Re: TabStaff feature requests

[Patrick Schmidt]

Hi Steve,
Am 23.11.2010 um 08:37 schrieb Steve Yegge:

> Hi all,
>
> The TabStaff is amazingly cool.  I'm not a big tab user myself,
> but for people who want tabs, LilyPond makes it easy to add them.
>
> I've been busily adding tabs for a few months and have some feature
> requests to put into the queue if possible.
>
> 1) Setting fixed strings to use for ascending/descending chords.
> Currently it's nontrivial to specify tab positions for something like:
>
> <c c'> <d d'> <e e'> <f f'>
> <g g'> <a a'> <b b'> <c c'>
>
> I've found it's most convenient to append the actual strings after
> every chord, hence:
>
> <c c'>\5\3 <d d'>\5\3 <e e'>\5\3 <f f'>\5\3
> <g g'>\5\3 <a a'>\5\3 <b b'>\5\3 <c c'>\5\3
>
> This is pretty verbose, and only gets worse with more notes:
>
> <c-4 e-3 g-1 c-1>4.\6\5\4\3
> <d-4 f-2 a-1 d-1>8\6\5\4\3
> <e-4 g-2 b-3 e-1>4.\6\5\4\3
> <f-4 a-3 c-1 f-2>8\6\5\4\3
> <g-4 b-3 d-1 g-2>4.\5\4\3\2
> <a-4 c-2 e-1 a-3>8\5\4\3\2
> <b-3 d-1 f-1 b-1>4.\5\4\3\2
> <c-4 e-3 g-1 c-2>8\5\4\3\2
>
> Of course with aliases for setting the TabStaff minimumFret you
> can make full chords less verbose, but there seems to be no good
> way around specifying strings for octave runs.
>
> 2) Have the automatic tab calculator understand the -0 fingering.
> Currently if you do something like this:
>
> \relative c' {
>   \set TabStaff.minimumFret = #2
>   <d'-0 a'-2 d-3 f-1>
> }
>
> It will choose strings 5, 4, 3, 2.  Obviously in this case you could
> just set the minimum fret to #0, but this may be an exception to a
> passage that is otherwise all in position 2.
>
> Moreover the calculator gets confused by open chords in higher
> positions, e.g.
>
> \relative c {
>   <e'-2\5 ges-1 d'-3 b-0 b'-4>
> }
>
> It picks correct strings for all the notes except the open b, which
> is ignored (and for which a warning is issued).  You can fix it
> by specifying the remaining strings:
>
> <e-2\5 gs-1 d'-3 b-0 b'-4>16\4\3\2\1
>
> But it seems like having the tab calculator understand open string
> fingerings would solve nicely a number of situations like this.
I am working on a solution that will answer quite a few of your  
requests. You will be able to choose a certain chord shape for the  
chords you enter. You won't have to specify strings with string  
number indications or minimum frets. e.g. for ascending/descending  
octaves you will just have to enter:

\aShape
<c c'> <d d'> <e e'> <f f'>

or

\eShape
<g, g> <a, a> <b, b> <c, c>

With \aShape you will get chords with the root on the 5th string.  
With \eShape you will get chords/octaves with the root on the 6th  
string. I have already defined powerchords, quite a few of the four  
basic triads and some of the ten seventh chords including their  
inversions. I can add octaves and I might add open chords in higher  
positions later but it's going to take a while...

> 3) Being able to specify the frets for harmonics.  I know there's been
> some talk about this, but it's a pretty big deal as there's no  
> workaround.
> Anyone planning on publishing in the next few months (e.g., me :)
> is going to be out of luck.
see Marc Hohl's patch.

Cheers,

patrick
> Cheers,
>
> -steve
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