Review: Guitar Pro

For guitarists (as musicians) there’s always been a need for a way to write music on computers. You probably find yourself in the same position- there are a million and one programs designed for “word-processing” (writing words), but very few seem to be created for “notation-processing” (writing out musical notation- yes, I made that word up), or “guitar-tab-processing”. Of the programs that are out there, not all of them are particularly user-friendly. Some even want you to almost program the score yourself as MIDI…

So I thought it was about time to find a decent, dedicated program for writing music!

What Do I Currently Use?

For the last 8 years or so, I’ve been creating guitar tab using Power Tab Editor, which- at first- was good enough for my needs. It’s not a bad little program and has the main advantage of being free (which is the first thing you consider when you’re a student!). Power Tab has features that enable you to write the tab for any stringed instrument (and if it doesn’t already exist in the program, you have the option to create it). I kid you not: I’ve even written violin “tab” using Power Tab Editor when I needed a violin part for a song!

I’m sure you’re starting to see the huge drawbacks of such a program: the whole thing is based on tablature, so you can’t really use it to write for any other instrument than guitars. So after a few years of using this program, I began to search for something that would enable me to write purely in standard notation (when I wanted other instruments- drums, piano, keyboards etc…). Also, Power Tab Editor can’t create drum tab- or any kind of percussion notation.

Standard Notation

You may have read my post on reading standard notation, in which I talk about how important it is to be able to read musical notation (even if you’re not fluent enough to “sight-read”). I’ve recently started using a program called MuseScore for most of my musical notation needs. The disadvantage here, however, is that it’s not built with guitarists in mind- so no guitar tab!

Why I like Guitar Pro

What you really need is a program that can create guitar (and bass) tab- with the corresponding  stave, notate chords for guitar, write scores for keyboards, and write out drum parts. After trying the trial version of Guitar Pro, I think I’ve found such a program.

At first, I thought I would try Guitar Pro because so many tab sites on the Internet seem to prefer it, but after trying it I can see why they like it. The stave is much clearer than in Power Tab Editor, and more musical symbols are available (such as legato marks for hammer-ons etc,). In fact the music score can be read if you take the tab away (something that isn’t true of other programs).

There are also options to write for guitars, basses, drums, and keyboards! Which is everything you need really, because under “keyboards and synthesizers” you have the option of creating a single-line stave (as in, just treble clef), and it allows you to label it whatever you want (therefore you can theoretically write parts for any instrument!). Guitar Pro also has the ability to export to many different formats, including MIDI, and .pdf- which is a huge bonus if you want to print out/distribute your music over the Internet to people without Guitar Pro.

What I didn’t like…

One of the few downsides to Guitar Pro is that it’s almost trying too hard. There is a whole part of it dedicated to creating realistic guitar sounds, which is really the job of a MIDI sequencer or synth. The idea that you can write out a tab and arrange what guitar effects you want and hear them played back to you is fun…but it’s really unnecessary…

You can, however, use Guitar Pro’s realistic midi sounds to create backing tracks. Watch this video for a more on creating your own backing tracks.

Overall Value

I would say that Guitar Pro is definitely worth it- even if it does try to do more than it should. It’s also a great tool for learning the guitar, learning songs or musical notation because you get to see the song played right in front of you. There is also a chord-finder tool (for creating chord diagrams) and when you add a chord to a guitar part the chord is automatically tabbed out (once you’ve added the chord diagram), which can help you to learn chord shapes.

Overall, Guitar Pro is well worth the $59.95 price tag (about £40, or 47 euros…currently…). Visit their site here.

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Rob.

May 6, 2010 at 11:00 pm | Reviews | 4 comments

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