Note options

Slurs, grace notes, tremolo picking and stems from the Note tools, and a note's own options in its popup.

Available on iPad, iPhone and Mac.

The Note tools

In Edit, Note is the last of the tools’ categories. Its buttons, left to right:

• Slur and Grace.
• Bend, Bend Rel., Pre-Bend and Pre-B Rel.: see Bends and whammy.
• Trem. 1, Trem. 2 and Trem. 3.
• Stem Up, Stem Down and Stem Auto.

Slurs

A slur is the arc over notes played smoothly, and over a hammer-on or a pull-off. Select the notes it spans, from the first to the last, then choose Slur. To shape it, choose the Select tool and tapclick the slur: its options move its Start and End, shape its curve (CP1, CP2) and its thickness, Flip it over or under, Reset it, or Delete it.

Grace notes

A grace note is the small note played just before a beat’s note, taking no time of its own. Grace adds one before each note at the cursor or selected, on the same string and fret; choose it again for two or more, a drag or a flam. TapClick a grace note with the Select tool to see its note, fret and string, or to Delete it.

Tremolo picking

Tremolo picking repeats a note as fast as it can be picked; the staff draws slashes across its stem. Trem. 1 is one slash (eighth notes), Trem. 2 two (sixteenths), Trem. 3 three (thirty-seconds). A beat has one: choosing another replaces it.

Stems

Reflow points stems up or down by where the notes sit on the staff. Stem Up and Stem Down force the beat’s stems one way; Stem Auto gives them back to Reflow. With two voices on a staff, the first’s stems point up and the second’s down.

A note's popup

Select a note and the capsule at the top right of the score names it (E3, say). TapClick the capsule to open the note’s options (on iPhone, as a sheet from the bottom):

• The note’s name (C to B) and its accidental: the note moves on the staff, and on a tab track to the fret that plays it.
• Upper Staff and Lower Staff: on a grand staff, which staff the note is drawn on.
• Stem Orientation, when the beat’s stem can be turned: Auto, Up or Down, as the Note tools’ stem buttons.
• Oct and MIDI: the octave and the MIDI note number, a step at a time.
• Live: how the note is played, not how it’s written. Velocity changes how hard it is struck, Offset moves it a little earlier or later, Duration makes it ring shorter or longer. Each reads As written until you tapclick its row to turn it on; then its − and + change the value, and Add or Set under it says how: Add adds it to the played value (+10, −5 %), Set replaces it. Notes imported from a MIDI file come with their Live values filled in.

The popup is as tall as what it holds, and scrolls when that is taller than the room under it. With several notes selected, it changes them all. A drum note’s popup shows the kit piece instead: see Drum mapping.

Select a rest and the capsule reads Rest; its popup names the rest’s value (Quarter rest, Dotted eighth rest; Mixed when the selected rests differ). Its first row changes the value, whole to sixty-fourth, its second gives it one or two dots; Split makes two rests of the next value down, and Delete removes the rest, so the bar comes up short. A new value can overfill or underfill the bar, as the Rhythm tools can.