Hi there,
I'm new to making music and have no previous education in this matter. I
thought to use Lilypond to type up the handwritten tab that my guitar
teacher has given me.
I have a couple of questions, and I hope you will forgive me if they're
stupid ones.
Firstly, I think the following snippet prints fine. If not then it's my
lack of understanding musical notation that's failing, not Lilypond.
\version "2.14.1"
\new TabStaff {
\repeat percent 4 { a,\5 a,\5 c\5 d\5 }
\repeat percent 2 { d\4 d\4 f\4 g\4 }
\repeat percent 2 { a,\5 a,\5 c\5 d\5 }
\repeat percent 2 { e,\6 e,\6 g,\6 a,\6 }
\repeat percent 2 { a,\5 a,\5 c\5 d\5 }
}
Could I have expressed this better any other way? Is this a good way to
write tab with Lilypond?
Secondly, how do I express sharp or flat notes in Lilypond, please?
\version "2.14.1"
\new TabStaff \relative c' {
e\1 f\1 g\1 a\1 b\1 c\1 d\1 e\1
}
\new TabStaff \relative c' {
b\2 c\2 d\2 e\2 f\2 g\2 a\2 b\2
}
In this above snippet, I am unable to express holding the 1st string at
the 2nd, 4th, 6th, 9th or 11th frets, or holding the 2nd string at the
2nd, 4th, 7th, 9th or 11th frets.
I suspect the answer to this is related to my ignorance of music. Perhaps
"that wouldn't be in tune, n00b" or "those notes would be out of key".
So more specifically, this does not show what I want:
\version "2.14.1"
\new TabStaff \relative c' {
<g\3 d\4> <a\3 f\4> <c\3 g\4> <g\3 d\4> | <a\3 f\4> <d\3 a\4> <c\3 g\4>
}
How do I show that the second note should played with both fingers on the
3rd fret, instead of (in the snipped above) one of them on the second?
Third string at third fret is marked as A♯B♭ on a fingerboard chart I have
here.
How do I show the second-to-last note played at the 6th fret, instead of
at the 7th, please?
I'm kinda thinking that Lilypond is not really geared toward outputting
this kind of notation and that Lilypond is "overkill" for what I want to
do. But I'm not sure what else I would use. I don't want to use Tux Guitar
because I use Mac OS X on the desktop and because I like writing stuff in
a text editor. I also want to add stuff that can be achieved in Lilypond
with `\markup { 26/07/2011 - practiced for one hour, not sure which finger
to use }`.
Ideally, I'd like to be able to tell Lilypond something like s3f3 for
string 3 at the 3rd fret. I thought it might be possible to define LaTeX
type macros for this, but searching Google for "guitar tab
site:lists.gnu.org/archive/html/lilypond-user/" I find there was some
discussion in early 2009 of guitar tab features, so I guess it's not as
easy as that. I assume that easy guitar tab development didn't go any
further, since I can't find reference to it in the manual?
Many thanks in advance for any pointers,
Stroller.