ABC in different voicings
Hello,
I have asked this in the dutch section of the forum, hope this is the international section...(anders mijn excuses..)
can somebody maybe tell me how I can change the starting position of an imported ABC file of a traditional tune (jig, reel, etc)? For instance, I would like a tune that now commences on D open string (3, 0) to begin at the note D on string A, fifth fret (A,5), or string G, 7th fret (4,7). this would enable me to vary the voicings of a piece without having to draw the whole tune again..:::)
Comments
I'm not sure I understand what you are looking for but maybe you want to transpose? https://musescore.org/en/handbook-notation/transposition
I'm not clear on what you mean either, but maybe you are talking about tablature, and are saying you want to change which string some given note is shown on? MuseScore by default picks the lowest fret position. if you wish to move a note to a different string, see the handbook under "Tablature".
In reply to I'm not clear on what you… by Marc Sabatella
Apologies for being unclear... yes , indeed iI am talking about tablature. I would like to be able to chose my starting point for a tune. On a guitar you have different options for playing the same notes (4d string open is exactly the same D note as 5d string fretted at fret 5. Also you can find a D. an octave higher at 3d string, 7th fret, and so on.. The way I use Musescore is that I import a trad tune (jig, reel, etc) via the ABC plugin into a tablature staff. The notes are then placed as tablature, indeed in the lowest position available. I would like to be able to vhange where th beginning and subsewuently the entire tune is placed. I have disccoverd the way to move a single note higher or lower on the fretboard. What I would like to be able to do this with a group of notes. I would like to tell the progam that, in tablature, for example the first D note of the tune does not start on 4d string open, but on 5string, 5d fret, and then the following notes of hte entire tune are placed accordingly. Also I would like to be able to tell the tablature to use a D note that is an octave highter and then take the tune (and the tablature) from there...Any thoughts? TIA...
In reply to Apologies for being unclear… by lefthandluke
To make it a little easier, you can select several notes at a time and ctrl+arrow (up or down) to move notes to a different strings. So if you want every D4 played on a certain string you can select all of the D4's and move them. (Right click, select>more... make this easy)
In reply to To make it a little easier,… by mike320
Thank you for your reply!
I had allready seen this, it would lighten the work indeed... However, the quest is on for a way to move the whole piece in one go to a different voicing of the same octave, or even an octave higher or lower...:)
In reply to Thank you for your reply!… by lefthandluke
The technique mentioned works whether you want to do one note, four notes, or the entire piece - select the notes you want to move, Ctrl+Up/Down to move them. So it's easy enough to move the whole piece - Ctrl+A, Ctrl+Down.
To transpose an octave, Ctrl+Up/Down is the way to do that on standard staves, but on tab staves that command is already spoken for. So instead you can use Notes / Transpose.
In reply to The technique mentioned… by Marc Sabatella
Ehmm.. I'm not sure if I make my predicament clear.. I don't want to move the whole collection of dots a few frets up or down along the neck, as if using a capo. I want to start using a different starting point for the scale that I am using for the tune that I am playing. As a guitarist would say: "lemme try another voicing on that......" (I'll stay in the octave but start somewhere else)" .... Like, If my scale starts on a D on (A,5), and I'm going to change the starting point of the tune to the D on (4,0) then surely the ensueing patern would be totally different ? As for going an octave up or down, i will try transposing a full octave up or down, see what happens, thanks...:)
In reply to Ehmm.. I'm not sure if I… by lefthandluke
You can use my method on every note in the piece if you want (use ctrl-A then select notes in the inspector for all notes). Being a guitar player it wouldn't take too long for you to look through the score and make sure some of the string selections aren't ridiculous.
In reply to Ehmm.. I'm not sure if I… by lefthandluke
MuseScore does not incorporate artificial intelligence to figure out how a guitar play would actually play it. As I said, it simply chooses the highest string / lowest fret it can for everything. But if you select everything and then press Ctrl+Down, that moves each and every note down to the next lower string, calculating the correct fret. It doesn't change pitch - it does exactly what you are saying. Now, it's possible a savvy guitarist would come up with a more clever fingering than that for some notes here and there, so you'll still want to go through note by note to see if some notes should be moved back up to the original string, or down another string. But still, it will have the effect of keeping the same pitches while the whole thing up the neck. Try it and see: Ctrl+A, Ctrl+Down.
In reply to MuseScore does not… by Marc Sabatella
I wiil, so I will... thanks very much...:) My ears are, of course, the most important guide in all of this, as it should allways be.. As a self taught musician, score-analpabete, I am only stumbling my way into this Great Wide Open of notes and tabs, thanks for your patience....:)
I am also curious about this issue, maybe a developer would be able to help more on this. Basically what we are wanting to do is to define a particular fret on the fret board as our lowest common point and pick out the notes on the fret board relative to that selection.
Say for instance the piece I am playing is all on the e and D strings from the open e to the 12th fret on the D string and I would be more comfortable playing everything from the 'fret position' at the 5th fret. A selection that would move everything positioned on the 4th fret or lower to the corresponding next available fret, sometimes it is as high as 12 or 14th fret to make things play 'in position' which is almost always the most desirable solution from a play ability perspective.
Please feel free to ask for more details if this is not clear but it would actually be a very useful tool for fretted string players. As an added feature, maybe selecting the 'fret position' based on bar number say on bar 45 play 5th position, bar 72 move to 7th position, etc, the manual entry of that would be easy, moving one note or a group of notes to get to a tab written 'in position' can be very tedious if you have a large piece with a lot of transitions.
I am brand new to the program and the forum but this question is the one that had me stumped and was the impetus to jump in.
Thanks.