G7 Demo User Guide G7 Demo User Guide Edition 3.3 July 2004 Demo User Guide written and typeset by Daniel Spreadbury. See the About G7 dialog for full G7 credits. G7 copyright © Sibelius Software Ltd and its licensors 1987­2004 G7 Demo User Guide copyright © Sibelius Software Ltd 2003­2004 Published by Sibelius Software Ltd, The Old Toy Factory, 20­22 City North, Fonthill Road, London N4 3HF, UK All rights reserved. This User Guide may not be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means ­ electronic, recording, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise ­ in whole or in part, without the prior written consent of the publisher. Although every care has been taken in the preparation of this User Guide, neither the publisher nor the authors can take responsibility for any loss or damage arising from any errors or omissions it may contain. G7, Sibelius, Scorch, Flexi-time, Espressivo, Rubato, Rhythmic feel, Opus, Inkpen2, magnetic, the G7, Sibelius and double helix logos, G7music.net, `The fastest, easiest way to create, play and post tab' and `Play, write and publish songs' are all trademarks or registered trademarks of Sibelius Software Ltd in the USA, UK and other countries. All other trademarks are acknowledged as the property of their respective owners. 2 Contents Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5 Further information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7 Running for the first time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9 Finding your way around . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11 Playback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16 Starting a new score . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19 Tab input . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22 Working with lyrics and chords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28 More to try . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33 3 4 Introduction Introduction Thank you for trying G7. Over the next few pages we'll tell you what G7 can do for you and how to use this User Guide. What can G7 do for me? G7 is the first tab and notation software designed specifically with guitarists and songwriters in mind. It's easy to use and so fast to learn that it'll change the way you play and write music. If you're a guitarist, you can create tab or notation instantly using the on-screen fretboard display, or by playing your MIDI keyboard or guitar directly into the computer using G7's Flexi-time feature. G7 also loads ASCII tab and MIDI files. You can even scan in notation and turn it into tab so that you can play it, and the on-screen fretboard will show you how to finger the music as it plays back. If you're a songwriter, you'll quickly be able to write out songs, add chords, generate accompaniments, hear them play back, and then make audio tracks for burning onto CD, print them out at publication quality, post them on the Internet, or send them to your friends in MIDI or ASCII tab format. If you're a teacher, you can create educational materials incorporating pictures and colored notes, or show your students how to play particular pieces using G7's expressive playback and on-screen fretboard. Whether you're writing for solo guitar or a rock band, G7 will help you produce the results you want quicker and easier than ever before. With comprehensive support for fretted instruments from guitar to sitar, from dulcimer to dobro, the only limit is your imagination. Restrictions of the demo version This demo version is identical to the full G7 program, except that: * Kontakt Player, which provides high-quality sample playback, is not included * saving, exporting and Internet publishing are disabled * you cannot submit your music for publication on G7Music.net * you cannot scan printed sheet music using Neuratron PhotoScore Lite * you can only print a single page (which is watermarked) * the Guitar Guide, an interactive resource describing different types of guitars, playing tech- niques and musical styles, is omitted * most of the 20+ high-quality textures for changing the appearance of the paper and desk in the main editing window are not included * some example scores, manuscript papers (templates) and the full on-screen help are omitted. To find out more about what G7 can do, watch the video tutorials and read the comprehensive feature list at www.G7info.com. 5 G7 Demo User Guide About this User Guide This User Guide isn't a comprehensive guide to using the G7 demo; it's designed to introduce you to the basic operations of the program. The full version of G7 is accompanied by a 200-page printed manual and extensive on-screen help. Typography in this User Guide * Names of computer keys, menus and dialogs are written like this. * Items in menus and sub-menus are denoted with >, so "choose File > Open" means "choose Open from the File menu." Basic terminology in this User Guide If you know how to point and click with your mouse, you probably know enough about using computers to use G7. Here are some computer terms used in this User Guide: * G7 is almost identical on Windows and Mac, but where there are differences, mainly in keyboard shortcuts, the Windows convention is listed first, e.g. "Type Ctrl+A or XA" means hold down the Ctrl (Windows) or X (Mac) key and type A. (Even though A is written as a capital letter, don't type Shift unless explicitly told to do so.) * Similarly, "Alt+click or z-click" means hold down the Alt (Windows) or z (Mac) key and click. * On Windows, to "click" something means to move the mouse arrow over it and click the left * * * * * * mouse button. To "right-click" something means to point at it with the mouse and click the right mouse button. To "drag" something means to point at it with the mouse, and then click and hold the left mouse button (or the only mouse button on Mac) while moving the mouse. To finish dragging, just let go of the mouse button. A "dialog" is a window that asks you for information, with buttons for you to click when you've finished. Most dialogs are accessed by choosing menu items with the mouse, or by typing the appropriate keyboard shortcut. The "numeric keypad" is the rectangle of numbers and other characters at the very right-hand side of your computer keyboard (unless you have a laptop computer; laptops don't usually have a separate numeric keypad.) "Return" is the large key to the right of the letter keys. On some keyboards it is labeled with "Enter" or a special arrow symbol, but we always call it Return. "Enter" is the large key at the bottom right of the numeric keypad. On some keyboards it is unlabeled, but it still means Enter. Some keys are labeled differently on different keyboards. We'll use the standard symbols for these keys on Mac, but here are the corresponding names which may appear on your keyboard: Mac symbol Mac name Windows equivalent X Command Ctrl ("Control") x z R E Shift Option Return Enter Shift Alt Return (on main keyboard) Enter (on numeric keypad) 6 Further information Further information G7info.com The G7 website, www.G7info.com, contains additional information about G7, including video demonstrations of key features of the software, plus reviews and details of who's using G7. You can also get basic technical help information by searching the online Help Center. Buying G7 For information about buying G7, click the toolbar button shown on the left, contact your local Sibelius dealer, see www.g7info.com, or contact: * North, Central & South America: 888-474-2354 toll-free, email: USA@G7info.com. For techni* * * * cal problems, see overleaf. UK: freephone 0800 458 3111 (+44 20 7561 7999 from outside the UK), email: UK@G7info.com. For technical problems, see overleaf. Australia: 08 82 771 722, email: support@intelliware.com.au Austria: 01 667 4539, email: info@weiss-kadlec.at Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg: 09 348 5508 (0032 9 348 5508 from outside Belgium), email: info@muselec.be * Czech Republic & Slovakia: 0501 454 769, email: tomas@disk.cz * Denmark: 0 86 190 899, email: ss@newmusik.dk * Finland: 09 25 86 34 40, email: info@carbonmusic.fi * Germany: 030 789 07990 email: vertrieb@m3c-berlin.de * Greece: 01 228 2160, email: athanasiadis@nakas.gr or kostas-chr@nakas.gr * Hungary: 1 467 3310 / 1 469 0699, email: midisoft@mail.datanet.hu * Iceland: 0354 552 1185, email: tonastodin@tonastodin.is * Ireland: 01 453 1233, email: source@indigo.ie * Italy: 06 3036 3456, email: info@midiware.com * New Zealand: 09 810-8960, email: dave@computermusic.co.nz * Norway: tel: 02 335 3180, fax: 02 335 3189 * Poland: 048 22 646 9708, email: piotr@mbspro.com.pl * Singapore & Malaysia: tel: 65 674 93656, email: gmmrkc@pacific.net.sg * South Africa: 011 792 8402, email: hohner@hot.co.za * South Korea: 02 763 5680, email: midiland@uriel.net * Sweden: tel: 08 587 915 00, fax: 08 587 915 99 * Switzerland: 032 322 5274, email: bonjour@giant.ch * Other countries: +44 20 7561 7999, email: ROW@G7info.com 7 G7 Demo User Guide Technical problems If you have any technical problems running the G7 demo, please first try searching the Help Center at www.G7info.com. If you are unable to find a solution to your problem, please contact: * North, Central & South America: 1-888-280-9995 toll-free (outside of the USA phone 1-925-2800600) Monday to Friday 7am­4pm PST (except holidays), email: G7helpUSA@sibelius.com * United Kingdom: 020 G7helpUK@sibelius.com 7561 7997, Monday to Friday 10am­5pm, email: * Other countries: contact the appropriate distributor for your country in the first instance (see previous page). 8 Running for the first time Running for the first time Having successfully installed the G7 demo, now run the software for the first time: * On Windows, choose Start > Programs > Sibelius Software > G7 Demo. * On Mac, navigate to the G7 Demo folder inside the Applications folder on your hard disk, and double-click the G7 icon. Splash screen A pretty G7 graphic appears for a few seconds, accompanied by a brief musical excerpt. (Should you want to silence this music at a later date, switch off Play music at start in the File > Preferences dialog; this dialog is in the G7 Demo menu on Mac OS X.) The Devices dialog Next, a big dialog called Devices appears: The top half of the dialog, labeled Playback Devices, lists any playback devices you have. * There may well be two or more things listed ­ such as an internal soundcard and an external MIDI device. External MIDI devices are normally referred to by the port, and include the words "MIDI Out." * Click Test on each device listed to see how it sounds. You may get no sound if the device is not properly connected, e.g. if your speakers are not connected to your soundcard or are not switched on. * If more than one device is listed, you probably just want to play back through the best-sounding one of them. To do this, click in the Use column on the other devices, to turn them to No. 9 G7 Demo User Guide * On Mac, you may see only one device (QuickTime Music) listed the first time you run G7. If you don't have any external MIDI devices, this is fine ­ but if you do have external devices, you should click the Change button in the dialog to choose either Mac OS X MIDI (on Mac OS X), or OMS or FreeMIDI (on Mac OS 9). The bottom half of the dialog, labeled Input Devices, lists any MIDI input devices you have ­ i.e. a MIDI keyboard or MIDI guitar. * In the event that you have two or more input devices, you can select the one you want to use in the small panel on the right of the dialog * Switch on MIDI Thru if and only if you have a keyboard with no built-in sounds ­ this will make G7 play back notes played on your keyboard using your soundcard or other playback device * There is a useful indicator which lights up green when you play on a MIDI keyboard or MIDI guitar. Use this to check that your keyboard or guitar is plugged in correctly. Now click OK. If you need to change any of these settings again in the future, you can find this dialog again by choosing Play > Devices from G7's menus. Quick Start The next (and final) thing that appears is the Quick Start dialog. This useful dialog allows you to open any o ...