TablEdit Users Say:

"I have other programs, but they just don't match TablEdit for the user friendly, intuitive feel of transcription. I'm still trying to figure out how to add an alternating baseline to the most expensive of those. With TablEdit, it just does it!"
Bob Parker - Michigan, USA

Read more...

Harmonics

Previous  Top  Next
Map
Windows Help


A harmonic is a chime like tone that is produced by lightly touching a string with a finger and then removing the finger at the instant the string is plucked. There are two types of harmonics, natural and artificial. Both types may be created in Tabledit by highlighting a note and applying the corresponding special effect, for a natural harmonic and for an artificial harmonic. They may also be applied by selecting the appropriate effect from the Special effects dialog. To reproduce the chime-like sound during playback, we recommend that the dynamic value of harmonics be set one to two levels lower than the base setting.

It should be mentioned that, 12th fret harmonics excepted, the pitch displayed for harmonics (both natural and artificial) varies depending from where the effect is applied. If it's applied from the Special Effects palette or from the left-hand column of the Special effects dialog, the actual pitch is displayed. If, however, you apply it from the right-hand column (Combination) of the dialog while leaving the left-hand column set to "No effect" the note will be displayed one octave lower than its actual pitch.

Natural harmonics are played on open strings with the most common being at the 5th, 7th and 12th frets. Other natural harmonics can be played at the 3rd, 4th, 9th and 16th frets but the tone quality is poor and difficult to produce in actual playing conditions. The graphic below shows the notes that are produced by playing natural harmonics on the 5th, 7th and 12th frets. Note the small diamond to the right of the numbers in the tablature indicating a natural harmonic.


Artificial harmonics are played by fretting a string normally with the left hand and then touching the string with a right hand finger generally 12 frets higher on the fretboard and using another right-hand finger to pick the string. The right-hand finger is removed at the instant the string is plucked while the left hand maintains its position on the fretted string. The sound produced is exactly one octave higher than the normal, fretted sound. Note the small dot above the numbers in the tab indicating an artificial harmonic.

Note: In order to set another offset than the octave, select the note to be affected and press [>] or [<]. TablEdit will then recalculate the note pitch and will display a small text label (i.e. "A.H.9") above the note.


Note: By selecting the attribute "Variation" in the "Special Effects" dialog box, you force TablEdit to display the note an octave below its actual pitch. This possibility is useful to avoid the additional lines and to facilitate the reading of the notation. You can insert a musical symbol "8va" into the top of the note or type the text "%8va" which will post this same symbol followed of a dotted line to the top of the concerned notes. Syntax is the same one as for barrés.

Note: When adding a tied note to one with either of the two above mentioned harmonic effects applied, the same effect should also be applied to the tied note. If you don't, the tied note won't produce the correct sound.