As I continue to get better on Scalar - I have been spending a bunch of time with the new “guitar” features - specifically getting Scalar to route it’s midi to third party Guitar VSTs like Orange Tree Samples Steel String etc.
I am finding that when I string together a set of chords AND I even have the Guitar Voicing specifically set to Active - the midi that Scalar is sending contains a ton of data (LOTS of higher pitches) that a typical guitar player would never use or maybe could not play.
Q: Can Scalar simply do “Campfire Chords” as in - here I am, whipping out the acoustic at the cabin and doing nothing but playing the 14 chords I know in the first position on the guitar?
Even a typical C major chord - as I learned back in my first Mel Bay Guitar book - usually contains this typical layout:
C - (3rd fret 5th string)
E - (2nd fret 4th string)
G - (Open 3rd string)
C - (First fret on 2nd string)
Yet - this chord is never voiced this way in Scalar - it’s always ringing notes up in the 5th fret or 7th fret or 9th fret when it builds out a chord pattern.
What is the secret to getting Scalar to kick out standard, not too complex chords for guitar - that generally stay between frets 1-5? Or do I simply have to accept what it is sending out and then edit every chord manually to make a first position chord?
Appreciate an tips from those dabbling in the guitar side of things with Scalar.
This seems to work fine for keyboard centric chords - (Voicing 1 seems to be bang on) but I have been struggling in guitar mode. Will test this out and see what I come up with.
I use MIDI detect and then edit the chord for exact voicing.
Scaler’s guitar view with “note view” enabled is a great way to edit standard guitar voicings.
Under “Voice Group” see “Guitar Voicings.” Note that you may want to transpose these to lower pitches. The guitar voicings in Scaler were designed to work with VST-i Guitar instruments, but the voicings themselves are pretty standard basic guitar voicings.
I’m really a fan of Musiclab realguitar together with scaler and forager. On guitars you have open and 5 correct inversions of all chords plus you can use the latch feature in picking mode library for incredible ideas on finger picking. Instead of drag and drop you can slow the pickin’ way, way down and start learning how it’s done and write your own. It also does well for "exotic " chords and translation. Give it a try.
