Writing notation/tab

PapaRaptor

Father Vyvian O'Blivion
Staff member
Avid offers Sibelius | First for free. I have downloaded it and installed in on my computer. Tried to start the tutorial about guitar notation, but I get and error telling me I can't edit the tutorial lesson because it has more than four staffs...

Since Griff is an old hand at Sibelius and Sibelius | First is a free download from Avid, what would you think about a tutorial or two about how to use it?

What say you (or in the south, "y'all")?
 

Jalapeno

Student Of The Blues
Ack, not Sibelius First. A much better program is MuseScore which is also free. First is to whet your appetite for the (abandoned) full program.

If you really want First find a dvd copy of version 7, much better than version 8 (which is the first Avid release).

YMMV, of course.

Eric
 

PapaRaptor

Father Vyvian O'Blivion
Staff member
Ack, not Sibelius First. A much better program is MuseScore which is also free. First is to whet your appetite for the (abandoned) full program.

If you really want First find a dvd copy of version 7, much better than version 8 (which is the first Avid release).

YMMV, of course.

Eric

I think the tipping point on this is that Griff is very fluent in Sibelius. From what I've seen so far (admittedly, not much), it appears to be head and shoulders above Guitar Pro. I've posted the link for Sibelius | First so it will be interesting to see some feedback from others who attempt to use it.
 

Jalapeno

Student Of The Blues
I think the tipping point on this is that Griff is very fluent in Sibelius. From what I've seen so far (admittedly, not much), it appears to be head and shoulders above Guitar Pro. I've posted the link for Sibelius | First so it will be interesting to see some feedback from others who attempt to use it.

Ok, and I didn't realize this was in the aap forum. Having used Sibelius for years and having mostly switched over to MuseScore I'd still recommend, when Griff's seminar is completed, that you trash Sibelius First and download MuseScore to do actual stuff. :p:Beer:

Eric
 

Jack

Blues Junior
Oh I'm absolutely loving Sibelius. Create an account, wait for an email, download and install (takes longer than Windows to install), try to open it, gotta log into my account. Didn't write down my alpha-numeric gibberish password they demanded because I thought I'd never use it again, so I asked to reset it. I wait for their email, get a code, it's 03207ec23d0a13d88c330da2c4be4dc4 and it won't let me paste it into the field. Type that damned thing in myself and it says "Verification code is not valid or was expired".

Then they say:

Thank you,

Avid Customer Success Team

:ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO:
 

MikeS

Student Of The Blues
Staff member
I think the tipping point on this is that Griff is very fluent in Sibelius. From what I've seen so far (admittedly, not much), it appears to be head and shoulders above Guitar Pro. I've posted the link for Sibelius | First so it will be interesting to see some feedback from others who attempt to use it.
I'll have to check oit out.
I use Guitar Pro 7 and love it. in what ways do you feel Sibelius is head and shoulders above it?
 

PapaRaptor

Father Vyvian O'Blivion
Staff member
in what ways do you feel Sibelius is head and shoulders above it?

Flexibility, although right now my familiarity with GP does make it preferential. LIke a lot of relatively complicated things (like DAWs), once you put the time and effort into learning one, there is little inclination to look at anything different.
Having said that, if the tools you have do the job, there isn't much incentive to look for something new.
 

MikeS

Student Of The Blues
Staff member
Yeah, I couldn't even figure out how to enter fret numbers in the tab.
 

Jalapeno

Student Of The Blues
Yeah, I couldn't even figure out how to enter fret numbers in the tab.
Not trying to steal Griff's thunder but, to get you started, you need to activate note input first. Sibelius has three distinct modes one of which is note input, another is editing. I don't remember what the third is called but it is for selecting parts of the score.

The two ways to activate the note input mode is to push the "input notes" button on the "note input" tab, or by using the keyboard shortcut "N". I hovered my mouse to get the tool tip below. I always use keyboard shortcuts in my workflow. But it does take usage to memorize them, like any software program.

noteinput.jpg




Once you have "input notes" mode activated you'll see the cursor change to a faint flag with a circle/note head (it might be hard to see in this screen shot)

note.jpg



Once you are done inputting notes you have to hit the escape key, once will get you out of input into edit mode, or twice will get you back into selection mode (or whatever its called). This was a pain when I was learning to use Sibelius, though it is automatic for me now. One more thing I like about MuseScore.

Hope that helps. I get the feeling that Sibelius might not be in your future, though :)

Eric
 

MikeS

Student Of The Blues
Staff member
Hmmm, in GP I click the note duration (Whole, Half, quarter...) click the string I want it on and enter a fret number on my key pad. Sounds easier to me than trying to remember click this hit escape, then this then escape twice.... I guess once you do it enough it becomes second nature though.
 

Jalapeno

Student Of The Blues
Lol, but try scoring a video or film, or orchestrating the philharmonic in GP, oh that's right, there isn't any video timeline and video screen and no orchestration. :) Now you understand my "ack" when Sibelius was brought up in this thread. :)

The keypad in Sibelius is reserved for the note values, accidentals, ties, trills, all that kind of stuff. Quite frankly, though I am aware of it and know how to get to it, I am a note guy rather than a tab guy and with Sibelius there are a few ways to input notes. Since I am also a touch typist I use the note names to enter the notes on the qwerty keyboard. This way I use might right hand on the keypad to select note values and accidentals etc and my left hand to enter notes.

Guitar Pro, being a tab editor, comes up in input mode so you're ready to go right away. Sibelius, being used for a much wider amount of things, doesn't assume you're opening it to enter notes. There is a lot more things that can be done so it opens in select mode by default. It's up to me to decide what I want to do and select the mode that will get me there.

MuseScore is the same, you activate note input, it doesn't start by default. But, again, it is notation software for scoring and not a tab editor.

Edit:
fret number on my key pad.
I just tried the tab instrument and using the number keys at the top of the keyboard works the same way as the keypad in GP.

I use all three, depending on my goal, GP6, Sibelius, or MuseScore. Though these days I use a beatbox with Ableton Live more than any of them. :)

Eric
 
Last edited:
Top