2.Example Mr Crowley organ intro

Written for gtrsnipe v0.2, whose mapper chose each chord's fingering greedily. Since v0.3.0 the default mapper optimizes the whole piece, so the tabs below come out differently today (about a third of the Mr Crowley fingerings change); add --optimizer greedy to reproduce them. The commands on this page are updated to today's -i/-o form, and their console output is left out.

Transcribing this organ intro for my classical guitar, where the "sweet spot" is lower on the neck:

$ gtrsnipe -i MrCrowleyOrganIntro.mid -o mrcrowley-organ.tab --track 5 --sweet-spot-high 8 --max-line-width 120

That command extracts track 5 (the organ track) from a multi-track MIDI file found on the Internet, prefers frets between open and 8th when mapping notes to frets, and outputs the measures up to 120 characters per line. Here's what the output looks like:

// Title: MrCrowley-OrganIntro
// Tempo: 120.0 BPM
// Time: 4/4
// Tuning: STANDARD

e|-------------------|-----------------------|--1----------------|--3--------------------|--5----------------|
B|--6----------------|--5--------------------|--1----------------|--5--------------1---p0|--5----------------|
G|--7----------------|--5--------------------|--2-----0---h2----4|--5--------------------|--5-----4---h5----7|
D|--7---------------5|--7--------------7---p5|--3----------------|--5-----5--------------|--7----------------|
A|--5-----7---h8-----|--7-----7--------------|--3----------------|--3---------3----------|--7----------------|
E|-------------------|--5---------5----------|--1----------------|-----------------------|--5----------------|

e|--7-------------|-------------1--|--3----1----0----1|--5-------------|----------------|-------------------|
B|--8-------------|-------------1--|--3----1----0----1|--6-------------|--5-------------|--6----------------|
G|--9-------------|--5-----7-------|------------------|--7-------------|--6-------------|--7----------------|
D|--9----9--------|--7-----8----3--|--5----3----2----3|--7-------------|--------3---p2--|--7---------------5|
A|--7---------7---|----------------|------------------|----------------|----------------|--5-----7---h8-----|
E|----------------|--5-----6----1--|--3----1----0----1|--5-------------|----------------|-------------------|

e|-----------------------|--1----------------|--3--------------------|--5----------------|--7-------------|
B|--5--------------------|--1----------------|--5--------------1---p0|--5----------------|--8-------------|
G|--5--------------------|--2-----0---h2----4|--5--------------------|--5-----4---h5----7|--9-------------|
D|--7--------------7---p5|--3----------------|--5-----5--------------|--7----------------|--9----9--------|
A|--7-----7--------------|--3----------------|--3---------3----------|--7----------------|--7---------7---|
E|--5---------5----------|--1----------------|-----------------------|--5----------------|----------------|

e|-------------1--|--3----1----0----1|--5-------------|----------------|
B|-------------1--|--3----1----0----1|--6-------------|--5-------------|
G|--5-----7-------|------------------|--7-------------|--6-------------|
D|--7-----8----3--|--5----3----2----3|--7-------------|----------------|
A|----------------|------------------|----------------|----------------|
E|--5-----6----1--|--3----1----0----1|--5-------------|----------------|

Note (v0.6.10): tab headers now give the tuning as notes, low string to high (// Tuning: E2,A2,D3,G3,B3,E4), and add a // Transcribed with: line holding the command.

--debug, with --optimizer greedy, can be used to show the scoring calculations to gain understanding of how your tweaks affect the results. (The default mapper doesn't log them.)

Effects of mapper tunables

--ignore-open can make a surprising amount of difference without having to tweak scoring weights. Compare the first few measures of MrCrowley from earlier:

Normal transcription:

e|-------------------|-----------------------|--1----------------|--3--------------------|--5----------------|
B|--6----------------|--5--------------------|--1----------------|--5--------------1---p0|--5----------------|
G|--7----------------|--5--------------------|--2-----0---h2----4|--5--------------------|--5-----4---h5----7|
D|--7---------------5|--7--------------7---p5|--3----------------|--5-----5--------------|--7----------------|
A|--5-----7---h8-----|--7-----7--------------|--3----------------|--3---------3----------|--7----------------|
E|-------------------|--5---------5----------|--1----------------|-----------------------|--5----------------|

with --ignore-open:

e|--1----------------|--0--------------------|--1----------------|--3--------------------|--5----------------|
B|--3----------------|--1--------------------|--1----------------|--5--------------1---p0|--5----------------|
G|--2----------------|--2--------------2---p0|--2-----0---h2----4|--5--------------------|--5-----4---h5----7|
D|--0-----2---h3----5|--2-----2--------------|--3----------------|--5-----5--------------|--7----------------|
A|-------------------|--0---------0----------|--3----------------|--3---------3----------|--7----------------|
E|-------------------|-----------------------|--1----------------|-----------------------|--5----------------|

Note (v0.6.10): with today's default mapper, 22 of the 70 chords and notes of this intro are fingered differently (8 of 70 with --ignore-open; counted on MIDI rebuilt from the tab above). --ignore-open still moves the opening D minor chord down to the open position.

When transcribing a bass part, pass the proper tuning and (optionally) the number of strings. Without these arguments, transcribing a bass part will work, but notes below the guitar's low E are dropped (--normalize-pitch moves them up by octaves instead) and the tab has six strings. You can simply pass the --bass option as a shortcut for 4-strings, standard bass tuning. Passing a --tuning BASS_* tuning will render your tab with four strings. For a 5-string bass, name the strings with --tuning-pitches B0,E1,A1,D2,G2.

$ gtrsnipe -i SmellsLikeTeenSpirit.mid --track 6 -o teenspirit-bass.tab --no-articulations --nudge 14 --tuning BASS_E_FLAT

$ cat teenspirit-bass.tab
// Title: SmellsLikeTeenSpirit
// Tempo: 120.0 BPM
// Time: 4/4
// Tuning (High to Low): Gb2 Db2 Ab1 Eb1

G|----------------|----------------|----------------|----------------|----------------|----------------|
D|----------------|----------------|----------------|----------------|----------------|----------------|
A|----------------|----------------|----------------|----------------|----------------|----------------|
E|----------------|----------------|----------------|----------------|----------------|----------------|

G|---------------------------------|---------------------------------|---------------------------------|
D|---------------------------------|---------------------------------|---------------------------------|
A|------------------------2---2----|------------------------5---5----|------------------------2---2----|
E|--2----2--2----2--2--2----------2|--5----5--5----5--5--5----------5|--2----2--2----2--2--2----------2|

G|---------------------------------|---------------------------------|---------------------------------|
D|---------------------------------|---------------------------------|---------------------------------|
A|------------------------5---5----|------------------------2---2----|------------------------5---5----|
E|--5----5--5----5--5--5----------5|--2----2--2----2--2--2----------2|--5----5--5----5--5--5----------5|

G|---------------------------------|---------------------------------|-------------------------------|
D|---------------------------------|---------------------------------|-------------------------------|
A|------------------------2---2----|------------------------5---5----|------------------2---2---2---2|
E|--2----2--2----2--2--2----------2|--5----5--5----5--5--5----------5|--2---2---2---2----------------|