Musescore
In another subforum, I mentioned Musescore, a free software program that creates sheet music. I first started using it several years ago when my daughter was in a school band and had some really poorly copied sheet music. I also used it to transpose music from one instrument (clarinet) to another (alto saxophone). My main use has been to write horn charts for a band I'm in. It's very convenient to have sheet music in electronic format when the singer decides to change the key or a trumpet player starts playing a part written for another instrument.
I think David uses Sibelius or Finale to generate his sheet music. They're the industry leaders, but they cost money.
The usual knock on Musescore is the learning curve. It took a while, but I'm pretty efficient with it. At this point, I wouldn't switch to Sibelius or Finale (even if they were free). I know my way around it, and it does what I want.
I don't write too much sheet music for harmonica. But, Musescore does have a tab generator "plug in." The format is similar to David's (tab underneath standard notation). You would write the standard notation first and then direct the program to add the tab.
The program generates the tab automatically, based on the standard notation. You'd start with a score in standard notation and add the tab via a pull-down menu. You can select a wide range of keys (low G to high G) and a decent range of harmonicas. The only chromatic is "standard," which I assume to mean 12 hole.
The result is pretty close to what David produces (+ for blow, - for draw, o for overblows, apostrophes for bends). The tab only shows pitch. Anything else would need to be shown in the notation itself. I bought your Dummies book before I joined this site, and I always liked the arrows. But I've gotten used to the + and - approach.
Just started playing around with MuseScore recently and was having a look at the Harmonica Tablature plugin.
I managed to edit the plugin file so the tab more closely resembles the sheet music David produces, (+ after the hole number for blow, only the hole number for draw)
Modified the section for Standard Richter tuning, lines 141-144 in file "harmonica_tablature.qml". (MuseScore 2 plugin). I saved it as a different file name that way you can run it alongside the original plugin if you like.
I'm no expert on this type of stuff, just having a tinker.
Have been using Musescore to modify songs to learn simple songs as I am level 1 on harmonica but play other instruments and I am fairly experienced with Musescore for arranging. I noticed that Dave transposes up an octave to find holes that don't require bending and then transposes the notes down an octave but the harmonica tab doesn't change. That was very helpfull. When I can bend I will change it but for now it is a good way to figue out songs that you can play depending on your level.
I then convert to midi and import midi to the melody track in Band In A Box to make my own backing tracks. After you know the key you can add the chords and you can generate a rather realistic backing track with real band styles. Then you can mute the melody and render it to mp3 for a backing track or keep the melody unmuted but turn down the vol for a play along track. While I am begining I keep my tracks to one chorus as I don't have textures and styles in my arsonal yet. As I get better I will expand the backing tracks according to my capabilities.
I've got 2 open pull requests with the creator of the plugin (hopefully they will be incorporated soon).
The first addition adds unvalved PowerDraw and PowerBender tunings.
The second lets you select which breath indicators to display (draw, blow, or both) and which side of the hole number those indicators will be placed (left like the current plugin, or right like David's scores).
To get scores like the ones David makes here at bluesharmonica.com, select "Blow only" and "Right" placement.
While the PR is under review, you can access my fork here: https://github.com/fahall/harmonica_tablature
Now if only I could get musescore's slash noteheads for pulls to look nice...
oops... double post.
Alex,
I've only been using MuseScore for a couple days, but I was able to create pull slash notation very similar to David's by using the Inspector to change the Note Headgroup to "Slash" and checking the "Small" checkbox.
John
Thank you so much John!
I've been using those slashes, but I had not seen the "Small" checkbox. These look so much better now!
Does the program generate the tab automatically, or do you enter it?
By the way, I created two tab fonts, one for diatonic and one for chromatic, for use on the lyric line in notation programs:
http://winslowyerxa.com/articles/hip-the-harmonica-information-publicati...