Reference Guide

768
Notation and Lyrics
Tablature
In the Staff View Layout dialog box you can choose a preset style of tablature by choosing from the
Preset pop-up menu, or you can define your own style by clicking the Define button in the Staff
View Layout dialog box to open the Tablature Settings dialog box.
To Define a Tablature Style
1. In the Staff View Layout dialog box, click the name of the track you want to define tablature for.
2. Click the Define button (lower right corner).
The Tablature Settings dialog box appears.
3. Click the Tablature tab and choose a tablature method from the Method drop-down list. There
are three methods to determine how the TAB is displayed:
• Floating. Which allows the notes to spread over the entire fretboard
• Fixed. This specifies where on the neck these notes should be played. When Fixed is
selected the Finger span and Lowest fret fields are used together to define the "box" where
the notes are displayed. The Finger span parameter determines how many consecutive frets
will be used to display the note. For example, if Finger span is set to 4, then SONAR will
attempt to place all the notes within those 4 frets. The Lowest Fret then determines where on
the fretboard the notes will be displayed within the Finger span. The red box in the fretboard
display changes to reflect the settings in these two parameters.
• MIDI Channel. This uses the event's MIDI channel to determine which string the note should
be displayed on. When MIDI Channel is selected, the user chooses which series of MIDI
Channels should be considered. This is useful for MIDI guitarists that record parts in MONO
mode, where each string transmits on a different MIDI channel. (Values: 1 - 11). Selecting 1 in
the 1st Channel field will cause it to use MIDI channels 1 - 6, selecting 2, 2 - 7, and so on.)
4. Type a number into the Number of Frets field. This determines how many frets the guitar has that
the tab is based on.
5. In the String Tuning fields, choose the instrument from the drop-down list and number of strings
from the Number of Strings field.
The open string pitches for the instrument you choose automatically appear in the String
Number fields below the drop-down list.
6. Customize any of the open string pitches by using the + or - buttons on the String Number fields.
7. Save your settings by typing a name into the Preset field at the top of the dialog box and clicking
the disk icon next to it. You can remove presets from the list by clicking the X
button next to the
disk icon.
The next time you want to use these settings for a track, choose your Preset in the Staff View
Layout dialog box from the Presets drop-down list.
Changing Fretboard Texture and Orientation
Note: Select the Skip Channel 10 option if you are using a Yamaha G50 or other device which
reserves channel 10.