User manual AROBAS MUSIC GUITAR PRO 4

Guitar Pro 4 User Manual Copyright © 2004 Arobas Music - All rights reserved Guitar Pro 4.0.8 User Manual - Last update: 02/27/2004 http://www.guitar-pro.com Table of Contents Table of Contents Part I General Information 4 1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 4 2 Installation ................................................................................................................................... 5 3 Improvements and New Features ................................................................................................................................... 7 4 Technical ................................................................................................................................... 8 Support 5 Understanding Notation ................................................................................................................................... 9 6 Main Screen ................................................................................................................................... 11 Part II Using Guitar Pro 13 1 Write a Score ................................................................................................................................... 13 Create a New Score ......................................................................................................................................................... 13 Add Tracks ......................................................................................................................................................... 15 Manage Bars ......................................................................................................................................................... 17 Enter Notes ......................................................................................................................................................... 19 Add Symbols ......................................................................................................................................................... 22 Insert Parameter Changes ......................................................................................................................................................... 27 Add Lyrics ......................................................................................................................................................... 28 Add Markers ......................................................................................................................................................... 30 Use Cut/Copy/Paste ......................................................................................................................................................... 31 Use Wizards ......................................................................................................................................................... 34 Percussion ......................................................................................................................................................... 36 2 Work with the Score ................................................................................................................................... 38 Find Tablatures ......................................................................................................................................................... 38 Move in the Score ......................................................................................................................................................... 40 Configure the Display ......................................................................................................................................................... 41 Configure the Sound ......................................................................................................................................................... 43 Play the Score ......................................................................................................................................................... 45 3 Print a Score ................................................................................................................................... 47 Configure the Printing ......................................................................................................................................................... 47 Print Preview ......................................................................................................................................................... 48 Print ......................................................................................................................................................... 49 4 Import a Score ................................................................................................................................... 50 MIDI Importation ......................................................................................................................................................... 50 ASCII Importation ......................................................................................................................................................... 52 Import Other Formats ......................................................................................................................................................... 54 5 Export a ................................................................................................................................... 55 Score MIDI Exportation ......................................................................................................................................................... 55 ASCII Exportation ......................................................................................................................................................... 56 WAVE (audio) Exportation ......................................................................................................................................................... 57 BMP (image) Exportation ......................................................................................................................................................... 59 Guitar Pro 3 Exportation ......................................................................................................................................................... 60 Part III Tools for the Guitarist 62 1 The Chord Diagram Tool ................................................................................................................................... 62 2 The Scales Tool ................................................................................................................................... 65 Guitar Pro 4 User Manual - Copyright © 2004 Arobas Music - All rights reserved 1 Table of Contents 3 The Fretboard ................................................................................................................................... 67 4 The Keyboard ................................................................................................................................... 69 5 The Metronome ................................................................................................................................... 70 6 The Digital Tuner ................................................................................................................................... 71 Part IV Reference 1 Menus 73 ................................................................................................................................... 73 The File Menu ......................................................................................................................................................... 73 The Bar Menu ......................................................................................................................................................... 75 The Track Menu ......................................................................................................................................................... 77 The Note ......................................................................................................................................................... 78 Menu The Effects Menu ......................................................................................................................................................... 81 The Markers Menu ......................................................................................................................................................... 83 The Tools Menu ......................................................................................................................................................... 84 The Sound Menu ......................................................................................................................................................... 86 The View ......................................................................................................................................................... 88 Menu The Options Menu ......................................................................................................................................................... 90 The Help ......................................................................................................................................................... 91 Menu 2 Keyboard Shorcuts ................................................................................................................................... 92 Index 94 Guitar Pro 4 User Manual - Copyright © 2004 Arobas Music - All rights reserved 2 I General Information Guitar Pro 4 User Manual - Copyright © 2004 Arobas Music - All rights reserved 3 General Information Introduction I I.1 General Information Introduction Welcome to Guitar Pro! Guitar Pro is the ultimate workshop dedicated to the beginner as well as the advanced guitar player. It is aimed to helping the user to progress, to compose, or simply to accompany himself with the guitar. Guitar Pro has been designed for 4 to 7 strings instruments (guitar, bass, banjo, mandolin, ...). Here is what Guitar Pro offers you: n A multitrack score editor focused on tablature. It's easy to use, includes most notation symbols and it's specifically designed for stringed instruments. It allows you to view and listen to the song, with an accurate rendering of guitar effects, and an optimized display for the computer screen. Tools aimed to assist the user on a day to day basis, such as the digital guitar tuner, the chord diagram engine, the scales tool, the fretboard display and more. Midi and ASCII Import/Export: Midi and ASCII Import/Export gives you the opportunity to take advantage of the thousands of scores available on the Internet in other formats. n n n Important Points: n Customizable screen In Guitar Pro, the screen display is fully customizable and independent of the paper view. This allows you to use the space available on the screen in the best way by selecting the tracks on which you want to work. n Customizable printing Guitar Pro's printouts are fully user-customizable and the printing style can be changed with a few clicks. n Synchronization Guitar Pro automatically adds the bars and provides synchronization between the tracks of the score. This strict synchronization is needed for proper sound rendering of the score and it can also be educational at the same time. n Interactive tools Each tool within Guitar Pro is closely linked to the active track properties. For example, if you opened the guitar tuner, it would give you the tuning chosen for that specific track. This makes Guitar Pro very powerful, and easy to use. Guitar Pro 4 User Manual - Copyright © 2004 Arobas Music - All rights reserved 4 General Information Installation I.2 Installation Before installing Guitar Pro: If you had installed a demo version of Guitar Pro before purchasing the complete version, we advise you to uninstall the demo version by using the Start > All Programs > Guitar Pro 4 Demo > Uninstall Guitar Pro 4 Demo menu. If you have purchased an updated version of Guitar Pro (from the v3 for example), it is not necessary to install the previous version to install Guitar Pro 4. Also, version 4 is able to open every file created using a previous version, so you may want to uninstall the previous version. The minimum requirements in order to install Guitar Pro 4 is: n n n n Pentium 500 MHz (or equivalent) 64 Meg of RAM Sound card 10 Meg of free space on the hard drive Installing Guitar Pro: Insert the Guitar Pro CD-ROM in your drive. If the setup program does not start, open "My Computer", open the CD-ROM drive (named GP4FULL), and then double click on the Start.exe (or Start) file. The setup program will allow you to: n n n n Install Guitar Pro 4 Start the Video Presentation Open the User Manual (PDF) Install Adobe® Reader® (needed to open PDF) The installation of Guitar Pro will ask you to accept the terms of the license of use and will allow you to select the setup directory of the software. The installation of Guitar Pro creates a shortcut to the software on the desktop as well as in the Start > Programs > Guitar Pro 4 menu of Windows®. Initial Startup: To start Guitar Pro, double click on the Guitar Pro shortcut on the desktop, or use the menu Start > Programs > Guitar Pro 4 > Guitar Pro 4. During the first strartup of Guitar Pro, you will have to: n Select the language you wish to use in Guitar Pro. You may change this choice later by using the Options > Language menu. The language chosen automatically sets the help language. However, you still have the choice to change it by using the Options > Help Language menu. n Enter you licence number. This licence number is either given with the software in its box, or sent to you by email according to your choice. Important: keep your licence number in a safe place, you will need it each time you will install Guitar Pro. n Set the MIDI parameters. Make sure to set it correctly, or else you will have no sound when using the software. You may change these parameters later by using the Options > MIDI Setup menu. n Finally, the software will ask you to register your licence online. This registration is highly advised, because it is needed to access the technical support, to download the free 4.x updates, and to be granted a special discount on future versions of Guitar Pro. If you deactivate the window which asks you to register your licence, you will still be able to access the registration procedure by using the Help > Register your Copy! menu. Guitar Pro 4 User Manual - Copyright © 2004 Arobas Music - All rights reserved 5 General Information Uninstall Guitar Pro: Installation In order to uninstall Guitar Pro, use the Start > All Programs > Guitar Pro 4 > Uninstall Guitar Pro 4 menu. Guitar Pro Updates: The Guitar Pro 4.x updates are free for the registered customers of the Guitar Pro 4 version. If you registered your licence on the web site, you will be notified by email of each update available. You may verify there is no update available by checking the Help > GP Online (check for new versions). To download the latest version of Guitar Pro, go to the Help Center, Registered Customers section. It is of no use to register each update. Some updates may replace the whole program. In this case, your settings will be erased, and you will be asked your licence number again. You can save your settings by making a backup of GPro400.ini in the /data directory before installing the new version, and then replacing the file installed by the one you backed up. Guitar Pro 4 User Manual - Copyright © 2004 Arobas Music - All rights reserved 6 General Information Improvements and New Features I.3 Improvements and New Features Here are the Main Improvements and New Features of Version 4: n n n Standard Notation Drum Notation 36 19 (displaying, capturing and printing) New Notation Items 22 :various harmonics, stressed Notes, staccato, rasgueado, pickstroke, left and right hand fingering New Effects 22 n n n n n n n n : advanced tremolo bar, trill, palm mute, various slides, tremolo picking 47 69 Multitrack Printing Fretboard Lyrics 28 65 67 & Keyboard Scales Tool Digital Guitar Tuner Chord Diagrams WAVE 57 62 71 for 4 to 7 strings with fingering and management of barred chords 59 and BMP exportations n Undo/Redo Buttons n n Cut/Copy/Paste Search Engine 31 between 2 Guitar Pro sessions for finding tabs on the Internet 38 n Auto Backup/Restore n Possibility to add Custom Tunings n Improved Interface n ... Guitar Pro 4 User Manual - Copyright © 2004 Arobas Music - All rights reserved 7 General Information Technical Support I.4 Technical Support Before contacting tech support, be sure to read this User Manual. It was designed to answer every question asked by users. If you have problems installing or using Guitar Pro, go to the Help Center on the Guitar Pro Internet site. The latest version of the User Manual will be downloadable there, and you will be able to contact the technical support team by e-mail. To gain access to the Technical Support, you have to: n n Register your license on the Guitar Pro's Internet site; Use the latest 4.x version available on Guitar Pro's Internet site (updates are free for v4 customers). To know which version of Guitar Pro you are using, use the menu Help > About. Please note: The distributor of your country may propose additional technical support by Internet, telephone or postal mail. In this case, a document is included in the software's package, with the instructions to access this support. Please note: The technical support for a given version of Guitar Pro is guaranteed for one full year after the end of the distribution of this version. Guitar Pro 4 User Manual - Copyright © 2004 Arobas Music - All rights reserved 8 General Information Understanding Notation I.5 Understanding Notation In order to get the most out of Guitar Pro, you need to: n n Know how to read tablature Have some knowledge of Rhythm Notation Here is a rapid introduction to these notions: 1. Reading Tablature Tablature notation was created to make music reading easier on stringed instruments. It can be learned quickly, and you do not need to know any music theory. It shows which string to play, which is quite important since the same note can be played on several strings. Each string of the guitar is represented by a line. Numbers indicate the fret the finger has to press. The 0 means the string has to be played open - that is without pressing any fret. The lowest line is the fat string (low E), while the upper line is the high E string (thin string). This is what you see when you are playing the guitar, and not when you are in front of it. 2. Rhythm Notation Notes can have different durations. A note duration is not expressed in seconds, but as a multiple of the tempo. A quarter note is one beat. The tempo is expressed in bpm (beats per minute). So if the tempo is 60, a quarter note lasts 1 second. If the tempo is 120, the quarter note is ½ second. The other notes are defined in terms of quarter notes: = = = = ... When a note is dotted, its duration is one time and a half its original one (x1.5): = + Guitar Pro 4 User Manual - Copyright © 2004 Arobas Music - All rights reserved 9 General Information Understanding Notation n-tuplets (triplets, quintuplets, sextuplets...) consists of playing a certain number of notes in a defined time. For example, a triplet of eighth notes (3 x ½ beat = 1.5 beat) is played on one beat: The Time Signature: The time signature sets the number of beats per bar. For example, for a time signature of 3/4: the 4 indicates that the reference time is the quarter note, and the 3 indicates that there are 3 beats per bar. In this case, there are 3 quarter notes in a bar. Guitar Pro 4 User Manual - Copyright © 2004 Arobas Music - All rights reserved 10 General Information Main Screen I.6 Main Screen Toolbars can be moved, detached (floating), and can be visible or invisible according to the user choice. The View > Menu & Toolbars menu offers the possibility to choose which toolbars are visible, to replace them to their default position, and possibly to use Guitar Pro 3 style buttons. Each zone of the screen can be resized using the splitters (1) and (2). The status bar at the bottom of the screen shows information about the active score such as the title, the author, the position (bar and track), the name of the active track, and an indication on the active bar duration. Guitar Pro 4 User Manual - Copyright © 2004 Arobas Music - All rights reserved 11 II Using Guitar Pro Guitar Pro 4 User Manual - Copyright © 2004 Arobas Music - All rights reserved 12 Using Guitar Pro Write a Score II II.1 II.1.1 Using Guitar Pro Write a Score Create a New Score In order to create a new score in Guitar Pro, you have to follow the following steps: 1. New Score Use the File > New [Ctrl+N] menu.. This menu closes the current score, then creates a new one and opens the Score Information [F5] window. This window allows you to enter information like the title, the artist, .... You can enter the Lyrics 28 too. The Shuffle rhy checkbox allows you to indicate a triplet feel. So you do not have to indicate Triplets everywhere. The Default Properties tab allows you to define default values used when you create a new score. Click on the OK button to continue. 2. Key Signature Use the Bar > Key Signature menu to open the Key Signature window. Select the key and the Mode (major or minor) of the score. If you do not know these information, you can leave the default value (C major), because they do not change the standard notation display. Click the OK button to continue. 3. Clef The clef (Bass or Treble) is automatically chosen from the Track Tuning 4. Time Signature Use the Bar > Time Signature menu to open the Time Signature window. 15 (guitar or bass). Select the time signature of the partition (default value is 4/4). The time signature determines the number of beats in a bar. Click the OK button to continue. Guitar Pro 4 User Manual - Copyright © 2004 Arobas Music - All rights reserved 13 Using Guitar Pro 5. Track Settings Use the Track > Properties [F6] menu to open the Track Properties window. 15 Write a Score This window allows you to enter the Track Information Click the OK button to continue Audio parameters are set directly from the Mix Table to use, set the volume and the panoramic, ... 6. Display Settings Set the Display Settings 41 45 like the name, the color, the tuning, ... . You can choose which MIDI instrument to your liking. Use the View > Vertical Scrolling and View > Horizontal Scrolling menus to set the scrolling mode. If you want to enter a single track, the vertical scrolling is best. However, for more tracks, the horizontal one is better. If you do not use the standard notation, you can remove it by using the Notation. View > Standard You are now ready to Enter the Score 19 . You can Add New Tracks 15 too. Guitar Pro 4 User Manual - Copyright © 2004 Arobas Music - All rights reserved 14 Using Guitar Pro Write a Score II.1.2 Add Tracks Guitar Pro handles up to 256 tracks at the same time. Tracks can be of two types: n Instrumental (guitar, bass, piano, ...) n Percussion To insert a new track, use the Track > Add [Shift+Ctrl+Ins] menu. Select the track type and its position compared to other tracks, and then click on the OK button. The Track properties window opens, in order for you to set the track parameters: n n n n n n n n n Name of the track Color in the global view Number of strings Tuning from the library (use + and - buttons to change the library) Customized tuning Fret number Capo position (0 if no Capo) 12 stringed guitar option 5th string banjo option (this string starts at the 6th fret) 45 Audio parameters are set directly on the Mix Table . Empty bars are automatically created on the added track, because in Guitar Pro, each track has the same number of bars to keep the musical coherence. In order to delete a track, use the Track > Delete [Shift+Ctrl+Del] menu. 36 For more information about percussion, consult the Percussion topic. Guitar Pro 4 User Manual - Copyright © 2004 Arobas Music - All rights reserved 15 Using Guitar Pro Write a Score Tip: If you modify the number of strings of an already existing track, Guitar Pro will allow you to transpose the notes for the new settings. This unique functionality allows you to enter a banjo track to convert it to a guitar track. Tip: To move a track, you just have to create a new track at the desired position with the same settings as the track you want to move, and then use the Copy/Paste functions on the new track. After that, you can delete the old track Guitar Pro 4 User Manual - Copyright © 2004 Arobas Music - All rights reserved 16 Using Guitar Pro Write a Score II.1.3 Manage Bars In Guitar Pro, each bar has the same properties on all tracks. So a bar will have the same time signature on the track 1 as on track 2. When adding a repeat open, a repeat close is automatically made on all the tracks. The musical coherence of the score is therefore guaranteed, and playing the score will give the desired result. On the other hand, you must define each track completely. It's not possible to create a hundred-bar guitar track, and a percussion track with only one bar played looped. You will have to reproduce the percussion bar on the 100 bars by using Copy/Paste. The use of the Bar > Insert [Ctrl+Ins] or Bar > Cut [Ctrl+X] menus will insert or remove bars on all tracks. To force the insertion or the removal of a bar on a single track, consult the Use Cut/Copy/Paste 31 topic. The Bar > Clear menu allows you to empty one or more bars on the active track or on all tracks. Bar Lines: Guitar Pro automatically manages bar lines. When you move the edition cursor to the right, it changes bar automatically is the duration of the current bar corresponds to the time signature chosen (for example 4 beats for a 4/4 time signature, see Understanding Notation 9 ). If the bar is not full, Guitar Pro creates a new beat, with the same duration as the previous one. If a bar is not full or too long Guitar Pro display this bar in red except when it is the currently edited bar. The status bar displays the real duration of the active bar, its duration, and a symbol indicating if it is complete , too short or too long . The Bar > Double Bar replace the bar line at the end of the active bar by a double line. A double line indicates a new section in the score and has no incidence on the play, in contrary to repeats as explained below. Repeats: The Bar > Repeat Close menu replaces the bar line at the end of the active bar by a repeat close, and asks you the number of time it should be repeated. A repeat close sign indicates that the score has to go to the previous Repeat open sign for the number of times specified. This menu is always used in conjunction with the Bar > Repeat Open. For example: Bar play order is 1 - 2 - 1 - 2 - 3. Guitar Pro 4 User Manual - Copyright © 2004 Arobas Music - All rights reserved 17 Using Guitar Pro Write a Score The Bar > Alternate Endings adds a repetition symbol at the beginning of the active bar. An alternate ending allow you to indicate if the bar has to be played, depending on the number of times the bar has been repeated. This menu is used in conjunction with repeats. For example: Bar play order is 1 - 2 - 1 - 3. Time Signature and Key Signature Changes in the Middle of the Score: The Bar > Key Signature and Bar > Time Signature allow you to set the key signature and the time signature at the beginning of the score, but also to modify them in the middle of it. Guitar Pro 4 User Manual - Copyright © 2004 Arobas Music - All rights reserved 18 Using Guitar Pro Write a Score II.1.4 Enter Notes In Guitar Pro, you can enter notes either on the tablature or on the standard notation display. Each note added in a notation is automatically added in the other one. The edition cursor is the yellow rectangle. When it is on a note, the corresponding note in the other notation is surrounded by a grey rectangle. The TAB (tabulation) key allows you to switch notation. Tip: The [Shift+Down/Up] buttons allow you to move a note from one string to another one without changing its pitch. These shortcuts also work when you use the standard notation, so you do not have to switch notation everytime. Clicking on the score does not add any note, but moves the edition cursor to the position pointed. So you can not modify the score by mistake. There are many ways to enter notes on a score: § Using the Computer Keyboard Almost everything is done from the number pad: · · · · Arrow keys move you around the score ; Number keys enter notes ; The + and - keys modify note duration ; The Insert and Delete keys add or remove notes. 92 More information: Keyboard Shortcuts § Using the Mouse If you prefer to use the mouse, you will use the following elements: · · · · · The fretboard ( The and View > Fretboard) to enter the notes ; The Note > 0 to 30 menu (popup menu - right click on the tablature) ; buttons of the fretboard to move in the score ; buttons to modify note duration ; Note The Duration The Note > Insert a Beat [Ins] and or delete beats. 67 > Delete a Beat [Ctrl+Del] menus to insert More information: The Fretboard - The Keyboard 69 § Importing Files The File > Import > MIDI and File > Import > ASCII Tab menus allow you to import external music files directly into Guitar Pro. More information: MIDI Importation 50 - ASCII Importation 52 Guitar Pro 4 User Manual - Copyright © 2004 Arobas Music - All rights reserved 19