Fixing corrupt measures
My guitar teacher uses Guitar Pro and sometimes gives me a score made with that program. I can get it to open in Musescore (by opening it in Tuxguitar and saving it as a version that Musescore will open, its extension is .gp, I think it's the newest version, so I just save it to an earlier version).
Musescore often finds things it "doesn't like" and reports corruption when opening the file. Ignoring the problems will let it open ok, but I've just decided to try to learn how to fix things so that Musescore is "happy". (I've spent quite a lot of time learning how to do some things in Musescore, so I prefer to use it than try to start again figuring things out in Tuxguitar, or buying Guitar Pro).
I located a forum post which led me to a how-to instructional https://musescore.org/en/node/54721
So far, so good. If I swap "voices", a rest appears, but I don't seem to be able to delete it (by delete key, backspace, cut, nothing makes it go away). I am unable to "simply correct the note lengths" because I've no idea what they are meant to be. Can anybody tell me if I'm missing how to delete the extra rest that shouldn't be there and how to do it? Thanks.
[Also, I've no idea what "voices" are, or what is happening when they are exchanged. Can somebody point me to some basic info about that? (I learnt piano as a kid, now learning guitar, but my theory is very basic. I'm learning a lot by "playing with" musescore and boning up on things that arise, but I don't have any composition background at all and have limited knowledge.)]
Thanks for any help.
Comments
Voices are located in the handbook here.
What you missed in the "How to..." is that you need to swap the voices twice. The first swap fills voice 2 with what was previously voice 1 and pads the end with rests. The second swap returns the notes to their original voice 1, but leaves a rest in voice 2 that can be deleted. The second swap is necessary because voice 1 is mandatory and points the stems in the correct directions, while voice 2 points all stems down. even notes below the staff, which is not normally desirable when there is only one voice in use.
Keep in mind, MuseScore may put the rests in the wrong spot, so it's advisable to always check to make sure it is correct. One other thing to keep in mind is that guitar music is capable of needing more than one voice to write (a half note played on one string while quarter notes are played on another for example). In this case, you will need to swap the notes in voice 1 with another unused voice like 3 or 4 twice then swap voice 2 with the same voice twice then delete the unnecessary rest that was created. As a rule (to which there are exceptions), corruptions are a result of rounding errors in tuplets, so if only one voice has tuplets, swapping that voice twice will often fix the corruption.
In reply to Voices are located in the… by mike320
"Musescore often finds things it "doesn't like" and reports corruption when opening the file."
Please attach here these kind of files for checking, files entered with Guitar Pro 6 or 5 etc.
But not entered with the last version, GP 7, which is not yet supported (labelled work in progress) by MuseScore.
In reply to "Musescore often finds… by cadiz1
I don't remember which ones gave problems, previously, I didn't bother trying to "fix" those ones, I either just worked with a hard copy or I transcribed it again myself into musescore. I know there were some that would not open at all. As said, I think he's using the latest version and I can only get it into musescore by converting it to a file type with an earlier version extension in Tuxguitar. Tuxguitar could be responsible for the "issues", or some of them.
The part I am doing in my lesson is only a little bit, so not difficult to transcribe again into musescore (which I also don't need to do, I can just print it out and work from a hard copy). The only reason I'm interested in "fiddling" with this is because it's got all the different instruments in the score and I'm interested in how they all go together. I'm quite visual and "watching" the music as the program plays the whole song is interesting to me.
I know from another one (can't remember which) I got into musescore that musescore "fixes" things.... It changed a whole heap of sharps to flats (or vice versa). When I mentioned it to my teacher, he said that the way musescore had changed it was technically correct. The program won't let you be lax.
In reply to Voices are located in the… by mike320
Thanks, I did swap it then swap it again but the rest that appears can't be deleted. I can swap to voice 3 and I'll get even more rests, but they still can't be deleted. They don't appear at the end, but in the middle, or over other notes (in the case of the extra ones that appear if swapping to voice 3).
Checking the notes AFTER the swapping about, they are in voice 2 if the stems point downwards. In voice 1 AFTER the swapping about, the stems point upwards and encroach on the stave above it (the notes are at the top/above the stave). When you open it originally, it says the notes are voice 1, but the stems point down.
I don't think it would need more than one voice to write, it's just 7 notes.... it's the bass part, it's not classical or something with more than one thing going on at once.
I should just give up, but I'll read the manual about voices and see if I can figure this out. I don't like things that are a mystery.....
(BTW, the error is saying it is detecting 33 or 34/32 when it's meant to be 4/4, I don't know if that gives any clue as to what is wrong with it)
In reply to Thanks, I did swap it then… by Capital
Have you read the previous comment?
Please attach this GP file, so that we can check and fix if necessary.
(to attach a file: click blue frame "Choose a file" under your reply, select/open the involved file, Save, etc.)
In reply to Have you read the previous… by cadiz1
"As said, I think he's using the latest version and I can only get it into musescore by converting it to a file type with an earlier version extension in Tuxguitar. Tuxguitar could be responsible for the "issues", or some of them."
As said, if GP7 is used firstly, there will inevitably be problems. Check this point with your guitar teacher first. And if he uses Guitar Pro 6 or earlier, and any of these files show errors, attach them here at that time.
In reply to "As said, I think he's using… by cadiz1
Ok, thanks. My lesson's on Tuesday, I'll ask him then, but it seems from searching that .gp is GP7. GP6 was .gpx
In reply to Ok, thanks. My lesson's on… by Capital
Ok.
And for:"I should just give up, but I'll read the manual about voices and see if I can figure this out. I don't like things that are a mystery.....
(BTW, the error is saying it is detecting 33 or 34/32 when it's meant to be 4/4, I don't know if that gives any clue as to what is wrong with it) ",
if you want assistance , simpler and fast to attach this file.
In reply to Thanks, I did swap it then… by Capital
After swapping the measure with another, unused voice twice, you will have a measure rest in the other voice. When you selected it, it will not be blue. If the rest turns blue when you select it, you have not swapped it twice, but only once. You need to select the entire measure for the swap or weird things have been known to happen.
cadiz1 can help with importing directly from GP.
In reply to After swapping the measure… by mike320
Thanks, it changes from green to blue, then back to blue, with the rest staying green (or other colours, if I swap with 3 instead of 2).
I had a better look at the first of the "corrupt" parts (wrote it out again in a blank score) and I think what's wrong with it is that the notes don't add up properly. I think Guitar Pro lets you just stick in notes however you like without the strict "has to add up" that musescore imposes. I'll speak to my teacher tomorrow to see what he says about it. I'm not really sure how to write the "messed up" bars properly.
Update:
I want to my lesson today and my teacher opened the score on his computer, identifying Tuxguitar as the "corruptor". The subject measure(s) actually contains a grace note which Tuxguitar brought down into the line of music (hence why it was "weird" and didn't add up).
I got him to save it as .gp5 (he IS using guitar pro 7) and it opened in musescore without objection or any notice of corrupt bars.
Thanks for the help.