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Topic: comping slashes (Read 7280 times) previous topic - next topic

comping slashes

I write for a salsa band. In some of the extended improvisation sections, my piano and bass players are accustomed to seeing four slashes per bar that mean "comp," which means play a more or less pre-established pattern over the chords given under the staff. For midi playback I write out the pattern, but for printing I want to hide the notes (not the bar lines) and replace them with these 4 slashes per measure. I tried using the Boxmarks font to produce the slashes as text, but I can't get them to fit reliably between the bar lines, as the bar lines seem to get squeezed when the notes between them are hidden. Is there a good way to get this effect?

Re: comping slashes

Reply #1 –
Ted,
making one text item with '////' (in boxmarks or boxmark2 font) will make slashes to be too far away;
making 4 text items (preserve width off) of a single '/' will show only 3 of them if they are placed one each before a quarter. (the first one is on the same location than the second)
However, if the first quarter is replaced by dotted eight plus a 16th rest, with the '/' between them, then it works.
It may not be a solution in any case though.
I'll add the '////' symbol as a single character in a new version of boxmark2, which should solve your problem, but I can't do this before next week.
An example of what I just wrote is available here soon.
HTH!

Re: comping slashes

Reply #2 –
Marsu, you are a genius. Thanks. I await your new font release eagerly.
Ted

Re: comping slashes

Reply #3 –
For “comping” slashes, I use a quarter rest which has been
highlighted in white and set below the staff (so that it
doesn’t “wite-out” parts of the staff), with the / from
boxmark2 aligned at the next note and center-justified.
This keeps the measure from becoming squooshed.
If more than one chord change is in the measure, I can
expand the size of the measure simply by changing the
quarter rests to dotted- or double-dotted-quarter rests,
or even halfs. If I need to fit eight eight measures (or
more) per line and there are fewer chord changes, I change
the quarter rests to eights (or smaller, if necessary).

If Marsu adds //// to the font, /// will be needed as well,
for use in waltzes and other three-four charts.

Re: comping slashes

Reply #4 –
With this method, can you still have invisible notes playing in the piano part? I find myself having to write out the comping that I want for playback AND print the part with slashes.

Re: comping slashes

Reply #5 –
The hidden staff will still align properly with the visual
staff, as long as I leave the rests as quarters and don't
have to adjust them to fit on the page.

Re: comping slashes

Reply #6 –
Well, I'll take the "///" request with the "////" symbol as well.
Hope I'll have some time for this very soon :)

Re: comping slashes

Reply #7 –
Finally, I decided not to create /// nor //// symbols: why not create // or ///// or /////// symbols, in that case, for measures having 2, 5 or 7 beats?
Instead, I changed the space taken after the existing char 0047 (/) so you can write them together in a single text item. Much more effective and simpler, and it lets you choose how many /es you want :)
Boxmark2 will be updated on the scriptorium within some days.
STH!

Re: comping slashes

Reply #8 –
The method I use can be a little time consuming, but ensures evenly spaced "comping slashes"; first I create a stave and insert the clef, and time and key signatures. Then I enter 4 semiquavers - sorry, 16ths, for those across the pond - which I make invisible by checking the "never" option in the visibility dialogue box.These can be on any note, though for convenience, I usually enter them as a G; it doesn't make any difference if the notes are "beamed" or not. Then I insert a slash before the first of these 16ths using either "page title text", or for preference, a user font set to boxmarks, size 14 or 16.In "expression placement", "staff position" should be set to 0, "preserve width" left blank, and "alignment" set to "next bar/note". Copy the resulting group 3 times (or twice if in 3/4 time), then insert a bar line. Then copy the resulting bar as many times as there are bars in the song. Next, I create another new stave, again containing bars of 4 goups of 4 invisible 16th notes, this time without the slashes. Now I enter the chord names in the appropriate places on this stave. You can do this as quickly as you like and do not need to worry if they are aligned or not at this stage. Using groups of 16ths usually means that there is enough space to enter chord names with even quite long extensions (eg: C#7(-9))without the chords clashing on the printed stave, though in extremis you can increase the note spacing of the following invisible 16ths if necessary. Now I select the whole stave and set expression placement to common parameters for the whole stave - eg, staff position at 11 or 12, preserve width off, and alignment at "next bar/note".Then I layer the 2 staves and, hey presto, a professional looking and evenly spaced chord score. As a refinement, if there are any "pushed" chords, you can show them by using visible beamed quavers (8th notes)highlighted in white, as the beams still show. (One of my wishes is for stems that show for all white notes, whether beamed or not). It is necessary to make the comping slashes on the other stave invisible when these 8th notes occur.If you intend to listen to the results, both satves need to be "muted" and a third, invisible, stave containing your actual guitar track is required. After a little practice with this method, I find I can score a guitar part for a whole song in no time at all.
 

Re: comping slashes

Reply #9 –
Yes, this works well, except for the layering part.
Layering two staves so that they look like one
results in a bar line at the left end of the staff,
which does not belong there, and is one of the reasons
I use NoteWorthy to begin with.
(All of the programs I saw prior to my getting NoteWorthy
had the “initial bar line” with no way to remove it.)
This problem is unnoticeable in scores, but shows up
in single-line parts.
[A new thread, maybe?]