Writing notation & tab

[Steve_Sawyer]

Not sure if this fits into the "Guitar Theory" section, but I couldn't see anyplace else this would fit.

About a year or so ago, I discovered a musical notation tool called LillyPond. Unlike some of the WYSIWYG editors (I think Griff uses Sibelius) that require you to already KNOW how to write music, and just helps you make it look pretty, this product works off of the pitch and duration of each note, then properly places that note on the staff with the appropriate sharps/flats for the appropriate key specified, figures out where the measures begin and end, what beams to add etc., and makes the output look great. In the examples below I over-rode the beaming that LillyPond does automatically to group the notes by triplets. Easy peasy. For those of us that come at this from the perspective of the fretboard, this is much easier than trying to learn/remember all the rules about notation.

It's very much like a programming language, and in fact, there is a plugin (Elysium) for the Eclipse IDE which I used for years for Python programming. Each time the "source file" is edited and saved, it can automatically render the PDF of the score PLUS a midi file so you can play what you've "written" and verify that you got it all down right. It uses a piano sound, but you can also specify what midi instrument renders the score.

Really, really slick and doesn't cost a cent as everything is open-source.

A couple of days ago I made up a lick, then wrote it own in tablature and regular notation. Just today, I downloaded Eclipse, LillyPond, installed the Elysium plugin, and after a few hours of goofing around with it and going through the tutorials, what you see below is the result. As you can see, the first example is pretty standard fare as far as the tablature is concerned, but the second carries over much of the notation to show the duration of each note (half "notes" will have double-stems to distinguish between them and quarter-notes). Note that LillyPond supports fingering info (that's what the numbers above the staff are)

If anyone is interested, I'll be happy to explain further including showing some of the "source file" that I created to generate these. It's really pretty simple and intuitive. It also has the ability to include multiple parts (e.g. lead, rhythm, bass) as well as chord diagrams. In researching how to denote the vibrato on the last note, I learned that there may be some limitations for guitar notation when it comes to complex things like a bend-and-release followed by a pull-off, but this is far and away miles better than I could ever do by hand.

 

[Jalapeno]

this is much easier than trying to learn/remember all the rules about notation.

Whole note = 4 beats
Half note = 2 beats
Quarter note = 1 beat
Eighth note = 1/2 beat
Sixteenth note = 1/4 beat

That isn't rocket science.

That's good you found something useful for you but it sounds to me to be much more complicated than the drag and dropping of notes like in MuseScore, which is also free and open source.

ymmv, of course.

Eric

 

[Steve_Sawyer]

The stuff I can't remember (or at least have to constantly look up or find an exsmple) is getting all the sharps and flats placed snd rendered right in the key signature, and remembering stuff like that a C has to be notated as C natural when written in the key of A major. The other advantage of LillyPond is that the layout is automatic; the user doesn't have to wrestle with keeping measures together on a line etc.

I'll have to take a look at MuseScore.

 

[TwoNotesSolo]

I used to use TuxGuitar, also free, but I now prefer MuseScore myself

 

[MikeS]

You say that it's like programming. What does the source "code" for your Lick 1 look like?
I use GuitarPro 7 and THe things that I like about it are:
1) You Hear the note on the staff (or tab) when you enter it so you immediately know if that is what you meant it to be.
2) you can create separate "tracks" for Chords, bass, drums, lead and even vocals (though i hate the sound of the "vocals")
3) you can have it play back everything that you have already entered so you can see if you like the timing and placement against a set of chords.
probably a few other reasons too that just don't come to mind right now.

 

[Steve_Sawyer]

Sure...

This is the contents of the file:

\version "2.18.2"
\language "english"

\header{
  title = "Licks in LilyPond"
  subtitle = "Learning Exercise"
}
\markup {
    Lick 1
}

music =
    \relative c' {
        \time 12/8
        \tempo 4 = 96
        \key a \major
        \set TabStaff.minimumFret = #5
        \set TabStaff.restrainOpenStrings = ##t
        \transposition c'
   
      \partial 8
     
      c8-1(
      |
      cs8-2[) e-1 c-1(]
      cs-2)[ a-3 e-3]
      ds-2[ d-1 c-2]

        \once\override TextSpanner.style = #'trill
      \once\override TextSpanner.minimum-length = #10
      \once\override TextSpanner.springs-and-rods = #ly:spanner::set-spacing-rods

      a'4.-1
        \startTextSpan
        |
        s\stopTextSpan
    }


\score {

    <<
        \new Staff {
            \set Staff.midiInstrument = #"electric guitar (clean)"
            \clef "treble_8"
            \music
        }
        \new TabStaff {
            \tabFullNotation
            \music
        }
    >>

    \layout {}
    \midi {}
}

This screen shot shows the "guts" of the notation - the rest is all formatting stuff.

Reading it as it displays:

• "C" 8th note, first finger, begin slur (the open parenthesis). Note that LillyPond assumes following notes are also 8th notes, which they are, until encountering the final "A" which is a quarter note (hence the "4" after the "a")
• Measure break check (measures are inserted automatically, and you get a warning if they don't line up with these "checks". Note that you can also specify measure lines of various types - end of score, repeat, etc.
• "C#" 8th note ("s" for sharp, "f" for flat), second finger, end slur (close parenthesis), begin beam (open bracket - beams are placed automatically, this is to change it to the way I wanted it to display, beaming each triplet), "E" 1st finger, "C" 1st finger, begin slur, end beam
• "C#" 2nd finger, end slur, begin beam, "A" 3rd finger, "E" 3rd finger, end beam
• "D#" 2nd finger, begin beam, "D" 1st finger, "C" 2nd finger
• These three lines with the "TextSpanner" stuff is to set up the "trill" to denote vibrato
• "A" an octave above the closest "A" (that's what the apostrophe does) otherwise it'd put this on the "A" below middle "C"/6th string 5th fret

 

[ervjohns]

I’m with Mike S. on this, I use GP 7 too. You don’t have to be able to read music' you can enter all of the notes by clicking on the location in TAB and GP will fill in the correct score, all you have to do is point to the right string and type the fret#. Once you enter a phrase you can play it back to see what you have. It’s not free, but it is easy to create notation and TAB.

 

[MikeS]

Sure...

This is the contents of the file:

\version "2.18.2"
\language "english"

\header{
  title = "Licks in LilyPond"
  subtitle = "Learning Exercise"
}
\markup {
    Lick 1
}

music =
    \relative c' {
        \time 12/8
        \tempo 4 = 96
        \key a \major
        \set TabStaff.minimumFret = #5
        \set TabStaff.restrainOpenStrings = ##t
        \transposition c'
  
      \partial 8
    
      c8-1(
      |
      cs8-2[) e-1 c-1(]
      cs-2)[ a-3 e-3]
      ds-2[ d-1 c-2]

        \once\override TextSpanner.style = #'trill
      \once\override TextSpanner.minimum-length = #10
      \once\override TextSpanner.springs-and-rods = #ly:spanner::set-spacing-rods

      a'4.-1
        \startTextSpan
        |
        s\stopTextSpan
    }


\score {

    <<
        \new Staff {
            \set Staff.midiInstrument = #"electric guitar (clean)"
            \clef "treble_8"
            \music
        }
        \new TabStaff {
            \tabFullNotation
            \music
        }
    >>

    \layout {}
    \midi {}
}

This screen shot shows the "guts" of the notation - the rest is all formatting stuff.

Reading it as it displays:

• "C" 8th note, first finger, begin slur (the open parenthesis). Note that LillyPond assumes following notes are also 8th notes, which they are, until encountering the final "A" which is a quarter note (hence the "4" after the "a")
• Measure break check (measures are inserted automatically, and you get a warning if they don't line up with these "checks". Note that you can also specify measure lines of various types - end of score, repeat, etc.
• "C#" 8th note ("s" for sharp, "f" for flat), second finger, end slur (close parenthesis), begin beam (open bracket - beams are placed automatically, this is to change it to the way I wanted it to display, beaming each triplet), "E" 1st finger, "C" 1st finger, begin slur, end beam
• "C#" 2nd finger, end slur, begin beam, "A" 3rd finger, "E" 3rd finger, end beam
• "D#" 2nd finger, begin beam, "D" 1st finger, "C" 2nd finger
• These three lines with the "TextSpanner" stuff is to set up the "trill" to denote vibrato
• "A" an octave above the closest "A" (that's what the apostrophe does) otherwise it'd put this on the "A" below middle "C"/6th string 5th fret

View attachment 6855

Ugh!!! I used to do stuff like that when I worked for a living (Retired now) I don't need that kind of flash back!!! LOL
I really think you would be better off using some music software like GP7 ($) or even Tuxguitar (free).

 

[david moon]

Minor quibble- in the standard notation, the pickup note is tied to the first 8th of the next measure. If I was reading that, I would interpret as the same note is sustained across the measure boundary. I also know the convention that accidentals only last for the measure where they are invoked. In the standard notation a tie can also indicate a slur or bend, thus the ambiguity. The tab is clear on what is intended.