3. Writing tab

Lanes and the caret

The quickest way to write tab is the way you’d write it on paper: pick a string, type a fret, move on. The caret marks where the next fret goes, one string at one moment, as in Guitar Pro.

Typing frets at the caret

Available on every platform.

Write a riff

1. Click a string in a track’s lane, where the riff starts. The caret lands there, on the grid line at or before where you clicked.
2. Type a fret, 0–9. A note appears on that string, one step long.
3. Press the right arrow to move the caret on a step, and type the next fret.

Typing doesn’t move the caret, so you can correct a fret by typing again. If there’s no clip where you type, one is made for the note.

While the song plays, frets you type go in at the caret too, unless the step’s ♪ chip says Write at the Playhead While Playing: then each goes in where the playhead is, so you can build a part over a loop. See Writing while the song plays.

Two-digit frets

Type the two digits one after the other, within about a second: 1 then 2 writes fret 12. If the two digits would make a fret past the track’s last one, the second digit replaces the first instead (2 then 9 gives fret 9). After a pause, a digit starts a new fret.

The number keys above the letters write frets whatever your keyboard types there: on a French AZERTY keyboard you don’t need Shift (the keys that type & é ” ’ ( and so on write 1 2 3 4 5).

Moving the caret

• Left and right arrows move back and on by the step length.
• Up and down arrows move to the string above or below. Past the top or bottom string, the caret goes on to the next track the pane shows.
• Clicking a note selects it and puts the caret on it, so typing a fret changes that note.

Changing frets and strings

These act on the selected notes, or on the note at the caret when nothing is selected:

• A semitone up (+, =) and A semitone down (-) move the fret by one.
• Notes to the string above, below (⌥↑, ⌥↓)Notes to the string above, below (Alt+Up, Alt+Down)Notes to the string above, below (Alt+Up, Alt+Down (⌥↑, ⌥↓ on a Mac)) moves the notes to the next string and changes their frets so they keep their pitch; the caret follows. If a note can’t be played on that string, nothing moves.
• Delete (⌫)Delete (Backspace, Delete)Delete (Backspace, Delete (⌫, ⌦ on a Mac)) deletes them.

Each of these is one undo step.

Other ways to write a note

• Double-click an empty place on a string to write an open-string note (fret 0) there, one step long, and select it. Then type its fret.
• MIDI step input writes what you play on a MIDI instrument at the caret.
• The Score has its own note input, by letter names.

Hearing notes as you write

Available on every platform.

Hearing what you write

A note you write or change by hand is heard as you write it, through its own track’s sound, as in Guitar Pro: a fret typed, a note double-clicked in, a fret moved up or down, a note moved to another string, a drum hit or its technique. A chord written at once, or notes moved together, sound together. Each is heard briefly, and a new fret on a string stops the one before.

You don’t hear them while the song plays (the song sounds them already), nor what a MIDI instrument writes, which you hear as you play it. Undo, paste and commands that change many notes at once, such as Transpose and Re-fret, stay quiet.

To turn it off, choose Hear Notes as You Write (⌥⌘Y)Hear Notes as You Write (Ctrl+Alt+Y)Hear Notes as You Write (Ctrl+Alt+Y (⌥⌘Y on a Mac)); it’s in Settings under Editing too.

Lanes of other kinds

On a keys lane the rows are pitches, so digits don’t write; there, Notes to the string above, below moves a note an octave. On a drum lane, digits and letters choose the hit’s technique. Notes always go into the track’s active voice.