Music Charting Software

John Gretzinger · Post by **John Gretzinger** » 11 Nov 2002 9:06 am

I'm looking for some software to produce charts for guitar. I don't necessarily need it to have midi input or discover what is being played from a CD. All I want to do is find an easy way to produce charts to take with me when I am playing new stuff.

Thanks,

jdg

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MSA D-10 w/Nashville 400
'63 Gibson Hummingbird
16/15c Hammered Dulcimer

Johan Jansen · Post by **Johan Jansen** » 11 Nov 2002 10:49 am

Band In A Box!

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Click on the pic!

Post by **Joey Ace** » 12 Nov 2002 11:18 am

Check www.tabledit.com

It does Steel and Standard Guitar Music and Tab, and much more. Free demo. Low price.

Exports to gifs. You can see some examples in the Free Area of my website.

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<img align=left src="http://www.joeyace.com/img/joey2.jpg" >
-j0ey-
www.JoeyAce.com

Larry Bell · Post by **Larry Bell** » 13 Nov 2002 11:10 am

What's wrong with Word or Excel?
I assume you mean chord charts -- sounds like a job for a word processor or spreadsheet to me. That's what I use anyway.

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Larry Bell - email: larry@larrybell.org - gigs - Home Page
2000 Fessenden S-12 8x8, 1969 Emmons S-12 6x6, 1971 Dobro

Michael Holland · Post by **Michael Holland** » 13 Nov 2002 12:35 pm

John,

Are you referring to notation or chord charts (or both)?

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Fessenden SD10 - Mesa/Boogie amps

Roy Thomson · Post by **Roy Thomson** » 14 Nov 2002 2:37 am

John ....Windows Paint will allow you to design a chart to whatever your needs.
This Windows program is very user friendly
and very flexible. Someone had to introduce me to it however and make me familiar with the basics. Now I use it in all aspects of my musical endeavours. Programs,Accessories,Paint.
You do not need to spend money on special
software.
[This message was edited by Roy Thomson on 14 November 2002 at 02:41 AM.]

Doug Beaumier · Post by **Doug Beaumier** » 14 Nov 2002 7:06 am

Below is a Band-in-Box chart. The BIAB user may change the size of the chart, font sizes, etc., and print out the chart. I often use BIAB charts for new songs on stage.

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My Site - Instruction | Doug's Free Tab | Steels and Accessories

John Gretzinger · Post by **John Gretzinger** » 14 Nov 2002 8:41 am

Thanks guys - it looks like Band-In-A-Box will be doing it.

Everything I had been seeing was showing either tab with notes or chord charts (fingering). Doug's illustration is exactly what I am looking for.

I'm playing with a jazz trio (not playing steel, yet) this week and have a two inch stack of piano charts that I need to make usable by Friday evening - looks like a long night tonight.

Thanks all.

jdg

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MSA D-10 w/Nashville 400
'63 Gibson Hummingbird
16/15c Hammered Dulcimer

Michael Holland · Post by **Michael Holland** » 14 Nov 2002 11:58 am

Doug,

This may be a dumb question, but there are no notes on the staff. Can you enter notation as well? If so, is it step-entry only, or can you play in a figure on a MIDI instrument to be transcribed? BIAB does have MIDI sequencing, doesn't it?

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Fessenden SD10 - Mesa/Boogie amps

Gary Pederson · Post by **Gary Pederson** » 14 Nov 2002 6:12 pm

IMHO, BIAB is not very good notation software. A couple of problems are that it can't show repeated sections and it can't show more then one key signature. If song changes keys it will show the correct chords, but not the new key signature.

Roy Thomson · Post by **Roy Thomson** » 14 Nov 2002 6:41 pm

With Windows Paint you can have it whatever way you want. Design it, save it, edit/change,print.
This program which is included with Windows software is an unsung hero.
I use it in conjunction with my Steel Guitar
endeavours more than any other program.

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<A HREF="http://www.clictab.com/royt/tabmenu.htm ... abmenu.htm
</A>

Doug Beaumier · Post by **Doug Beaumier** » 14 Nov 2002 8:12 pm

Below is a BIAB chart without the staff lines. There are other options for size, spacing, number of bars per line, etc.

Michael, yes, you can enter the notes using the mouse and they will print out nicely on the lines/spaces. I don't know if BIAB has MIDI input for notation. It probably does, but I never tried to do that. You can also print out the standard guitar tablature with BIAB. And you can change the "position" of the tab. I agree that BIAB is not the best chart printer because of it's lack of repeat signs, but overall it's a fantastic practice tool. I usually add in the repeat signs by hand if I need to. There may be a way to do them within the program, but I haven't gotten that far into it yet. I use Tabledit for most of my music/tab writing.

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My Site - Instruction | Doug's Free Tab | Steels and Accessories

John Gretzinger · Post by **John Gretzinger** » 15 Nov 2002 8:33 am

Gary brings up a couple of good points that I had not considered - I guess I assumed (darn - there's that word again) that any tab or charting program could do things like repeats, DC al Coda, DS al Coda, handle key changes, etc.

I can write the darn things out by hand, but was looking for something a little neater.

Larry - I have done some stuff(tm) with Word, but noting diminished or augmented chords using superscript is a bit of a pain. I keep thinking there ought to be an easier way to do this.

I like the ability to include the chord charts (fingering charts) as a summary to the chart, or include them in the chart itself.

Maybe I'm looking for something that really does not quite exist at this point?

jdg

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MSA D-10 w/Nashville 400
'63 Gibson Hummingbird
16/15c Hammered Dulcimer

Earnest Bovine · Post by **Earnest Bovine** » 15 Nov 2002 9:01 am

John
There are lots of programs (NOT Band In A Box) that let you create and edit music notation, chord charts, etc etc.
The best ones are Finale and Sibelius but those are certainly overkill for you.
A very good one that is easy to learn is Encore. (I use Encore) But like Sibelius and Finale, it is not cheap.

So just look around Usenet and I'm sure you will find the good cheap stuff.

John Gretzinger · Post by **John Gretzinger** » 15 Nov 2002 10:22 am

Doug -

I just ran across Score Writer - not bad for $49.00. It looks like it might do the trick for this need. I've got to call the company to find out about chord diagrams that they do not have in the demo and how to add new ones.

jdg

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MSA D-10 w/Nashville 400
'63 Gibson Hummingbird
16/15c Hammered Dulcimer