The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
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  1. #1
    Hi all,

    I am just starting out to realize how important transcribing music can be for learning to analyze and play music.
    Any recommendations on music notation software?

    I know of Finale or Sibelius. I also looked into maestro.

    Thanks for any tips.

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    The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
     
  3. #2

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    I'm sort of stuck on Finale, but find it to be a little buggy and clunky.

  4. #3

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    I would suggest you start with musescore, it's free. I was a sibelius user in the past, now I use musescore. After all, there's nothing to lose

  5. #4
    Quote Originally Posted by fep
    I would suggest you start with musescore, it's free. I was a sibelius user in the past, now I use musescore. After all, there's nothing to lose
    Absolutely. I'm an old Finale user, and musescore is just great for what most of us are gong to be doing.

  6. #5

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    Musescore is an outstanding quality/price ratio, and for sure that's the one to use if your needs are limited to transcription.

    If you need a more sophisticated and more powerfull tool (whatever that means) like Finale or Sibelius, I'd would strongly recommend to invest into Dorico instead, the new music notation software recently developed by the ex Sibelius developer team who got laid off by Avid, then rapidly hired by Steinberg/Yamaha to develop the next generation notation tool.

    I'm an old Sibelius user who recently switched to using Dorico once version 2 provided good chord support, and I can certify Dorico is much easier and more pleasant and intuitive to use. The developer team really knows what it does.

    In addition, Dorico customer support is by far much better and friendlier than Avid one. Can't tell about Finale. You rapidly get an answer from the Dorico user forum, most often by Daniel Spreadbury himself , the leader of the Dorico team.

    Absolutely no Dorico affiliation !!

  7. #6

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    +1 on Musescore.

    It's good when you like to print pro quality scores for others to read. It supports notation of dynamics, articulation, ornaments etc (that in many cases also can be played back by the software).

    It took some time for me to figure out some of the delicate stuff, but everything I need is there in version 3. There are also good on-line resources (just google "musescore" + your question).

    Be aware that importing MIDI files from a DAW can be a bit problematic (you typically have to clean up the MIDI file, preferably before exporting to the notation software). The problem pertains to other software as well and isn't specific to Musescore, but some other programs assist with the clean up on import, which I think is potential for Musescore improvement. (not talking about the obvious need to quantize notes, but there is other MIDI data that messes with the scores).

    I don't understand the Musescore business model.... They like me to pay to log on to the site, probably to share stuff?

  8. #7

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    Let's not dismiss MuseScore as being limited as a simple tool for transcription...
    Attached Images Attached Images Music notation software-orchestration-jpg 

  9. #8

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    My intent was'nt to say Musecore is limited to transcribing ...

    Just that Dorico quality/price ratio much better than the one of Finale or Sibelius, and for various aspects: ease of use, well thought out features, top notch support

  10. #9

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    I bought G7 (sort of a dumbed down version of Sibelius marketed to guitar players -- with a few guitar related features).

    I've used it for years to make lead sheets. It works, it's not hard to use. But, it won't hide unused staves and it won't break out individual parts from a conductor's score. Also, it saves in Sib2 format and won't read newer formats.

    Sibelius stopped supporting it.

    I then tried Sibelius First, which is free. But, I found the interface confusing. Maybe that's because it's nothing like what I'm used to. It was hard to figure out how to do simple things. I eventually returned to G7.

    Musescore looks much better than Sib First, at the same - free - price.

    Based on the arrangers I know, it seems that Finale can be hard to use. They're always talking about something that they can't figure out.

  11. #10

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    I'm happy with Guitar Pro 7.5, inexpensive, powerful and geared to guitar players.

  12. #11

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    Quote Originally Posted by Torito
    I'm happy with Guitar Pro 7.5, inexpensive, powerful and geared to guitar players.
    Yeah, I'm a long term GP fan. I use it when documenting my own Guitar-arrangements. TABs are essential to get fast access to advanced finger settings. I also find the workflow highly intuitive and I like the side-by-side presentation of TABs and standard notation. It's designed by guitar players for guitar players.

    But I use Musescore, when presenting music for other instruments; strings, horns, piano etc. Different tools for different jobs.

  13. #12

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    Quote Originally Posted by mhch
    If you need a more sophisticated and more powerfull tool (whatever that means) like Finale or Sibelius, I'd would strongly recommend to invest into Dorico instead
    I've just downloaded a trial copy of Dorico Elements 2 out of curiosity. Does it have support for guitar tab? I think this is important for us guitar players, since we can play the same pitch in different places. This is a characteristic twist of the guitar that many instruments don't share.

    By the way, there is another program if you are into Presonus hardware of software, which is Notation. It's quite good too, and it blends perfectly with the Studio One DAW.

  14. #13

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    Quote Originally Posted by Torito
    Does it have support for guitar tab? I think this is important for us guitar players, since we can play the same pitch in different places. This is a characteristic twist of the guitar that many instruments don't share.
    The Steinberg Dorico forum says that Tab support is planned for next major release, i.e. Dorico 3. No date given except this isn't first half of 2019 ...

    Chord support and editing already exists. I didn't use it yet but Dorico forum users say it is far more powerful and easier to use than what exists in other tools

    The following Dorico forum thread contains lots of info about this topic, including what the tab feature plans are. Guitar TAB and Chord diagrams - www.steinberg.net

  15. #14

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    I love MuseScore. Has good features for guitar as well, like TAB and chord diagrams that can be edited.

    Here’s a small example I made:




  16. #15

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    Another vote for MuseScore. I just had a composition of mine played last night that I wrote for big band using MS, and the guys played the schist out of it. It's a great feeling to hear your stuff played live on real instruments, rather than some cheesy synthesizer. It's also cool to get some compliments from some heavy players.

  17. #16

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    Quote Originally Posted by fep
    I would suggest you start with musescore, it's free. I was a sibelius user in the past, now I use musescore. After all, there's nothing to lose
    +1. Works great, easy to use, free.

    John