2.5b Music Tools - Guitar Tool
Guitar
DESCRIPTION: The Guitar Tool helps to make music played on a keyboard sound as if it were played on a guitar. It also provides an onscreen fretboard that guitarists can use to enter music.
USAGE: Pipeline, ToolPad.
CONTROLS: Guitar's control window looks like a guitar fretboard. The tuning knobs turn to tune the strings, the tuning pegs disable strings from sounding, and two buttons in the title bar open special control windows that enhance the Guitar Tool's capabilities.
Most of Guitar Tool's windows are very friendly, in that they display the function of the button that the mouse pointer is over in the title bar.
The Guitar Tool maps a different chord to potentially every fret on the fretboard. The default chord map is all major chords. We also provide a default chord bank file that contains major, minor, augmented, diminished, suspended, fifths, octaves, and single note.
NOTE: The Guitar Tool is somewhat complex. First, we'll explain how to use the main control window to play chords by playing on the fretboard, change tunings, etc. Then, well explain the different playing options. Finally, we'll explain how to load, create, and save your own custom chords.
Playing Chords Or Single Notes From The Fretboard
Click on the frets of the fretboard to play the current chord bank. Notes in the key of C major appear as white dots, while notes outside the key appear as black dots. The names of the notes appear to the right of the fretboard.
NOTE: The dots and note names can be disabled in the Play Options window. Disabling these options make the Guitar Tool use less CPU power.
To play single note lines, choose the single note chord bank. Please see the sections "Loading The Default Chord Banks" and "Selectinf A Chord Bank," below.
Pitch Bending And Automodulating Chords
While holding the left mouse button on the fretboard, hold the right mouse button and drag the mouse up and down to bend the pitch. Drag the mouse left and right to automodulate the vibrato.
NOTE: These functions con be turned off in the Play Options window.
Changing String Tunings
Click on the tuning knob for the string you would like to change. Drag the mouse left and right while holding the left mouse button.
Muting Strings
You can mute a string by clicking on its tuning peg (the round circle next to the note's tuning display). The string becomes ghosted while muted.
Using The Guitar Tool To Convert Keyboard Voicings Into Guitar Voicings
By playing chords into the Guitar Tool from your MIDI keyboard, or by Toolizing and existing track, chords are automatically converted into guitar voicings.
You can drag the blue and red bars left and right to limit the range of the chords played. By default, the range is from the 0th fret to the 12th fret.
Opening The Play Options Window
Click on the circular button in the title bar of the Guitar Tool's control window, or choose the Play Options menu command to open the Play Options window.
Changing Chord Strumming Options
The Guitar Tool strums chords in one of four ways: no strum, strum up, strum down, or strum both ways. When a chord enters the Guitar tool, it applies whichever strum selection you wish to the chord, causing the chord to sound like it was strummed on a guitar. The speed and duration of the strum are also changeable.
Open the Play Options window. Do change the direction of the strum or disable strumming, click on the button to the left of the sound hole. The title bar displays either "AutoStrum Off", "Up AutoStrum", "Down AutoStrum", or "Strum Both Ways". Select your choice from the pop-up menu.
Slide the sliders beneath the sound hole to change the delay and duration of the strum. The top slider affects the delay, and the bottom slider affects the duration. The sound hole graphically displays the results of your choices.
Changing The Number Of Frets A Chord Can Span
There are chords on the guitar that no guitarist could ever play, and chords that only guitarists with very large hands can play. The Guitar Tool allows you to choose the span over which it selects notes in a chord.
Open the Play Options window. The Hand button turns on and off chord stretching. The title bar displays the state of the button with "Chord Stretch On" or "Chord Stretch Off." If chord stretch is off, any chord can play regardless of the physical capability to play the chord.
With chord stretch on, the chords only play if they are in range of the mini fretboard to the right of the Hand button. The Yellow bar on the mini fretboard denotes the number of frets ahead of the root note that the chord can stretch, while the blue bar denotes the number of frets behind the root note that the chord can stretch.
Click in the mini fretboard to change the amount of chord stretch. The numbers below the Hand button reflect the amount you've chosen.
Using Tablature With The Guitar Tool
The Guitar Tool has the ability to display incoming notes on its fretboard. If a Track is recorded and Tabulated, you may wish to see the notes played out on the fretboard on the strings to which they are tabulated.
Open the Play Options window, and activate the first button at the top: the Tablature Mode button. When you activate this function, all notes are mapped to the appropriate string according to the string they are tabulated.
Playing Chords With Single Notes
The Guitar Tool can automatically create a chord when a single MIDI note enters. This is similar to clicking on the fretboard to create a chord.
Open the Play Options window, and activate the second button at the top: the AutoChord button. When you activate this function, single notes entering into the Guitar Tool are converted to chords. Subsequent notes entering the Tool are discarded until the original note is released.
Enabling And Disabling Pitch Bending
To disable pitch bending when clicking on the Guitar fretboard to play notes or chords, open the Play Options window and click on the third button at the top. This toggles the AutoBend function on and off.
Toggling Between Pitch Bending Up And Bending Up And Down
The fourth button at the top of the Play Options window toggles the pitch bending function between only bending notes up (as on a real guitar without a whammy bar) or bending notes up and down (allowing whammy bar functionality.)
Enabling And Disabling Automodulation
The fifth button at the top of the Play Options window toggles the AutoModulation (vibrato) on and off.
Changing The Default Inversion Of Chords
Usually, the Guitar Tool tries to put root notes on the low strings. If you would like to put root notes on the high strings instead, click on the rightmost button at the top of the Play Options window.
Opening The Chord Banks Window
Open the Chord Banks window by choosing the Chord Banks menu command or clicking on the tuning peg icon in the title bar (the button to the left of the window front/back button).
Loading The Default Chord Banks
1. Open the Chord Banks window.
2. Click on the Load All button. A requester askes if you want to replace
all of the chord banks.
3. Click on Yes. The Load All Guitar Chord Banks file requester opens.
Normally, the default chord bank is in the B&P_Pro/Support file area.
4. Find the Support file area. For example, if your hard drive is named
Work, choose the Work:B&P_Pro/Support drawer. You should see
"default.gchord" orjust "default" appear in the file area.
5. Click on the "default" file name and choose Load.
Selecting A Chord Bank
In the Chord Banks window, place the mouse pointer over the button to the right of the Edit button. Notice that the title bar displays "Select Bank." Click down and select the chord bank you vish to use from the pop-up list.
In the Play Options window, place the mouse pointer over the lower button. The title bar displays "Select Chord Bank." Click down and select the chord bank you wish to use from the pop-up list.
Loading, Saving, And Editing Chord Banks
In the Chord Banks window, the buttons under the "Banks" prompt provide the ability to load, save, remove, copy, and create new chord banks.
1. Load All - replaces all chord banks with one from disk.
2. Save All - saves all chord banks to disk in one file.
3. Insert - inserts a single chord bank from disk into the current list
of chord banks.
4. Replace - replaces the current chord bank with a different chord
bank from disk.
5. Save - saves the current chord bank to disk.
6. Delete - removes the current chord bank from memory.
7. Copy - makes a copy of the current chord bank.
8. New - creates a new, blank chord bank.
Testing Chords
In the Chord Banks window, listen to the chords by clicking on the vertical fretboard, or by clicking on the top two rows of buttons.
The top row of buttons represent each string from left to right (usually, low E to high E). The second row of buttons represent the notes in the chord.
In the vertical fretboard, the red square represents the root note of the chord. Only the root note on the selected string appears red. Other notes of the same pitch value appear blue, as do all other notes in the chord.
The fret that contains the current chord is denoted by a black square. This square may surround one of the member notes of the chord (usually, the root note). However, it may also be by itself, which actually means that the chord doesn't even contain the fret upon which it is built!
Notes in the open position appear hollow. Strings that are muted have a little grey square at the top of the vertical fretboard.
Editing Chords
Click on the Edit button to enter into edit mode. The window changes slightly.
Each fret on each string can have a different chord assigned to it. Choose the fret to edit by clicking on the top two rows of buttons: click on the top row to choose the string to edit, and the second row to choose the fretted note to edit.
NOTE: Athough several note buttons in the second row may be highlighted, only one of the highlighted buttons actually represents the selected fret, which is displayed as a black hollow square on the fretboard (which may contain a red solid square inside of it if the root note of the chord is aiso the selected fret).
Click on the fretboard to change the note assignments of the current chord. As you change the note assignments, they are reflected by highlighting the second row of buttons.
When you finish editing your chords, deactivate the Edit button and click on the Save button to save your new bank.
Clearing And Copying Chords
The buttons beneath the Chord prompt provide an easy facility to clear and copy chords from one or all frets on a single string or all strings.
1. Erase - clears all notes from the current fret's chord.
2. Fret - copy the current fret's chord to the same fret on all the other
strings.
3. String - copy the current fret's chord to all frets on the same string.
4. One - copy the current fret's chord to one other fret on any string.
The words "Select New Location" appear in the title bar. Click in the
fretboard on the fret to which you would like to copy the current chord.
5. AB - copy the current fret's chord to all frets on all strings.
6. Clear - clear all frets on all strings.
Changing The Name Of A Bank
Highlight the Edit button to enter into edit mode. Click on the Bank's name and type in the new name. Use the Delete and Backspace keys if necessary.
Accessing The Main Guitar Control Window From The Chord Bank Window
Click on the guitar icon in the Chord Bank window's title bar. This toggles the main window to the front and back.
Instantly Changing The Octaves On All Strings
In the Chord Banks window, highlight the Edit button to enter into edit mode. Click on the up and down Octave buttons to raise and lower the octaves on all strings simultaneously.