Showing note value in tabs

[catatonic]

Hi!

I am writing guitar tabs, no notation staff above, just the tabs.

I have the stems showing, offset from the notehead, everything is the way I want it except for one thing: how do I show the half-note and whole-note values? Right now, the stem for the half-note is no different than the one for the quarter note. There is a stem, nothing else. And the whole-note, obviously, doesn't have a stem.

As with anything else on Finale, I'm sure there are several options. A circle around the tab numbers? For single notes, that might work, but what about chords? Or some setting I am not aware of? I have made adjustments to staff settings in the staff attributes, but I didn't see anything that relates to notehead values or note duration.

I am using Finale 2011 , Mac OS 10.10.3 Yosemite

[Peter Thomsen]

… A circle around the tab numbers? For single notes, that might work…

Indeed.
See the attached Finale 2011 document where the circle is a shape articulation.

GranVals2011.mus.zip

(5.91 KiB) Downloaded 164 times

You can save this solution as a library, and load the library into your template(s) and documents.

… but what about chords? …

For a chord consider using one tall ellipse around all the tab numbers.

[catatonic]

Thanks Peter,

How would I draw the ellipse? Would you still use the articulation designer for that? I guess you'd need several different ellipses, since some chords have 3,4 or 5 notes. etc.

And how do I save the articulation from your document as a library to import in my document? Will I loose other articualtions I'm already using in my document if I use this method?

Thanks!

[Peter Thomsen]

… How would I draw the ellipse? Would you still use the articulation designer for that? …

Yes, I would still use the Articulation Designer for that.
And I would still use the Shape Designer to create the shape.
And I would still use the Shape Designer’s sub-tool Ellipse Tool - the circle was created as a “special ellipse”.

… I guess you'd need several different ellipses, since some chords have 3,4 or 5 notes. etc. …

You would need several different ellipses.
Not because “some chords have 3,4 or 5 notes”, but because chords span 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6 strings.

… how do I save the articulation from your document as a library to import in my document? …

1) Open my document “GranVals2011.mus”.

File menu > Save Library…

In the dialog box Save Library, select “Articulations”, and click OK.

Give your new library a name and a place to live.

2) To load a library into a document:
Open the document.
File menu > Load Library…

… Will I loose other articulations I'm already using in my document, if I use this method? …

No.
The loaded articulation library will be added to the bottom of the Articulation Selection dialog box.

[catatonic]

Done! Thanks for your help!