Cannot select specific note for Chord Voicing on Guitar Tablature

• Jan 1, 2011 - 21:04
Type
Functional
Severity
S4 - Minor
Status
closed
Project
MuseScore

1) Start new Score
2) Select quarter note from Note Input Mode
3) Enter note on Low E 6th string of the Tab. Defaults to zero.
4) Try to change 0 to 5 (A) -- Fifth position Low E 6th string . Nothing happens.
5) Pressed the "A" key on keyboard. It now defauls to the open "A" on 5th string.

All I am trying to do is TAB OUT an "Amaj7 Chord" 5th Postion with root in starting on Low E string.

If possible it would be great to:
a) Select a note from the Input Mode ( as is today)
b) Drop the note on the string of choice and default to 0 (zero). (as is today)
c) Leave the zero in a state to be edited where I can enter a number that represents the note on the string I chose.

I may be doing something wrong but I have tried a number of combinations and cannot get the tablature to respond to the specific note on a specific string.

As a Chord Melody Jazz Guitartist this would be valuable since we alter our chord voicings all the time.
Please keep up the great work and I look forward to working with you.
Warmest regards

Comments

• Jan 3, 2011 - 12:28
Title Cannot select specific note for Chord Voicing on Guitar Tablature ⇒ [trunk] Cannot select specific note for Chord Voicing on Guitar Tablature

Change title

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• Jan 4, 2011 - 00:06

The currently supported method for entering notes directly in a tablature is as follows:

a) Select a note value

b) Drop the note on the string of choice and default to 0 (zero)
OR
b) Click the string of choice with the mouse (default to 0)

c) Using the [Up]/[Down] arrow keys, raise/lower the note up/down to the required fret

(Point c) was the missing element in your list)

I am aware that this is not the best possible way to work with tablatures; but a better input mechanism would have a deep impact on the program structure and it is not the topmost priority at the moment (more basic things to implement in tablatures).

About arrows, note the following:

[Up] / [Down] arrows raise/lower a note and let the program assign the string (for instance, in the lowest E string, after fret 4, the program moves the note to the string above with a fret 0)

[Shift][Up] / [Shift][Down] arrows raise / lower the note by increasing / decreasing fret, if possible, without changing string (in the above example, 4 on 6th str. + [Shift][Up] becomes 5 on 6th str. without moving to next str.); the max limit is the number of frets in the instrument and the min limit is of course 0 (these are the key combinations called "diatonic pitch up" / "down" for a 'regular' staff).

[Ctrl][Up] / [Ctrl][Down] move the same note to the above or below string, if possible (for instance, 5 on 6th str. + [Ctrl][Up] becomes 0 on 5th str.; these are the key combinations which, in a 'regular' staff, raise or lower by an octave).

Does this answer your request? Can we consider this specific issue closed?

M.

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• Feb 23, 2011 - 03:08

Hi Everyone
Sorry I have been away for quite some time nursing a very bad back problem. Anyway I just downloaded the latest Nightly build Ver 2.0.0 Rev. 4051. I noticed that the tablature was not there. Is there a reason for this. I was hoping to get back and do some testing.

Please let me know the status

Thanks

Franco Didiodato

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• Mar 2, 2011 - 02:27

Hi
Was hoping to do some testing with tablature and recieved the following errors during unzipping of the latest release of nightly builds.
Should I wait for the next nightly build ??

Thanks

Franco
PS No laughing at the folder name. Never let your 15 year old son set up your computer with you being there!!

! C:\Users\Daddy Waddy\Downloads\mscoreNightly-r4070.7z: Cannot open mscoreNightly\nightly.bat
! C:\Users\Daddy Waddy\Downloads\mscoreNightly-r4070.7z: Error - operation failed

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• Mar 2, 2011 - 03:48

Hi Dave
Well I managed to get some testing in regardless of the error while unzipping a file.
I will try to make this in point form........ basicaly four little simple test cases please follow the attachment.

1st Bar.
Notated a simple Fmaj7 on the musical staff copied and pasted the bar onto the tab below.
This test seems fine.

2nd Bar.
Moved the same chord up an octave using the cntl shift and copied and pasted the bar onto the Tab..
As you can see the chord did not translate very well. Showing only three notes instead of four.
Fret 10 on the G string is correct.
Fret 10 on the B string is correct
Fret 12 on the E string is incorrect.
3rd Bar.
Here I tried the reverse. I first tabbed the same chord copied and pasted it onto the staff.
Again here it appears to be fine

4th Bar.
Here I tried to create the same chord only I wanted to be up by the 12th an octave above Bar 1
This looks pretty bad. If I use the [Shift][UP] I only have a range up to the 12 Fret
If I use the [UP] arrow alone than the notes will transpose to the next string making it a bit more difficult.

In an earlier post it was brought to my attention that I should have used the [SHIFT}/[up/down] keys to have the fret count
move up and down the string. This mechanism alone would be fine as is. If you could just select a string and shift/up to the fret you want would be more than enough. Just as long it does not switch strings. This may not be the fanciest of tablature input but there would be only one input method and that would be very simple and simple is what you want.
Same goes with correcting a note on the tablature. Select the note, shift/up or down to reach the desired fret done.
Would that make the coding simpler or more complicated ??
Hope this helps.
Warmest Regards
Franco
PS. FYI I work for a Steel Company here in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. I work in the IT department and have done much work in older languages COBOL (stop laughing). Wrote a very large Shop Floor system in VB 6.0 ( really stop laughing). In the work I do there never was a need for C++ so I never took any training as I thought that I would never use it my career. However I know that MUSESCORE is written in C++ and now more than ever I wish I did learn this language so that I could get more involved with the coding side.

Attachment Size
MUSESCORE Testing.PNG 15.07 KB

Reply

• Mar 10, 2011 - 19:16

Hello Franco,

I apologize for the delay in answering; in the last week or so, I had very little time left for MuseScore (which is a free time involvement, after all).

Max fret

The current tablature mechanism has a limit to the max fret which can be reached; the limit depends on the instrument and can be changed (raised or lowered) freely, but cannot be removed. It looks like the default guitar definition sets the fret limit to 12.

To change the limit:

  1. right-click on an empty spot of the tablature staff and select "Staff properties..."
  2. Press "Edit string data..."
  3. Increase (or decrease) the "NumOfFrets" number (the label is strange, I know...)
  4. OK, OK to close the dialogue boxes

This will change the limit for that score only (all of this is explained, perhaps in more detail, in this handbook page and/or in this handbook page ).

This will not, by itself alone, re-fret the chords already entered: they have to be changed in some way by hand and the new limit will be applied.

If you think the default limit for the guitar is too low, please give a better number and it can be changed in the defaults (if reasonable).

'Wrong' chords

The fret limit also explains why some chords are 'fretted' wrongly: if the max fret reachable is 12 some of the chords you are trying to tab may be impossible to code.

I suggest you try increasing the fret limit and see if things get better.

If you note, in your tests some notes have a red background: this is an alert that some note cannot be fitted in the current tablature structure and should be adjusted by hand. So, MuseScore knows something is wrong, but has no way to do better, given the current tablature definition.

Note input

I have to say I do not fully understand your point here: both the [Up]/[Dn] and the [Ctrl][Up]/[Dn] ways of changing notes ARE implemented and work correctly (once the fret limit is taken into account) as far as I know; are you suggesting one of them should be removed?

Thanks for the tests and for the comments,

M.

P.S.: both your name and family name look Italian. Are you Italian or of Italian origin? I'm asking because I am Italian (too).

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• May 29, 2012 - 12:29
Title [trunk] Cannot select specific note for Chord Voicing on Guitar Tablature ⇒ Cannot select specific note for Chord Voicing on Guitar Tablature

Change to Code and remove trunk from title (the latter is a general instruction from lasconic).

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• Jun 17, 2012 - 09:57
Status (old) needs info ⇒ fixed

I'm of the opinion that the original issue is fixed in the current nightlies so I'm marking as such subject to anyone disagreeing of course.

Incidentally, a standard classical guitar has 19 frets - that would probably be a good default to TAB string limits.

MuseScore 2.0 rb2ef1ee/Windows XP Pro SP3

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