Contents

Installation
Overview -Tutorial
Description of the Program
Pull Down Menus
File Menu
Options Menu
Categories Menu
Play Menu
Help Menu

Music Notation and Guitar Tablature
Print Options

Patch Changes
MIDI Driver Setup Dialog Box
General Settings Dialog Box
Midi Settings Dialog Box
Guitar Settings Dialog Box
Trivia Quiz
Biographies
Setting up Sound/MIDI Driver
Keystroke ShortCuts

PG Music Info
Other PG Music Products
CompuServe Support

For Help on Help, Press F1


Installation

There are different versions of the Guitarist Program

For example there is "The Jazz Guitarist" and "The Classical Guitarist". Since the operation of the Programs are identical, we refer to any version as "The Guitarist". Although not essential - we recommend that you store the different versions of the program in different subdirectories (eg. C:\JAZZGUIT for "The Jazz Guitarist" and C:\CLASSGUI for "The Classical Guitarist")

To install the program into Windows 3.1 .

Insert "The Guitarist for Windows" Disk #1 into your floppy drive.
Choose File | Run from the Program Manager screen
type A:INSTALL  (from Windows)

( if your floppy drive is B: then type B:INSTALL instead )
This will copy all of the Guitarist for Windows files to the Guitarist subdirectory .

Before you run the Program

1. Make sure that you have already installed your driver for your sound card (SCC1/SoundBlaster etc.) or MIDI card (MPU401, MQX, SC-7, etc.) into the Windows Control Panel -Drivers Program . See Appendix A (page 36 )for instructions .

Running the Program from the Program Manager

Double Click the Left Mouse Button on the Guitarist ICON , or Press the ENTER key (after moving the blue highlighted bar to the Guitarist ICON ). The Guitarist program will then load.

Selecting Your Sound or MIDI Driver

THE FIRST TIME THAT YOU RUN THE PROGRAM, the program will start up with a Dialog Box for you to choose the sound card or MIDI driver that you want to use:
YOU MUST SELECT AN OUTPUT DRIVER TO USE:
- The Guitarist will play the music using the driver you specify here.
OPTIONALLY SELECT AN INPUT DRIVER.
- If you want to play along to the Guitarist using your  MIDI controller , and utilize the MIDI THRU function , then you'll need to select a MIDI driver for input. Otherwise you can sect the INPUT DRIVER to <NONE> as the Guitarist does not require an INPUT DRIVER .

Then the program will appear on the screen and you can begin to use "The Guitarist."

The quickest way to get started is to read the following tutorial which runs through the major features of the Guitarist.


Overview -Tutorial

First Let's explore the Guitarist Screen!

This tutorial assumes that you've already installed the program and your output driver is installed into the Windows Control Panel (see the installation instructions in previous chapter).

This is the main screen for the Guitarist. There are several areas that you will notice: (from top to bottom )

The Title Bar at the top of the screen has the title and the composer of the piece.

The Piano Keyboard displays the guitar notes ( in blue )that are being played on the piano keyboard. Some versions of the Guitarist program use other instruments. If so , they are also displayed ( Bass notes -brown, Piano Notes -Gray, Melody instrument-Red ) The music is also displayed on a guitar fretboard, so you can see the same music displayed on the piano and the guitar.

The Guitar Fretboard displays the Guitar music as it's played (as green squares). You can change the color of the display, or the color of the inlays from the Options | Guitar Settings Dialog Box. Stepping through the piece (using CTRL <ARROW LEFT/RIGHT> ) will show you the guitar music chord by chord.

The numbers at the bottom of the Guitar fretboard are fret numbers. One of the fret numbers will be highlighted in White. You can click on a fret number to highlight a different one. This would be only be  useful to do if you're playing along on a MIDI controller and would like to see your music played at different positions on the Guitar neck.

The Position Bar allows you to quickly move to anywhere in the piece using this scroll bar. (Keystroke equivalent : The 1-9 keys also move you quickly around the piece.)

 The Tempo Bar allows you to quickly change the tempo of the song. (Keystroke equivalent : The [ ] keys change tempo, as well as the F5 key which toggles slow motion )

The Options button launches a dialog box that allows you to set various instrument settings like the Volume of the Piece, or MIDI Channel, or Muting an instrument.

The Advance Buttons.

 Chord Advance These buttons allow you to step through the pieces by one chord at a time. Advancing by one chord at a time is a powerful tool to allow you to learn the pieces one chord at a time. If you prefer to use keystrokes, CTRL key + Cursor Right/Left will advance/backup the piece by a chord at a time.

Note Advance is similar to chord advance, except it advances/backups the piece by a single e note at a time. If you prefer to use keystrokes ,SHIFT key + Cursor Right/Left will advance/backup the piece by a note at a time.

The Notation Buttons:

This launches the notation Window, which displays notation of the Instrument that is currently selected by the  "i" button.

 This is the "i" or instrument button. It lets you choose which instrument to display for notation. Normally you will want to display Guitar notation, though you can also display bass, drums, or melody.

The PLAY Buttons:

 The Previous/Next Piece buttons. These buttons move to the previous or next piece when you are playing a SET of more than one piece.

These PLAY buttons allow you to play one or more pieces that are displayed in the LIST of Pieces

PLAYING A SINGLE PIECE BY PLAY BUTTON OR MOUSE DOUBLE CLICK

The PLAY button will play the piece that is currently selected (highlighted) in the LIST Window). You can use the mouse to select a piece. An easier way to play a piece is to double click the mouse on the piece that you want to play.

PLAYING SEVERAL PIECES USING THE PLAY BUTTON

You can also select more than one piece by holding down the control key (Ctrl) as you select several pieces. Then when you press PLAY, the program will play all of the pieces that you have selected, in Random order one after another.

 PLAYING YOUR FAVORITE PIECES
You can select your favorite pieces in the lists by clicking the RIGHT MOUSE BUTTON over the name of the piece. Then you will see an asterisk beside the piece name indicating that it is a Favorite piece of yours. Pressing the RIGHT MOUSE BUTTON again will de-select it. You can save your list of favorite pieces to disk by choosing this option from the File Menu.

When you press the PLAY FAVORITES button , the pieces that have been selected as your favorites will be played one after another.

 PLAYING ALL OF THE PIECES IN THE LIST
This will play all of the pieces in the current list of pieces one after another.

 PLAY THE "GUESS THE SONG" GAME

Pressing this button will start a piece playing at random from the current list of pieces. The title will be hidden. You must guess the title of the piece. Click on a piece that you think is the current piece playing. A dialog box will popup telling you if this is the correct piece.

STOP THE MUSIC BY PRESSING THE STOP BUTTON

THE CATEGORY BUTTONS

These category buttons allow you to choose different lists of pieces

The Category buttons are displayed at the bottom left of the screen.

The categories vary in different versions of The Guitarist program. Here are the Categories from "The Jazz Guitarist" for Example. These categories will vary in your version of The Program.

START THE TRIVIA GAME

DICTIONARY AND COMPOSER BIOGRAPHIES.These buttons may or may not be present in your version of The Guitarist.

Now Let's Play Some Music

SETTING UP THE DRUMS

Some Versions of The Guitarist use Drums (The Jazz Guitarist for example- The Classical Guitarist doesn't use drums). The Drums are outputted using Roland Drum Notes, which are the same as General MIDI Drum Notes.

If you are not using a Roland or General MIDI module, then you will need to install a drum map file .Since older synths use different drum maps, we have included over 30 Drum Map Files which will re-map the Drum Notes to your Synth. To Do This, Select  OPTIONS | Drum MAP from The Pull Down Menu.

If you can't find a Drum Map for your synth then either:
1.Mute The Drums, using the MIDI button and then the MUTE checkbox.
or 2. Make a customized .DK file. The .DK file is the same format as used in the popular Band-in-a-Box program. You need to use the Band-in-a-Box program to make a drum kit file (.DK), and then copy it to your Guitarist Directory. If you don't have Band-in-a-Box, get the Band-in-a-Box demo (free) available in MIDIAVEN of CompuServe - this will allow you to make a drum map for the Guitarist program.
or 3. Use the Windows MIDI Mapper to remap the Drums.

First let's play pieces one at a time .

Press the ALL SONGS button to insure that you are displaying the list of all the pieces in the Guitarist.
You will then see the List of all the pieces displayed in the Right lower part of the screen.
Select a piece that you would like to hear , by clicking the LEFT MOUSE BUTTON over the title of the piece.
Then Press the PLAY BUTTON to start playback of the piece.

 You could alternatively Double click the LEFT MOUSE BUTTON with the mouse over the desired piece to start the playback

As the piece is playing , you can do a lot of things

CHANGE THE VOLUME (Louder/Softer) by Pressing the MIDI button .
 CHANGING THE VOLUME OF ALL INSTRUMENTS
First Press the MIDI button. Then change The Volume of All Instruments by using the "ALL VOL" Volume Knob (by pressing and holding the Left Mouse button inside the knob and moving the knob around , then releasing the mouse)
 IF YOU WANT TO CHANGE THE VOLUME ON ONE INSTRUMENT ONLY. First press the MIDI button on The Main Screen. Then Select the desired instrument (Guitar,Bass,Drums,Piano,Melody). Then Use The "Volume" Knob.

CHANGE THE REVERB, CHORUS, PANNING

Similarly if you have a newer Sound Module that supports Reverb, Panning or Chorus (General MIDI compatible) , you can change these settings from this screen. First select the Instrument, then use the KNOB.

SLOW DOWN OR SPEED UP THE PIECE (TEMPO CHANGE)

Use the [ and ] (square bracket keys) to slow or speed up the piece by 5 beats at a time.Or use the F5 function key to toggle between Slow Motion (half speed) and normal tempo. If you have been changing tempos, this F5 key is useful to return you to the normal tempo.

You can also use the Tempo Scroll Bar located below The Song Position Scroll Bar on The Main Screen.

TRANSPOSE THE PIECE down or up semitones using the F6 or F7 key.

Learn How To Play The Piece By Stepping Through It

This is Done Using The Advance Buttons.

 Chord Advance These buttons allow you to step through the pieces by one chord at a time .Advancing by one chord at a time is a powerful tool to allow you to learn the pieces one chord at a time. If you prefer to use keystrokes, CTRL key + Cursor Right/Left will advance/backup the piece by a chord at a time.

Note Advance is similar to chord advance, except it advances/backups the piece by a single note at a time. If you prefer to use keystrokes ,SHIFT key + Cursor Right/Left will advance/backup the piece by a note at a time.

MOVE TO A SECTION OF THE PIECE

Using the Mouse to move to a new section of the piece

The Position Bar allows you to quickly move to anywhere in the piece using this scroll bar using the mouse.

Using the Keyboard to move to a new section of the piece

Pressing the SPACEBAR will STOP or START the PIECE.

Pressing the number keys 1 to 9 ( at the top of the QWERTY keyboard ) will move to a new section of the piece (1=beginning, 9=end,  4= 4/9 way through the piece etc.)

THE MINUS KEY '-'  backs up by 2-seconds.

THE EQUAL KEY '=' moves ahead by 2 seconds.

THE ENTER KEY Pauses the piece while still displaying any notes that were playing. This is useful to learn a chord voicing for example.

PRESSING THE F2 KEY PUTS A MARK (like a Bookmark) at a point in the piece and PRESSING THE F3 KEY will move the playback to the marked part of the piece.

Read the Memo about the Piece

When you select a piece you will notice a MEMO about the piece appear at the  right of the screen .

Choose another piece while another is playing ! If you are listening to one piece and prefer to hear another one, just double click the mouse on the new piece and it will start to play. ( or press the PLAY button after highlighting the new piece).

Choose another LIST. Use The Category buttons at the bottom Left of the Screen to choose a Different List of Songs.

Now let's play more than one piece at a time.

eg. Play All the Pieces in the Guitarist Repertoire

First select the List with all of the pieces by pressing the ALL SONGS button.

 Then press the PLAY ALL button. This will play through the pieces one by one, with a few second pause between each. The pieces are played in random order (if you prefer sequential order you can select this by setting Random to No in the OPTIONS Window.)

Use the Guitarist as Background Music while you work in other programs.

Note that the Guitarist will continue to play even while you work in other programs. So for example, you could start all of the Guitarist Pieces playing and then switch to your Word Processor. (using ALT TAB or CTRL ESCAPE to switch to other programs ). Try changing the Guitarist Window size to only the Piano  and Guitar visible and you will see that the notes continue to be displayed while you work in other programs. The music will even continue as you work in DOS programs (if using Windows Enhanced mode )

Play Your Favorite Pieces.

Making up your List of Favorites :First of all you can make up your list of favorite pieces very easily with the Guitarist Program. USING THE RIGHT MOUSE BUTTON , click on any Piece in the List Window. This will Place an Asterisk * beside the Piece title which indicates that it is a favorite of yours. To De-select the piece as a favorite, press the RIGHT MOUSE BUTTON AGAIN , which removes the Asterisk *. You should then save your favorites selection to disk by choosing the option SAVE AS DEFAULT FAVORITES , so that the next time that you run the Guitarist, it will remember your Favorites. You can maintain different lists of favorite files  if you want.

Playing your Favorites works like the PLAY ALL button , expect it will only play pieces that are in the Current List and are marked with an Asterisk as one of your favorites.

Play A Specific Group Of Pieces

To do this select the specific pieces using the Left Mouse Button while holding down the Control Key. This will select multiple pieces and they will all be played when you press the PLAY button.

Play the "Guess the Song" game

First decide on the list of songs that will be eligible to be chosen for the "Guess the Song" game.(by using the Category Buttons at the Bottom Left of The Screen.

 Then Press the GUESS button. The Guitarist will then pick a song at random and play it. The title will be hidden.

Then click on the title of the song that you think is playing.

If you are wrong you will see this dialog box -

To continue guessing , press the OK button .

It is sometimes easier to guess the name of the composer , but not the song title  If you get the composer correct , but the wrong title, the Guitarist will inform you in the dialog box.

When you get the right answer you will see :

Now let's play the TRIVIA QUIZ

 Press the Trivia button to enter the Trivia Game .

Choose an answer by clicking the mouse on choice A, B, C or D .

If you're wrong - keep guessing or press the REVEAL button.

To get another question Press the EASY/MED./HARD or ANY button.

Pressing the ANY button will make the next question of varying difficulty whereas EASY will give you an easy question.

The program keeps score of your total # questions, and percent correct.
You can also keep track of player scores and player names if you want.

Have Fun !

Printing out the List of Songs
For example let's print out all of the songs in the ALLSONGS list.
Press the ALLSONGS button to insure that ALL Songs List is displayed.
Then choose the Pull Down Menu item "Copy the List Of Songs To The ClipBoard".
The list of songs is then in the Windows Clipboard as Text.

Then Open up a Windows Word Processor (like Windows Write which comes with Windows 3.1)

Inside the Word Processor Choose Edit | Paste .

You'll then see the list of songs, including the File Names of each song.

Choose a proportional font like Courier so that the columns line up.

Then Print using the Word Processor.

Displaying the Music in notation

Press the notation button to display the music in notation. Once in the notation window, you can press F1 for further help.

Using the Biography and Dictionary

Click on the DICTIONARY or Biography buttons to look up a musical term or read a Composer Biography.

We're finished with our tour of the Guitarist. To get specific information , check the contents or index, and refer to the specific area of the manual.


Description of the Program

What is the Guitarist ?

The Guitarist is a  Music Program containing a huge collection of Guitar Music. There are different versions of the Guitarist program. The versions differ only in the style of  Guitar Music. This manual covers all versions of the program .

For example, "The Jazz Guitarist" contains a large library of  Jazz  Tunes,  played on MIDI Guitar by top Jazz/Studio Guitarist Oliver Gannon

There are several ways that you can use The Guitarist Program

Learning the Pieces on Guitar  On-screen guitar fretboard shows you exactly what guitar notes are being played. Play in real time or step through the piece chord by chord -

Background Music While You Work. You can play the pieces "jukebox" style , and playback continues while you work in other Windows or DOS programs . Makes great background music while you work or entertain friends etc.

... and more

Play the Trivia Game , Play the "Guess the Song" Game

or Learn more about the Pieces/composers/Guitarists (see below )

This program makes it  much easier to learn to be a great guitar player!

Guitar is a "visual instrument"- for most guitarists it is easier to learn to play by watching the fretboard than by reading the music from a staff. The on-screen guitar fretboard shows you exactly what notes and chords are being played on the guitar. Slow down the piece , or - better still -, step through the piece chord by chord , so you can learn every note as it's played. Mute the Guitar track so you can play along with the bass/drums yourself .

Special support for Roland GS or General MIDI modules

Sound Canvas/SCC1  or other General MIDI modules can use the built in mixer to change volumes / patches / panning / reverb / chorus /tuning. Also supports non-General MIDI interfaces with drum kits for over 40 synths built in !

Have some Fun!

Play the Music Trivia Game with hundreds of questions about the music, the guitar, and the composers.

Or play the "Guess That Song" Game - the program selects and plays a piece at random for you to guess.

Educate yourself about the songs/composers and the music

Program Notes -Each piece has a memo describing the piece, with descriptive anecdotes & musical points. Artist Biographies describe the lives & times of the well known Guitarists in the style. .

Listen to the music while you work in other programs !

 Playback continues in the background of other programs so you can listen to your favorite music while you work.

You can also use the Pieces in your other Music Programs or for your presentations

Since the pieces are saved as Standard MIDI files, you can use these fabulous performances in your other music programs or as background music for presentations, etc.

Use your Existing sound card or MIDI synthesizer

Plays the music back through  your existing MIDI synthesizer, digital piano, or sound module. Windows users can playback through your SoundCard (Roland ,SoundBlaster etc.)

Requirements: Windows (IBM)  2mb RAM memory, Windows 3.1, SoundCard (Roland, SoundBlaster etc.) or MIDI system . Some versions of the Guitarist require only Guitar sound ("The Classical Guitarist") . Others require 3 instruments ("eg. The Jazz Guitarist"- guitar, bass, drums sound ) 3.5" or 5.25" high density Floppy Disk, 2mb hard drive space required.


File Menu

New Favorites File: Erases all current favorite selections, and starts new favorites file.

Open Favorites File: Read in an existing .FAV Favorite file from Disk

Save Favorites File: Saves a favorite file to disk. A favorite file is a list of pieces that have been selected as favorites by the RIGHT MOUSE BUTTON over the piece title.

Save Default Favorites File: Save a favorite file with the title DEFAULT.FAV. This file is auto-loaded next time you run the program.

Copy List Of Songs To The ClipBoard: This copies the list of pieces along with the filenames of the Midi Files associated to the Windows clipboard. This can be pasted into a Word Processor, and printed out . Use courier font for best results.


Options Menu

Driver: Allows you to choose a MIDI Driver for Output and Input.

General Settings allow setting of Preferences like Screen Colors, sorting songs by composer/title etc.

MIDI Settings allow you to change parameters like volume/patch for one or more instruments.

Guitar Settings allow you to change information about how the Guitar information is displayed.

Send Patch change by #: Send patch changes by number 1-128.

Send General MIDI Patch change : If you have a General MIDI synth , you can send Patch changes by Name.

Drum Map.This allows you to install a drum map other than the Roland drum notes.

 Some Versions of The Guitarist use Drums (The Jazz Guitarist for example- The Classical Guitarist doesn't use drums). The Drums are outputted using Roland Drum Notes, which are the same as General MIDI Drum Notes.

If you are not using a Roland or General MIDI module, then you will need to install a drum map file .Since older synths use different drum maps, we have included over 30 Drum Map Files which will re-map the Drum Notes to your Synth. To Do This , Select  OPTIONS | Drum MAP from The Pull Down Menu.

If you can't find a Drum Map for your synth then either:
1.Mute The Drums, using the MIDI button and then the MUTE checkbox.
or 2. Make a customized .DK file. The .DK file is the same format as used in the popular Band-in-a-Box program. You need to use the Band-in-a-Box program to make a drum kit file (.DK), and then copy it to your Guitarist Directory.
or 3. Use the Windows MIDI Mapper to remap the Drums.

Clear Drum Map this clears the drum map, which will then mean that the program will use Roland/General MIDI drum notes. This takes effect the next time you load in a song.


Categories Menu

This menu lists the same Categories that are represented as buttons on the Main Screen.

Trivia -Play the Trivia Game, questions about the music and the composers

Dictionary -Dictionary of musical terms. The Dicitonary is only available in  some versions of the Guitarist program.

Biography- Composer Biographies. This is only available in some versions of the Guitarist program.


Play Menu

Play Selected Pieces-Plays pieces which have been highlighted with the Mouse

Play Favorite Pieces-Plays All pieces in the List which also have an Asterisk (*) indicating that they have been selected as a favorite piece (using the RIGHT MOUSE BUTTON)

Play All Pieces-Plays ALL pieces in the Current List of Pieces

Guess-Starts the Guess that Song Game. Then Click on a song Title to Guess.

STOP-SPACEBAR

Pause-ENTER KEY. Still shows the notes that were playing visually.

Backup 2 sec.-minus key

Transpose Down -F6

Transpose Up-F7 key

( Note that these TRANSPOSITIONS affect ALL INSTRUMENTS. If you need to transpose just one instrument - for example move the bass up an octave - then use the MIDI settings dialog box instead )

Slow Normal Tempo   F5 key Slows the tempo by half. Pressing again returns it to normal tempo.

Mark-F2 key  Marks a position in the piece (like a bookmark)

GoTo Mark-F3 Key Goes to the mark when the F3 key pressed.


Help Menu

Index-Displays a Help Index

Topic Search-Allows searching for a topic

Using Help-Description of how to use the Help

About the Guitarist-Guitarist and PG Music Info


Patch Changes

A Patch change is a message to your synthesizer or sound card to change the instrument that it is currently playing.

 Pressing the GM (General MIDI ) button allows you to change Patches by the General MIDI Patch Name. This is only useful if you have a sound card or module that uses the General MIDI list of Patches (Roland Sound Canvas etc.).

To use the dialog box, first select the PART that you want to change, and then select the PATCH for that part. Note that the patch change comes into effect as soon as you select it, so you can quickly audition new patches without leaving the dialog box.

If you don't have a synth that uses the General MIDI Patches, then you can change patches by number directly. Note that we use the Roland #ing which is 1-128. If your synth uses 0-127 (eg. Korg) then you have to remember to send out a number that is 1 higher than the # on your synthesizer.


MIDI Driver Setup Dialog Box

THE FIRST TIME THAT YOU RUN THE PROGRAM, the program will start up with a Dialog Box for you to choose the sound card or MIDI driver that you want to use:

YOU MUST SELECT AN OUTPUT DRIVER TO USE:
- The Guitarist will play the music using the driver you specify here.
OPTIONALLY SELECT AN INPUT DRIVER.
- If you want to play along to the program using your  MIDI controller , and utilize the MIDI THRU function , then you'll need to select a MIDI driver for input. Otherwise you can sect the INPUT DRIVER to <NONE> as the Guitarist does not require an INPUT DRIVER .


General Settings Dialog Box

Choose GENERAL SETTINGS from the OPTIONS pull down menu  to get to the General Settings dialog box.

RANDOM PLAYBACK:	DEFAULT= RANDOM
When the Guitarist is playing multiple pieces one after another, it will either play them in sequential or random order, depending on this setting.

SORT BY COMPOSER/TITLE 	DEFAULT= COMPOSER
The list of pieces can be sorted by composer or title.

USE STANDARD COLORS: 	DEFAULT= NO
The Guitarist normally uses bright colors (blue/purple etc.) If you have an LCD screen , or would prefer the standard Windows colors, then select "Use Standard Windows Colors."


MIDI Settings Dialog Box

This Dialog Box allows you to change MIDI paramters for a single part (instrument ) or all the instruments.

Part Selection

Click on the desired instrument (part) that you want to change. Once you click on it you will notice that the Part Settings (below) will change to reflect the current settings for the part that you have chosen.

Part Settings

MIDI CHANNEL: 	DEFAULT=1
The MIDI channel is the channel used for output of the Guitarist MIDI data. Your synthesizer, sound card or digital piano must be set up to receive on the channel that The Guitarist is outputting on - otherwise the output will be silent !. Changing this setting instantly changes the Channel, so you can quickly try all 16 channels to see which channel your synth is responding to.

PATCH:
Patch is the instrument selection for your synthesizer. Normally you will want to use a Guitar Patch for the Guitarist program. But you can select any Patch (e.g. Guitar, Electric Piano, Music Box, Harp, Church Organ etc.). It is probably easier to change the Patch from the MIDI pull down menu on the main screen.

TRANSPOSE: 	DEFAULT=0
If you want to transpose the instrument up or down by semitones, set by this transpose setting. Note that this only transposes the particular instrument, not all of the instruments. You might use this to change the octave of an instrument by setting to +12 or -12 semitones. If you want to transpose all of the instruments at once - this is done from the main screenby using the F6 and F7 keys during playback.

VELOCITY BOOST:	DEFAULT=0
Normally you would leave the Velocity boost at =0 . Velocity refers to how hard each note was pressed., which is different from VOLUME which refers to the overall volume of the sound. Since different synths respond differently to velocity information, you can try setting this velocity boost if you find the piano too quiet even after setting the Volume to maximum for example. Try to avoid changing the velocity boost from 0 , since it will affect the dynamics of the performance.

VOLUME	DEFAULT=100

Volume affects the loudness of a given part. If you want to change the overall loudness of all the parts, use the ALL VOL knob instead.

REVERB	DEFAULT=40

Reverb is a nice sounding effect which "warms up" the sound. Typical setting is=40 which is about 11 o'clock on the reverb knob.

CHORUS	DEFAULT=0

Chorus is a nice effect for the Guitar setting in particular.

PANNING	DEFAULT= MIDDLE

Panning refers to placement of the output to right or left speakers

MUTE	DEFAULT= NO

If you don't want to hear a specific part then click the MUTE button for that part. For example this would be useful if you want to turn the guitar off so that you could play along yourself, or turn the drums off for a quiter sound.

Other Settings in the MIDI Dialog

FORCED GUITAR CHANNEL 	DEFAULT = ON

The Guitar information is usually output on a single MIDI Channel - this is the Channel you decide in the Part Settings for The Guitar. But if you prefer, the Guitar will be output on 6 MIDI Channels, one for each string. This would be useul for any versions of the Guitarist that use PITCH BEND, since the bend would then only affect one string. We recommend that you leave the setting at ON (i.e. using the Forced Channel ).

TUNING 	DEFAULT = A 440

This will microtune the instruments so that you can tune it to your home piano/guitar etc. Only newer General MIDI modules respond to this setting.

ALL VOLUME	DEFAULT=127

This setting is very useful. Changing the Volume affect the overall volume of the sound.
MIDI THRU ENABLED	DEFAULT = ON

MIDI thru is only required if you want to play along with the Guitarist from a MIDI controller without sounds of its own. Setting MIDI Thru to ON will send  the output of the MIDI controller thru the computer and into the sound module.


Guitar Settings Dialog Box

The Settings button will access a dialog which will let you change the

following settings of the guitar window:

DISPLAY THRU NOTES If set to True, you will see any notes that you play on your MIDI keyboard or MIDI-guitar controller displayed on the Guitar on screen. Mouse clicking on the #s below the Guitar fretboard will allow you to set the fret range that you would like to see the guitar music displayed at.

FRETBOARD COLOR radio buttons let you choose between Brown or Black

for the color of the guitar fretboard.

USE INLAYS. If set to YES, you will see the Grey inlays which are useful in determining Fret Position. If you have a LCD screen (laptop), you will prefer to NOT see the inlays, since the inlays obscure the guitar notes on a LCD screen.

STRING TUNING determines the range of notes that are displayed on each of the six strings.  The default is standard E tuning.  You can change the note value corresponding to the open note for each of the six strings, and the guitar will then display notes as if they are played on a guitar with an alternate tuning.  The strings must be tuned from highest to lowest.  For example, string number 1 must be tuned higher than string number 2.


Trivia Quiz

 Press the Trivia button to enter the Trivia Game .

Choose an answer by clicking the mouse on choice A, B, C or D .

If you're wrong - keep guessing or press the REVEAL button.

To get another question Press the EASY/MED./HARD or ANY button.

Pressing the ANY button will make the next question of varying difficulty whereas EASY will give you an easy question.

The program keeps score of your total # questions, and percent correct.
You can also keep track of player scores and player names if you want.

Have Fun !


Dictionary

Dictionary Terms

Use the mouse to choose a term on the left.
You'll see a definition on the right.


Biographies

Guitarist Biographies

 Press the BIO button to get to the Guitarist Biographies

Using the mouse , select a Name from the list at the top.
Then you can read the Biography that is displayed.

Use the scrollbar to read through the entire BIO .


Setting up Sound/MIDI Driver

Setting up Midi or Sound Card

The Guitarist uses the MultiMedia drivers for your MIDI interface or sound card that are supported by. Windows 3.1. To get The Guitarist playback working properly you need to have a Driver installed for output .

Installing A Driver Into Windows 3.1

This is done outside of The Guitarist. It is done in the Program Manager | Main | Control Panel | Drivers program. Boot up the Drivers program by double clicking on the drivers icon. You will then see a list of any drivers that are installed.

example #1: Installing a MPU401 driver setup

If you are using a MPU401 Midi interface you will need to install the "Roland MPU 401 MIDI driver" supplied with Windows 3.1 From the Control Panel | Drivers program , choose ADD to add a driver. Then choose Roland MPU 401 from the list of standard drivers. You will then be asked to insert your  Windows disk that contains the MPU401.DRV file . To complete installation you will be asked for the port address and interrupt # for the MPU401. The port address usually = 330 and the interrupt is usually = 2 . If you have set the interrupt incorrectly, you will find that MIDI thru won't work properly,- see "testing the Midi driver below"

example #2 : Installing SoundBlaster driver for MIDI use

SoundBlaster PRO: Use SoundBlaster 1.5 Driver or higher

SoundBlaster :Use SoundBlaster 1.0 if your SoundBlaster is an old one or 1.5 if its a newer one (July 91).

    Older SoundBlaster cards (pre July 91) are not capable of simultaneous Input and Output If you have an older SoundBlaster you will use the 1.0 driver and will be able to play The Guitarist but not be able to use MIDI thru at the same time. Install the SoundBlaster driver in a manner similar to the MPU401 driver as above. (The usual settings for the SoundBlaster  are port = 220 and Interrupt = 5).

Example #3 : Installing the SoundBlaster for use with FM sounds

The SoundBlaster has a built in FM synthesizer  (11 voices / 22 on the SB Pro ). These sounds are also Adlib compatible . If you want to use the FM sounds as your output driver then install either the Adlib driver (11 voices) or the "Creative Labs SoundBlaster PRO MIDI synthesizer driver".

Installing your driver into Windows Control Panel.

Run the Control Panel Program

The Driver is setup in the Windows Control Panel Program. This is found in the Program Manager Main Window.
Then run the Drivers program

You will see a list of all drivers currently installed.

Adlib is the Adlib driver for FM sounds. The Adlib chip has an 11 voice synthesizer (6 instruments + 5 drum sounds). An unusual feature of this driver is that it requires a Drum Channel of 16, whereas other drivers (and the General Midi Standard) use Drum Channel =10. Many sound cards that are SoundBlaster or Adlib compatible (e.g. Aztech, MediaVision) should use this driver.

Roland MPU 401 is the driver for MPU401 compatible cards (Roland, Music Quest, CMS)

Once you install this driver you will be asked for the PORT address and the IRQ #. The Port address is usually 330 and the IRQ # is usually 2. If you have set the Port incorrectly, you will get an error message. If you have set the IRQ incorrectly, you will notice a considerable delay in MIDI thru, and won't see a display of your Midi Thru on  The Guitar fretboard or piano keyboard at the top of the screen.

Creative Labs Soundblaster 1.5 is the MIDI driver for the SoundBlaster Pro or newer SoundBlasters that support simultaneous OUT and IN. The usual Port address is 220 and the IRQ # =5.

Creative Labs Soundblaster 1.0 is the MIDI driver for the older SoundBlaster cards.  (DSP version less than 2.0) These cards are incapable of  simultaneous IN and OUT. If using with The Guitarist you would be unable use Midi Thru, but will be able to play.

Creative SoundBlaster Pro MIDI synthesizer is the SoundBlaster Pro FM sounds driver (not involving MIDI)

MIDI mapper is a driver connecting your output to the Midi Mapper program. You must setup the MIDI driver to use your MIDI driver or Sound Card for output. The Midi Mapper allows you to remap drum notes and patches. .


Keystroke ShortCuts

Keystroke Shortcuts

Most of the Guitarist commands can be accessed by the mouse and/or pull down menus.

Here is a list of Keyboard shortcuts that are also useful.

PLAYING /STOPPING SONGS	SPACEBAR

PAUSE	ENTER KEY

STEPPING THROUGH THE GUITAR PART CHORD BY CHORD

CTRL <LEFT ARROW > or

CTRL  <RIGHT ARROW>

STEPPING THROUGH THE GUITAR PART NOTE BY NOTE

SHIFT  <LEFT ARROW > or

SHIFT  <RIGHT ARROW>

MOVING TO SECTION OF SONG

move to area of piece	1-9 keys (# keys)

move back 2 seconds	minus key (-)

move ahead 2 seconds	equals key (=)

Mark a location	F2

GoTo Mark	F3

CHANGING TEMPO

Change by 5 beats per min.  [ and ] keys

Toggle Slow Motion	F5

TRANSPOSE PIECE	F6/F7

(transposes all instruments except drums)


PG Music Info

Telephone Tech Support -Technical Support  phone number 905-528-7043 .

CompuServe Support-We're also on CompuServe. We have a PG Music section in MIDIAVEN forum. Go PG MUSIC will get you there. PG Music ID is 75300,2750 .

PG Music Address and Phone Number

THE GUITARIST™ Info
The Guitarist™ is copyrighted and
is the property of PG MUSIC INC.

All rights reserved.

U.S.A. mailing address

PG MUSIC INC.
266 Elmwood Avenue,suite 111
BUFFALO, NY 14222

Canada mailing address

PG MUSIC INC.
32 Hess St. South
Hamilton, Ontario
Canada L8P 3N9

ph  (800)-268-6272 or  905-528-2368
fax 905-628-2541 fax


Print Options

This dialog lets you change various settings that affect the printout. These settings will remain in effect until you exit the program.

The Include Bass Clef and Include Treble Clef checkboxes let you decide whether the printout should contain the Bass Clef, Treble Clef or both. Note that both the bass and treble clefs are always printed in Staff Roll mode regardless of these settings.

The Clef Sign Every Line and Key Signature Every Line checkboxes let you decide if the printout should print the clef sign and key signature on every line.

The From and Thru settings determine the range of measures that are printed.  By default From is set to 1 and Thru is set to 1000.  This will cause the entire song to be printed (unless the song really goes beyond 1000 measures).  The program won't print beyond the end of the song.  If there are sustained notes that go beyond the measure in the Thru setting, the program may print extra measures.  For example, if the Thru setting is set to measure 5, and there is a note that is sustained until measure 6, the program will print measure 6.

The Bars Per Line setting determines how many measures are drawn on each line of the print out in 4/4.  If the Bars Per Line is set to 4, you will get 8 measures per line if the time signature is 2/4.

The First Bar is Lead In setting causes the program to print an extra bar of music on the first line of the first page printed.  Use this setting in combination with the Bar # Offset setting if the song has a lead in.

When the Bar Numbers setting is checked, the program will print measure numbers at each measure.

The Staves Per Page setting lets you determine how many staves will be printed per page.  Normally, you'll want to leave this at 10, but you can decrease this setting if the song has a lot of very high or very low notes so that there is room between staves for them.  If you increase this setting beyond 10, there may not be enough room for all the staves on the paper depending on the size of the paper in your printer.  If the printout has a song title, the first page printed out will be limited to 8 staves so that there's room for the title.

The Margins setting lets you change the left and right margins of the printout in inches. When the margins are set to 0, the program will print as wide as your printer will support. Therefore, there may still be margins if your printer can't print on the edges of the paper.

The Bar # Offset setting is an advanced setting that you can use to decrease all the measure numbers of the printout.  It decreases the numbers that are printed at each measure. For example, if you specify a Bar # Offset of -2, all the measures numbers will be printed as 2 less than their actual numbers.  So, measure 3 would be printed with a number of 1, and the number for measure number 4 would be printed as 2.  Any number that is reduced to 0 or less isn't printed, so in this case measures 1 and 2 would have no number.  This setting is useful if the song has a lead in, because, for example, a setting of -1 would cause the first measure to be printed with no number and the rest of the measures will be printed with their numbers starting with 1.  Note that the From and Thru settings correspond to the actual measure numbers regardless of this setting.

The Clefs Split At setting determines the split point for placing notes on the Bass or Treble clef.  The default setting is 'C 5' which is middle C. For example, you can use a higher split point, such as 'C 6' if you want some notes up to a G above middle C to be displayed on the bass clef with ledger lines instead of on the treble clef. If the split point is above middle C, and a note in the music is high enough that any of the ledger lines above the bass clef would overwrite the treble clef, the note will be placed on the treble clef.  Note: This is identical to the Clefs Split At setting in the Notation Options dialog, and does not affect printing in Staff Roll mode.

The Title, Composer, Style and Copyright settings let you insert text onto the first page of the printout. The Title field is for a song title. The Composer field is for the author's name, and will appear to the right of the title. The Style field is for the style of the music such as Slow Blues, and will appear to the left of the title. The Copyright field is for a copyright notice and will appear at the bottom of the first page of the printout.

The Setup Printer button let's you configure your printer.  The changes to the printer configuration will be in effect for printing music until you exit the program.

Unlike most other dialogs, this one has a Close button in addition to Okay and Cancel. The close button works the same as Cancel, except that any changes you've made to the settings will be saved instead of discarded.


Notation Window

The notation window displays the notes of a song on a staff .

This launches the notation Window, which displays notation of the Instrument that is currently selected by the  "i" button.
 This is the "i" or instrument button. It lets you choose which instrument to display for notation. Normally you will want to display Guitar notation, though you can also display bass, drums, or melody.

Guitar Tablature Display:
If you are viewing the Guitar Track , you will see a single treble clef , with guitar music displayed. Instead of a bass clef, you will see Guitar Tablature. The Guitar Tablature is displayed as the fret number of the guitar, drawn on a TAB clef. String #1 is drawn on top of line #1 and so on.

The Notation resolution setting is very important to the display of notation. Any song with a "triplet feel", such as jazz swing, should be displayed with Resolution=triplets. A song with with a straight feel to the eighth notes (such as bossa nova ) should have resolution=sixteenths. You set the resolution from inside the Notation Window - by pressing the OPTIONS button, and then setting the resolution inside that.

The notation window has two modes of operation: Standard Notation mode and Staff Roll mode. When in Standard Notation mode, the Notation Window shows the track as regular music in standard notation. When in Staff Roll mode, the Notation Window is a hybrid between a piano roll and staff.

By default, the Notation Window is in Standard Notation mode. Pressing the [image] button will toggle the window between Standard Notation Mode and Staff Roll mode. It will be obvious which mode is in effect, since Standard Notation mode displays the notes as regular music, while the Staff Roll mode displays the notes as noteheads (no stems) with optional duration lines.  Also, the Staff Roll mode will contain gray vertical lines across the staff.

Standard Notation Mode

The purpose of Standard Notation mode is to provide a convenient way of displaying a track as regular music on a staff within The Guitarist.

Editing of music cannot be done in The Guitarist program.

There are some options in a dialog box which can be accessed by pressing the [image] button.

When in Standard Notation mode, the Resolution setting determines how the program rounds the note times and durations when translating a track into standard notation. For example, a resolution of 4 will cause the program to round each note and duration to the nearest 16th note when displaying the music (in 4/4). A resolution of 3 will cause the program to round each note to the nearest 8th note triplet (in 4/4). A resolution of 2 will cause the program to round each note to the nearest 8th note (in 4/4).

Hint: If you're displaying  jazz swing or shuffle music that has a triplet feel to the eighth notes, make sure to set the resolution to =3 (triplets). This will display the 8th notes and other aspects of jazz swing music correctly.

The following 3 settings are for Standard Notation mode only, and don't have any effect in Staff Roll mode:

The Minimize Rests checkbox, when checked, will cause the program  to display the music with minimal rests. Use this setting if notes are displayed as shorter than you intended. For example, if eighth notes are displayed as sixteenth notes because you recorded them staccato.

The Clefs Split At setting determines the split point for placing notes on the Bass or Treble clef.  The default setting is 'C 5' which is middle C. For example, you can use a higher split point, such as 'C 6' if you want some notes up to a G above middle C to be displayed on the bass clef with ledger lines instead of on the treble clef. If the split point is above middle C, and a note in the music is high enough that any of the ledger lines above the bass clef would overwrite the treble clef, the note will be placed on the treble clef.

The Tick Offset lets you display the music ahead or behind the beat. If you have a tendency to play the music ahead of the beat, you can specify a setting from 1 to 120 to have the music displayed forward in time. A setting from -1 to -120 will cause the music to be displayed ahead of the beat  (but not before the beginning of the song). 120 ticks equals one quarter note for this setting regardless of the current PPQ setting. Generally you won't need to use this setting since the notes are rounded when being displayed in standard notation.

Hint: The notation of Jazz swing music will often be improved by a Tick Offset setting of about -5. (minus 5) This is because jazz music is typically played a little after the beat.

See the information on the Staff Roll mode below for more settings in the Notation Window Options dialog.

Staff Roll Mode

Staff Roll mode is a similar to a piano roll, except the notes are shown on a grand staff.  Its purpose is to display music in a piano roll style instead of regular notation. This is useful for music that is played "rubato" i.e. not in time. Notes are shown as black dots (note heads) on the staff.  Notes are not shown with stems.  If the Show Note Durations setting (discussed later) is enabled, the durations of the notes are shown as horizontal lines. The horizontal duration lines are drawn a little higher or lower if the note is a sharp or a flat, which helps you be aware of rare situations where notes a half step apart overlap each other. Notes are shown with sharp, flat, or natural symbols depending on the key signature of the song.  Notes are shown exactly where they occur. They are not quantized.

There are some options related to how notes are displayed.  These options are in a dialog box which can be accessed by pressing the [image] button.  In this dialog, if the Show Note Durations checkbox is checked, then the durations of notes will be shown as either green or blue horizontal lines depending on whether the Duration Color is set to green or blue.

The Quarter Notes Per Screen setting determines the horizontal resolution of the screen.  For example, with 4 Quarter Notes Per Screen, the width of the screen is equal to 4 Quarter Notes or one measure in 4/4.  At 8 Quarter Notes Per Screen, the width of the screen is equal to 8 Quarter Notes or two measures in 4/4.  You can have a setting as low as 1 Quarter Note Per Screen or as high as 64, although the screen may look unusual at the extremes since the size of the note heads remains the same regardless of this setting.

The Resolution setting determines how many vertical grid lines will be drawn for each beat. For example, with a resolution of 1, just one line will be drawn per beat.  With a Resolution of 4, 4 lines will be drawn, with 1 line being the beat line drawn in a solid color and the other lines being dashed lines representing sixteenth notes in 4/4.

The Transpose setting lets you adjust the Notation window to display notes either higher or lower than their actual pitches.  For example, if you're working with guitar music, you could set this to +12 and the guitar music will be displayed an octave higher, which is the way guitar music is normally notated.

Hint: This setting is also useful for displaying music for non-concert instruments such as trumpet or saxophone. Trumpet players (and other Bb instruments) should set transpose to +2, Alto Saxophone (and other Eb instruments) should set the transpose to -3. The music is then displayed in the correct key for the instrument, but plays in the concert key to the MIDI card.

If the Highlight Played Notes checkbox is checked, notes will be highlighted in red as the notes are played when a song is playing.  If you have a slower computer or a track is very dense, you can save the program some extra work by unchecking this setting.

The [image]  button lets you print out music on your dot matrix, laser, or any graphical printer supported by Windows. This is not a substitute for a full blown music publishing program, but is a convenient way of getting your music on paper as standard notation.  When you press the print button, the Print Options dialog will pop up.  This dialog lets you change some settings that affect the printout.


CompuServe Support

CompuServe support  (worldwide).
PG Music CompuServe ID# = 75300, 2750.
We have a forum in the MIDI A Vendor Section of CompuServe. This is the best way to contact us, and also a good way to converse with other people who are using PG Music programs. If you are a CompuServe member, type GO PGMUSIC or GO MIDIAVEN to get to our forum.


Other PG Music Products

Other PG Music Inc. Products

We have other computer Music Programs for IBM (DOS/Windows),MAC and ATARI.

These include :

Band-in-a-Box  Pro (Windows/DOS/MAC/ATARI) :

Automatic Accompaniment Software

Type in the chords to any song,  using standard chord symbols ( like C or Fm7 ) , choose a style and press PLAY . Band-in-a-Box then generates a complete , professional quality 5 piece arrangement of bass, drums, piano, guitar and strings to be played back through MIDI or your soundcard. PC Magazine technical excellence award finalist Jan 91 (After Hours)

Add on style and Song Disks for Band-in-a-Box are available.

PowerTracks (Windows/DOS) : MIDI sequencing software

MIDI sequencer / notation / music printout for Windows . 48 track recording , SMPTE, Copy/Paste Quantize. On screen Piano keyboard. Built in editor for Roland Sound Canvas and other Roland GS products. Includes DOS version as well (note: the DOS version lacks notation and other graphical features)

SC-PRO for Windows -Full featured Editor/Librarian for Sound Canvas and other Roland GS Products

The Pianist (Windows/MAC/ATARI)

A Music Program containing a huge collection of over 200 of the world's most popular classical piano pieces , performed by concert pianists. Plus...Music Trivia Game, "Guess the Song", Memos, Biographies, Dictionary ....and much more..

For your PC SoundCard or MIDI system

The Jazz Guitarist (Windows/MAC/ATARI)

A Music Program containing a large collection of  over 60  Jazz Standards performed by Top Jazz /Studio Guitarist Oliver Gannon !

" This software makes it "too easy" to learn to be a great jazz guitarist."

The pieces have all been recorded live on a MIDI Guitar . You can playback the pieces in real time , or slow them down , or better still - step through them one note or one chord at a time .You see the Guitar notes displayed on a fretboard on the screen , so you can see exactly what notes are being played on the Guitar

Plus...Jazz Guitar Trivia Game,"Guess the Song", Program Notes, Biographies, (all on disk).... and much more.

The Jazz Pianist (Windows/MAC/ATARI)

A Music Program containing  60  Jazz Standards performed by top jazz/studio Pianists. Covering a wide variety of Piano styles including Stride, Cocktail , "Art Tatum", "Bill Evans", modern jazz and more..

Learn the pieces by watching the on-screen piano or loading the Standard MIDI files into your sequencer for further study.   You can playback the pieces in real time , or slow them down , or better still - step through them one note or one chord at a time .You see the piano notes displayed on  the screen , so you can see exactly what notes are being played by the Pianist.

Plus.. Jazz Piano Lessons, Trivia Game, "Guess the Song", Program Notes, Jazz Pianist Biographies, (all on disk).... and much more.

Registered customers will receive information about ordering these products. Contact us for further information.