Musical Practice and Performance Stack Exchange
Musical Practice and Performance Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [abc-notation]

For questions related to the shorthand system of music notation known as ABC notation. Questions may also necessitate the notation and/or engraving tags.

ABC notation is a programming language for engraving sheet music pdfs, and generating midi files.

There are many programs that can compile ABC notation, several of which are free. ABC is designed to be relatively simpler to learn.

ABC was originally designed for typesetting folk music, and is appropriate for transcribing melodies, lyrics, as well as chord and percussion accompaniments. Scores with multiple voices and instruments across various staves is certainly possible, but becomes quite cumbersome rather quickly.

ABC notation will compile (with ABCjs) on the SE: Music Practice & Theory site, but sometimes has issues. Try it out here:
jTab and ABCjs Formatting Sandbox

For more information see:
https://abcnotation.com

The manual for ABC 2 can be found at:
http://abcplus.sourceforge.net/#ABCGuide

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What are the limitations of the ABC notation format?

This question came up in a discussion on Meta, and I thought it might be a good question to ask on the general site. ABC notation is a relatively simple text-based format for writing music scores and sharing them online. It was originally written…
Caleb Hines
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How do I notate sharps in ABC notation?

I'm trying to convert the dozenal representation of tau (=2*pi) to a series of notes. I was trying to use ABC notation, but I don't know how to indicate sharps or flats. I'd like to use a notation as simple as ABC, then convert to a MusicXML file…
Tin Man
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Rendering 8va and 8vb with Abc notation?

I'm writing up a sheet of music for bass guitar in Abc notation and I'm getting irritated by having to type so many commas to place the notes in the range of the bass. Is there any way to set the octave (have an octave displacement apply to every…
luser droog
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can ABC notate multiple chords over a single held note?

In ABC notation, is there a way to notate a long held note with multiple guitar chords? The naive approach "F" "D7" "F#dim" C8- | produces this, which isn't right The obvious approach of splitting up the long note "F" C4- "D7" C2- "F#dim" C2- |…
Kevin G.
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Notation: grace note played on the beat with a chord

I want to write a four note chord in which three notes are held but one note is played and released very quickly. The extra note is played on the beat with the rest of the chord so is not an acciaccatura or appoggiatura. How should I notate this? …
Bob says reinstate Monica
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Beam break and rest height problems in ABCjs

In the below ABCjs sample: X: 1 T: Symphony No. 7 C: Gustav Mahler (1860-1911) R: Langsam (Adagio) M: 4/4 L: 1/4 K: Bm [F,^G,B,D]/z//[F,G,B,D]///[F,G,B,D]/// [F,G,B,D]/z//[F,G,B,D]///[F,G,B,D]/// !///![F,G,B,D]2 | How can I make both the note…
pr1268
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How do I draw ghost notes in ABC notation?

Fairly straightforward question. I can't seem to find it in the standard or the docs. Perhaps it's just a matter of terminology. Basically, what I'm looking for is this: Or, more precisely, the ghost notes as written down for drums - a note head in…
Alen Siljak
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How can I render "uneven" tuplets in ABC notation?

I understand how to create "normal" tuplets in ABC: for example, where a triplet contains three notes, or a quintuplet contains five notes. X:1 T:"Normal" Tuplets M:2/4 L:1/16 K:none (3A2A2A2 (5AAAAA But I can't figure out how to do it if I want,…
Aaron
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abc notation : different chords sounding exactly the same

This is my small music piece (ABC notation): X:3 T: part one M:4/4 L:1/8 K:C Q:120 C:LB |: [^F^c]5 [^G^d]5 [^Gc]5 [^G^c]5 :| The problem is that when I play this (I'm using EasyABC), the two last chords sound exactly the same. (c…
user13623
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How to notate alternate/secondary melody in ABC

I'm not able to find any indication that you can do this in ABC, and I was able to use a couple of Ideographic Space characters in the lyrics to make it kinda work and get the lyrics to align, but thought I'd ask anyway. Is there a way to notate the…
Kevin G.
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Cheat sheet for music theory - where can I find it?

Is there a downloadable cheat sheet for music theory? (about basic terms and nomenclatura) Edit: ... as basic information for absolute beginners, like I gave to pupils of secondary school. Maybe for different levels like high-school, too. e.g.…
Albrecht Hügli
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Note Positioning: .abc files and note length

Sequel to this question... sorta: Understanding MIDI Files I'm using Starbound Composer to directly edit a .midi file. I'm not really sure if it's .abc or .midi that's the main focus here. BGM ~ The Tank Girl's Dream Okay, so anyone who's played the…
Nefer007
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How to notate single-line percussion staff using ABC notation?

I want to have this effect by using ABC notation: In LilyPond, I can use \new RhythmicStaff to create such a staff. What's the equivalent in ABC notation?
Ulysses Zhan
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Display chord chart (just symbols) like lyrics for music files (mp3 etc)?

Summary: Is there a way to display chord symbols in music players (software apps) ? Like .srt files for movie subtitles or .lrc for music lyrics, isn't there a format or alternative for chords ? Details & Usage: Lyrics / subtitles support is now…
deryb
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