Guitar "Let Ring" Problems

• Mar 25, 2019 - 12:50

The current guitar "let ring" line is too basic so that it does not always play back correctly.

Once plucked, a guitar string will continue to sound until the note naturally decays away or the player stops the note, (e.g. by playing another fret on the same string or by muting the string).

The attached score highlights 2 scenarios where playback is incorrect. For the sake of argument I am assuming that the natural decay is 4 beats, but in practise it could well be more.

Measure 1 is correct.

Measure 2 is incorrect since the ring only lasts for 1 beat instead of 4.

Measure 6 is incorrect since the open string should only ring for 2 beats before being stopped by fret 4. It is, however, ringing for 4 beats.

Attachment Size
Guitar Let Ring.mscz 9.98 KB

Comments

• Dec 23, 2019 - 10:00

Thanks, the green options are helpful. It would be nice to have a more automated version but this is workable.

Listening carefully to muse1 it appears that the "let ring" is not note specific but it's probably good enough and certainly much easier to score.

For something like this, where I want string 2 fret 0 to ring for the whole bar but not the other notes would I need to use 2 voices?
ring.png

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• Dec 23, 2019 - 10:21

Yes, see (two last measures): muse2.mscz

EDIT:
" it appears that the "let ring" is not note specific but it's probably good enough"
Well, if you hide these lines completely (menu Edit/Show invisible), I bet no one will give you the slightest thought like that when listening to your file.
"and certainly much easier to score."
Literally, you save hours of tedious work. And with an unsatisfactory result since the indicated rhythm (which is the least a user can hope to obtain) is not correct/missing beyond two voices in TABs.

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• Dec 23, 2019 - 10:32

So, putting this together with your SATB comments in https://musescore.org/en/node/298823 I could use just 2 voices: the melody and accompaniment in voice 1 and the bass in voice 2. I would then apply and adjust "let rings" as indicated and lift the volume of the melody above that of the accompaniment, (or would it be better to put the accompaniment into its own voice?)

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• Dec 23, 2019 - 11:00

"I could use just 2 voices: the melody and accompaniment in voice 1 and the bass in voice 2"

You have to consider the type of file, its content, but basically it can be that, indeed.

And with two voices (always the same file), you don't even need to add "let ring", maybe at the very beginning. Of course, the long notes of the melody - in this piece - are not held. It all depends on the result you want to achieve. Do you want to get a perfect or near-perfect result (there is no such thing!) from the point of playback of your file, or do you want the user to be able to follow easily the tablature and rhythm correctly?

2 voices: muse 2 voices.mscz
(added standard linked staff here just to better visualize)

Otherwise, you need three voices (to solve this difficulty of holding long melodic notes), but it is a more consequent work, and therefore will not work with TABs alone, as already explained. That's why I changed the staff type ("simple") and added a standard linked staff. Currently, this is really the standard for guitar publications.

3 voices: muse 3 voices.mscz

So, in summary, on this specific file, I would say that the first solution (1 voice and "let ring" lines) is the one that should be considered first (simple and good result)

" so you can teach an old dog new tricks after all!"

This is not new tricks, this is standard ways to input guitar scores.

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