What does a guitarist need from a music stand?
A guitarist's hands are both on the instrument, and a page turn means letting go of a chord or a picking pattern. Tab makes it worse: the line is long, the pattern repeats, and losing your place for a bar is easy.
There is also the matter of formats. Guitar music comes as Guitar Pro files, plain text tabs, chord sheets, lead sheets and PDFs, and most readers handle only one of them.
Which guitar formats does SheetScroll open?
- Guitar Pro files, with their tab and notation.
- Text tabs you copy from the web or write yourself.
- Chord charts with lyrics lined up over the chords.
- PDFs and photos of paper music, including tab books, shown exactly as printed.
- MusicXML, MuseScore, MIDI, ABC, MEI and Humdrum, if a piece comes that way.
Add them from Files, a whole folder, or by scanning pages with the camera. The help page on import formats lists each one.
How do chord charts work for a singer-guitarist?
Open a chart and change it to fit the night. Transpose to the key you sing in. Set a capo, and the shapes change while the sounding key stays. Or switch to Nashville numbers if the band calls songs that way.
These chart tools are free. Setlists are free too, so a gig is one list: each song opens in order, and it listens by itself when you start playing.
How does it turn pages while you play guitar?
SheetScroll follows guitar, tab included, through the microphone. It turns two beats before the end of the page, not on a timer. If you stop to retune or restart a solo, it waits.
Guitar music repeats itself. The verse riff returns in the chorus, and a bridge may echo an intro. When two passages sound alike, SheetScroll holds the page and outlines the places it is choosing between. Play on and it settles, or tap the bar you are on.
Sound is analyzed on the device and never recorded, stored or sent. It works offline, in a practice room or on a stage with no signal.
How should a guitarist set up the stand?
- Put the device where it hears the guitar, not behind your amp. A music stand at head height is ideal.
- Add a Bluetooth page-turn pedal if you like a foot on it. It works alongside listening, and a press tells SheetScroll where you are.
- Use line-by-line or half-page view for long tab, so the next line shows before the last one ends.
- Mark a tricky fingering with the pencil. The mark stays with its bar in every view.
What is free for guitarists, and what is Pro?
Free: the reader, all formats, chord charts with capo and transpose, setlists, annotations, pedal or tap turns, and the guitar course. Its pieces listen and turn without Pro.
Pro lets SheetScroll listen to your own tab and charts and turn them for you. It is $5.99 a month, $29.99 a year or $79.99 once.
Questions
Does SheetScroll open Guitar Pro files?
Yes. It opens Guitar Pro, along with text tabs, chord charts, PDFs, photos and scans, MusicXML, MuseScore, MIDI, ABC, MEI and Humdrum.
Can it follow me on an acoustic or electric guitar?
It follows guitar, tab included, through the microphone. Place the device where it hears you clearly.
Can I change the key and use a capo on a chart?
Yes. Transpose it, set a capo, or show Nashville numbers. The lyrics stay lined up with the chords.
What if the chorus and the verse sound the same?
It holds the page and outlines the places it is choosing between. Keep playing or tap the bar, and it picks up.
Is there a guitar course?
Yes. A free guitar course of public-domain pieces in teaching order is built in, and its pieces listen and turn without Pro.
Related
- BandsPlay together: one device listens and every band member's pages turn with it over Wi-Fi. Setlists, chord charts in any key and Nashville numbers.
- Church musiciansKeep a service in order, follow every repeat and D.S. through the verses, and put chord charts in the singers' key. Free reader, hands-free turns with Pro.
- Singers and choirsTurn pages while you sing or lead a choir. SheetScroll follows voice, shows chord charts and lyrics in any key, and lets a choir's pages turn together.
- BeginnersEight free courses for piano, guitar, violin, cello, flute, clarinet, sax and trumpet. The pieces listen and turn the page as you play, with no Pro needed.
- GuitarFifteen free, public-domain classical guitar pieces in order, from strings 1 and 2 to Sor. They listen and turn pages without Pro.
- How to read guitar tabsRead guitar, bass and ukulele tab: what the lines and numbers mean, hammer-ons, slides and bends, why rhythm is missing, and how tab differs from notation.
- Tuning your instrumentStandard tunings for guitar, bass, ukulele, violin, viola, cello and more, how to use a tuner or tune by ear, how winds and brass tune, and A440 vs 442.
- Automatic page turnersEvery way to turn sheet music pages hands-free, from pedals to apps that listen, with the pros and cons of each and how a listening page turner decides.
- Bluetooth page turn pedalsHow a Bluetooth page-turn pedal works, how to pair it with iPad, Android, Windows or Mac, which mode to pick, and notes on AirTurn, PageFlip and Donner.
- Opening music filesSheetScroll opens PDFs, photos, MusicXML, MuseScore, Guitar Pro, MIDI, ABC, chord charts and more. How to add them, and pair a scan with a digital copy.
- Page turning appsSheet music apps that turn pages by listening (SheetScroll, Newzik, Smartleggio) or by face and eye gestures (forScore, MobileSheets, SightTune).