Method and apparatus for representing musical information as guitar fingerboards
AssigneeWenger Corporation
InventorPhilip F. Farrand
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method and apparatus for representing musical information as guitar fingerboards dynamically maps the guitar fingerboards to their associated chord notations as the fingerboards are being displayed or printed. The transposition and mapping of the chord symbol onto the fingerboard is accomplished using an array of fingerboard record that represent a chosen set of fretting combinations for a fingerboard and a system for matching the musical information represented by the associated chord with the appropriate fretting combination for that chord.
Claims17
An apparatus for electronically storing and processing music information comprised of notes and rests to produce guitar fingerboards associated with said notes of said music information, the apparatus comprising:
- means for receiving electronic signals representing a time-ordered sequence of said notes and rests in a musical composition to be performed by one or more sound sources;
- means for identifying in said electronic signals the pitch of each note and the duration of each note and rest and means for assigning each note and rest to a first measure and succeeding sequentially ordered measures for an associated one of said sound
- means for storing an electronic representation of the pitch and duration of each note and the duration of each rest in a computer memory array;
- means for retrieving the electronic representations of the pitch and duration of each note and the duration of each rest from said computer memory array;
- means for translating all of the retrieved electronic representations associated with a single sound source into a first graphical representation of a musical staff with notes, chords and rests;
- and
- means for automatically producing a second graphical representation of a guitar fingerboard associated with selected ones of said chords in said first graphical representation to be displayed along with said first graphical representation.
The apparatus as recited in claim I wherein the pitch of each note and chord is expressed as a base value and a displacement from said base value.
The apparatus as recited in claim I wherein the duration of each note, each chord and each rest is expressed as one or more beat units, said beat unit being a specified absolute time interval.
The apparatus as recited in claim I wherein said computer memory array is comprised of a two dimensional framework of storage nodes, each storage node being associated with a unique one of said first and succeeding measures and a unique one of said one or more sound sources and at least one additional dimension implemented by vectors associated with one or more of said storage nodes, with said vectors containing additional electronic representations specifying graphical representations of textual, interpretive, pitch or duration attributes associated with the notes in the storage node associated with said vector.
A method for representing musical information as guitar fingerboards using a programmable data processing system, comprising means for entering musical information, a means for storing the musical information and a means for displaying said musical information and guitar fingerboards, the steps comprising:
- providing said programmable data processing system with a plurality of data signals representing notes of said musical information, including chords;
- storing the plurality of data signals in said storing means;
- and
- using said programmable data processing system to perform the steps of:
- representing a chord as a series of key numbers, including a base root and an alternate base root;
- creating a hash value for said chord by combining said series of key numbers;
- using said base roots, automatically matching said hash value with a computer memory array of fingerboard records stored in said storing means and containing a series of fingerboard fretting positions for a plurality of said base roots;
- and
- displaying, on the displaying means, the matched fingerboard record associated with said hash value in rhythmic alignment with said chord along with a display of said notes corresponding to said data signals entered as said musical information.
A method for automatically producing guitar fingerboards for a musical notation system that uses a programmable data processing system for receiving user commands and musical information, and for storing, manipulating and displaying said musical information, the method comprising the steps of:
- providing said programmable data processing system with music data which represents said musical information in the form of notes, chords and rests associated with one or more sound sources;
- selecting with a user-command one of said sound sources;
- and displaying said music data as a set of graphical representations of said notes, chords and rests associated with a staff representing said user-selected sound source;
- for each chord associated with each user-selected sound source, dynamically producing a guitar fingerboard symbol representative of that chord;
- and
- simultaneously displaying said guitar fingerboard symbol associated with each of said chords in rhythmic and harmonic alignment with the display of said graphical representations of said notes, rests and chords.
A method for electronically storing, processing and displaying music information comprised of notes, chords and rests to produce guitar fingerboards associated with said chords of said music information using a computer and a computer memory, comprising the steps of:
- receiving electronic signals representing a time-ordered sequence of said notes, chords and rests in a musical composition to be performed by one or more sound sources;
- storing an electronic representation of the pitch and duration of each of said notes and chords and the duration of each of said rests arrayed in said computer memory;
- retrieving said electronic representations of the pitch and duration of each note, chord and the duration of each rest from said computer memory array;
- translating all of said retrieved electronic representations associated with a single one of said sound sources into a first graphical representation of a musical staff with said notes, chords and rests;
- automatically producing a second graphical representation of said guitar fingerboards associated with selected ones of said chords to be displayed along with said first graphical representation;
- displaying said first graphical representation as said musical staff associated with said single sound;
- and
- displaying said second graphical representation of said guitar fingerboards in conjunction with said first graphical representation, each of said guitar fingerboards being displayed in rhythmic alignment with said selected ones of said chords which correspond to the associated guitar fingerboard.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.