Tablature settings

Both the Staff View Layout dialog box and the Tablature Settings dialog box create tablature settings for a whole track at a time. To modify tablature for selected parts of a track, select part of a track and use the Edit > Regenerate TAB command.

In the Staff View Layout dialog box you can choose a preset style of tablature by choosing from the Preset pop-up menu, or you can define your own style by clicking the Define button in the Staff View Layout dialog box to open the Tablature Settings dialog box.

To define a tablature style

1.	Click the Staff view Edit menu and choose Layout to open the Staff View Layout dialog box, then click the name of the track you want to define tablature for.

2.	Click the Define button (lower right corner).

The Tablature Settings dialog box appears.

3.	Click the Tablature tab and choose a tablature method from the Method drop-down list. There are three methods to determine how the TAB is displayed:

Floating. Which allows the notes to spread over the entire fretboard.

Fixed. This specifies where on the neck these notes should be played. When Fixed is selected the Finger span and Lowest fret fields are used together to define the “box” where the notes are displayed. The Finger span parameter determines how many consecutive frets will be used to display the note. For example, if Finger span is set to 4, then Sonar will attempt to place all the notes within those 4 frets. The Lowest Fret then determines where on the fretboard the notes will be displayed within the Finger span. The red box in the fretboard display changes to reflect the settings in these two parameters.

MIDI Channel. This uses the event's MIDI channel to determine which string the note should be displayed on. When MIDI Channel is selected, the user chooses which series of MIDI Channels should be considered. This is useful for MIDI guitarists that record parts in MONO mode, where each string transmits on a different MIDI channel. (Values: 1 - 11). Selecting 1 in the 1st Channel field will cause it to use MIDI channels 1 - 6, selecting 2, 2 - 7, and so on.)

Note: Select the Skip Channel 10 option if you are using a Yamaha G50 or other device which reserves channel 10.

4.	Type a number into the Number of Frets field. This determines how many frets the guitar has that the tab is based on.

5.	In the String Tuning fields, choose the instrument from the drop-down list and number of strings from the Number of Strings field.

The open string pitches for the instrument you choose automatically appear in the String Number fields below the drop-down list.

6.	Customize any of the open string pitches by using the + or - buttons on the String Number fields.

7.	Save your settings by typing a name into the Preset field at the top of the dialog box and clicking the disk icon next to it. You can remove presets from the list by clicking the X button next to the disk icon.

The next time you want to use these settings for a track, choose your Preset in the Staff View Layout dialog box from the Presets drop-down list.