"LH guitar fingering" positioning
MuseScore 4.2.0. I have a hard time keeping the fingering aligned. In this score, all the "LH guitar fingering" text items are in sync with the style (same font, same font size, same horizontal alignment [center], same vertical alignment [baseline]).
• The vertical offsets are all different, I moved them by hand singularly. "Auto-place" in the Properties editor is checked; the "Position" property has no effect, and moreover it can only be either "Above" or "Below", and not "nothing" (should I want to have it inside the staff - if placing it outside of the staff is its meaning). Is there any way to avoid having to manually move each text object and have them placed above the notes?
• The horizontal offset is the same for all items (1.7), but the "-1" above the C flat in the 2nd bar appears different. I understand that it is aligned relatively to the center of the group composed of the flat sign and the notehead. Is there any technique to avoid having to manually adjust the horizontal offset for altered notes?
Thanks!
Comments
Here's what I'd like to achieve. It's standard for classical guitar notation... How do I get it in MS4 without having to adjust manually the fingering text objects?
In reply to Here's what I'd like to… by faben70
If you want left-hand fingerings to be placed above the notes, don't use the second serie of numbers in the Fingerings palette, but the first serie of numbers, more specifically intended for keyboard fingerings.
Then use the easy fingering method (see V3 handbook, it's identical with V4: https://musescore.org/en/handbook/3/fingering#easy-fingering )
and you'll be up and running in no time. See GIF below:
In reply to If you want left-hand… by cadiz1
Thanks, I have tried the Fingering style and it works. But I'm wondering… it is a hard-wired behavior in MS, and not something that can be set in a Text Style properties, right??? Anyway, I'll revise this score then post about the results, thanks again!
In reply to Thanks, I have tried the… by faben70
" it is a hard-wired behavior in MS, and not something that can be set in a Text Style properties, right???"
You can customize offsets, size, font etc. in menu Format/Style/ Text Styles / Fingering (first serie of numbers), LH and RH fingering, etc.
In reply to " it is a hard-wired… by cadiz1
Yes, I know about the customization of text styles. But the behavior of placing text outside of the staff, above each note: this one is not something that can be flagged as a property in the Text Style Property dialog, is it? The Fingering style behaves like that, and the others two (LH/RH) don't - by design, because of an hard coded behavior?
In reply to Yes, I know about the… by faben70
Indeed, it's by design. Simply because MuseScore's approach to engraving is based on Elaine Gould's book, Behind Bars. I quote the passage on left-hand fingering, p.375 (Underlined in bold type by me):
"Place the fingering right next to the notehead, ideally just in front of or above the note. It can be placed inside the staff, if necessary, as long as it's legible. When there is a combination of left-hand and right-hand fingerings, as well as string indications, it is the left-hand fingering that goes closest to the notes"
And this is indeed what we see on all published scores or 90% (unverified and unverifiable percentage!) :)
Concerning your way of fingering the Preludio (Barrios) in C minor (image attached / your first message), with LH and RH fingerings strictly aligned above and below the staff, I don't think I've ever seen it (in published scores, again). See attached images, other examples.
Having said that, I know that everyone has their own tastes and preferences, and after all, it's quite possible to get it with MuseScore, with a little bias, by hijacking other functions.
To sum up: for fingerings above the staff, continue to use "Fingering". And for those below, one may use the Lyrics input command (Ctrl + L) or, perhaps better because it has less impact on the layout, the Figured bass command (Ctrl + G).
See this .mscz file: 1Prélude Barrios.mscz
In reply to Indeed, it's by design… by cadiz1
I totally agree on basing the design choices on widely used guidelines, and Elaine Gould's are excellent. Still, a tool should allow for different uses (unless it's a hammer :D ) so flexibility is key. It seems to me that the percentage of guitar scores that use Gould's style is less than 90%, I'd dare say slightly more than 50%. Personally I prefer the external positioning lately, because it's always hard to find a good combination of font, font size, staff size and line width, so that the numbers are clearly legible when they overlap staff lines (tablature lines break around numbers, and even though it's never been done in traditional engraving, could it be worth trying?). Lastly, I'd like to show a mixed case:
It's a scan of a copy of a copy, so the quality is low, but I don't like at all the numbers sitting in the space between 2 lines (like the 2 on all the As in the middle voice); I'd move them vertically so that they intersect the closest line instead, so to overlap only one line.
Thanks for your suggestion, it worked perfectly and I have reformatted my score!