Reference Guide

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Notation and Lyrics
Working with Percussion
To Transpose Chords
1. Move the Now Time to display the chord you want to transpose.
2. SHIFT-select all the notes in the chord.
3. SHIFT-drag the chord to a new position and release the mouse.
Entering Notes from the Fretboard
If you prefer to work with the Fretboard instead of a musical staff, Cakewalk makes it easy to enter
notes from the Fretboard. You can enter single notes or chords by clicking the string and fret of the
note you want to enter at the Now Time position.
1. Display the track you want to add notes to in the Staff view.
2. In the Staff view toolbar, click the Draw tool.
Now the cursor appears as a pencil when you move it over the Staff or Fretboard.
3. Move the Now Time to where you want to start entering notes by pressing SHIFT+RIGHT
ARROW or SHIFT+LEFT ARROW. Each press of the arrow moves the Now Time by the amount
of the note duration, which you select by clicking the note icons in the Staff view toolbar. You may
want to display the Now Time by choosing Views > Big Time.
4. Enter a note by clicking the string and fret where you would play the note.
The note appears on the Fretboard, in the Staff, and in the TAB if you have generated one (you
can generate a Quick TAB by choosing Quick TAB from the Tablature drop-down menu that you
open by clicking the drop-down arrow on the Staff View Layout button).
5. If you are entering a chord, continue clicking notes at the same Now Time. To move ahead, press
SHIFT+RIGHT ARROW and click a new note duration, if desired.
You can delete a note right after you enter it by pressing CTRL+Z, or at any time by clicking the
Eraser tool and clicking the note in the notation or TAB staffs.
Cakewalk gives you several options to play and hear the notes in your track:
• Scrubbing enables you to click each note in the Fretboard and hear it play. Select the Scrub tool
and click the note.
• Scrub strumming enables you to “strum” chords by dragging the Scrub tool through a chord. With
the Scrub tool selected, drag through a chord on the Fretboard from below it or above it and back
and forth.
• CTRL+RIGHT ARROW/CTRL+LEFT ARROW moves the cursor through the track, playing each
note as it reaches it.
Working with Percussion
The Staff view can display percussion tracks on a five-line percussion staff or on a single percussion
line. The staff usually displays notes for a drum set or multiple percussion instruments; the line is
used to display notes for a single instrument (although it need not be so).