Percussive Guitar

• Jun 3, 2024 - 23:34

Hello,

I need to make some percussive guitar sounds in a classical guiar piece. I'm pretty sure there is some capability in MuseScore but I'm not sure where to find the info.

Would anyone know how I can find this info?

Thanks,

Peter

Comments

• Jun 4, 2024 - 19:24

If you are playing the MuseHub guitar sounds, you can simply change the notehead to an X (second choice on the list of noteheads on the Properties tab. In my opinion, it sounds best if you have a chord of at least three notes being played percussively. One by itself, or two, just don't sound right to me.

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• Jun 4, 2024 - 21:53

I don't know what I am doing. I am starting from ground zero. I don't know what you mean when you say, "if you are playing MuseHub guitar sounds". I do have the hub and one of the options under Muse Sounds is Guitars Vol I. Is that what you are referring to?

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• Jun 4, 2024 - 22:02

Yes, absolutely.

With your notes entered, open the Mixer (top center). Find the guitar mixer (name at the bottom of each fader section). At the very top of the same section, the first item is the "Sound" (name off to the left of that row). It is currently set to "MS Basic". When you hover your mouse over that "MS Basic" text, you'll see a drop-down arrow. Click it and go to Muse Sounds / Muse Guitars Vol. 1 and make a choice from the list.

It's probably obvious that "LP" is "Les Paul" and "SC" is "Stratocaster", but in case it's not ...

ANY of the selections in this list will play the percussive, muted notes you want (at least, that I assume you want :-) but the electric guitar options sound the best with it. I recommend you set up a blank score with a small selection of notes, bends, and chords and just try all the different options so you can hear what they all sound like.

Oh, click the Mixer button at the top to hide the mixer again.

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• Jun 4, 2024 - 22:37

Thank you TheHutch. That give me a starting point. It seems like there is no option to make percussive guitar sounds that do not involve strings. What I am trying to represent is a tap with a finger on the body of the guitar - no strings touched. But I will take what I can get. I will explore what you have detailed above (and thank you very much for the detail) and we'll see what happens.

cheers

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• Jun 5, 2024 - 02:16

Oh, I was assuming the sound of the muted strings. To get the sound of thumping the guitar body, try an actual percussion instrument (in another staff). Something along the lines of a wood block, perhaps. You'll need to listen to a bunch of different instruments to identify which one you think sounds like what you want.

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• Jun 6, 2024 - 20:56

Hi there,
I have made some advancements toward what I am trying to accomplish with percussive sounds. I used the "Change Instr." option in the text pallette to change an individual measure within the score to a percussion measure and then selected a percussive instrument for that measure (wood blocks) to make my percussive guitar sound. It is less than perfect but better than what I had before. The sounds you can select are very limited and none sound like percussive guitar sounds.

UPDATE: I just discovered there are more sounds to select from by selecting "all instruments". Maybe I will find something suitable in the list now, but I doubt it. If I could record the sound and then add it to the change Instr pallette I'd be set... maybe. Is it possible to record a sound and then add it to the "select instrument" list?

I've attached a score sample of what I have currently.

thoughts welcome.

thanks,

Peter

Attachment Size
Test Change Instr DEMO.mscz 20.25 KB

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• Jun 7, 2024 - 01:38

After seeing your other post regarding percussive sounds on guitar, I arrived here.
I took the DEMO attachment you provided and added a "guitar tap" using a hidden staff. Have a listen:
Test Change Instr DEMO-2.mscz

To see the hidden staff:
In the Instruments panel, click on the tiny triangle to the left of 'Drum Kit' and then click on the closed 'eye' which is to the left of 'Percussion'.

This sounds fairly good in MuseScore 4, but MuseScore 3 had a separate "808 Tom" instrument (not part of a drum kit) which allowed greater control over shaping the 'guitar tap' sound.

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• Jun 7, 2024 - 21:39

Thanks Jm6stringer, this seems like a much better option. I will explore the "hidden staff" option. I've seen that 808 Tom in my travels - on MuseScore 4.

It is always encouraging how much people are helpful in the forum. And they know stuff you could never figure out from using the handbook search engine, no offense to MuseScore, which is a superp app, in my opinion.

Of course, now that you've offered help to me, you will be asked for more help... you are familiar with this phenomenon.

thanks again.

Peter

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• Jun 7, 2024 - 22:04

Wow, the hidden staff is interesting!

If you don't mind, while you're thinking about it, please answer me a question about this arrangement. Below, is how I wanted to arrange this. I'm just wondering if you think that is still doable with the approach you have suggested. I could try it out but if you know right off the top of your head it might save me a load of time. Many thanks.

  • Originally, I would have kept the 2/4 time signature measure as an actual 2/4 bar (it is only 1/4 in duration currently)

  • The second quarter note on that measure would have been the first guitar tap (of 1/4 note duration)

  • The next measure would have had a 4/4 time signature and the next guitar tap (of 1/8 note duration) would have been at the first 1/8 note of that 4/4 measure

So, in the demo:
- the 2nd measure should be 2/4 time signature
- there's no 3/8 measure
- the next measure is 4/4.
- the guitar taps happen at the end of the 2/4 measure and the first 1/8 beat of the next measure.

Thanks for any thoughts you might have.

Cheers,

Peter

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• Jun 8, 2024 - 03:42

You wrote:
Below, is how I wanted to arrange this.
and:
Thanks for any thoughts you might have.

Are you arranging/transcribing an existing song for guitar, or are you composing something new?
Without more context, it's not clear if there exists a perceptible, underlying meter throughout.
For instance, that musical phrase can be successively looped and played in 3/4:
Guitar taps .mscz
eliminating those irregular measures and multiple time signatures.

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• Jun 8, 2024 - 19:17

Yes, I haven't given a lot of context about the piece. I am transcribing a piece that was hand-written by my guitar teacher. Most of the score is in 4/4 time. But you answered my question as to whether I can just keep to the time signature on the original score. I ended up with the odd timing signatures on those 2 measures because I thought I would have to have a separate percussion measure inserted in the score. I see now that, with hidden measures, that is not necessary. The actual measures at that sectino go 4/4, 3/4, 3/4, 2/4 and then 4/4, with the perscussion (guitar taps) occurring at the 2nd beat of the 2/4 measure (a 1/4 note) and the second (a 1/8 note) at the beginning of the 4/4 measure following the 2/4 measure.

Thanks again for your suggestions. I will try to make this work.

cheers,

Peter

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