Thread: Question re ABC notation

Hello everyone. Trying to get my head around ABC notation. Sorry for any DUH questions and thank you for your help!!

Okay, I understand that you use a number after the note to indicate a longer duration and a / after the note to indicate shorter duration, but I am not certain what this indicates---> [C3/2F3/2F,2] which I found in a song I was trying to take apart to see how they did a moving bass part mixed in with chords and melody.

This was 4/4 time and assuming we are dealing with quarter notes, is the C3/2 how you would write a dotted quarter? And how come the F, at the end is only 2?

And here is another pattern that is driving me nuts... [^D,3/2z/4] ^A,/4 ^D/4 [^F3/4z/4] This one only said L: 1/4 and Q: 84. Why is there a z/4 in the middle of the chord (which only has 1 note in it at that unless I am missing something).

Thanks for any help you can give!!!

Okay, further exploration turned up a tutorial that had a chart of how to write various note lengths so I have confirmed that my guess related to C3/2 is a dotted quarter. I am still searching for the rest of the info though.

Thanks again!

I've only just started to learn ABC notation myself, and I'm not sure about the answer to your question, but I can tell you that a lot (perhaps most?) of the ABC files that I've seen were created with one of the automatic midi > abc conversion softwares, and computers tend to put in some unintuitive bits of notation, especially concerning rests and note lengths. I've found that when I'm confused, looking at someone else's ABC file, it's usually because of that. Hand-coded ABC is much easier for me to follow, but examples are rarer. Just something to keep in mind.

I hope you have fun playing around with ABC.

Re: [C3/2F3/2F,2]

Letters, obviously, indicate pitch. An uppercase C represents middle C. Tones below it are indicated by an uppercase letter followed by a comma, for example the F, in your sample. The next octave above is indicated by lowercase letters, e.g, c, while the octave above that are represented by lowercase letters followed by an apostrophe, e.g., c’. LOTRO's ABC has a range of three full octaves: C,D,E,F,G,A,B,CDEFGABcdefgabc'.

The number following the letter represents the length of the note. A 3 indicates that the tone is held three times the default note value. The default note value is indicated in the header, e.g., L: 1/8, which indicates that the default note value is an eighth note. So where the default note length is an eighth note C3 represents a middle C that is held for the value of three eighth notes, or as it is usually notated, a dotted quarter note.

A tone followed by two numbers separated by a slash, C3/2 and F3/2 in your sample, is held for the length of the first number divided by the length of the second number. So C3/2 would be held for one and one-half times the default note value. With L: 1/8 in the header, C3/2 would be held for three sixteenth notes, more commonly notated as a dotted eighth note.

Notation within brackets [ ] indicates tones that are played simultaneously, i.e., a chord. Your notation has two Fs one octave apart (the F, is the lower of the two) and one C. In the key of C major this would be the IV chord (F major) minus the 3rd of the chord (A).

To summarize, your sample would be a chord of F, , C and F with C and F held for one and one-half times the default note value and F, held for two times the default note value.

P.S. If you are interested in learning ABC you may wish to bookmark Steve Mansfield's ABC Notation Tutorial. Please note that LOTRO’s version of ABC does not include all of the features of the regular ABC.

Originally Posted by Shaeliana

Okay, further exploration turned up a tutorial that had a chart of how to write various note lengths so I have confirmed that my guess related to C3/2 is a dotted quarter.

Yes, where the default note length is L: 1/4, C3/2 = 3 quarter notes divided by 2, or 1 1/2 quarter notes, i.e., a dotted quarter.

Originally Posted by Shaeliana

Why is there a z/4 in the middle of the chord (which only has 1 note in it at that unless I am missing something).

Obviously, a note accompanied by a rest is not really a chord. I am uncertain why the music is notated this way, but it likely has something to do with the surrounding notes, possibly those in another part if this is an ensemble piece.

P.S. Q: represents the tempo, i.e., how slow or fast the music is. A tempo where a quarter note = 84 is considered Andante.

Hello and welcome to the world of LOTRO ABC.

To paraphrase two of your questions:

"Why are there notes of different lengths in the same chord?", and
"Why are there rests in a chord?"

These are due to LOTRO specific quirks. LOTRO allows different note lengths and even rests within chords, and this is one way to transcribe multiple voices, or "moving bass with chords and melody" as you called it. There are other ways which may be more readable, depending on the piece.

If you want to delve into this further, here's my past explanation of the subject:

http://forums.lotro.com/showthread.p...layer-my-notes
http://astleigh.mymiddleearth.com/20...of-abc-format/

Thank you everyone for your feedback and the very helpful links. Astleigh, I had read some of your tutorials but for some reason missed the one regarding quirks of the system which is very good. I've read up quite a bit on ABC format and it is just a lot to get your head around as it is nothing like writing sheet music. hahahah

There is a song I want to use in game that I can't fine in midi format, so I've been trying to work it out myself. I've tried using both Anvil and MuseScore, both of which have some real strengths, but I can't seem to get what I want from either, so I thought maybe I could clean it up and embellish it in ABC format. Maybe... but maybe not. Anvil is the easier of the two but it won't let me see both channels (flute part and harp/lute part) at the same time and I am just not proficient enough to run one in my head while editing the other.

Thanks again!! *goes back to reading up on ABCs*