The Guitar Fretboard is made visible by selecting the Guitar Fretboard item from the Operations Menu on the the Main Toolbar.

The guitar fretboard provides an interface for entering guitar tablature or as an alternative method for entering notes into a score. It can also be used to insert rests (using the Add Rest button in the top right corner of the panel) but other images such as dynamics must be added directly onto the score by placing and dragging the image to the desired location.

The visible area of the guitar fretboard can be altered by swiping the fretboard to the right - there are 24 positions available on the guitar fretboard

Guitar tablature is entered on a 6 line staff where each line represents a string and where number represent the positions on the string. The pitches of each string are listed using MIDI note numbers and these can be altered by editing the number if you want to use a different guitar tuning. By default, the pitches from the highest pitched string to the lowest are: 64 (E4) 59 (B3) 55 (G3) 50 (D3) 45 (A2) 40 (E2).

There is a tablature clef available from the Clef pane in the Score Structure Panel and 6 line staves are available in the Staff Attributes pane in the Score Structure Panel.

Entering Tablature with the Guitar Fretboard

1. All tablature notes entered at the position of the Entry Cursor, so you must make sure the Entry Cursor is located at the correct measure, beat and staff. If the Entry Cursor is not in the correct location drag it or use the Entry Cursor controls on the Main Tool Palette to move it to the correct measure and beat position or drag it using the Drag area on the Entry Cursor.
2. In the Variable Image Palette, select the note type you want to enter in the score. If the notes types are not visible, select the Note button from the Tools Palette.
3. Touch the fretboard on the string and fret you want entered into the score. When you release your finger, the pitch will be played and the tablature entered into the score at the Entry Cursor.
4. Repeat the process, changing rhythmic values as needed. If you need to enter a rest, you can use the Add Rest button located in the top-right corner of the panel which will insert a rest equal in value to the current note value. If you want to shift back to the previous beat position (for example, when creating a chord) use the Jump Back button located beside the Add Rest button.

Jump Back - Add Rest

There are 3 formats of tablatures available in NAPro and these are set using the radio buttons on the right side of the panel:

1. tablature number is centred on the staff line
2. tablature number erases the staff line under it
3. tablature number is placed above the string line
4. guitar fretboard is used to enter regular notes rather than tablature.

The 3 tablature formats can be seen below:

The Options button brings up a panel with some custom settings for tablature.

The 3 options for stems and beams are:

1. stems and beams draw up above the tablature.
2. stems and beams drawn down below the tablature
3. no stems and beams drawn

There is also an option for having stems extend down to the tablature number rather than being drawn to a fixed location above or below the staff.

Stems up

Stems down

No Stems

Extended Stems

The settings at sounding octave and notated octave up are used when entering regular notation using the Guitar Fretboard. At sound octave will have the notes enter on the staff at the sounding pitch (i.e. top string E will be on the bottom line of the treble clef) and notated 8ve up will have the top string E placed on the top space of the treble clef (as is customary for guitar notation).

The Choose Tablature Font button will bring up the Font panel so you can choose a different Tablature font. Normally a font size of 16 point fits well in a standard staff.

Entering Regular Notes with the Guitar Fretboard

If desired, you can enter regular notes with the Guitar Fretboard by selecting the 4th format button on the right side of the panel. Choose rhythmic values as you would for the Keyboard or for manual entry) and touch the fret you want entered into the score. The pitches will be transferred in the octave specified in the Options panel. Both staves in the example below were entered using the Guitar Fretboard:

Adding Other Guitar Notations

While it is not possible to slur tablature numbers using the Add Slur button, you can add graphical slurs and slide lines from the Graphics category:

In the example below, slurs and slides have been added using these tools.

See also

• Keyboard Entry
• Main Toolbar
• Tools Palette

© Keith A. Hamel 2013-2020 - All Rights Reserved