Guitar Pro 5.2???

[Axolotl Bass]

Please forgive me if I'm posting this in the wrong place. I'm a newb here, although I've had a bit of experience with computers...like since 1966.

I'm a retired old fart who's decided (after almost 60 years of consuming oxygen) to learn the bass. (Might as well, both my sons have master's degrees in music.) I've had my Ibanez's for a couple of years but hadn't made a whole lot of progress until the last few months. Lotta reasons for that, but let it suffice to say that I had other things to deal with (like severe heart trouble and a divorce.) But things have settled down now and I think I've made great strides in making an old dog learn new tricks. But I wanna move forward.

So I bought Guitar Pro 5.2 recently and frankly, I don't think it's as great a program as the seller describes it. (I wrote end-user software for years and years...I think I have a handle on what should work.) But it's what I've got.

So...is there a GP forum somewhere or a proper sub-forum in this group that's dedicated to or good for GP questions?

And finally, I'd just love to find a bass tab for "Song For Sonny Liston" by Mark Knopfler. Kool song, but the bass seems undefined in the mix. Any help?

Thanks in advance,

Axolotl

[santucci218]

hmm. best site i know for guitar pro songs is www.ultimate-guitar.com

this forum is fine for posting guitar pro in btw. welcome to talkbass!

[DeanT]

There are a bunch of GP tab sites here and here.

I have GP 5 also and hate it. In fact, I couldn't get it to work on my Mac. I even downloaded the update and it won't work either. It's unfortunate because the GP tabs are pretty good.

I use Tux Guitar, which reads GP tabs and does the same thing. And it's free for the Mac.

[Axolotl Bass]

Originally Posted by santucci218

hmm. best site i know for guitar pro songs is www.ultimate-guitar.com

this forum is fine for posting guitar pro in btw. welcome to talkbass!

Thanks for the welcome, Paul. I'm continuing my search and UG is one of the places I'm digging through.

Happy Holly-daze

Axolotl

[Axolotl Bass]

Originally Posted by DeanT

There are a bunch of GP tab sites here and here.

I have GP 5 also and hate it. In fact, I couldn't get it to work on my Mac. I even downloaded the update and it won't work either. It's unfortunate because the GP tabs are pretty good.

I use Tux Guitar, which reads GP tabs and does the same thing. And it's free for the Mac.

Thanks for the links. I'm checkin 'em out.

I've been able to make GP work in a Windoze XP environment, but there are some real shortcomings. As I wrote, I've written software for a lotta years and know a bit about user interfaces and useability issues. There are some real glaring issues that I haven't found answers to yet (that's one of the BIG issues: poor documentation) but I'll keep at it.

I looked into Tux Guitar and looks like a viable alternative. I'll install it and check it out. I'm not crazy about Java-based applications because of the interpretation overhead, but if it works, it works.

I spose the other alternative would be to get off my butt and put a linux desktop together, since I have a few computers sitting around since I consolidated my file servers into one box. We'll see.

Thanks again,

Axolotl

[warnergt]

Guitar Pro 5.2 works well for me. I've used it on both Mac and Windows. Can you be more specific about what problems you are experiencing?

The best part about Guitar Pro is the abundance of guitar tablature -- more specifically, entire tunes with music for all of the instruments -- which you can play along with, modify, print out and even export as MIDI. The not so good part is that I find the bass lines are often very inaccurate. It is geared much more toward guitarists than bassists.

While I have used Guitar Pro, I much prefer Logic Pro which is a Mac only application and costs a lot more. I think it would be hard to touch Guitar Pro for the price.

I wrote a little about the two (Guitar Pro and Logic Pro) in this thread:
bass practice software similar to Fender B-DEC 30

[pedroims]

what I do is get the tabs from ultimate guitar, then I look for a video in youtube, there are many good bass players that upload their videos to show how to play a song.

[Axolotl Bass]

Originally Posted by warnergt

Guitar Pro 5.2 works well for me. I've used it on both Mac and Windows. Can you be more specific about what problems you are experiencing?

There are several issues that individually aren't show-stoppers but combine to make it "less than optimal." For example, there's no way to define a default instrument. Since I don't play a 6-string guitar, I'd like the ability to have the program to start up with a finger-style bass as the first track, with a 4-string fretboard and a bass clef displayed...or whatever instrument I might choose as default.

Another issue is setting the track properties. It requires 2 steps to change the default 6-string acoustic to a 4-string electric bass. Imo, this should be accessible from a context (right-click) menu with all of the track properties displayed in a single modal window...perhaps with a tabbed notebook style of dialog.

One other issue is the method of deleting a bar. Using the Windows (I run XP pro) clipboard copy/cut/paste functions isn't very intuitive. I don't see why I can't highlight a bar and have a menu or context menu option to delete the selected bar...or even use the Delete key for cryin out loud.

Then there's no way to have the "cursor" automatically move to the next beat after entering a note. I can understand this for 6-string tracks, but for bass notation or tab entry, there's generally just one note per beat. Perhaps this could be a track property so that lead guitar would stay on the beat while bass would automatically advance.

The tablature import is pretty weak, although it's a very nice feature to have at all. When I first attempted it, I expected to see a file selection dialog, not a copy/paste dialog. If I'd written the program, I would have allowed the user to select a file for importing, then import the file and show its content in an edit box. I'd also add some sort of validation checking as part of the import process.

The "red bar" error indication could be improved on. If the program knows there's a problem with the bar, the reason for the error could (and should) be displayed such as "only 7 beats - 8 required" or something like that.

I could keep going, but I'll stop here.

The best part about Guitar Pro is the abundance of guitar tablature -- more specifically, entire tunes with music for all of the instruments -- which you can play along with, modify, print out and even export as MIDI. The not so good part is that I find the bass lines are often very inaccurate. It is geared much more toward guitarists than bassists.

I agree that the program is much more oriented toward the guitar rather than for the bass. And yeah, the availability of complete song tablature with many instruments is very nice. I also agree that many of the bass lines I've found aren't too accurate.

While I have used Guitar Pro, I much prefer Logic Pro which is a Mac only application and costs a lot more. I think it would be hard to touch Guitar Pro for the price.

Tux Guitar is a decent open-source program as well. If I'd found it before GP, I probably wouldn't have spent the money on GP. $60 isn't an outrageous price, but free is better. TG won't read GP5 files, though. This is another problem area with GP. One could argue that it looks like the reason for changing file formats is to prevent users from choosing TP rather than GP. It sure wouldn't be the first time that technique has been used. Microsoft is far and away the biggest "offender" (if one chooses to see it that way) in format changing. Just look at all the different spreadsheet file formats and the changes from version to version. That just about drove me nuts while writing a spreadsheet import program. And the method of saving a file in GP4 format should be in the "Save As" context menu rather than the "export" menu...at least that's the way I see it.

I wrote a little about the two (Guitar Pro and Logic Pro) in this thread:
bass practice software similar to Fender B-DEC 30

Logic Pro looks like a very nice program. The $500 price tag isn't very attractive, tho. It appears to be clearly directed at professional musicians rather than recreational users like me.

[warnergt]

Apple sells Logic Express for $199. An education discount can take that even lower. Logic Express has most of the capabilities of Logic Pro. Odds are that you won't care about the features you don't get.

[Axolotl Bass]

Well, if I ran a Mac, I'd give it a shot. Although I seriously considered it when I did my last upgrade, I chose to stay in the Linux/Windows world. I prefer Linux, but my main workstation runs XP. (I chose it based on the fact that I could get XP instead of Vista.)

So I'll run what I can. But as you can see from my list, there are a lot of things I don't like about GP. Some of them may seem petty, but it probably comes from a career in the computer field.

[bullshark]

Why not write your own Axolotl Bass? If I go by my own experience, there is a market for it. I must have tried all the notation programs currently available, each more annoying than the next. GuitarPro is the one that annoys me the least, but as you accurately pointed out, it also is full of idiosyncrasies (hey, it is made by the French ).

[James Banner]

To be fair, I think Guitar Pro 5 is great once you get used to it. If you get a red bar error, just look at the bottom of the page and it'll say maybe, for example: 4.250 : 4.000 which means you have an extra semi-quaver in the bar etc.

The reason most tabs aren't accurate is because most people who tab on GP5 tab for guitar, and maybe don't pay much attention to the bass, often the reason that tabs on www.ultimate-guitar.com suck (most of the time).

GP5 is really useful when it comes to transcribing things. I've transcribed Adam Nitti's Skitzo (from Balance) up until 1:10, and just started to transcribe Yin & Yang for my band. It's also good for writing songs, since you have the ability to put almost any instrument onto the stave.

One thing I have noticed, however, is if you put in a custom tuning like a 5 string bass tuned EADGC (I call it tenor) rather than BEADG, the stave will display the notes incorrectly. E.g. If you put a C note on the 3rd fret of the A string on my custom "tenor" tuning, GP5 will display it as a G on the stave as though the note is on the 3rd fret of the E string. But if you use normal tunings, it seems to work ok.

James

[neurotictim]

I have played with GP5 quite a bit, and I think you can fix that (or work around it) by transcribing your work for a "normal" bass staff, then selecting a different tuning (or instrument.) If I remember correctly, it'll ask if you want to transpose to the "new" tuning.

[Axolotl Bass]

Originally Posted by bullshark

Why not write your own Axolotl Bass? If I go by my own experience, there is a market for it. I must have tried all the notation programs currently available, each more annoying than the next. GuitarPro is the one that annoys me the least, but as you accurately pointed out, it also is full of idiosyncrasies (hey, it is made by the French ).

My days of software development are behind me. I'm retired and I intend to stay that way.

Your point about idiosyncrasies is well taken. If it comes down to a question of choosing the least irritating program, I'd say that GP probably comes out on top...at least of those that I've tried. But that's sorta like saying that I prefer to have dental work done after drinking a pint of whiskey as opposed to no anesthetic at all (and I don't drink anymore.)

However, since I bought GP, I'll use it and hope that forthcoming versions address some of the issues that I listed (and I only did so in response to warner gt's question.)

Back on the subject of Suzie Q, I've been able to make some progress on it. I guess the part that is giving me the most trouble is that there are two parts to "part one" and two parts to "part two." When I can keep that straight in my head, I can do fairly well. I guess the saying about teaching old dogs new tricks has some truth to it. But I haven't given up yet. I probably don't have the sense to know when to quit.