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Notation Display

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Hidden Notes in the Stave

For a note to be displayed in the tablature but not in the stave (in order, for instance, to emphasize the melody), select the note(s) concerned and press [D]. In order to make them visible again, re-select them and press [n] or [d] again .

Note heads

To offset the head of a note towards the right or left, select the note and press [o] (right) or [O] (left). This feature is useful in connection with chords. In order to eliminate the offset, re-select the note and press [n] or [o/O] again.
If the note stem has been forced upwards or downwards, this feature also moves the stem.

Accidentals

You can adjust the horizontal alignment of accidentals by using a special offset marker:
- to reposition a forced accidental, place the cursor at a 1/64th note interval after the note to which the accidental belongs.
- to reposition all accidentals, whether automatic or forced, place the cursor directly on the position of the chord concerned.
-   press [w] followed by [=]
-   use [<] and [>] to reposition the accidental(s).

Note Stems

Note stem orientation in the musical stave is determined automatically by a test of the pitch of the note to be displayed. The parameters of this test can be modified by simply adjusting the value of "Upward Note Stem Default" in {File}{Options…}>Preferences. The default setting is that the stems for notes from >B2 (B in the second octave according to the American notation system or the open second string of a guitar in standard tuning) and above should automatically be turned upwards. Guitarists may prefer to set this to >G1. No setting, however, will be accurate 100% of the time.

You can also choose to force a particular stem direction for individual notes by selecting the note(s) to be treated and pressing [a] to force the stem(s) upwards or [Z] to force the stem(s) downwards. In order to return the note stem(s) to the automatically determined direction, re-select and press [E]. The direction can also be reversed from the "Notes" palette.

Note stem orientation in the stave does not affect the corresponding orientation in the tablature. These are set globally in {File}{Options…}>Preferences, unless the "As In Notation" option has been selected under {File}{Options}>Display.

It's possible to remove the note stems by selecting the note(s) to be modified and pressing [ ! ].

 
It's also possible to force a double stem pointing both upwards and downwards by selecting a single half or quarter note and pressing [O].

In order to adjust the height of the stems and the orientation of the beams, place the cursor beneath the stem to be adjusted and enter [ | ]. This will enter a marker at the cursor location. The first marker of a given beat will be used to adjust the height of the first note stem and of the corresponding beam. A second marker within the same beat will be used to adjust the height of the final stem and, thus, the slope of the beam. The actual adjustment is performed by placing the cursor on the markers and adjusting the heights using [+/-].

As with "beam breaks", it's possible to designate markers as belonging to either the upper or lower voice beam. Select the marker in question and press [Z] to assign it to the lower voice beam.

Beams

TablEdit automatically creates beams between notes that should be connected. Such beams can, however, be inhibited by inserting a beam break marker above or below the note which shouldn't be linked to the following note. Simply place the cursor at the appropriate location in the tablature and press [X]. If you wish to re-establish the beam, simply delete the marker.

Depending on the orientation of certain note stems, TablEdit can display unlimited double beams, simple or composed. In the case of double beams, beam breaks are applied to one or the other of the two voices (default is to the upper voice). In order to designate the affected voice, simply select the beam break marker and press [A], [Z] or [E] in the same way as you would apply these to a normal note.
 
Beam breaks do not normally affect the tablature unless you instruct TablEdit to the contrary by placing the cursor on the marker and typing [T]. Note that this function doesn't work if the option "Note stems as in notation" is active.  
  
To exclude a note from beaming, simply select it then type [X].  
Rests

TablEdit allows you to define, very precisely, the vertical position at which rests are to be displayed in the stave. Simply place the cursor on the rest in the tablature and use [+/-] to adjust the position.

If you wish a manually inserted rest to appear only in the stave and not in the tablature, simply select the rest and press [D]. The hidden rest remains displayed in the tablature as grayed but will not be printed. To prevent a rest from being tied to the preceding or following note, select it and press [X]. To remove the stem of a rest select it and press [ ! ].

Horizontal note spacing

Horizontal note spacing - in certain cases (appoggiaturas, alterations fingering indications in the notation) it may prove useful to be able to vary the distance between one note and the note following it. To this end, [W] inserts an offset marker whose value can be increased or decreased by use of [<] or [>]. You can also use the "Format" dialog when the cursor is positioned on such a marker.

Clefs

TablEdit generally displays a G clef. However, if the instrument tuning requires it, e.g. if you've created a bass guitar module, an F clef will be displayed. In certain cases where the range of the tuning is sufficiently wide, both a G clef and an F clef will be displayed.

Middle C

With the cursor placed in the notation, the key combinations [Ctrl]+[+/-] allow you to set the position for middle C and, thus, to shift the display of the notes by one octave up or down from their default position. This allows easy production of scores for instruments other than the guitar.

Barre

This feature allows you to indicate a barre over a certain duration of 1/16th notes (maximum 32). To display a barre, you need to create a text event ([Ctrl]+[T]). In the text entry field, type the text you wish to display (in this example we type the Roman numeral VIII). After your text (no space between) type the formula %barchord:. Then type the number of 1/16th notes you will barre (in this example 32). When you press enter, your mathematical equation VIII%barchord:32 transforms into a beautiful barre illustration.

To indicate a barre for more than 32 1/16th notes, type your text followed by %barchord. This will leave the end of the line open.

If desired, you can insert a line ending the duration. In this example %barchord:16 is inserted on the first beat of measure four.

To connect the two lines, simply insert the text event (%barchord) at the break point for every measure in between.

You can reverse the direction (up instead of down) of the terminator by using the formula %hbar.

Replacing the colon in the formula with a period/full stop (e.g. VII%barchord.32) will cause TablEdit to display a dotted, rather than solid, line.