Tablature gets its name from the fact that the musical information is "tabulated". In other words, laid out in a table of sorts. The word tablature is normally abbreviated to "tab" and is often preceded by the type of instrument it is being used for. For example, guitar tab, lute tab, etc. However, to avoid confusion in these help topics, the word tablature will always be used to refer to tab staves, and tab to refer to the tab key.
The lines on a tablature staff are very different to those on a standard notation staff. Instead of representing a particular pitch, each line represents a string on the instrument. For example, the staff for an acoustic guitar will have six lines. The top line represents the highest pitched string, and the bottom line, the lowest. These lines are numbered from 1 (the top line) to 6 (the bottom line).
Notes are shown by writing the number of the fret at which the string has to be stopped. An open string is indicated by a 0, the first fret by 1, the second fret by 2, and so on. The number is written on which ever line represents the string which is to be used. So, a 3 on the bottom line indicates that the bottom string should be stopped at the third fret.
Notes which are to be played at the same time are arranged in columns. So, a chord can be read vertically from top to bottom. This is where the word "tablature" really takes affect. For example, a bar containing four six note chords will look like a table of numbers, arranged in four columns and six rows. The rows represent the strings and the columns the beats of the bar.
Rests are written between the notes on the staff in the usual way but the duration of the notes is shown by placing a stem, and if necessary, flags, above the staff. For example, a quarter note E4 would be shown as a number 0 on the top string with a stem placed above the staff at the same horizontal position. Alternatively, a sixteenth note G2 would be shown as a number 3 on the bottom line with a stem with two flags above the staff.
There is a special cursor which is used for inputting notes on tablature staves. This cursor is controlled by the arrow keys and can be used to navigate the staff however, this is not a simple process and so it is recommended that you do not use this cursor unless you specifically need to input notes. More information on using this cursor is given elsewhere but there is one important fact to know.
If you use the arrow keys to navigate a tablature staff you may find that Sibelius "loses" the selection. For example, you may have pressed tab to select a bar rest and then pressed RightArrow. After doing this you will probably be told that there is no selection. Once this happens you will not be able to use most of the keystrokes listed in the table at the end of this topic.
The solution is to press the GraveAccent key. This reselects the last item that was spoken. In other words, you can use the GraveAccent key to go back to the note which was last selected.
The table below lists the essential keystrokes for navigating tablature staves. These keystrokes work in the same way as they do in other staves however, you must remember that most of them will only work if an item is selected.
| Command | Keystroke |
| Staff above | Ctrl+Alt+UpArrow |
| Staff below | Ctrl+Alt+DownArrow |
| Next item | Tab |
| Prior item | Shift+Tab |
| Next bar | Ctrl+RightArrow |
| Prior bar | Ctrl+LeftArrow |
| Note above in chord | Alt+UpArrow |
| Note below in chord | Alt+DownArrow |
| Voice above | Shift+Alt+UpArrow |
| Voice below | Shift+Alt+DownArrow |
| Reselect last selected item | GraveAccent |
As usual, Sibelius Access reports what is written on the page, although you can have pitches described as they will sound by using the same keystrokes that you use in regular staves for hearing the concert pitches of notes.
The notes are described as the fret number followed by the word "on" and finally the string number. If the note is written as a 0 (open string) then the announcement is slightly different. The message will simply be the word "open" followed by the string number.
Example: the announcements given for the first three notes of a chromatic scale starting on E2.
You can check the true pitch of the selected note by pressing Ctrl+Shift+F5. The notes above would be described as "E2", "F2" and "F sharp 2" respectively.
The pitches will be spoken from the highest pitch down when you tab onto a chord. If you would rather hear pitches spoken from the bottom up then open the score verbosity dialog (shortcut JAWS Key+F1) and uncheck the option "highest pitch first".
Example: the announcement of a four-note D major chord.
"2 on 1, 3 on 2, 2 on 3, open 4."
You can hear the concert pitches of all the notes in a chord by pressing Ctrl+F5. The chord above would b described as "F sharp 4, D4, A3, D3".
You can check the tunings of the strings by selecting something on the tablature staff and pressing Ctrl+F2. The spoken message describes the instrument using the staff in full. Pressing Ctrl+F2 twice shows the information in the virtual viewer so that you can read it with the cursor keys.
Example: Information shown after pressing Ctrl+F2 twice in a guitar tab staff.
Acoustic Guitar
6 string instrument with tunings of E2, A2, D3, G3, B3 and E4
Professional range is from E2 to E6
Comfortable range is from E2 to B5
The name which is given at the beginning of the information is the one which will be displayed next to any systems which are set to show the full instrument name. This usually includes the first system on the first page of music.
The tunings are stated as the pitches of the open strings, that is, the pitch heard when the string is played without using a fret, with the lowest string given first.
The lowest note in the range states the lowest pitch which can be played on the instrument without the use of special effects such as a guitar bend.
The method for inputting notes on tablature staves is not the same as that for standard notation staves. However, when you copy music from a standard staff onto a tablature staff, Sibelius will automatically convert it into tablature notation for you. So, you can input the music onto a standard staff and then paste it onto a tablature staff, if you prefer
The method for inputting notes on tablature staves can be summarised as follows:
You can change the fret number of an existing note by selecting it, pressing N to show the cursor and then typing in the new number. If you need to change the fret number of a note which you have just created then you only need to type the number in again.
If a number is placed on the wrong string, you can use Ctrl+UpArrow and Ctrl+DownArrow to move it to the correct string. The fret number will change as you move the note so as to maintain its pitch but you can change the number by simply typing it in again.
Example: Inputting a 0 on string 6 and changing it to a 0 on string 1.
After inputting a note you will need to press the RightArrow key to advance the cursor to the start of the next rest. You will be told that nothing is selected but the cursor will be in the correct place to input the next note or rest.
After inputting a rest, the cursor will advance automatically, so you don't need to press the RightArrow key. The following example illustrates this different behaviour.
Example: inputting notes and rests at the same time.
In tablature staves, you must specify which string each note will be played on. This means that you must move to each string in turn and input the fret number for the note which will be played on that string.
After you've input the first note of the chord, you can use UpArrow and DownArrow to move the cursor to a different string. These key strokes "wrap around". This means that pressing DownArrow on string 6 moves the cursor to string 1 and pressing UpArrow on string 1 moves the cursor to string 6.
The rhythmic position of the cursor will remain the same so you can immediately type in the fret number for the note on that string. If there is already a note on the string which the cursor moves to, the note will be described. Otherwise, you will be told that there is no selection.
Once you have finished building up the chord, you can press RightArrow once to advance the cursor to the same position as the next rest and start adding notes there. The cursor remains on the same string so you may need to use UpArrow and DownArrow to move the cursor to a different string.
Example: inputting single notes and chords.
The information given previously in this topic will be enough for you to use tablature staves successfully, however there are other features of the cursor which some users may find useful. Due to limitations in Sibelius' interface, the position of the cursor cannot always be reported.
The cursor can be controlled with the arrow keys. UpArrow and DownArrow move the cursor between strings, and RightArrow and LeftArrow move it forwards and backwards along a string.
If the cursor is positioned immediately to the left of a fret number then the note which it represents will be selected and Sibelius Access will describe it. To be more exact, if the cursor has the same rhythmic position as a note, and is on the same string as that note, then that note will be selected.
If you move the cursor onto a part of the staff which has no notes, then "no selection" will be announced. In other words, if there are no notes on the same string as the cursor at its current rhythmic position, then nothing will be selected. You can still move the cursor with the arrow keys in these situations, however keystrokes like Tab and Ctrl+RightArrow will not work until a note has been selected again.
If you do "lose" the selection, you can just press GraveAccent to reselect the last note which the cursor selected. Alternatively, you can move the cursor back onto a note, although this can be difficult if you are not certain of the cursor's position.
UpArrow and DownArrow move the cursor between the strings. These keys "wrap around" so pressing UpArrow when the cursor is on string 1 will move the cursor down to string 6.
If moving the cursor selects a note then that note will be described, unless the note is part of a chord, in which case, the entire chord will be described (this has been changed in RC2).
You can determine which note is selected and which string the cursor is on by pressing Shift+F5, which describes the selected note only, in stead of the entire chord.
If the cursor moves onto a string which is not being used, even though there are notes on other strings at that position, then you will be told that there is no selection. However, you can still use UpArrow and DownArrow to move back onto a note on another string.
If you press UpArrow or DownArrow when the cursor is not showing, then it will appear on the string above or below which ever note has been selected in the chord. For example, if you press Tab to select the top note in a chord, pressing UpArrow will then show the cursor on the string above that note, and pressing DownArrow will show the cursor on the string below that note. Remember that these keystrokes wrap around. So, if the top note has been selected, and is on the top string, pressing UpArrow will move the cursor to the bottom string of the staff.
Example: using the DownArrow key on a four note chord of 2 on 1, 3 on 2, 2 on 3 and open 4.
Snap positions are used to make inputting notes on tablature staves easier. By default, the snap positions are spaced a quarter note apart and the first snap position in each bar will always be at quarter 1. For example, in 4/4 time the snap positions will be at quarters 1, 2, 3 and 4 in every bar.
The last snap position of one bar may not be a quarter note away from the first snap note of the next bar if the time signature does not allow for a whole number of quarter notes. For example, in 3/8 time the snap positions will always be at quarters 1 and 2. This means that the distance between the last snap position in one bar will only be an eighth note away from the snap position at the start of the next bar.
You can change the distances between the snap positions by doing the following:
Remember that the first snap position will always be at quarter 1. So, if the option in the preferences dialog is set to eighth notes and the time signature is 7/16, then the snap positions will always be at quarters 1, 1.5, 2 and 2.5. This means that the distance between the last snap position of one bar will be a sixteenth note away from the first snap position in the next bar.
If a bar only contains a bar rest, you can use the cursor to quickly reach the position you need, provided that the position is one of the snap positions.
Example: adding a quarter note at quarter 4.5 with the cursor.
RightArrow and LeftArrow moves the cursor to the right and left along the current string. If the cursor moves to a position which corresponds to the start of a note or chord, then that note or chord will be played. If one of the notes at this position is on the same string as the cursor then that note will be selected and the entire chord will be described, including its rhythmic position. Alternatively, if none of the notes at this position are on the same line as the cursor, then nothing will be selected and "no selection" will be spoken.
Exactly where the cursor moves to will depend on whether there are any notes near to it. The rules which govern the cursor can be summarised as follows:
Whenever a change is made to a bar, Sibelius will determine a list of positions to which the cursor can move. Pressing RightArrow moves the cursor to the next position in that list, and pressing LeftArrow moves it to the previous position in that list.
Consider a bar which contains a whole note chord at quarter 1. The cursor can move to the beginning of the note at quarter 1 but no other positions are available because they occur between the start and end of the note. So, if the cursor is at quarter 1, pressing RightArrow will move it to the start of the next bar.
The whole note chord is now replaced by a bar rest. The cursor will be able to move to the start of the bar as always and the snap positions at quarters 2, 3 and 4 are available because there are no notes being played anywhere in this bar. In other words, the cursor can move to quarters 1, 2, 3 and 4.
If the snap positions option in the preferences dialog is changed to half notes, the cursor will be able to move to quarters 1 and 3. Alternatively, if it is changed to eighth notes, the cursor will be able to move to quarters 1, 1.5, 2, 2.5, 3, 3.5, 4 and 4.5. For the remainder of this example, the snap positions are set to quarter notes.
A half note is now placed at quarter 2. The cursor must be able to move to both quarter 2 and 4 because they mark the start and end of the note, but it cannot move to quarter 3 because this is in the middle of the half note. So, the available positions are quarters 1, 2 and 4.
The half note is now change to a sixteenth note. The positions at quarters 1 and 2 are still available because they mark the start of the bar and the start of the sixteenth note. An additional position is now available at quarter 2.25, which marks the end of the sixteenth note, and the snap positions at both quarters 3 and 4 are available because there are no notes being played at those positions. So, the available positions are now quarters 1, 2, 2.25, 3 and 4.
It must be stressed that the cursor is not accurately representing the items in the bar which now contains: a quarter note rest at quarter 1, a sixteenth note chord at quarter 2, a sixteenth note rest at quarter 2.25, an eighth note rest at quarter 2.5 and a half note rest at quarter 3. Using Tab and Shift+Tab will select any of these, however RightArrow and LeftArrow will not move the cursor to the rest at quarter 2.5, they will also move the cursor to quarter 4 which is in the middle of a half note rest.
A dotted eighth note chord is now added at quarter 3.5. Two more positions become available at quarters 3.5 and 4.25 (the beginning and end of the dotted eighth note chord.) However, the snap position at quarter 4 is no longer available because it occurs between the start and end of the new added chord. So, the cursor can now move to quarters 1, 2, 2.25, 3, 3.5 and 4.25.
A dotted eighth note chord is now added to quarter 2.25. This makes no changes to the positions which the cursor can move to because it can already move to quarter 2.25 (the end of the sixteenth note) and the snap position at quarter 3. So, the available positions are quarters 1, 2, 2.25, 3, 3.5 and 4.25.
If the snap positions option in the preferences dialog is changed to sixteenth notes, the cursor will be able to move to quarters 1, 1.25, 1.5, 1.75, 2, 2.25, 3, 3.25, 3.5, 4.25, 4.5 and 4.75.
© Daniel Craig Rugman 2010