Dear team,
I’d like to humbly propose the following:
Please introduce smart positioning indicators (Commonly Roman numerals) to establish a better connection between TAB, fingerings, Notation and positioning for fretted instruments.
I just went back to an old transcription of a Larry Carlton tune, and when I switched on TAB, it put everything down into open position, which is unfortunately not ideal…
I’d like to be able to add a Roman numeral positioning indicator together with a certain note and have the TAB react to that by putting the note on the proper string.
Vice versa, if I enter TAB, any notes that appear on the same string in different positions AND are played with the same finger (or even a different finger, depending on the direction of the slide…) should result in an automatically generated Roman positioning numeral. Which should be hideable, of course…
Added complexity is likely arising from the fact that the Roman positioning marks are usually put where the index finger is, so there should be a default for a “III.” to appear for let’s say a slide down with the ring finger from 7th to the 5th fret.
Thanks so much for considering this,
sincerely, Benji
In principle I think this is a fine idea, though I think there are some complex issues arising. Normally when you see these kind of position indicators in printed music, a single position indicator lasts for a defined period of time, and it seems to me that it’s something of an editorial decision about when these are indicated, and when the hand should shift to a different position on the neck. When you’re calculating the position indicator from tab where the user has explicitly specified all of the strings, then you can be reasonably sure where the indicator should begin, but it’s a different matter when automatically producing position indicators from Dorico’s default fingering, particularly since that will typically place the notes as close to the nut as possible. Likewise, creating a position indicator and expecting that to then change the string allocation in the tab is non-trivial.
As I say, I think this is a fine idea in principle, but it’s not something that would be easy to do. I definitely don’t rule it out, but at the same time I’m not sure it’s something we’ll be able to implement right away.
Hey Daniel!
Thanks for commenting!
Actually, I thought you guys eat “non-trivial” for breakfast… 
Seriously, I already figured this would NOT be easy, and it’s of no urgent concern…
Also, am I correct in understanding “as close to the neck as possible” to mean “as close to the NUT as possible”?
If so, the open position and playing close to the nut are a little less relevant in modern playing styles and on electric guitar, as you of course know.
But I’m glad you like the idea!
All the best and thanks again for Dorico!
Benji
Benji
are you aware that D3 is somehow hand size conscious.
when you modify one of the string assignation in tab, often, one of the following note gets shifted too, D3 knowing your hand cannot play such stretchs
SeeWhat,
No, I wasn’t aware of that, I’ll try it out as soon as I’m back in the studio… Thx!
B.