Tablature Fretting Tutorial (Linux Version)

There's a few linux users here and I'm very much aware of the lack of programs like fruity loops and anvil studio for GNU/Linux. I've been able to fret quite succesfully on OpenSUSE myself with a few programs, so I thought I'd write down what I've done so far. Look at the other tutorials for further instructions.

Applications used

  1. Feedback (Through Wine)
  2. TuxGuitar
  3. LMMS (Linux Multimedia Studio)
  4. RoseGarden (Optional)
  5. Image Editor of choice, I use GIMP (Optional)
  6. Chart2Mid2Chart Oh and yes this is a java app so it WILL work on linux!

LMMS is prefered as the midi reader as it displays measures as they're supposed to be, I've had problems looking at the measures in RoseGarden, but RoseGarden has other features that you might be interested in (or not..)

Get The Tablature

Okay let's get this started, fretting by ear takes skills and you will most likely get better results using tablatures as a base.1 Search for guitar tablatures with google. For example I just recently searched for tabs for the song Monochromatic Stains by Dark Tranquillity, my search looked like this "monochromatic tab". Any any case try to find Guitar Pro tab files, as TuxGuitar can open those without any real problem.

Convert It To Midi

Once you've opened the Guitar Pro file you can see the BPM2, sections and the notes. Do take note of the BPM because in most cases it's very close to the real BPM or even the exact!3 Keep TuxGuitar open when you fret so that you can add sections as you move on. Also note the tracks, in most cases guitar is the first track, second guitar is the scond track, then comes bass, percursion instruments, drums keyboard etc. Just note down which track has the intrument you're about to fret.

Open The Midi With LMMS

Once you've started LMMS import the midi file. The tracks are in the exact same order as they were in TuxGuitar. So if you're going to fret guitar you'll have that track on top4. Just double click it and you will have the piano roll/matrix view window show up. This is all we need LMMS for, have it open when you fret in Feedback.

Time To Fret

wine FeedBack_OpenGL.exe
Okay so now that Feedback is up it's just a matter of fretting.
First thing you need to do is make sure that the first note is at the beginning of a measure, but it also has to be in sync with the audio! Either you can mess with the BPM in the start of the song or you can set an offset. This is explained more on other tutorials and I don't feel like reinventing the wheel at the moment!

For fretting refer to the midi you have open in LMMS and your musical ear (check the other tutorials).

Anyways, add sections with the (by default) shortcut key 'R' and enter your section name (just take a quick look at TuxGuitar). For solo sections I believe that it's just a matter of adding a section with the word solo in it will trigger a solo of the game supports, to end the solo a section with a name that does not contain the word solo will work.

When you're done just save and quit. If you added a offset be sure to note down the number and remove the offset before saving.

Converting From Chart To Mid

java -jar Chart2Mid.jar
Just browse to the newly created chart file, if you've added drums tick Rock Band if not just keep it at Guitar Hero and hit Convert.

Final Steps

Go into your song directory, create a new folder called "Artist - Title" (Of course this is your artist and song title) For full compitability with high score charts like Divras. You will only need to suplky a few files for the song to work.

  • song.ini
  • guitar.ogg
  • notes.mid

Move the newly created midi into the folder, the audio file needs to be in ogg vorbis format with a frequency equal to or lower than 44.1 KHz and for the song.ini check this page.

Optional Steps: Label(s)

Create a label or two.
I will not go in on detail on how to create labels, for CDs the game will render the image from label.png that is inside the circle that "touches" all the edges. In other words, anything inside the circle that fits the image.

For the tape just use one of the labels that comes with the game like This Week I've Mostly Been Playing Guitar or any of the others and later it.

Optional Steps: Remove Empty Tracks

Okay so LMMs is not suited for midi edition and exporting. that's why I added RoseGarden as a optional application. Just load your midi in it, remove PART BASS, LEAD DRUMS if they're not used. If you're only doing one difficulty, you can load the track in the matrix view, locate the lines where there is only notes at the start and remove them. Export as midi and look happy!

That was all from me I hope that helps some of my fellow GNU/Linux users!
Oh and I will update this with images and deeper explanations if needed.

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