This section covers differently strung guitars and string instruments
as well as non-standard tunings. Different tunings can be associated
with individual music staves and are therefore specified when calling
track().
Predefined tunings
The tuning argument to track accepts a variety of
predefined commonly used string tunings, defaulting to
standard. A table of 32 predefined tunings for various
instruments is available.
head(tunings)#> id value
#> 1 standard e,a,dgbe'
#> 2 seven b,,e,a,dgbe'
#> 3 dropD d,a,dgbe'
#> 4 dropC c,g,cfad'
#> 5 openG d,g,dgbd'
#> 6 openD d,a,df#ad'Arbitrary tunings
More importantly, track tuning can also be expressed using explicit
pitch for completely arbitrary tunings with any number of strings
(tabr technically supports up to seven strings as a general
rule). While the predefined set is convenient, it is not necessary to
use and this is where the use of alternate tunings really shines.
Any of the explicit tunings shown in the tunings table
can be supplied to track() exactly as shown instead of
using the given names, or any other explicit tuning. Tuning can be
provided using tick or integer octave numbering style.
When providing a tuning, names are checked first against the IDs in
tunings. If there is no match, it is assumed to be an
explicit tuning already. Some additional checks are performed to catch
common user errors in entering a tuning.
Tuning for a track defaults to standard tuning on a six string guitar. The following calls are equivalent and result in the same explicit tuning stored in each of the the track tables.
#> # A tibble: 1 × 7
#> phrase clef key tab tuning voice lyrics
#> <list> <chr> <chr> <lgl> <chr> <int> <chr>
#> 1 <phrase [1]> treble_8 NA TRUE e,a,dgbe' 1 NA
track(p1, tuning = "e2 a2 d g b e4")#> # A tibble: 1 × 7
#> phrase clef key tab tuning voice lyrics
#> <list> <chr> <chr> <lgl> <chr> <int> <chr>
#> 1 <phrase [1]> treble_8 NA TRUE e,a,dgbe' 1 NA
track(p1, tuning = "e, a, d g b e'")#> # A tibble: 1 × 7
#> phrase clef key tab tuning voice lyrics
#> <list> <chr> <chr> <lgl> <chr> <int> <chr>
#> 1 <phrase [1]> treble_8 NA TRUE e,a,dgbe' 1 NANumber of strings
While tabr has a focus on guitar tablature, it does
offer some built in support for string instruments more generally.
A convenient approach taken by tabr is that the number
of strings an instrument has, and in turn the number of horizontal lines
in a rendered tablature staff, is inferred directly from the explicit
tuning.
Take the predefined bass tuning (standard bass tuning)
or the explicit tuning it is converted to by track(), which
is e,, a,, d, g,. This is a tuning that specifies four
strings. This is all tabr needs to know and pass along to
LilyPond to yield a tablature staff with four staff lines as opposed to
the standard six line staff used for typical guitar tabs.
The next example shows three different tablature staves: six string guitar in standard tuning, four string bass in standard tuning, and just for illustration, a one string instrument tuning to the fourth octave C note.
guitar <- tuplet("e, a, d g b e'", 4)
bass <- p("e,, a,, d, g,", 4)
one_string <- p("c' d' e' f'", 4)
tracks <- trackbind(
track(guitar, clef = NA),
track(bass, clef = NA, tuning = "bass"),
track(one_string, clef = NA, tuning = "c'")
)
tracks#> # A tibble: 3 × 8
#> phrase clef key tab tuning voice lyrics id
#> <list> <chr> <chr> <lgl> <chr> <int> <chr> <int>
#> 1 <phrase [1]> NA NA TRUE e,a,dgbe' 1 NA 1
#> 2 <phrase [1]> NA NA TRUE e,,a,,d,g, 1 NA 2
#> 3 <phrase [1]> NA NA TRUE c' 1 NA 3
Notice that for tunings other than standard guitar, the default is to
show the note each string is tuned to at the start of the tablature
staff. These can be turning off in score() using
string_names = FALSE. For example, when making a pure bass
tab in standard tuning, you might opt to exclude this. There must still
be some familiarity with the instrument of course. In the case of the
made up one string instrument, no one would know which octave the open C
belongs to, but the person with such an instrument would surely know
what to expect.
Take another look at the same example, but this time including music
staves. Because of the different octave ranges of the different
instruments, it is best to use an appropriate clef. Recall the default
(used for guitar) is treble_8 because guitar is a
transposing instrument. Compare this with treble used for
the third instrument that is in a higher octave. These different
notations help prevent difficult to read transcriptions where the notes
go far above or below the staff lines.
tracks <- trackbind(
track(guitar),
track(bass, clef = "bass_8", tuning = "bass"),
track(one_string, clef = "treble", tuning = "c'")
)
tracks#> # A tibble: 3 × 8
#> phrase clef key tab tuning voice lyrics id
#> <list> <chr> <chr> <lgl> <chr> <int> <chr> <int>
#> 1 <phrase [1]> treble_8 NA TRUE e,a,dgbe' 1 NA 1
#> 2 <phrase [1]> bass_8 NA TRUE e,,a,,d,g, 1 NA 2
#> 3 <phrase [1]> treble NA TRUE c' 1 NA 3
Current limitations
Although tabr infers an instrument’s number of strings
from its tuning, there are limitations. Chord fretboard diagrams are
only supported for guitar, six string guitar specifically. If attempting
to pass four or five strings of information to chord_set()
for bass, ukulele or banjo for example, this will incompletely fill in a
six string guitar fretboard diagram in the chord chart of the output.
Similarly, if attempting to provide seven strings for a seven string
guitar, the chord chart will show the additional note, but it will be
floating to the side of the chart. A seventh string line is not added to
the diagram. Number of strings inferred from instrument tuning displays
in the tablature staff, but does not generalize to fretboard
diagrams.