MuseScore 3 Handbook
This handbook is valid for MuseScore versions 3.0 to 3.6.2. If you are using a different version of the program, please consult the appropriate handbook for your version:
This handbook is maintained and translated by the MuseScore community. Contributions are welcome! In case of doubt, please consult the English version of this handbook, or ask for help in the Support Forum.
Try browsing the illustrated Glossary for notations you are incapable of naming.
Use the links below to explore content in each chapter of the handbook. Alternatively, you can view the entire handbook as a single continuous page in a printer-friendly format with a multi-level table of contents.
Getting started
This chapter helps you to install and run MuseScore for the first time. It will introduce you to the various learning and help resources.
- Learning MuseScore
- Get Support
- Installation
- Initial preferences
- Language, translations, and extensions (installation of MuseScore Drumline (MDL) and the MuseScore General HQ Soundfont)
- Checking for updates
Basics
The previous →"Getting started" chapter guided you through the installation process.
This chapter shows you how to set up a new score using the MuseScore Wizard, and how to enter and edit basic music notation. The various parts of the program window are described—toolbars, Inspector, palettes etc.—as well as viewing and navigation options.
- Create a new score
- Instruments, staff setup and templates
- Note input
- Edit mode
- Palettes
- Workspaces
- Inspector
- Measure operations
- Voices
- Copy and paste
- Selection modes
- Undo and redo
- Viewing and navigation
- Concert pitch
- Share scores online
- Open/Save/Export/Print
Notation
In the previous →"Basics" chapter you learned how to enter notes and interact with the palettes. The "Notation" chapter describes the different types of notation in more detail, including more advanced music notation.
- Notation types
- Note input (→Basics)
- Palettes (→Basics)
- Workspaces (→Basics)
- Barlines
- Clefs
- Key signatures
- Time signatures
- Accidentals
- Arpeggios and glissandi and portamento between two notes
- Articulations and ornaments (incl. turns, trills and mordents)
- Articulation Text (Mid-staff sound change, e.g. pizz., trem.) (→Sound and playback)
- Bends
- Beams
- Brackets
- Breaths and pauses
- Dynamics (→Sound and playback)
- Grace notes
- Hairpins (incl. crescendo, decrescendo)
- Lines (incl. Pedal markings, Long Trill lines, Guitar Barre line)
- Measure rests
- Octave lines
- Slurs
- Tempo (→Sound and playback)
- Ties
- Tremolos (on stem or between notes) (but see also Articulation Text above)
- Tuplets
- Repeats and jumps
- Voltas (1st and 2nd time endings)
- Transposition
- Drum notation
- Tablature
See also →Advanced topics.
Sound and playback
Inside MuseScore, you can play back your score using the internal synthesizer. This chapter covers dynamics and tempo notations, the playback controls, and ways to extend the instrument sounds. If you are having problem with playback, try suggestions written on How to restore sound if playback stops working
- Tempo
- Dynamics
- Mixer
- Mid-staff instrument changes
- Capo playback NEW
- Playback: Chord symbols / Nashville numbers NEW
- Piano Roll Editor NEW
- Play mode
- Soundfonts and SFZ files
- Swing
- Synthesizer
- Tuning systems, microtonal notation system, and playback (→Advanced topics)
Text
Many score elements in MuseScore are based on text, either alone (e.g., staff text, dynamics, tempo, fingering, lyrics, etc.) or in combination with lines (e.g., voltas, octave lines, guitar barre lines, etc.).
This chapter covers these text types and their formatting options:
- Staff Text and System Text (The "Expression" button on the Text Palette is a styled Staff text.)
- Chord notation systems (incl. Chord Symbols, Nashville Number System, and Roman Numeral Analysis)
- Fingering
- Lyrics
- Rehearsal marks
Other types of text are covered in other chapters:
- Tempo (→Sound and playback)
- Dynamics —p, mf, etc. (→Sound and playback)
- Mid-staff sound change (eg pizz) (→Sound and playback)
- Mid-staff instrument changes (→Sound and playback)
- Swing (→Sound and playback)
- Repeats and jumps —DC, Fine, Coda, etc. (→Notation)
- Figured bass (→Advanced topics)
- Frame text —in vertical, horizontal or text frames (→Formatting)
- Headers and footers —different from standard text objects (→Formatting)
- Lines (→Notation)
Formatting
- Layout and formatting (global style, and .mss style file)
- Measure and horizontal spacing
- Page settings
- Breaks and spacers
- Fonts
- Frames
- Images
- Image capture
- Align elements
Advanced topics
- Accessibility
- Albums disabled in 3.x, expected back in 4.x (x > 0!)
- Automatic placement
- Cross-staff notation
- Custom palettes (→Basics)
- Early music features
- Figured bass
- File formats
- Fretboard diagrams
- Layer (experimental)
- Master palette
- MIDI import
- Note input modes
- Notehead schemes
- Noteheads
- Parts
- Plugins
- Preferences
- Recovered files
- Score properties
- Score comparison NEW
- Staff / Part properties
- Staff Type Change
- Timeline NEW
- Tools
- Tuning systems, microtonal notation system, and playback
Support
This chapter describes how to find help using MuseScore: the best places to look, the best way to ask a question on the forums, and tips for reporting a bug.