Windows

macOS

Linux

AppImage

The simplest way to install MS4 is via an AppImage.

1. Go to the musescore.org Download page and click on the Download AppImage button. The file will be saved in the location specified for downloads by your browser.
2. Right-click on the downloaded AppImage and select Properties.
3. In the Permissions tab, check the option, “Allow executing file as program,” then close.

Althought the AppImage can be run as it is, to ensure correct association of the program with its MuseScore files you will need to install the program as follows:

1. Open the Terminal (from the menu, panel or with Ctrl+Alt+T ).
2. Type [file path] install.

Alternatively:

1. Right-click in the directory containing the AppImage and select “Open in Terminal”.
2. Type [file name] install.

If you’re coming to MuseScore 4 from earlier versions, you’ll notice changes not only to the user interface, but also to many familiar features and ways of doing things. These changes have been designed to improve the user experience while providing much greater functionality. Here's a very quick overview of some of the major changes.

New user interface

MuseScore 4 comes with a sleek new interface. Nearly every part of the application has been completely redesigned to be cleaner and easier to read. You can choose between light, dark and high contrast themes, as well as pick your preferred accent colour. Changes to the appearance of the app can be made in Preferences.

Instruments and parts

A new instruments panel allows you to hide, rearrange and customise your instruments without having to leave the score view.

The instruments panel integrates tightly with the process of creating parts, making it much easier to produce custom parts with any combination of available instruments. There’s now also a convenient button in the toolbar that allows you to quickly open any available part.

Inspector

The Inspector from earlier versions of MuseScore is now known as the Properties panel. Every option in this panel has been re-organised and the entire experience has been streamlined. By default, the Properties panel displays multiple useful options, like the ability to show or hide empty staves and various other types of score markings. Whereas previously you needed to select single element types before you could make changes to them, MuseScore 4 always displays relevant settings, regardless of how many different elements you have selected.

New playback and VSTi support

Playback improvements are the single largest change to MuseScore 4. Apart from new sample libraries (Muse Sounds, available as a separate download), there’s now support for VSTi plugins, which can be applied to instruments using the new mixer panel. The mixer also lets you easily switch between VSTi, SoundFonts and the Muse Sounds libraries, while also supporting VST effects. Sounds will now always be saved on a per-score basis, so there is no longer any need for the Synthesiser panel found in MuseScore 3 (this has been removed in MuseScore 4). If you previously used SFZ files for playback in MuseScore 3, we now recommend that you use a free VST sampler, like Sfizz or Sforzando, both of which support SFZ playback.

Engraving improvements

MuseScore 4 features many engraving improvements, some of which will have an effect on the appearance and layout of scores created in earlier versions. The most significant changes affect the placement of beams, slurs and ties, horizontal spacing, and page layout. There are far too many changes to list here, so those interested in learning more about the particularities may wish to read this dedicated document (link forthcoming) that explains and illustrates everything in detail.

An unavoidable consequence of having made such significant engraving improvements is that it will not be possible to open a score in MuseScore 4 from an earlier version of MuseScore and have it look identical.

Cloud storage

When you save a document for the first time, you’ll now be asked whether you want to save your file locally to your computer, or to the cloud. This new option is part of an exciting expansion we are making to services on musescore.com. Learn more about this in Open/Save/Export/Print and Share Scores Online.

Other changes

As you use the program, you’ll find lots of other small but significant changes that have been designed to make the process of composing and notating music just that bit easier. These include:

• An expanded note input toolbar, with one-click access to frequently used elements like tuplets and articulation marks. There’s also a convenient “+” menu where you can quickly add everything from notes and intervals, to frames and text elements.
• Easy-access features in the Properties panel that let you quickly add and remove measures, and show and hide empty staves
• A beautiful new mixer
• Improvements to the time signature properties dialog
• A streamlined experience for setting the language of the app
• A new Learn centre for instructional videos on how to get the most from the app

We’ll start by creating a new score from a template (Alternatively, you can learn about creating a score from scratch in Adding and removing instruments).

To create a score from a template:

1. Click New score in the Scores screen
2. In the New score dialog that appears, browse templates by Category, or use the search bar to look up a template directly
3. Click Next to enter additional score information (or skip this step and let MuseScore pre-fill your score with default information, which you can always change later)
4. Click Done to create your new score

Entering score information

In the Additional score information screen, you can set:

• The initial key signature (the default key signature contains no sharps or flats)
• The initial time signature (the default time signature is 4/4)
• The initial tempo (Click Tempo, then Show tempo marking on my score for this to appear)
• A pickup measure (anacrusis or upbeat measure), and its duration
• The initial number of measures in the score (the default is 32, but you can add/remove measures from the score edit window)

Entering notes

The simplest way to enter notes in MuseScore is to:

1. Hit N on your keyboard to enter the note entry mode
2. Start typing note names (A, B, C, D, E, F, G)

You’re now engraving in MuseScore! You’ll notice the blue note input highlight, which indicates that you are in note input mode. It shows you where in the measure your next note will be entered.

You can specify the duration of each note you enter in the Note input toolbar. To change note duration:

1. Ensure you are in note input mode (See above)
2. Click on the desired note duration, or
3. Use shortcut keys 1 through 7 to select different note values

Learn more about this topic in Entering notes and rests.

Adding items from the palettes

The Palettes panel contains almost every notational object you might need to add detail to your score. The simplest way to add palette items to your notation is to:

1. Select an existing object (or range of objects) in your score (e.g. a notehead, clef, measure, etc.)
2. In the Palettes panel, open a palette by clicking the triangular arrow button
3. Click once on a palette object

Learn more about this topic in Palettes

Making adjustments in Properties

The Properties panel can be revealed by clicking on the Properties tab on the left side of the screen:

(Users of MuseScore prior to version 4 will know this as the Inspector).

The properties panel will show settings that are specific to the object being selected. These settings usually affect the visual appearance of the selected object. Most of the time, changes you make in Properties will apply only to the object you have selected (e.g. you’ll change the selected hairpin, and not every hairpin in your score).

As you add details to your score, click on any object to see what settings are available.

Learn more about this topic in Properties.

Inserting and deleting measures

To insert a single measure:

1. Click on a measure to select it
2. In the Measure section of Properties, click Insert measures
3. Click the + button

This Measure section contains controls that allow you to insert multiple measures at once. Simply set the number of measures you wish to insert in the text field. You can also use the dropdown menu to change the point where new measures will be inserted.

To delete a measure or group of measures:

1. Select the measure(s) you wish to delete
2. In the Measures popup, click the trash can icon

More information on this topic can be found in Measures.

Exporting your score

Export allows you to create non-MuseScore files, such as PDF, MusicXML, MIDI, and various audio and image formats.

To export your score:

1. Select the Publish tab
2. Click Export
3. Select the parts you wish to export
4. Choose the file format for your exported file(s)
5. If exporting multiple parts, choose whether you want each part combined into one file or exported to as separate files
6. Click Export

You can also share scores online on musescore.com.

Saving your score

[Content on its way!]

Setup

Windows

NVDA

JAWS

Narrator

macOS

Linux

Working with the user interface

Working with your score

Main menu

• the menu applies to all tabs, although it's really mostly about the Score tab

Home

My account

Scores

Plugins

Learn

Score

Toolbars

• the playback controls are actually on what appears to be the "tab bar" (Home/Score/Publish) but I assume it makes sense to cover them here

Score

Palettes

Instruments

Properties

Status bar

Publish

DevTools

• I'm assuming this tab isn't in release versions

Scrolling

• mouse wheel
• scrollbars
• Navigator? or combine this with Timeline?

Keyboard navigation

Element navigation

Page navigation

Views

Page view

Continuous view (horizontal)

Continuous view (vertical)

Zoom

Find

• View / Show submenu - probably doesn't belong here, but where? Score properties, maybe sort of

• it's possible this information could be included on the general score navigation page
• argument for keeping it separate: it's a separate window, and it's one many people won't use

Overview

• include scrolling/zooming actions here?

Score structure pane

Understanding the display

Using the markers

Customizing the display

Instruments and measures pane

Understanding the display

Using the grid

Navigation

Selection

Customizing the display

Overview

• Score tab - File / New and corresponding shortcut
• Home tab - "New score" and "New" button

Instruments

You can create a score from scratch by choosing instruments yourself or by starting from a template and then possibly changing instruments later.

Choose instruments

You can start a score from scratch by adding instruments in the New Score dialog under the tab Choose instruments.

MuseScore contains over 500 instruments. Instruments are grouped into categories, and categories are organized into families. If you know what you’re looking for, you can simply type the name of your desired instrument in the search bar. Available instruments will appear beneath the search bar. Alternatively, you can browse instruments by selecting an instrument family in the Family dropdown menu and clicking on a category to see available instruments.

Adding instruments

To add an instrument to your score:

1. Click on the instrument name to select it
2. Click the → button to add the instrument to your score (You can also double click an instrument name to add it to your score)

Instruments are automatically arranged according to the order selected in the dropdown menu under Your Score. From this menu, you can choose from a range of standard score configurations.

Changing order of instruments

To change the order of instruments:

1. Select an instrument in the Your Score panel
2. Click the ↑ or ↓ arrow to change its position

Click Done to confirm your selection and close the dialog.

Removing instruments

To delete an instrument from your score:

1. Select an instrument in the Your Score panel
2. Click the trash can icon

You can also delete multiple instruments at once by first holding down Shift and selecting multiple instruments, then clicking the trash can icon to delete them.

Choose template

• explain purpose (instrument list, also style)
• explain process

Additional score information

Key signature

Time signature

Tempo

Measures

Title and other text

Changing instruments after score creation

There are two ways of changing existing score instruments:

• Press I while in the Score tab; or press Add in the Properties sidebar (see below).

This brings up the Add or remove instruments dialog which works in exactly the same way as the New score dialog described above.

• Press F7, or select View→Navigator

This displays a sidebar Instruments panel. Note: you can also create and delete unlinked / linked staves here.

Overview

• quick summary of steps
• selecting start location
• entering note input mode
• cursor
• undo

Entering notes

Selecting duration

• keyboard
• toolbar

Selecting pitch

• keyboard
• mouse
• piano keyboard
• MIDI
• octave shortcut
• enharmonic shortcut

Entering chords

Entering rests

• keyboard
• mouse, toolbar

Accidentals

Ties

Inserting and deleting

See also

• voices
• tuplets
• alternate note input modes
• tablature
• drum notation
• slash notation
• editing notes and rests
• noteheads

Overview

• explanation
• use cases / examples
• voice 1 first!

Entering notes multiple voices

Entering rests in multiple voices

• hiding / deleting
• positioning (see also?)

See also

• editing notes and rests
• stems & flags
• implode and explode
• positioning of elements

Rhythm only

Re-pitch

Real-time (metronome)

Real-time (foot-pedal)

Insert

Adding measures

• insert
• append
• single
• multiple

Removing measures

• remove selected range
• remove empty trailing measures

You can select elements in MuseScore using the keyboard or mouse. Selections can consist of a single element, a list of individual elements that may possibly be discontiguous, or a range of measures and staves that includes the elements within it. Certain commands work only on single elements or lists; some work only on ranges; others work on any type of selection. The documentation for any given command should explain which types of selection are allowed.

When selected, elements display in blue (or whatever color is defined for the [voice] the element belongs to). For range selections, a blue rectangle appears around the entire range.

Selecting a single element

To select a single element with the mouse, simply click it.

(insert GIF here)

To select a single element with the keyboard, use the cursor keys to [navigate] to the element. Note that there is no separate concept of a “cursor” in MuseScore that is separate from the selection, except while in Note Input mode. In Normal mode, the cursor keys actually select elements one by one as you navigate.

Notes

A note normally consists of multiple elements: the notehead, stem, flag, dot, accidental, etc. Most commands that operate on a single note expect you to select the notehead itself.

Chords

The notes of a chord share a single stem and flag. Even a single note can be considered a “chord” in the sense that it consists of these multiple elements.

To select a complete chord (all noteheads plus the stem and other elements) see the section on range selections below.

Overlapping elements

If multiple elements overlap, clicking selects the topmost element. To select the element underneath a currently-selected element, Ctrl+click it. This deselects the currently-selected element and selects the next element beneath it, if any. Thus, repeated Ctrl+click operations cycle through a set of overlapping elements.

Selecting a list of individual elements

You can select a list of elements manually by selecting each individually or automatically by using commands to select elements that are similar to a given element.

Selecting multiple elements manually

To add an element to the list of selected elements, Ctrl+click it. If an element is already selected, Ctrl+click removes it from the list of selected elements.

You can also use Ctrl+click to add or remove individual elements from a [range selection](#select-range}. In the process, this converts the selection into a list selection.

If the elements you wish to select are outside of the staff and clear of other elements, you may be able to create a list selection by using Shift+drag to draw a selection box around the desired elements. If any notes or rests are included, however, a range selection is performed instead.

Selecting similar elements automatically

To select all elements of a given type in the entire score or in a given staff:

1. Right-click one such element
2. In the resulting menu, click Select→Select: similar or Select→Select: similar in same staff as appropriate

To select all elements of a given type within a range:

1. Click the first such element
2. Shift+click the last such element

—OR—

1. Perform the range selection using the techniques described below
2. Right-click one element within the range
3. In the resulting menu, click Select→Select: similar in the range

To create more complex selections of similar elements:

1. (Optional) Perform a range selection
2. Right-click an element
3. In the resulting menu, click Select→Select dialog
4. Check the desired boxes within the resulting dialog (see below)

The options available in the select dialog will depend on the type of element you right-clicked. For example, for notes, you will see the following:

The selection options specific to notes are:

• Same notehead: notes with the same notehead group (normal, cross, slash, etc.)
• Same pitch: notes with the same pitch name, accidental, and octave
• Same string: notes with the on the same string (tablature only)
• Same type: notes of the same type (normal, acciaccatura, appoggiatura)
• Same note type: notes of the same duration, not considering presence of dots or tuplets
• Same duration: notes of the same actual duration
• Same note name: notes with the same pitch name and accidental, not considering octave
• Same staff: notes in the same staff
• Same voice: notes in the same voice
• In selection: notes within the current selection
• Same system: notes in the same system

In addition to the type-specific selection options, there are action options at the bottom of the dialog that are common to all element types. These control what happens to the selected elements, and only one of these can be chosen at a time:

• Replace selection: if checked, this action selection replaces an existing selection
• Search in selection: if checked, this action applies only to elements within an existing selection
• Add to selection: if checked, this action adds elements to an existing selection
• Subtract from selection: if checked, this action removes elements from an existing selection

Selecting a range of measures and staves

A range selection includes all elements from a given beginning and ending time position across a given set of staves. It is the usual starting point for operations such as copy and paste.

Selecting a range by dragging

To select a range of measures and staves with the mouse alone, use Shift+drag to draw a rectangle around it. Note that this is only feasible for relatively small selections that fit on screen at once.

Selecting a range by clicking

A more flexible method for making selections uses a combination of mouse and keyboard:

1. Click the first note or rest of the desired selection
2. Shift+click the last

In between the click and Shift+click, you can use [navigation] commands to position the score. This allows you make selections that span several pages.

This method works just as well if you first click the last note/rest then Shift+click the first.

Selecting a range using the keyboard

You can also make range selections using the keyboard alone or primarily:

1. Select the first note or rest using keyboard navigation or by clicking
2. Hold Shift while using keyboard navigation to extend the selection as you nagivate

The available commands include:

• Shift+Left and Shift+Right to extend the selection one note or rest at a time
• Shift+Ctrl+Left and Shift+Ctrl+Right to extend the selection one measure at a time (Mac: use Cmd instead of Ctrl)
• Shift+Up and Shift+Down to extend the selection one staff at a time
• Shift+Home and Shift+End to extend to the beginning or end of the system
• Shift+Ctrl+Home and Shift++CtrlEnd to extend to the beginning or end of the score (Mac: use Cmd instead of Ctrl)

Special range selections

MuseScore includes some special commands to make command selections:

• Edit→Select all or Ctrl+A (Mac: Cmd+A) to select the entire score
• Select→Select section to select the current section of the score (everything between the previous and next [section breaks])

Excluding elements from a range selection

For certain operations involving range selections, you might want to exclude elements of a given type from the selection. For example, you may wish to copy the notes, rest, and most other markings in a phrase, but skip the lyrics. Or in a passage with multiple voices, you may wish to delete everything not in voice 1. To exclude elements of a given type from a range selection:

1. Perform the range selection normally
2. Open the Selection Filter with View→Selection filter or by pressing F6
3. Remove the checkmarks next to any element types you want excluded from the selection

Note that if you exclude voice 1, you will not be able to select any measures that lack content in other voices. So be sure to restore voice 1 after performing the operation for which you you are excluding voice 1. For example, if you wish to copy and paste only voice 1, make your range selection, use the Selection Filter to exclude voice 1, use Edit→Copy or Ctrl+C, then restore the checkbox next to voice 1 before attempting to select the destination to paste.

Overview

• general concepts - different possibilities depending on mode & selection

Making changes in note input mode

Duration

Pitch

Ties

Adding and replacing

Deleting

Moving

Making changes in normal mode

Duration

Pitch

Adding and replacing

Ties

Voice

Making changes to range selections

Duration

• include regroup

Pitch

• include respell

Voice

Copying a range

Copying a list of elements

Moving elements

• cut and paste

Swapping a selection with the clipboard

Repeat selection

Copying elements to multiple staves

• special case of explode

Paste half/double duration

• also (or only) covered in editing - duration range?

Cloning elements

• useful for lines and other elements that can't be copied directly
• Ctrl+Shift+drag
• currently not working?

Overview

Opening and closing the palettes window

Searching and navigating the palettes window

• be sure to cover keyboard navigation

Expanding and collapsing palettes

• include menu commands to expand/collapse all, single palette, single click

Adding palette items to your score

• note: some palette items are not actual score elements (eg, beam properties) and elsewhere I anticipate potential for confusion if we refer to the contents of palettes as "elements". So I'm going to start by trying to avoid the phrase "palette element" for now and see if that seems workable.
• be sure to cover keyboard application

Items applied to individual score elements

Items applied to measures

Items applied to ranges

Accessing more palette items

Adding more palettes

The Properties panel shows settings for objects you select in the score. It was known as the “Inspector” in MuseScore 3.6 and earlier.

You can select one object (say, a dynamic mark) or multiple objects at a time (say, a dynamic mark, a notehead, and a hairpin). If any of the objects you have selected contains editable settings, Properties will be the place to find them.

An important thing about Properties is that it effects only the object(s) you have selected, so changing how one hairpin looks won’t change all of the hairpins in your score — only those you have selected.

Accessing Properties

From the Score window, click on the Properties tab in the panel on the left side of the screen:

Global settings

This is what the Properties panel looks like when you have nothing selected in your score. All these settings affect your entire score (not just individual elements):

Show

• Invisible: hides/shows all invisible objects in your score
• Frames: hides/shows Frames
• Formatting: hides/shows formatting elements added from the layout palette
• Page margins: hides/shows the page margin

Score appearance

• Empty staves: hides/shows staves that contain no notated music within a system. This setting mirrors the Hide empty staves within systems settings in the Style dialog.
• Page settings triggers the Page settings dialog.
• Style settings triggers the Style dialog.

General settings

Visible

• also mention keyboard toggle
• how to toggle display of invisible elements

Auto-place

Appearance settings

Leading

Bar width

Minimum distance

Offset

Snap to grid

Arrange

Color

Changing position of elements

• see also Formatting / Positioning of elements

Changing shape of elements

• edit mode or whatever it ends up being called
• use of handles

Working with lines

Creating diagonal lines

Changing range of a line

• note-anchored lines discussed here?

Editing line text

• other aspects of parts - style, export
• update to work better with "Working with Instruments" and/or "Create your first score"?

Opening a part

MuseScore 4 automatically creates a separate part for every instrument in your score.

To open a part:

1. Click Parts in the toolbar (This will open the parts dialog)
2. Click a part to select it
3. Click Open

The selected part appears as a tab in the score window.

You can also open multiple parts at once. Do this by holding Shift while selecting the parts you’d like to open in the parts dialog.

Renaming, duplicating and deleting parts

This all takes place in the parts dialog (accessible from the Parts button in the toolbar). Simply click the menu icon next to a selected part to reveal these options.

Parts can also be deleted by:

• Selecting a part and clicking the trash can icon
• Selecting a part and typing Del

Note that a part must first be opened before it can be duplicated or deleted. When a part is deleted, its tab in the score window is closed, and any customisations made to that part will be lost. The part will also no longer appear in the Parts dialog.

If you delete a part and can no longer see it in the Parts dialog, simply close and reopen the dialog. MuseScore will always make sure there is a part available in the Parts dialog for every available instrument in your score.

For information on exporting and printing parts, see Open/Save/Export/Print

Creating custom parts

The parts dialog is tightly integrated with the new instruments panel. This integration makes it easy for you to create parts with any combination of instruments from your score. There are two ways to customise parts in MuseScore 4.

Reveal instruments from other parts

As we’ve already seen, MuseScore 4 automatically creates a new part for every instrument in your score. All you have to do is open the part from the parts dialog.

What’s actually happening is that each automatically-created part contains all of the instruments in your score – they’re all just hidden from view (except, of course, the chosen part instrument).

You can “reveal” other instruments within an existing part. To do this:

1. Open a part (as described above)
2. Select the Instruments panel
3. Click the eye icon next to another instrument

This instrument will now be visible in the chosen part.

Create a new part

You can also create a customised part entirely from scratch. To do this:

1. Click Parts in the toolbar to open the parts dialog
2. Click Create new part
3. Give your new part a name
4. Click Open

Your new part will now be open in the scores tab, but it will appear to contain no instruments. To add instruments to this part:

1. Go to the Instruments panel
2. Click the eye icon next to each instrument you’d like to appear in your part

Choose which voices appear in each part

Sometimes it will be necessary to create individual parts from staves that contain multiple voices. You might, for example, want to extract separate parts for orchestral players who share a stave in the main score (E.g. Flute I and Flute II). Or you might wish to create individual vocal parts from choral scores where, for example, four voices are notated across two staves.

You'll need to first create or duplicate a part (See above). To then select which voices will appear in a part:

1. Open a part (see above)
2. Go to the Instruments panel
3. Expand an instrument by clicking on the triangular dropdown icon
4. Click the settings icon next to the staff name
5. Select which voice(s) you want to appear in your part by ticking/un-ticking the checkboxes under Voices visible in the score

Navigation

Page navigation

Action	Windows/Linux	macOS
Zoom in	Ctrl+=	Cmd+=
Zoom out	Ctrl+-	Cmd+-
Zoom to 100%	Ctrl+0	Cmd+0
First element	Ctrl+Home	Cmd+Fn+Left
Last element	Ctrl+End	Cmd+Fn+Right
Screen: Next	PgUp	Fn+Up
Screen: Previous	PgDn	Fn+Down
Page: Top of first	Home	Fn+Left
Page: Bottom of last	End	Fn+Right
Page: Next	Ctrl+PgUp	Cmd+Fn+Up
Page: Previous	Ctrl+PgDn	Cmd+Fn+Down
Find / Go To	Ctrl+F	Cmd+F

Score navigation

Action	Windows/Linux	macOS
Next chord	Right	Right
Previous chord	Left	Left
Next measure	Ctrl+Right	Cmd+Right
Previous measure	Ctrl+Left	Cmd+Left
Up note in chord	Alt+Up	Option+Up
Down note in chord	Alt+Down	Option+Down

Note input

General

Action	Windows/Linux	macOS
Note input	N	N
Piano keyboard	P	P
Voice 1	Ctrl+Alt+1	Cmd+Option+1
Voice 2	Ctrl+Alt+2	Cmd+Option+2

Duration

Action	Windows/Linux	macOS
Duration	1 – 9	1 – 9
Tuplets	Ctrl+2 – Ctrl+9	Cmd+2 – Cmd+9
Tie	T	T
Halve selected duration (dotted)	Shift+Q	Shift+Q
Double select duration (dotted)	Shift+W	Shift+W
Full measure rest	Ctrl+Shift+Del	Cmd+Shift+Del

Pitch

Action	Windows/Linux	macOS
Pitch	A – G	A – G
Add pitch to chord	Shift+A – Shift+G	Shift+A – Shift+G
Interval above	Alt+1 – Alt+9	Option+1 – Option+9
Toggle accidental: Flat	-	-
Toggle accidental: Natural	=	=
Toggle accidental: Sharp	+	+
Rest	0	0
Acciaccatura	/	/

Tablature

Action	Windows/Linux	macOS
Duration	Shift+0 – Shift+7	Shift+0 – Shift+7
Fret	0 – 9	0 – 9
String above	Up	Up
String below	Down	Down
Ghost note	Shift+X	Shift+X

Selecting

Action	Windows/Linux	macOS
Select all	Ctrl+A	Cmd+A
Add previous chord to selection	Shift+Left	Shift+Left
Add next chord to selection	Shift+Right	Shift+Right
Add staff above to selection	Shift+Up	Shift+Up
Add staff below to selection	Shift+Down	Shift+Down
Select to beginning of measure	Ctrl+Shift+Left	Cmd+Shift+Left
Select to end of measure	Ctrl+Shift+Right	Cmd+Shift+Right
Select to beginning of score	Ctrl+Shift+Home	Cmd+Shift+Fn+Left
Select to end of score	Ctrl+Shift+End	Cmd+Shift+Fn+Right

Editing

General

Action	Windows/Linux	macOS
Escape	Esc	Esc
Undo	Ctrl+Z	Cmd+Z
Redo	Ctrl+Shift+Z	Cmd+Shift+Z
Copy	Ctrl+C	Cmd+C
Cut	Ctrl+X	Cmd+X
Paste	Ctrl+V	Cmd+V
Repeat selection	R	R
Insert one measure before selection	Ins	Ins
Insert measures before selection	Ctrl+Ins	Cmd+Ins
Insert one measure at end of score	Ctrl+B	Cmd+B
Insert measures at end of score	Alt+Shift+B	Option+Shift+B
Delete	Del	Del
Remove selected range	Ctrl+Del	Cmd+Del
Properties	F8	Fn+F8

Duration

Action	Windows/Linux	macOS
Duration	1 – 9	1 – 9
Tuplets	Ctrl+2 – Ctrl+9	Cmd+2 – Cmd+9
Tie	T	T
Halve selected duration (dotted)	Shift+Q	Shift+Q
Double selected duration (dotted)	Shift+W	Shift+W

Pitch

Action	Windows/Linux	macOS
Toggle accidental: Flat	-	-
Toggle accidental: Natural	=	=
Toggle accidental: Sharp	+	+
Up	Up	Up
Down	Down	Down
Up octave	Ctrl+Up	Cmd+Up
Down octave	Ctrl+Down	Cmd+Down
Change enharmonic spelling (both modes)	J	J
Move note to higher string (TAB)	Ctrl+Up	Cmd+Up
Move note to lower string (TAB)	Ctrl+Down	Cmd+Down

Notation

Action	Windows/Linux	macOS
Flip direction	X	X
Voice 1	Ctrl+Alt+1	Cmd+Option+1
Voice 2	Ctrl+Alt+2	Cmd+Option+2

Text

General

Action	Windows/Linux	macOS
Staff text	Ctrl+T	Cmd+T
System text	Ctrl+Shift+T	Cmd+Shift+T
Tempo marking	Alt+Shift+T	Option+Shift+T
Rehearsal mark	Ctrl+M	Cmd+M

Formatting

Action	Windows/Linux	macOS
Bold face	Ctrl+B	Cmd+B
Italic	Ctrl+I	Cmd+I
Underline	Ctrl+U	Cmd+U

Lyrics

Action	Windows/Linux	macOS
Lyrics	Ctrl+L	Cmd+L
Next text element	Space	Space
Previous text element	Shift+Space	Shift+Space
Next syllable	-	-
Add melisma	_	_
Add lyrics verse	Return	Return
Next lyrics verse	Down	Down
Previous lyrics verse	Up	Up

Chord symbols, Roman numeral analysis, Nashville numbers

Action	Windows/Linux	macOS
Chord symbol	Ctrl+K	Cmd+K
Next text element	Space	Space
Previous text element	Shift+Space	Shift+Space
Next beat	;	;
Previous beat	Shift+;	Shift+;
Duration advance	Ctrl+0 – Ctrl+9	Cmd+0 – Cmd+9

Other score elements

Action	Windows/Linux	macOS
Palettes	F9	Fn+F9
Palette search	Ctrl+F9	Cmd+Fn+F9
Slur	S	S
Accent	Shift+V	Shift+V
Marcato	Shift+O	Shift+O
Staccato	Shift+S	Shift+S
Tenuto	Shift+N	Shift+N
Crescendo	<	<
Decrescendo	>	>

Score setup and formatting

Action	Windows/Linux	macOS
Instruments	I	I
Shift left	Left	Left
Shift right	Right	Right
Shift left quickly	Ctrl+Left	Cmd+Left
Shift right quickly	Ctrl+Right	Cmd+Right
Toggle visibility of elements	V	V
Toggle system break	Return	Return
Toggle page break	Ctrl+Return	Cmd+Return
Reset shapes and positions	Ctrl+R	Cmd+R

File Operations

Action	Windows/Linux	macOS
New	Ctrl+N	Cmd+N
Open	Ctrl+O	Cmd+O
Close	Ctrl+W	Cmd+W
Save	Ctrl+S	Cmd+S
Print	Ctrl+P	Cmd+P
Quit	Ctrl+Q	Cmd+Q

User interface

Playback

Action	Windows/Linux	macOS
Play	Space	Space
Mixer	F10	Fn+F10

Overview

The Instruments panel is a new feature in MuseScore 4. It gives you control over your instruments and some basic staff properties without having to leave the score view. All of the instruments in your score will appear in this panel.

Accessing the panel

Open the panel by clicking on the Instruments tab on the left side of the screen:

Adding instruments

click the Add button. This will open the Instruments dialog (see Adding and removing instruments for more information).

Deleting instruments

Select any instrument and click the trash can icon to delete it from your score.

Changing the order of instruments

Select any instrument and use the ↑ or ↓ arrows to change its position in the score.

Instrument settings

Hiding/showing instruments

The visibility of entire instrument staves can be toggled by clicking the eye icon next to an instrument label.

Hidden instruments aren't ever deleted — they are simply hidden. This means they won't be printed, but you can still generate and export parts for them.

This feature might be useful if you have alternative instruments or alternative versions of a part that you'd like to toggle between (e.g. for different performers or instrumental configurations). You might also like to isolate different sections of a larger score (say, for orchestra) without actually deleting anything or generating any new project files.

Renaming instruments

Click the cog icon to expose settings for renaming your instruments. Leaving any of these fields blank will ensure that no label appears on the score or in the part for that instrument.

Replacing instruments

To replace an instrument in the Instruments panel:

1. Click the cog icon
2. In the popup that appears, click Replace instrument
3. Select your desired replacement instrument in the dialog that appears
4. Click OK

Adding and configuring staves

The Instruments panel can also be used to add staves and configure some of their basic properties.

To add a stave to an existing instrument:

1. Click the triangular "show more" icon next to the instrument label
2. Click Add staff

Each stave contains some independently configurable properties. By clicking on the cog icon alongside a staff label (E.g. "Treble clef"), you can:

• Change its staff type (including the clef and number of staff lines)
• Reduce the size of the staff (Small staff)
• Hide any measures that do not contain notation

Learn more about staff customisation in Staff/part properties.

Create a linked staff

Certain notational objects on one staff can be reproduced on other staves if those staves are linked together. This can be useful for instruments that contain, for example, both standard and tablature staves.

To create a linked staff:

1. Click the triangular "show more" icon next to the instrument label
2. Click the cog icon next to the staff label (E.g. "Treble clef")
3. Click Create a linked staff

• better naming? goal is to make it more clear that this is the place both for creating "condensed score" (all empty staves hidden) but also for things like a solo staff that only appears in part of the score, since most people don't associate these with each other

Hiding empty staves

• use case

Hiding all empty staves

• include info on first system

Excluding specific staves from being hidden

• hide when empty = instrument, never

Temporary staves

• use case
• hide when empty: always

Cutaway staves

• use case
• hide when empty = always; cutaway

Ossia

• use case
• same as cutaway, plus - size, spacing, barlines, etc

Implode

Combine notes from multiple staves into multiple voices on a single staff

Combine notes from multiple voices into chords in a single voice

Explode

Separate notes of a chord into multiple staves

• use as "copy to multiple staves" - and/or make note of this on copy/paste page

Separate notes of a chord into multiple voices on a single staff

Adding an instrument change

When a musician is required to double on a different instrument for a section of a piece, the instruction to switch instruments is generally placed above the staff at the beginning of that section. A return to the primary instrument is handled in the same manner.

In MuseScore, the instruction to change to a different instrument is handled by the Change Instrument text element, which is found in the Text Palette. This text element is different from Staff and system text in that it is linked to playback, allowing for a change in sound to the new instrument.

To add an instrument change:

1. Click on a note or rest to select the start point for the change
2. Click on the Change instr. palette item in the Text Palette
3. Choose which instrument you wish to change to in the Select instrument dialog that appears
4. Click OK

The instruction to change to the new instrument will appear above the selected insertion point in the score.

Working with instrument changes

Removing an instrument change

To remove an instrument change, click once on a Change instrument text element to select it, and press either del or backspace.

Re-labelling an instrument change

You can re-label any Change instrument text element in the score by double-clicking on it and entering new text. This will not affect the playback sound of the new instrument.

Instrument changes in the mixer

Playback sounds for instrument changes are reflected in the Mixer as separate channel strips stacked to the right of the primary instrument channel strip. These instruments are labelled in parentheses. You can change the assigned playback library, apply effects, adjust the volume, and mute, solo, and pan these channel strips just as you would any other instrument channel strip. For more information, see the Mixer.

Changing staff type

Changing to a different instrument may necessitate the use of different key signatures, clefs, and even staff type. Learn more about changing staff type in Staff type change.

• use case

Adding a staff type change

Setting staff properties

• Inspector
• Staff/part properties?

• rationale for the staff / part split, use cases
• staff is per staff, part is per instrument
• naming here is based on UI buzzwords rather than user-centric; consider changing
• applies only the "current" part when using mid-score instrument changes? staff types changes?

Staff properties

Appearance

Advanced style properties

Part properties

Instrument

Names

Usable pitch range

Transposition

Dynamics

Strings and frets

Adding brackets

• recommendations for type of brackets to use (defaults normally correct?)
• include nested brackets

Editing brackets

Changing bracket type

Changing brack span

• handles
• properties

Deleting brackets

Customizing bracket appearance

• style for bracket itself
• factor for bracket spacing in vertical justification

Overview

Setting the initial time signature for your score

Adding a time signature change to your score

Controlling the visibility of time signatures

• staff/part properties
• courtesy time signatures - style, property

Creating a custom time signature

Adding a local time signature for a single staff

Time signature properties

• include beaming info

Time signature style

• include Page and Measure tabs

Stem direction

Default stem direction

Flipping stem direction

Changing stem length

Creating stemless notes

• staff/part style
• note properties
• marking stem invisible

Stem and flag properties

Stem and flag style

Controlling which notes are beamed

Setting the default beaming for a time signature

Changing the beaming for selected notes

Controlling the appearance of beams

Changing the angle of a selected beam

• includes horizontal

Creating a feathered beam

Beam properties

Beam style

Overview

• examples
• brief explanation of rules

Regrouping rhythms

• Tools / Regroup rhythms

Creating tuplets

Simple tuplets

• in note input mode versus normal
• include methods for entering consecutive tuplets

Custom tuplets

Nested tuplets

Changing the display of tuplets

Tuplet properties

Tuplet style

Adding double and other special barlines

Changing barline type for all staves

Changing barline type for a single staff

Adding mid-measure barlines

• visual only via palette
• see also split measure command

Changing barline length

Extending barlines through staves for all measure

Creating partial barlines

Creating barlines between staves only (Mensurstrich)

Barline properties

Barline style

Showing and hiding measure numbers

Showing measure numbers automatically

• every system
• every measure
• every staff
• interval
• multimeasure rests

Showing measure numbers manually

• measure properties

Hiding measure numbers

• hiding all
• hiding manually via measure properties

Changing the measure number sequence

Excluding a measure from the count

Altering the numbering of a measure

Resetting measure numbering for a new section

Changing the position of measure numbers

Measure number properties

• warning about changing properties for generated elements?

Measure number style

Overview

• what they are
• normally handled automatically
• enabled for parts, disabled for score

Enabling and disabling multimeasure rests

Breaking multimeasure rests

• automatically for rehearsal marks, key and time signature changes, etc
• manually via measure properties

Multimeasure rest properties

Multimeasure rest style

Creating a pickup measure

Specifying the pickup duration during score creation

Converting a measure into a pickup

• optionally ctrl+delete to remove the desired beats
• measure properties to exclude from measure count, optionally set actual duration explicitly

Shortening the last measure to complement the pickup

Creating non-metered measures

• not truly non-metered
• measure properties / actual duration can be used here as well

Inserting notes and rests

Joining measures

Splitting a measure

• use in hymns (split across systems), mid-measure repeats
• see also adjustment to measure number

• most of these controls have been discussed in other sections according to their actual purpose
• nevertheless, it makes sense (?) to discuss them all in one place as well
• section headings here are not very logical, but they reflect the dialog labels
• perhaps those labels should be revisited?

Staves

• I'd love to see this control redesigned, btw

Measure duration

Other

Setting the initial clef for a staff

Adding a clef change to a staff

Ordinary clef changes

Mid-measure clef changes

Controlling the visibility of clefs

• format / style / page
• staff/part properties
• courtesy clefs - style, property

Clefs and transposition

Using octave clefs

Using different clefs for transposed and concert pitch

Clef properties

Clef style

• include relevant settings from Page, Measure, and Sizes tab

Overview

Setting the initial key signature for your score

Adding a key signature change to your score

• see also Transposition

Controlling the visibility of key signatures

• format / style / page
• staff/part properties
• courtesy key signatures - style, property

Key signatures and transposition

• always added at concert pitch?
• open/atonal

Creating a custom key signature

Adding a local key signature for a single staff

Key signature properties

Key signature style

• include Accidental, Page, and Measure tabs

Overview

• selection vs instrument transposition
• a good discussion of transposing instruments would be good to have, but possible in a separate article?

Transposing a selection

• up/down etc
• diatonic vs chromatic
• transpose dialog

Working with transposing instruments

Transposed and concert pitch

Setting the interval of transposition

Controlling enharmonic spelling

• pitches via Ctrl+J
• key signatures via staff/part properties

Adding an octave line to your score

• see also Basics / Adjusting elements directly

Octave line properties

Octave line style

Changing notehead direction

• Shift+X (Mirror)
• Properties (Direction)

Changing notehead shape

Changing the apparent duration of a note

Sharing noteheads between voices

• in tab, make one voice invisible

Adding pitch information to notes

• note property (currently missing?)
• staff/part property

Adding an ambitus to your score

Changing the range of an ambitus

Ambitus properties

Manually changing the spelling of notes

• J
• Ctrl+J - change in current mode only

Automatically respelling all notes in a selection

• Tools / Respell pitches

Adding articulations to your score

Toolbar

Articulations palette

Keyboard shortcuts

Articulation properties

• playback?

Articulation style

Adding dynamics to your score

Dynamics palette

Custom dynamics

• ordinary text
• Special Characters
• shortcuts for f, m, p etc

Changing playback of dynamics

• single note dynamics? expr etc?

Dynamics properties

Dynamics style

Types of hairpin

• crescendo, diminuendo
• hairpin lines

Adding a hairpin to your score

Lines palette

Keyboard shortcuts

Changing appearance of hairpins

• reference general info in "Basics - Adjusting elements directly"

Changing playback of hairpins

Hairpin properties

Hairpin style

• slurs versus ties

Adding a slur to your score

• toolbar, palette, keyboard

Adding slurs in normal mode

Adding slurs in note input mode

Multi-voice and cross-staff slurs

Changing appearance of slurs

Slur properties

Slur style

Types of pauses

Fermata

Breath mark

Caesura

Adding a pause to your score

• fermatas added to note/rest or barline and appear above
• breaths and caesuras added to note but appear between notes

Changing pause playback

Pause properties

• appearance & playback
• fermata has placement

Pause style

• only fermata currently

Adding an ornament to your score

Ordinary ornaments

Ornament lines

Adding accidentals to ornaments

Changing ornament playback

Ornament properties

Ornament style

Arpeggios

Adding an arpeggio to your score

Creating multi-voice or cross-staff arpeggios

Changing playback of arpeggios

Arpeggio style

Glissandi

Adding a glissando to your score

Changing appearance of glissandi

Changing playback of glissandi

Glissando properties

Bends

Types of bends

• see "idiomatic notation: guitar" for tablature-style bends

Adding a bend to your score

Changing appearance of bends

Types of grace notes

• acciaccatura
• appoggiatura
• grace note after (trill endings)
• bagpipe embellishments

Adding a grace note to your score

• include slur

Multiple grace notes

Sequential grace notes

Grace note chords

Editing grace notes

Duration

• visual only

Pitch

Changing playback of grace notes

• supported?

Grace note style

• size

Types of tremolo and rolls

• number of strokes
• single note
• between notes
• buzz roll

Adding a tremolo to a single note

Adding a tremolo between notes

Changing appearance of tremolos

• traditional style

Adding a line to your score

• reference discussion in Basics / Palettes and Basics / Adjusting elements directly (Working with lines)
• more detail as needed

Types of lines

• link to specific sections for lines that have them - slur, voltas, octave, pedal, trill, guitar notation, etc.

Staff Text lines

System Text lines

Standard lines

Line properties

Line style

• text line
• system text line

The Symbols palette

• info on the structure of the palette
• info on changing fonts, and SMuFL

Adding symbols to your score

• add to note/rest, barline, ...
• add to other symbols
• reference Special Characters in text chapter for info on resizable symbols

Adding repeat signs to your score

Changing playback of repeat signs

• note about DC/DS

Changing appearance of repeat signs

Repeat properties

Repeat style

Adding voltas to your score

Changing appearance of voltas

Changing playback of voltas

Volta properties

Voltas style

Types of jumps and markers

• DC, DS
• Segno
• Fine
• To Coda
• Coda

Adding a jump or marker to your score

Changing appearance of jumps and markers

Changing playback of jumps and markers

• note about repeats

Jump and marker properties

Jump and marker style

• repeat text left/right

Adding a measure or multi-measure repeat to your score

Measure repeat properties

Measure repeat style

Turning repeat playback on and off

Unrolling repeats

Types of pedal markings

Adding pedal markings to your score

Creating pedal changes

Pedal properties

Pedal style

Creating cross-staff notation

Changing appearance of cross-staff notation

• these symbols are literally just symbol from the Symbols, but there is a dedicated palette for them
• we could consider eliminating this page
• we could also consider adding one for harp

Adding accordion symbols to your score

Fretboard (or Chord) diagrams usually appear above the staff on lead sheets and piano scores:

They are commonly used for guitar chords, but MuseScore allows you to create diagrams for any stringed instrument.

A library of common guitar chord diagrams (major, minor and 7th) is provided in the Fretboard Diagrams palette.

To reveal the chord name of any diagram in the palette, hover the cursor over it.

Adding a fretboard diagram to your score

Use one of the following methods:

• Select one or more notes, then click a fretboard diagram in the palette.
• Drag and drop a fretboard diagram from a palette on to a note.

Chord symbols linked to fretboard diagrams

When any of the preset diagrams is applied to the score, a chord symbol is automatically placed above it. This linked chord symbol has the same properties as a stand-alone chord symbol and can be edited and moved as such.

The default placement of a chord symbol in relation to its parent diagram is controlled by the “Distance to Fretboard Diagram” property (Format→Style...→Chord Symbols→Positioning). This value interacts with the chord symbol “Minimum distance” (Properties→Appearance). Adjust the diagram’s position manually if you need to override this.

A linked chord symbol can be deleted independently of its parent diagram. You can also add a new linked chord symbol to a fretboard diagram: see Entering a chord symbol.

Note: Neither fretboard diagrams nor their linked chord symbols are affected by transposition commands.

Creating a custom fretboard diagram

1. Select an existing fretboard diagram in the score; add it from the Fretboard diagrams palette if necessary.
2. Ensure that the Properties sidebar is open (toggle F8); and that the fretboard image is visible at the bottom of the Fretboard diagram section.
3. Selectively apply the following commands to the fretboard image to get the desired fretboard diagram:

• Remove all dots: Click the Clear button above the diagram.
• Add a finger dot: Click on a fret. The shape of the dot is determined by the Marker type setting. If Multiple dots is checked you can add more than one dot per string.
• Delete dot: Click on an existing dot.
• Add barre / partial barre: If "Barre" is unchecked, press Shift and click on the string fret where you want the finger barre to begin. If Barre is checked simply click on the desired start fret.
• End barre before rightmost string Establish the leftmost extent of the barre (as above), then establish the rightmost extent of the barre, using Shift click (if Barre is disabled); or by clicking (if Barre is enabled).
• Delete a barre: With Barre disabled, Shift click on the leftmost extent of the barre. With Barre enabled, click on the leftmost position of the barre.
• Create multiple barres: Repeat the above steps at different fret positions.
• Open / Mute strings Click just above the diagram to toggle a string between:
  • No symbol
  • Open (o)
  • Mute/Unplayed (X)

Note: See also Fretboard diagram properties (below).

Finger markers

The default finger marker is a round black dot, which suffices for standard chord (and scale) diagrams. However a number of other shapes are provided—cross, square and triangle—to enable other notation styles.

Alternative notation styles

Some arrangers and educators have extended the basic form of the fretboard diagram, incorporating finger dots of various shapes, and allowing multiple dots per string. Jazz guitarist Ted Greene and his successors are notable examples.

Multi-dot notation style. With this approach, the chord signified by round dots on the fretboard diagram is played first (see image below). Then, on successive beats marked by chord symbols, the chord fingering is modified to incorporate other shapes on the same diagram; the usual playing order is: dot → X → square → delta, but this can vary.

Optional-note notation style. Another use of multiple dots per string allows other symbols to show optional notes, rather than delayed notes:

Fretboard diagram appearance

• Select a chord diagram and click on Appearance in the Properties sidebar.

Edit the following properties as desired:

• Leading: The leading space.
• Measure width:
• Min distance: Minimum distance from the staff.
• Offset: Move the diagram horizontally or vertically.
• Snap to grid:
• Arrange: Backward or forward.
• Color: Click on this button to change the color of a selected chord diagram.

Fretboard diagram properties

When a fretboard diagram is selected, its properties are viewable in the Properties tab of the sidebar as follows:

General (tab)

• Barre: Check if you want to add or delete finger barres with one click on the fretboard image below. If unchecked, barres are added by Shift clicking instead.
• Multiple dots: If unchecked you can only add one finger dot per string. If checked you can add multiple dots per string.
• Marker type: When you click on the fretboard image the shape of the dot added is determined by this property. This allows you to add a variety of shapes if desired.
• Clear: Clears everything leaving an empty fretboard.

Settings (tab)

• Scale: Allows you to make the fingerboard larger or smaller.
• Strings: The number of strings to be displayed.
• Visbile frets: Specifies the number of displayed frets: these are added, or removed, from the bottom of the diagram.
• Fret number: Specifies the fret number to be displayed at the top left/right of the diagram.
• Placement on staff: Positions the diagram above or below the staff.
• Show nut: Check the box to embolden the nut. Applies to first position diagrams only.

At the bottom of the Fretboard diagram section of the sidebar is an image of the selected fretboard diagram. Any changes made to this image are automatically applied to the fretboard diagram in the score as well.

Fretboard diagram style

• see also palette customization

Adding a bend symbol to your score

Bends are created with the Bend Tool located in the the Guitar palette.

Apply a bend

To apply one or more bends to the score, use one of the following options:

• Select one or more notes and click the bend symbol in the palette.
• Drag the bend symbol from the palette on to a note.

Edit bend

When you select a bend its properties appear in the Properties panel:

• Play: To turn bend playback on or off, check/uncheck "Play" (General section)
• Line Thickness: Adjust "Line Thickness" in the Bend section.

Line thickness and arrow width for all bends in the score can be edited in Format→Style...→Bend. General text properties (font, size etc.) in Format→Style...→Text Styles→Bend.

Bend shape and width

1. Make sure that the bend is selected.
2. [Optional] In the "Bend" section of the Properties panel use the Bend type dropdown to choose from a range of presets.
3. Make adjustments to the graphical display in the Bend section: see Edit graphical display (see below).

Edit graphical display

The bend is represented by a graph consisting of red lines connected by circular, blue nodes. The slope of the line indicates the type of bend:

• Up-slope = Up-bend
• Down-slope = Down-bend
• Horizontal line = Hold

The vertical axis of the graph represents the amount by which the pitch is bent up or down: one unit equals a quarter-tone: 2 units a semitone, 4 units a whole-tone, and so on. The horizontal axis of the graph indicates the length of the bend: each line segment extends for 1 sp. in the score.

A bend is created/modified by adding or deleting nodes in the graph:

• To add a node, click on an empty intersection.
• To delete a node, click on it.

Adding a node lengthens the bend by 1 sp; deleting a node shortens the bend by 1 sp. The Start and End points of the bend can be moved up and down only.

Adjust height

The height of the bend symbol is automatically adjusted so that the text appears just above the staff. This height can be adjusted, if necessary, with a workaround:

1. Create another note vertically above the note (shortening the line) or below the note (extending the line) at which you want the bend to start.
2. Apply the bend to the created note.
3. To adjust the height of the bend move this created note vertically so that the bend symbol gets the desired height.
4. Drag the bend symbol to the correct position (to the original note).
5. Mark the created note invisible and silent (using the Inspector).

Adjust position

To adjust position use one of the following:

• Drag the bend symbol with a mouse.
• Click on the symbol and adjust the horizontal and vertical offsets in Properties&rarr:Appearance.
• Press the "edit element" shortcut"; or right-click on the symbol and select "Edit element." Then use the arrow keys for fine positioning (0.1 sp at a time); or Ctrl+Arrow (Mac: Cmd+Arrow) for larger adjustments (1 sp at a time).

Adding a tremolo bar symbol to your score

Adding a slide to your score

Slides can be found in the Arpeggios and glissandi palette. They are of two types:

• In-between (Glissando-style): Slides that run from one note or chord to the next.
  
• In / Out: Slides to be played a piacere before or after a note; can be slide-up or slide down.
  

Add a slide

Use one of the following methods:

• Select one or more notes as start points, then click the desired slide icon in the palette.
• Drag the desired slide from the palette onto a note.

In the case of in-between slides going from one chord to the next, the program will attempt to link the correct notes where possible. If further adjustment is required, see below.

Edit properties

For in-between slides, the following properties can be adjusted in the Glissando section of the Properties panel.

• Type: Choose between Straight or Wavy.
• Show text: Tick this box to display text. Note: If there isn't enough room between notes, the text is not displayed.
• Text: The wording displayed above the slide (if any).

Adjust start and end points of a slide

In-between slides:

To move an end handle vertically or horizontally, from one note to the next:

1. Select the slide.
2. Click on the start or end handle:
   • Use Shift+↑↓ to move the handle up or down, from note to note.
   • Use Shift+←→ moves the handle horizontally, from note to note.

Use this command to create cross-staff glissandi. Or to correct the positions of end handles when applying multiple glissandi to chords.

Slides in/out:

To adjust the position of the end handle:

1. Select the slide.
2. Click on the adjustment handle.
3. Drag the handle, or use the keyboard arrows.

Adding a barre line to your score

A Barre lines is a text-line drawn above a guitar staff to indicate that the passage requires a full or half barre. The following notation is widely accepted in classical guitar music:

Full bar (2nd fret):

Half barre (2nd fret):

The C before the roman numerals can be omitted and other variations in line style and text are possible—according to the publisher.

To apply a barre:

1. Click on the start note for the barre, then shift click on the end note to establish the range.
2. Click on the "Capo Line" symbol in the Guitar palette.

To adjust the length of a line, see Changing range of a line.

Adding hammer-on and pull-off symbols to your score

• not implemented, but show workaround here

Notating harmonics

• without "fix to line" we may need new workarounds

Notating guitar fingering

• explain the different types of guitar fingering
• link to full page on fingering

Overview

Music for fretted, stringed instruments is commonly notated using tablature (often abbreviated as tab); this gives a visual representation of the strings and fret numbers. Tablature is frequently found in combination with traditional staff notation.

Types of tablature staves

(To be added)

Adding a tablature staff to your score

If you wish to create tablature as part of a new score, use the New Score dialog. If you want to add tablature to an existing score, use the Instruments dialog or the Instruments panel. Or, alternatively, you can edit a pre-existing staff.

Add tab using the New Score dialog

To create tablature in a new score:

1. Open the New Score dialog.
2. Select the required tablature from either the Choose Instruments or Create from template tabs.
3. Complete the rest of the New Score dialog.

Note: If the desired tablature is not available, add any tablature staff at step 2 (above). Then, in the score, edit it using one of the methods shown in Change staff type (below).

Add tab using the Instruments dialog

To create a tablature staff in an existing score:

1. Open the Add or remove instruments dialog: press I; or, alternatively, the Add button in the Instruments sidebar
2. Click on the Strings – Plucked family and choose the desired tablature from the Instruments column.
3. Press OK.

Add tab by changing staff type

You can convert any existing plucked-string staff into the desired tablature type using the Instruments panel (sidebar), or the Staff/Part properties dialog.

Change staff using the Instruments panel:

1. Ensure that the Instruments panel is visible (toggle F7).
   
2. Click on the arrow next to the instrument name to unfurl the staves.
3. Click on the edit cog next to the desired staff and choose an option from the "Staff type" dropdown.

Change staff using Staff/Part properties

To change an existing (plucked string instrument) staff into any tablature staff:

1. Right-click onto an empty area of the staff and select Staff/Part Properties…. If "Instrument" is already set to a plucked-strings type, go to step 3.
2. If "Instrument" is not a plucked-strings type, click on Replace instrument and select an appropriate instrument from "Strings – Plucked."
3. Click on Advanced Style properties, select the appropriate tablature option from "Template", then press < Reset to Template. You can fine tune the display if necessary using the "Fret Marks" and "Note Values" tabs.
4. Click OK twice to exit.

Creating linked or unlinked staff/tablature

Music for the guitar (and other plucked-string instruments) is often notated using both standard musical staff and tablature on the same page. In MuseScore, you have the choice of either linked or unlinked staves.

• Linked: In this case, any change you make to the notation in one staff is immediately applied to the other staff, and vice versa.

• Unlinked: Each staff can be edited independently of the other. To transfer music notation from one staff to the other, select the desired range and copy and paste it onto the other staff.

Note : In both cases, the staff/tablature pair shares the same instrument.

Create a new staff/tab pair with the New Score Wizard

From a template

This method is for linked staff/tab only.

1. Open the New Score Wizard.
2. In the "Create from template" tab, click on the "Solo" cateory and choose the "Guitar + Tablature" .
3. Complete the rest of the New Score wizard.
4. Press OK twice.
5. Change the instrument type, if required, in Staff / Part properties.
6. Change the tablature type, if required, as shown in Change staff type (above).

From a plucked-string staff

This method can be used for both linked and unlinked staff/tab.

1. Open the New Score Wizard.
2. In the "Choose instruments" tab, click on the "Strings – Plucked" family, and select a staff option from the "Instruments" column.
3. Complete the rest of the wizard.
4. Add the desired staff using the Instruments panel.

Create staff/tablature in an existing score

To create a new staff/tab pair:

1. Open the Add or remove instruments dialog: press I; or, alternatively, the Add button in the Instruments sidebar
2. Click on the Strings – Plucked family and choose the desired staff from the Instruments column.
3. Press OK.
4. Add the desired tablature from the Instruments panel.

To add tab to an existing plucked instrument staff (or vice versa):

1. In the Instruments panel, click on the arrow next to the desired instrument.
2. Click on the Edit cog to add a linked staff; or click on Add staff to add an unlinked staff.

Entering notes and rests in tablature staves

Using a computer keyboard

1. In normal mode, select a measure, or note/rest.
2. Switch to note input mode: the cursor apprears as a small “blue rectangle” on the currently "active" string.
3. Select the duration (see below) of the note or rest to be entered.
4. Press the up/down arrow keys to move the cursor between strings. Use the left/right arrow keys to navigate through the score.
5. Press a number from 0 to 9 to enter a fret mark from 0 to 9. To enter numbers with several digits press each digit in sequence (Note: You cannot enter a number higher than the “Number of frets” value set in the Edit String Data dialog).
6. Press ; (semicolon) to enter a rest of the selected duration.
7. You can enter notes in different voices if required—just as you would in a standard staff.

Note for period instrument tablature: A to K (skipping I) can also be used to enter numbers 0 to 9. In French tablature the corresponing letters appear instead; for L, M, N, you need to type respectively 10, 11, 12.

See also, Edit notes (below).

Using a mouse

To enter notes into tablature with a mouse:

1. Enter note input mode and select the note or rest duration (see below).
2. Click on a string to create a fret mark there. Notes are initially created on fret 0 (or a for French tablatures); to change the default (or any) fretmark, just type in the desired number from the keyboard.
3. You can also increase/decrease the fret mark using Alt+Shift+↑; or, Alt+Shift+↓.
4. You can enter notes in different voices if required—just as you would in a standard staff.

See also, Edit notes (below).

Period tablature notation

MuseScore also supports tablature notation for period instruments such as the renaissance and baroque lutes, Theorbo etc. There are a number of notation systems in use (French, Italian, German, Spanish), but the most common is French.

French tablature features 6 lines representing the top 6 courses. Instead of numbers, fretmarks are indicated by letters—as explained above. Any notes on bass courses below the 6th string (fretted or unfretted) are represented by symbols in the space underneath the 6th line of tablature.

To enter symbols below the 6th line:

1. In note input mode, move the cursor until it is in the space below the 6th line. Press ↓ to move the cursor to the next lowest course and so on. As you do so a "cue mark" appears at the left side of the cursor to show you which course is active:
   • no cue = 7th course,
   • / = 8th course,
   • // = 9th course,
   • /// = 10th course,
   • 4 = 11th course
   • 5 = 12th course
   • 6 = 13th course
   • 7 = 14th course
   • 8 = 15th course
     Conversely, pressing ↑ moves the cursor back to the next highest course.
2. If the course is fretted, enter the desired fretmark. If the course is unfretted/open, press "a" (or, in fact, any fretmark key) and the correct fretmark will be added automatically.

Selecting note duration

In note input mode, you can use any of the following methods to set note duration in tablature:

• Press Shift+1 up to Shift+9: to set duration from a 128th note to a longa (availability of these shortcuts may depend on the platform and/or keyboard layout);
• Press NumPad 1 to 9: to set duration from a 128th note to a longa (if a numeric keypad exists and NumLock is on);
• Click on the desired note duration icon in the Note Input toolbar above the document window;
• Press Q to decrease the selected duration and W to increase it.

Editing notes and rests in tablature staves

Changing the fret number

In note input mode:

1. Position the cursor above the fret mark and retype the desired number.
2. Increment or decrement the fret mark using Alt+Shift+↑; or, Alt+Shift+↓ (The fret mark automatically changes strings, if necessary, to achieve the lowest possible fret position).

In normal mode:

1. Select one or more fret marks.
2. Use any of the following commands:
   • To increment or decrement, without changing the string: Press ↑/↓.
   • To increment or decrement, changing strings, when possible, to minimize the fret number: Press Alt+↑/↓.

Note: The fret mark cannot be higher than the “Number of frets” value set in the Edit String Data dialog.

Moving the fretmark to a different string

To move the fret mark to an adjacent string without changing the pitch (if the string is free and can produce that note):

In note input mode:

• Position the cursor over a fret mark, and press Ctrl+↑/↓ (Mac: Cmd+↑/↓).

In normal mode:

Use one of the following methods:

• Select one or more fret marks, and press Ctrl+↑/↓ (Mac: Cmd+↑/↓).
• Drag a fret mark up or down to an adjacent string.

Crosshead/Ghost notes

To change a fret mark to a crosshead/ghost note:

1. Select one or more fret marks (in normal mode).
2. Press Shift+X to toggles ghost noteheads on/off.

Changing tuning

1. Right-click on the staff and select Staff/Part Properties…
2. Press the Edit String Data... button at the bottom of the dialog box. This opens the String Data dialog:
   
3. Under Strings tuning, click on a string pitch and select Edit String…; Alternatively, just double-click the string pitch.
4. Select a new pitch in the Note Selection box and click OK. Alternatively, just double-click the new pitch.
5. Click OK to close the “String Data” dialog box.
6. Click OK to close the Staff/Part Properties dialog.

Notes: (1) If the tuning is changed on a tab staff that already contains some notes, fret marks will be adjusted automatically (if possible); (2) Any change of tuning to a particular instrument applies only to the score at hand, and does not change any program default settings.

Adding or removing strings

Add a string

1. Right-click on the staff and select Staff/Part Properties…
2. Click on Edit String Data...
3. Click on a string pitch and selectNew String…
4. Select the new pitch and press OK; alternatively, just double-click the new pitch.

The new string is inserted below the selected string. You will also need to adjust the number of lines in Staff/Part properties→Advanced style properties.

Delete a string

1. Right-click on the staff, select Staff/Part Properties…
2. Click on Edit String Data…
3. Click on a string pitch and press Delete String.

Note: After deleting a tablature string you will also need to adjust the number of lines in Staff/Part properties→Advanced style properties.

Mark unfretted string “open”

This feature is used to mark a (bass) course as unstopped (i.e. like a harp string, always played open). This means that only “0” (zero) or “a” is accepted as a fret mark: any other fret mark will be converted to 0/a.

1. Right-click on the staff, and select Staff/Part Properties...
2. Click on Edit String Data…
3. Check the required boxes in the Open column.

Change number of instrument frets

This property defines the maximum fret number which can be entered on a tablature staff.

1. Right-click on the staff, and select Staff/Part Properties...
2. Click on Edit String Data…
3. Select or enter a new number using the “Number of frets” spinner.

Changing tablature staff type

MuseScore provides a range of common tablature types. If you want to change the tablature type, choose one of two options:

Change tab type from Instruments panel

1. Ensure that the Instruments panel is displayed.
2. Click on the edit cog next to the staff that you wish to change.
3. Select an option from the Staff type dropdown.
4. To close, press Esc, or click outside the dialog.

Change tab type from Staff/Part properties

1. Right click on the staff and select Staff / Part properties.
2. Click on Advanced style properties.
3. Select an option from the Template dropdown, then press Reset to template.

Note: If you need finer control over customization, see Customizing appearance of tablature (below).

You will find the terms "simple", "common" and "full" in the tablature type names:

• Simple: Displays just fretmarks; no stems or beams.
• Common: Displays Fretmarks, stems and beams
• Full: Displays fretmarks; stems, beams, half-note stems and rests.

Customizing appearance of tablature

To access the full range of tablature customization options:

1. Right click on the staff and select Staff/Part Properties...
2. Click on Advanced Style Properties….

This gives you access to the following options:

• Lines: the number of lines displayed. This usually matches the number of strings in String data (exceptions being the Baroque Lute, Theorbo etc. which have more strings than lines).
• Line distance:
• Show Clef / Time signature / Barlines:
• Upside down: If not checked, the top tablature line will refer to the highest string, and the bottom tablature line to the lowest string (this is the most common option). If checked, the top tablature line refers to the lowest string, and the bottom tablature line to the highest line (e.g. Italian-style lute tablatures).
• Preview: Displays a specimen score excerpt with all the current properties applied.
• Template: If you do not need to set detailed customization options, there is a range of common tablature types available here.

Fret Marks tab

Fret marks are the numbers or letters used to indicate the location of notes on the fingerboard. The following group of properties define the appearance of fret marks:

• Font: The font used to draw fret marks. 8 fonts are provided supporting all the necessary symbols in 8 different styles (modern Serif, modern Sans, Renaissance, Phalèse, Bonneuil-de Visée, Bonneuil-Gaultier, Dowland, Lute Didactic).
• Size: Font size of fret marks in typographic points. Built-in fonts usually look good at a size of 9-10pt.
• Vertical offset: Allows you to move fret-marks up (negative offsets) or down (positive offsets) if better vertical positioning is required. Values are in sp.
• Marks are: Choice of Numbers (“1”, “2”...) or Letters (“a”, “b”...) as fret marks. When letters are used, “j” is skipped and “k” is used for the 9th fret.
• Marks are drawn: Choice of placing fretmarks On lines or Above lines.
• Lines are: Choice of Continuous (lines pass through fret marks) or Broken (a small space appears in the line where the fretmark is displayed).
• Show back-tied fret marks: If unchecked, only the first note in a series of tied notes is displayed. If ticked, all notes in the tied series are displayed.
• Show fingering in tablature: Tick to allow the display of fingering symbols applied from a palette.

Note Values tab

This group of properties defines the appearance of the symbols indicating note values.

• Font: The font used to draw the value symbols. Currently 5 fonts are provided supporting all the necessary symbols in 5 different styles (modern, Italian tablature, French tablature, French baroque
  (headless), French baroque). Used only with the Note symbols option.
• Size: Font size, in typographic points. Built-in fonts usually look good at a size of 15pt. Used only with the Note symbols option.
• Vertical offset: Applies only when Note symbols is selected (see below). Use negative offset values to raise the note value symbols, positive values to lower them.
• Shown as:
  • None: No note value will be drawn (as in the examples above)
  • Note symbols: Symbols in the shape of notes will be drawn above the staff. When this option is selected, symbols are drawn only when the note value changes, without being repeated (by default) for a sequence of notes all of the same value.
  • Stems and beams: Note stems and beams (or hooks) will be drawn. Values are indicated for each note, using the same typographic mechanics as for a regular staff; all commands of the standard Beam Palette can be applied to these beams too.
• Repeat: If several notes in sequence have the same duration, you can specify if and where to repeat the same note symbol. i.e.
  • Never.
  • At new system.
  • At new measure.
  • Always
    Note: This option is only available if “Shown as: Note symbols” is selected (see above).
• Stem style:
  • Beside staff: Stems are drawn as fixed height lines above/below the staff.
  • Through staff: Stems run through the staff to reach the fret marks.
    Note: This option is only available when “Shown as: Stems and Beams” is selected (see above).
• Stem position:
  • Above: Stems and beams are drawn above the staff.
  • Below: Stems and beams are drawn below the staff.
    Note: This option is only available when “Shown as: Stems and Beams” and “Stem style: Beside staff” is selected (see above).
• Half notes:
  • None
  • As short stems
  • As slashed stems
    Note: This option is only available when “Shown as: Stems and Beams and “Stem style: Beside staff” is selected (see above).
• Show rests: Check to display rests. The default is unchecked.

Overview

On a percussion staff, each line or space is allocated to a different instrument (rather than a different note as is the case with melodic instruments). Noteheads of different shapes (such as crossheads) are also used in addition to the standard ones.

Multiple voices may be used to group different instruments that are playing at once. For example, in a drumset, voice 1 (with stems upward) usually shows instruments played by the hands, such as drums and cymbals; while voice 2 (stems downward) shows instruments played by the feet, such as the bass drum and hi-hat pedal (see image above).

Types of percussion staves

Generally, percussion music is written on a 5-line, 3-line, or 1-line staff. When a percussion instrument is added to a score via the New Score Wizard or the Instruments dialog, MuseScore automatically chooses the most appropriate staff type. This can be changed by using the "Staff type" column in the Instruments dialog.

Adding a percussion staff to your score

You can add a percussion staff to your score in the same way other instruments are added. SeeInstruments dialog for more details.

Entering notes and rests in percussion staves

Using the Drum input palette

The Drum input palette allows you to enter notes using a mouse.

First, enter note input mode by following these steps:
1. Select the percussion staff you'd like to add notes to.
2. Enter Note Input mode (see Entering notes and rests)
3. The Drum input palette will appear at the bottom of the window.

The Drum input palette displays all of the percussion instruments in the currently selected staff. Clicking on one of the note previews will display the name of that instrument.

To input notes into your score:
1. Select the instrument you'd like to use in the Drum input palette.
2. Select your desired note duration using the Note input toolbar.
3. Click the score where you would like to add the notes. You don't need to worry about placing it on the correct line/space because it will automatically snap into position.

Using keyboard shortcuts

The drum input palette provides keyboard shortcuts for inputting the most common instruments in a percussion staff.

1. Select the percussion staff you'd like to add notes to.
2. Enter Note Input mode by pressing the N key.

3. Use the letters shown in the drum input palette to insert notes. You can use the shortcuts described in Keyboard shortcuts to change note duration and perform other actions.

   

If you'd like to insert notes that don't have a shortcut, you can input a nearby note that does have a shortcut, then use the up/down arrow keys to cycle through the instruments until you find the one you want.

Shortcuts can be customized by using the Edit drumset feature.

Using a MIDI controller

• Aalso applies to the Piano Keyboard

Overview

Customizing a drumset definition

Selecting a sound

• info on GM drum sounds
• how much of this is relevant for VST?

Defining the note

Name

Noteheads

Other properties

Saving and loading drumset definitions

Diddles

Diddles can be added by using an eighth-note Tremolo.

Mallet Dampening

(will add soon, possibly in HowTo or a different page?)

Pedal lines

To add a vibraphone pedal line, see Pedal.

Rolls

To add a drumroll to your score, see Tremolo.

Sticking

Will add

Adding a mensural time signature to your score

Using mensural note symbols

• add from symbols palette, hide

Working with non-metered music

• see also "Pickup and non-metered measures" in "Notation: Rhythm, meter, and measures"

Working with Mensurstrich

Adding barlines between staves

• see also "Barlines" in "Notation: Rhythm, meter, and measures"

Displaying note values across measure boundaries

Filling a range with beat slashes

• techniques to customize duration

Creating rhythmic slash notation

Accompaniment rhythms on the staff

Accent rhythms above or below the staff

Customizing appearance of staff lines

• number
• color
• visibility
• line distance

Customizing appearance of generated elements

• clef
• key signature
• time signature
• barlines

Customizing appearance of notes

• ledger lines
• stems
• notehead scheme

Changing staff type mid-score

• most of the above plus line & step offset

Overview

• different types of text for different purposes
• text attached differently - to notes, staff, frame, header/footer, etc.

Adding text to your score

• palettes
• menus (Add, context for frames)
• shortcuts

Editing text

Keyboard shortcuts

Special characters

Overview

• relationship between style, properties, and custom formatting (correct term?)

Text properties

• applying characters versus element

Settings that apply to elements or characters

Font

Style

Size

• include "Match staff size"

Subscript and superscript

Settings that apply to elements only

Alignment

Frame

Text style

Setting style defaults

Selecting different text styles

Position

• note that this applies at the element style level, not the text style level
• also reference the formatting chapter

Overview

• difference between staff and system text

Adding staff text to your score

Adding expression text to your score

Adding system text to your score

Repeating system text on other staves

• automatic via template
• manual: only via staff text?

Staff and system text properties

Staff and system text style

Overview

• regular tempo text vs gradual tempo changes
• mention tempo override in play panel (assuming that feature comes back; it's missing in alpha)
• tempo treated as system text

Adding a tempo text to your score

Using metronome markings

Using other text

Adding a "tempo changed ranged" to your score

• "tempo changed ranged" is what it's called in the alpha; please don't let this be what it gets called for real!

Changing appearance of tempo markings

Changing playback of tempo markings

Tempo text

"Tempo changed ranged"

Repeating tempo markings on other staves

• see system text

Tempo properties

Tempo style

Overview

• organized as syllables with hyphens and extended
• verses

Adding lyrics to your score

Entering syllables

• space vs hyphen; Shift to move backwards

Entering melisma

• hyphen vs underscore

Entering multiple verses

• Enter/up/down

Entering lyrics onto rests

Special characters within lyrics

• space, hyphen, underscore
• elision

Entering lyrics above the staff

Changing verse number of lyrics

Copying lyrics

Copying lyrics within MuseScore

Copying lyrics to other programs

Lyrics properties

Lyrics style

Types of fingering

Adding fingering to your score

• palette, menu, custom shortcut
• navigation

Changing appearance of fingering

Fingering properties

Fingering style

Overview

• general comments on syntax
• includes RNA & Nashville number

Adding chord symbols to your score

Entering a chord symbol

Entering Roman numeral analysis

Entering a Nashville number

Navigating by note, beat, or measure

Aligning chord symbols

• style setting
• manually

Entering alternate chord symbols

Transposition of chord symbols

• automatic via instrument
• tools / transpose
• capo

Changing spelling of chord symbols

Changing appearance of chord symbols

• font settings
• style settings for appearance, scaling/offset

Changing playback of chord symbols

Enabling and disabling playback

• properties/style
• preferences

Generating chord voicings onto a staff

Customizing playback

• interpretation, voicing, duration

Chord symbol properties

Chord symbol style

Overview

• works similarly to chord symbols

Adding figured bass to your score

Entering a figure

Navigating by note, beat, or measure

• explain how this relates to duration, and/or add subsection on duration

Entering continuation lines

Figured bass properties

Figures bass style

Overview

• use cases
• treated as system text

Adding a rehearsal mark to your score

Using measure numbers in rehearsal marks

• palette

Resequencing rehearsal marks

Finding rehearsal marks

• find
• navigator

Repeating rehearsal marks on other staves

Changing appearance of rehearsal marks

• alignment

Rehearsal mark properties

Rehearsal mark style

Overview

Adding a header or footer to your score

Entering information

• left/middle/right

Using metadata

• including things like $p versus $P, $c versus $C, etc

Changing the appearance of headers and footers

• first page; odd/even pages
• general information about size / placement relative to margins

Header and footer properties

Header and footer style

Overview

• text entered within frames
• types> title, subtitle, composer, lyricist, part name, frame

Adding other frame text to your score

Changing appearance of other frame text

• info on alignment, offset, scale to staff size

Other frame text properties

Other frame text style

Definitions

• Staff
• Grand staff
• System
• Frame
• Margins (page, music, frame)

• Distances

• picture of page with elements labeled

How music is placed on the page

• layout measures
• build systems
• build page

Default position

• placement (above/below)
• offset

Auto-place

Vertical collision avoidance

• minimum distance

Horizontal collision avoidance

• lyrics, chord symbols (space added)
• dynamics/hairpins (hairpin shortened)

Disabling auto-place (#autoplace-disable}

• shortcut, Properties

Manual adjustment

• mouse / drag (with/without Alt, if that's still supported to disable autoplace)
• keyboard nudge (with/without Ctrl) - double-click first to enter Edit mode?
• Properties / offset
• see also Basics / Adjusting elements directly (or wherever else this is discussed)

Vertical alignment

Automatic alignment

• lyrics, voltas, pedal, dynamics/hairpins
• style setting for range

Manual alignment

• multiselect + Properties offset
• grid

• emphasize that this page is about settings overall defaults
• overrides covered in following pages

Page settings

Page and margin sizes

Staff size

Style settings

Horizontal spacing

• spacing and other settings in Format / Measure / Style
• indent, last system fill, horizontal frames - reference "Fitting measures on a system"

Vertical spacing

• min vertical distance
• spacers, frames - reference "Fitting systems on a page"

Distance between staves within systems

• vertical justification

Distance between systems

Staff/part properties

• staff scaling / small setting
• extra distance

System breaks

Group measures

Stretch

Horizontal frames

First system indent

Last system fill

Page breaks

Spacers

• also reference "Using frames for additional content"

Staff spacer down

Staff spacer up

Staff spacer fixed down

System dividers

Adding frames between systems

• only needed for content - otherwise use spacers (see "Fitting systems on a page")

Text frames

Adding text

Vertical frames

Adding text

Adding images

Size

• automatic vs manual

Position and alignment of content

Spacing

Adding frames between measures

• used for spacing as well as content

Adding text

Adding images

Size

Spacing

Other frame properties

Adding images

• supported formats

Frames

Other elements

Image properties

Overview

• purpose
• see also "using frames..."

Adding section breaks

Section break properties

Pause

Instrument names

Bar numbers

• "Playback speed" will go here - not currently implemented
• info on customization of the controls will go in customization chapter

Overview

Playback commands

Start/stop

Rewind

Loop

Metronome

Other commands

• available after customization, or on undocking

Play position

Enable MIDI input

Play repeats

Pan score automatically

Enable count-in

The Mixer allows you to change instrument sounds (including loading virtual instruments and effects), adjust volume and panning, and make other adjustments to the playback for each stave.

A channel strip is automatically created for each stave in the score (this includes when a mid-score instrument change is applied to a stave). There is also a dedicated metronome channel strip and master fader.

Users of previous versions of MuseScore should note that the concept of a “part track” with subsidiary “channel tracks” does not exist in MuseScore 4 due to compatibility issues with the new playback engine. It may be reintroduced in later versions.

Opening the mixer

You can display/hide the mixer by:

• Clicking on the Mixer button in the Note input toolbar
• Clicking View → Mixer
• Using the shortcut F10

Mixer controls

Each channel strip contains the following controls (described from the bottom of a channel strip upwards):

• Mute (M) button: Disables the playback volume (Muted staves will not be heard)
• Solo (S) button: Enables playback volume for the selected (soloed) stave and mutes all other staves (Where only one stave is soloed, disengaging the solo mode will automatically unmute all other staves)

Mute and solo controls can be used in combination to change which instruments are heard during playback. For example, it is possible to put multiple staves into solo mode, so that only those staves are heard. It is also possible to mute a soloed stave.

• Volume fader: This can be clicked and dragged to increase or decrease the playback volume. Double clicking on the volume fader will return it to a neutral level (0 dB gain).
• Pan knob: This can be clicked and dragged to send the audio signal to the left or right speakers. Double clicking on the pan knob will return the pan to centre position.

Audio FX and sounds

MuseScore 4 supports virtual instrument effects plugins (VSTs). If you have VSTs installed on your computer, they will automatically appear in the Sound and Audio FX drop-downs in the mixer.

To load a VST plugin

1. Hover over a plugin slot
2. Click the dropdown button that appears
3. Locate and click on a plugin from the dropdown menu

The plugin will load as a separate window above your score. When you load an audio FX plugin, a new slot appears in the track

To disable a VST plugin

1. Hover over a plugin slot
2. Click on the power icon that appears

This deactivates the plugin without removing it from the mixer.

To remove a VST Audio FX plugin

1. Hover over a plugin slot
2. Click the dropdown button that appears
3. Click No effect

This removes the effects plugin from the mixer.

To replace a sound plugin

Only one sound plugin (virtual instrument) can be loaded for each track, and there must always be a sound assigned to each track (I.e. a track cannot contain no instrument sound). You can replace a sound using the process described above and selecting a different plugin or the default MuseScore General HQ SoundFont.

Out of the box, MuseScore comes packaged with its own SoundFont MuseScore GeneralHQ. This contains practically all of the instrument sounds you’ll need to get up and running with score creation. For a far more realistic, high quality audio experience, however, you can install our Muse Sounds orchestral plugins, using the Muse Installer. Aside from this, MuseScore continues to support the SoundFont format (.sf2, .sf3), which is a single file containing one or more virtual instruments.

Install a SoundFont

Once you’ve downloaded a SoundFont to your computer, there are two ways to install a SoundFont in MuseScore 4:

1. Drag and drop the SoundFont file into MuseScore 4
2. Place the SoundFont file in the directory specified in MuseScore 4

Drag and drop installation

[Content on its way]

File directory installation

By default, MuseScore looks for SoundFonts in the following directories:
[Content on its way]

You can also specify in which folder(s) on your computer MuseScore looks to find SoundFonts. If a SoundFont is installed in a recognised folder (“directory”), it will automatically be available in MuseScore.

First, specify the SoundFont directory in MuseScore 4:

1. Open Preferences (Mac: MuseScore > Preferences or shortcut Cmd + ;. Windows: Edit > Preferences)
2. Select Folders (under General)
3. Click the folder icon in the SoundFonts row
4. Click Add directory in the dialog that appears
5. Choose and Open the folder location you wish MuseScore to look for SoundFont files
6. If desired, you can add further directories by repeating the above five steps (optional)
7. When you’re done, click OK. The specified directory(ies) will appear in the text field in the SoundFonts row.
8. Click OK in the Preferences dialog to confirm your selection.

Once a SoundFont is installed, all you’ll need to do is choose the SoundFont you want for each instrument in your score. To do this:

1. Open the Mixer
2. Hover over the plugin slot next to Sound
3. Click the dropdown arrow that appears
4. Hover over SoundFonts
5. Select the SoundFont you wish to assign to that particular instrument

Repeat this process for each instrument. In most cases, MuseScore will automatically map instruments to their correct sounds in the specified SoundFont, as long as that SoundFont is using the correct MIDI instrument definitions.

Uninstall a SoundFont

To uninstall a SoundFont, simply open the folder where its file is installed and delete it.

A note on the Zerberus player and SFZs

Users of MuseScore 3.6 and earlier may be accustomed to using the Zerberus player, which supports the .sfz file format. In building a new system that now supports VST instruments, changes were required that necessitated the removal of the Zerberus player, as well as the Synthesizer found in previous versions of MuseScore. Consequently, some functionality has been lost in this process, including the ability to map specific instrument sounds like pizzicato and tremolo to specific MIDI channels. Our highest priority in future releases of MuseScore 4 is to again support this functionality for VST, SoundFont and the Muse Sounds libraries. Users who rely extensively on mapping .sfz sounds to specific performance directions are advised to continue using earlier versions of MuseScore until we re-enable this capability in MuseScore 4. It is worth mentioning that the new systems we are planning will be much more flexible, easy to use and powerful than those found in MuseScore 3.

For those who wish to still use SFZ sounds in MuseScore 4, good alternatives would be the open source VST samplers, Sfizz (Windows, Mac & Linux) or Sforzando (Windows & Mac), both of which support SFZ playback.

potentially delete this page - piano roll editor is not currently in MU4

• note: currently does not seem to be implemented?

Overview

Adding a capo marking to your score

• staff text
• properties
• "no capo"

Using capo with chord symbols

• left hand, meet right hand...

Overview

• what is swing
• what typical ratios are

Adding a swing or straight marking to your score

• using the triplet marking

Changing swing playback

• system/staff text properties
• using staff text to customize per-staff
• compatibility: style option

This section needs to be organized / written by someone with an understanding of how to use MIDI input/output in MuseScore 4. If JACK is still supported, it could be discussed here too, or in a new page.

MuseScore 4 supports VSTi plugins and effects. Any compatible VST plugins on your computer will be automatically made available in the Mixer, where you can easily switch between VSTi plugins, stack multiple VST effects, and access plugin interfaces for further customisation.

MuseScore 4 also supports its own free, high quality sample libraries (Muse Sounds, available as a separate downloads). See Download and Installation for details on how to install this.

Sounds you load in the Mixer will always be saved on a per-score basis, so there is no longer any need for the Synthesizer panel found in MuseScore 3 (this has been removed in MuseScore 4). If you previously used SFZ files for playback in MuseScore 3, we now recommend that you use a free VST sampler, like Sfizz or Sforzando, both of which support SFZ playback. #

See SoundFonts to learn more about support for the .sfz format in MuseScore 4.

Enabling, disabling, removing and replacing VST plugins

To learn more about how to work with VST plugins in the Mixer, see Audio FX and Sounds.

Overview

• cloud versus local storage
• explain that scores are just normal files on your computer (!)
• folders

Opening a score

• actual file dialog may vary by OS
• how to access cloud storage?

Native formats

Import formats

Saving your score

Save on your computer

• file formats (MSCZ; MSCX?)

Save to the cloud

Customizing import settings

Overview

• stress that export is one way, info is lost even if you then re-import

Exporting your score

• how to use the dialog

File formats

Graphical formats

• PDF, PNG, SVG

Audio formats

• when implemented, we'll know which...

MIDI format

• brief explanation is in order, so people don't expect audio or notation to be preserved

Score formats

• MusicXML, Braille

Customizing export settings

• preferences

• MIDI import panel not currently implemented, making this section largely moot

Overview

Cleaning up an imported score

• resetting stems
• removing breaks
• resetting text
• import settings

Preparing a score for export

• gotchas - manual adjustments, misuse of element types, images, ...
• export settings

• TBD

Overview

• what metatags are

Changing score properties

• explanation of the predefined metatags

Adding new properties

Accessing project properties in your score

• header/footer only

• not currently implemented

• TBD

TBD

• edit / preferences / appearances

Colors

• themes, background, paper, invert

Fonts

• appearance

• this is a rough outline based on a partial understanding of how things work

Toolbars

Showing and hiding toolbars

• view/toolbars

Rearranging toolbars

• dock/undock only?

Customizing contents of toolbars

• gear icons

Windows

Docking and undocking windows

Customizing contents of windows

• "..." menu (Mixer)

Overview

• what is a template
• what is a style

Templates

Saving your score as a template

Creating a score from your template

Style files

Saving style settings for your score to a file

Loading style settings into your score from a file

Setting a default style for your score

• score, parts

Adding palettes

• include adding custom palette

Hiding and deleting palettes

Changing the order of palettes

Customizing palette contents

Adding elements from the master palette

• symbols

Adding elements from your score

Moving elements between palettes

Deleting elements from palettes

Resetting palettes

Saving and loading palettes

Palettes menu

• one palette at a time
• single click

Palette properties

• palette vs cell

Overview

• what a workspace is, what they are good for

Creating a new workspace

Deleting a workspace

Switching between workspaces

Changing workspace settings

• presumably be a way to revisit the settings made when creating the workspace
• currently not implemented?

Sharing workspaces

• working with the actual workspace files

Overview

• opening the dialog
• finding commands
• key sequences

Defining a shortcut

Resetting and clearing shortcuts

Importing and exporting shortcuts

• this section is a quick tour of all preferences (and possibly where to find more info)
• mention reset preferences up front

General

Appearance

Canvas

Note input

MIDI device mapping

Score

I/O

Import

Shortcuts

Update

Advanced

Overview

• what plugins are
• how/where to get plugins
• disclaimers
• info on creating them

Managing plugins

Installing a new plugin

Enabling and disabling plugins

Running a plugin

• menu, shortcut

Pre-installed plugins

• brief info on each

Overview

• documentation
• support questions
• bug reports
• feature requests

Learn

• tutorials
• classes

Forums

Issue tracker

• ?

GitHub

• ?

Mastering MuseScore

Overview

• why to do this
• what it does
• disclaimers

Reverting to factory settings from the menu

Reverting to factory settings from the command line

Windows

macOS

Linux

Installation issues

Score issues

Display issues

Sound issues

Printing issues

The glossary is a work in progress—please help if you can. You can discuss this page in the documentation forum.

The list below is a glossary of frequently used terms in MuseScore as well as their meaning. The differences between American English and British English are marked with "(AE)" and "(BE)", respectively.

A

Acciaccatura

A short →grace note which appears as a small note with a stroke through the stem. It is quickly executed and technically takes no value from its associated note.

Accidental

A sign appearing in front of a note that raises or lowers its pitch. The most common accidentals are →sharps, →flats or →naturals, but →double sharps and →double flats are also used. Also →koron, and →sori and other quarter tone or microtonal accidentals. Accidentals affect all notes on the same →staff position only for the remainder of the measure in which they occur, but they can be canceled by another accidental. In notes tied across a →barline, the accidental continues across the →barline to the tied note, but not to later untied notes on the same →staff position in that measure.

Ambitus

Note (or vocal) range used in a →staff. Used particularly in Early Music

Anacrusis (mostly BE)

See →Pickup measure.

Anchor

The point of attachment to the score of objects such as Text and Lines: When the object is dragged, the anchor appears as small brown circle connected to the object by a dotted line. Depending on the object selected, its anchor may be attached to either (a) a note (e.g. fingering), (b) a staff line (e.g. staff text), or (c) a barline (e.g. repeats).

Appoggiatura

A long →grace note which takes value from its associated note. Its functions include: passing tone, anticipation, struck suspension, and escape tone.

Arpeggio

An arpeggio tells the performer to break up the chord into the constituent notes, playing them separately and one after the other. An arrow on the arpeggio indicates the direction in which the player should play the notes of the chord.

B

Bar (BE)

See →measure.

Barline

Vertical line through a →staff, staves, or a full →system that separates →measures.

Beam

Notes with a duration of an →eighth or shorter either carry a →flag or a beam. Beams are used for grouping notes.

BPM

Beats Per Minute is the unit for measuring tempo, traditionally counted in quarter note durations. See →metronome mark

Breve

Brevis

A double whole note or breve is a note that has the duration of two whole notes.

C

Caesura

A caesura (//) is a brief, silent pause. Time is not counted for this period, and music resumes when the director signals.

Cent

An interval equal to one hundredth of a semitone.

Chord

A group of two or more notes sounding together. To select a chord in MuseScore, press Shift and click on a note. In the Inspector, however, the word "Chord" only covers notes in the same voice as the selected note(s).

Clef

Sign at the beginning of a →staff, used to tell which are the musical notes onthe lines and in the spaces.
Some transposing instruments make use of octave transposing clefs or have different clefs in →concert pitch vs. transposing pitch.

Concert pitch

Enables you to switch between concert pitch and transposing pitch (see Concert pitch and Transposition).

Crotchet (BE)

See →Quarter note.

D

Double Flat

A double flat (♭♭ or 𝄫) is a sign that indicates that the pitch of a note has to be lowered two semitones.

Double Sharp

A double sharp (♯♯ or 𝄪) is a sign that indicates that the pitch of a note has to be raised two semitones.

Demisemiquaver (BE)

A thirty-second note.

Duplet

See →tuplet.

Dynamic

A symbol indicating the relative loudness of a note or phrase of music—such as mf (mezzoforte), p (piano), f (forte) etc., starting at that note.

Dynamic, Single note

A dynamic marking which applies only to one note—such as sfz (sforzando), fp (fortepiano) etc.

E

Edit mode

The program mode from which you can edit various score elements.

Eighth note

A note whose duration is an eighth of a whole note (semibreve). Same as a quaver (BE).

Endings

See →volta.

Enharmonic notes

Notes that sound the same pitch but are written differently. Example: G♯ and A♭ are enharmonic notes.

F

Flag

See →beam.

Flat

Sign (♭) that indicates that the pitch of a note has to be lowered one semitone.

G

Grace note

Grace notes appear as small notes in front of a normal-sized main note. See →acciaccatura and →appoggiatura.

Grand Staff (AE)

Great Stave (BE)

An instrument or →part with two or more staves, featuring treble and bass clefs, used to notate music for keyboard instruments and the harp.

H

Half Note

A note whose duration is half of a whole note (semibreve). Same as a minim (BE).

Hemidemisemiquaver (BE)

A sixty-fourth note.

I

Interval

The difference in pitch between two notes, expressed in terms of the scale degree (e.g. major second, minor third, perfect fifth etc.). See Degree (Music) (Wikipedia).

J

Jump

In MuseScore, "jumps" are notations such as "D.S. al Coda", found in the "Repeats & Jumps" palette.

K

Key Signature

Set of →sharps or →flats at the beginning of the →staves. It gives an idea about the tonality and avoids repeating those signs all along the →staff.
A key signature with B flat means F major or D minor tonality.

Koron

An Iranian →accidental which lowers the pitch of a note by a quarter tone (in comparison to the →flat which lowers a note by a semitone). It is possible to use this accidental in a →key signature.
See also →Sori.

L

Longa

A longa is a quadruple whole note.

Ledger Line (AE)

Leger Line (BE)

Line(s) that are added with and for notes above or below the staff.

M

Measure (AE)

A segment of time defined by a given number of beats. Dividing music into measures provides regular reference points to pinpoint locations within a piece of music. Same as → bar (BE).

Metronome mark

Metronome marks are usually given by a note length equaling a certain playback speed in →BPM. In MuseScore, metronome marks are used in Tempo texts.

Minim (BE)

See →Half note.

N

Natural

A natural (♮) is a sign that cancels a previous alteration on notes of the same pitch.

Normal mode

The operating mode of MuseScore outside note input mode or edit mode: press Esc to enter it. In Normal mode you can navigate through the score, select and move elements, adjust Inspector properties, and alter the pitches of existing notes.

Note input mode

The program mode used for entering music notation.

O

Operating System

OS

Underlying set of programs which set up a computer, enabling additional programs (such as MuseScore). Popular OSes are Microsoft Windows, macOS, and GNU/Linux.
Not to be confused with a sheet music →system.

P

Part

Music to be played or sung by one or a group of musicians using the same instrument. In a string quartet, 1st part = Violin 1, 2nd part = Violin 2, 3rd part = Viola, 4th part = Cello, in a choir there might be parts for soprano, alto, tenor and bass. A part has one or more →staves (e.g. Piano has 2 staves, Organ can have 2 or 3 staves). See also Parts

Pickup Measure (mostly AE, also known as an Anacrusis (mostly BE) or Upbeat)

Incomplete first measure of a piece or a section of a piece of music. See Measure duration and Create new score: Pickup measure and also Exclude from measure count. May or may not be compensated for at the end of the score or section.

Q

Quadruplet

See →tuplet.

Quarter note

A note whose duration is a quarter of a whole note (semibreve). Same as a crotchet (BE).

Quaver (BE)

See →eighth note.

Quintuplet

See →tuplet.

R

Respell Pitches

Tries to guess the right accidentals for the whole score (see Accidentals).

Rest

Interval of silence of a specified duration.

Re-pitch mode

Allows you to rewrite an existing passage of music by changing the note pitches without altering the rhythm.

S

Semibreve (BE)

A whole note (AE). It lasts a whole measure in 4/4 time.

Semiquaver (BE)

A sixteenth note.

Semihemidemisemiquaver (Quasihemidemisemiquaver) (BE)

An hundred and twenty eighth note.

Sextuplet

See →tuplet.

Slash chord

See Slash chord (Wikipedia).

Slash notation

A form of music notation using slash marks placed on or above/below the staff to indicate the rhythm of an accompaniment: often found in association with chord symbols. There are two types: (1) Slash notation consists of a rhythm slash on each beat: the exact interpretation is left to the player (see Fill with slashes); (2) Rhythmic slash notation indicates the precise rhythm for the accompaniment (see Toggle rhythmic slash notation).

SFZ

A virtual instrument format supported by MuseScore (along with →SoundFonts). An SFZ library consists of one or more SFZ text files, each defining a particular instrument setup, and many audio sound samples.

Sharp

Sign (♯) that indicates that the pitch of a note has to be raised one semitone.

Slur

A curved line over or under two or more notes, meaning that the notes will be played smooth and connected (legato).
See also →tie.

Sori

An Iranian →accidental which raises the pitch of a note by a quarter tone (in comparison to the sharp which raises it by a semitone). It is possible to use this accidental in a →key signature.
See also →Koron.

SoundFont

A virtual instrument format supported by MuseScore (along with →SFZ). A SoundFont is a special type of file (extension .sf2, or .sf3 if compressed) containing sound samples of one or more musical instruments. In effect, a virtual synthesizer which acts as a sound source for MIDI files. MuseScore 2.2 comes with the SoundFont "MuseScore_General.sf3" pre-installed.

Spatium (plural: Spatia) / Space / Staff Space / sp. (abbr./unit)

The distance between the midpoints of two lines of a music staff (or one-quarter the size of the full five-line staff, assuming a hypothetical staff line thickness of 0). The sizes of most elements in the score are based on this setting (see Page settings).

Staff (AE) / Staves (plural)

A set of lines and spaces, each representing a pitch, on which music is written. In ancient music notation (before 11th century) the staff may have any number of lines.

Staff Space

See Spatium (above).

Stave (BE)

See Staff (above).

Step-time input

MuseScore's default note input mode, allowing you to enter music notation one note (or rest) at a time.

System

Set of staves to be read simultaneously in a score.
See also →Operating System (OS).

T

Tie

A curved line between two or more notes on the same pitch to indicate a single note of combined duration:

• Quarter note + Tie + Quarter note = Half note
• Quarter note + Tie + Eighth note = Dotted Quarter note
• Quarter note + Tie + Eighth note + Tie + 16th note = Double Dotted Quarter note
  See also →slur.

Transposition

The act of moving the pitches of one or more notes up or down by a constant interval. There may be several reasons for transposing a piece, for example:

1. The tune is too low or too high for a singer. In this case the whole orchestra will have to be transposed as well—easily done using MuseScore.
2. The part is written for a particular instrument but needs to be played by a different one.
3. The score is written for an orchestra and you want to hear what the individual instruments sound like. This requires changing the transposing instrument parts to concert pitch.
4. A darker or a more brilliant sound is desired.

Triplet

See →tuplet.

Tuplet

A tuplet divides its next higher note value by a number of notes other than given by the time signature. For example a →triplet divides the next higher note value into three parts, rather than two. Tuplets may be: →triplets, →duplets, →quintuplets, and other.

U

Upbeat

See →pickup measure.

V

Velocity

The velocity property of a note controls how loudly the note is played. This usage of the term comes from MIDI synthesizers. On a keyboard instrument, it is the speed with which a key is pressed that controls its volume. The usual scale for velocity is 0 (silent) to 127 (maximum).

Voice

Polyphonic instruments like Keyboards, Violins, or Drums need to write notes or chords of different duration at the same time on the same →staff. To write such things each horizontal succession of notes or chords has to be written on the staff independently. In MuseScore you can have up to 4 voices per staff. Not to be confused with vocalists, singing voices like soprano, alto, tenor and bass, which are better viewed as instruments.

Volta

In a repeated section of music, it is common for the last few measures of the section to differ. Markings called voltas are used to indicate how the section is to be ended each time. These markings are often referred to simply as →endings.

External links

• http://www.robertcarney.net/musical-terms-definitions.htm
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_musical_symbols