 18, 2018 - 15:07

'Delete' does NOT work. ( I'm on a laptop on Linux )
Yes I've tried it when not in 'Note entry mode'
I've tried: del key / backspace / shift del / ctrl del / windows key+del / del on numeric keypad.
I can not delete a note or rest - makes using this 'simple' score program incredibly frustrating!!

And yes, my 'del' key is working perfect okay to fix typos in this comment!!! (and the del on my numeric keypad works too! )

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