Alba Céspedes

What guitarist doesn't know Guitar Pro by now? Ever since it was developed and launched by the French company Arobas Music in 1997, this software has been winning followers and gradually carving out a growing niche in the score and tablature editor market. Its success is due in part to its ease of use and to the wide range of possibilities and practical uses it offers, both for learning and for a guitarist's day-to-day work. Its huge popularity is neither undeserved nor handed to it. By looking at its latest update, Guitar Pro 6—which recently turned one year old—we'll try to unravel the reasons behind its success.

WHAT IS IT AND WHAT IS IT FOR?
Guitar Pro is primarily a multitrack score and tablature editor, ideal for composing. But it's also much more than that: it's an excellent learning tool. Thanks to its score player, which since version 5.0 has come with the Real Sound Engine sound bank—unlike other programs, which only use MIDI sound—this program gives you a very lifelike backing band wherever and whenever you want. It also includes other very practical features, such as the chord and scale dictionary, the speed trainer, a metronome, a digital tuner and many import/export options, which we'll discuss in more detail below.

WHY CHOOSE IT?
Unlike other, more popular score editors (Sibelius, Finale, Encore, etc.), this software uses a two-staff system: the first follows traditional score notation and the second shows the notes in tablature (this is one of the things that sets it apart from the others). Notes are entered on the second staff, which—especially for guitarists—makes the writing process easier and faster and provides a very important piece of information: where and how each note is played. The guitar isn't like the piano or the wind family, where each note can only be played on the corresponding key in its octave; on the guitar, a note at the same pitch can be played in many different positions. That's why, to study a piece accurately, it's essential to have a reference tablature showing exactly where on the neck the composer originally played it.

Among other notable features, it gives musicians visual access to several instrument panels (see photos), although in future editions they could try to expand them and give them a more lifelike look, like the one found in the latest edition of one of its main competitors, Sibelius 6.0.

The developers of Guitar Pro have recently released their app of the same name for iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad, which can be bought for €3.99 from the App Store. It's somewhat more expensive than Sibelius's (€1.59) and less practical, since it doesn't allow score editing, only playback, transposition and tempo adjustment. Even so, Guitar Pro can boast of being among the 20 best-selling music apps on the App Store, the first score editor to appear on the list. Its success was surely helped by the "Free For One Day" promotion launched on April 5, during which the mobile app could be downloaded for free.

Another innovative initiative that sets them apart from the competition is "Guitar Pro 6 Fretlight ready," launched on March 16 in partnership with Fretlight Guitars. This update lets you connect a guitar with LEDs in the frets and watch the notes on the staff light up on the neck itself as the score plays back. There's no doubt it's a good way to get started on the instrument, practice and learn new songs. It includes three lighting modes:

1- Tablature mode: the tablature of the selected track lights up.
2- Chord diagram mode: the transcribed chords light up.
3- Scale mode: the scales previously selected in the scales window light up.

As a final big advantage over other editors, we can't forget to mention the incredible catalog of transcribed songs—in both quantity and quality—that is available free on the Internet to anyone, created and uploaded by its thousands of users around the world. In this respect, Guitar Pro took over from Power-Tab, a famous tablature editor that had a large library of songs in its own format. Today, no other editor can boast of having so many songs to its name.

Since this huge song library is not officially regulated but hosted on independent websites such as www.guitarprotabs.org, Guitar Pro announced on its website on February 18 that it would launch the Guitar Pro Tabs Project, aimed at bringing together hundreds of files with the highest editing and mixing quality and distributing them directly from its official website. What we don't know yet is whether this service will be free or paid.

IN DEPTH: GUITAR PRO 6

- Installation
In our case, we were starting from version 5.0, so the upgrade to Guitar Pro 6 cost us €29.95 (it has dropped by €10 since its first anniversary in April). If you buy the full version for the first time, it will cost you €59.95, a more than competitive price compared with other similar editors.

It's available for Windows, Linux and Macintosh and can be downloaded directly from its website: www.guitar-pro.com. You can also request a physical copy for an extra €9.95. If you want to try it before buying, a trial version is available on its website: www.guitar-pro.com/en/index.php?pg=download

The purchase also entitles you to free updates to all subsequent 6.X versions, technical support and a guitar learning method.

We had no problems during the online installation; the process was easy, quick and hassle-free.

- Resource usage
It isn't a very heavy program, in the sense that you can have other programs running without it crashing. The feature that uses the most computer resources is the Real Sound Engine, but you can see exactly what percentage of CPU it's using at any moment in a panel at the bottom of the window.

- Graphical interface
There's no doubt this is one of the most polished aspects of the latest version, with an intuitive, comfortable and elegant design that has evolved a great deal compared with the previous edition.

There are now multiple viewing and layout options; for example, you can manually select the number and size of the measures you want per staff, and work on several files at once using tabs. You can also customize the style of the score so it has a classical or jazz look by adjusting the 70 available parameters.

There is also an improved menu on the left, which includes the classic score-editing elements (with some new additions such as the pickup measure, the time counter, lowering/raising by a semitone, etc.); a section for configuring the instrument's sound (where you can choose custom tunings, whether or not to use a capo, the playing style, accentuation and timbre); a section of amps, effects, compression, EQ (10- and 15-band) and reverb designed specifically for the guitarist's delight; another section for overall mastering of the song; the popular chord dictionary; an option for editing with a MIDI instrument; and a much more manageable section for writing lyrics, in which the text appears directly on the selected track.

Below it, the global view panel remains, which lets you work on each track individually and contains the Solo options (so only the selected tracks play), Mute (to silence the chosen tracks), volume control, pan control, EQ and the measures each track occupies, showing the sections that make up the piece.

- Audio
As we mentioned earlier, the program's audio is based on the Real Sound Engine, an improved and expanded sound bank with more than 100 samples of different instruments and 50 effects pedals and amp simulations. You can use the default factory settings or create your own effects chain for each track. The possibilities are endless!

Among the new audio features introduced, it's worth highlighting the improved control of volume, tempo and pan automation, which didn't exist in previous versions. This way we can, for example, add fade-ins and fade-outs, tempo changes or change the balance during a solo.

- Tools
The speed trainer is still here; it lets you loop any section of the score and gradually raise the tempo by a percentage you set yourself. It's very useful for practicing a solo or a complex guitar riff. Also retained are the chord diagram generator, which shows the notes that make up each chord and all its possible fingerings; the scale engine, which offers a wide directory from the most common scales to the most exotic; the search function, which lets you quickly find which scale is being used in part or all of the score; the MIDI and digital tuner; and the virtual keyboard and fretboard.

- Compatibility
Files created with Guitar Pro 6 are saved in .GPX format by default, but they can also be exported to .GP5 (the previous version of the program), .MIDI, .ASCII, .WAV, .PNG (image) and .PDF. In addition, files in all previous Guitar Pro formats (.GP3, .GP4 and .GP5), .MIDI and .ASCII can be imported.

All in all, this is an excellent program with good value for money, suitable for all musicians—especially guitarists—that will serve for learning, as a backing track and for writing your own compositions. So if you're still one of those who writes with quill, inkwell and parchment, here's an excellent alternative for saying goodbye to crossed-out notes for good and getting a clear, professional-looking score that you can keep in both digital and printed form and modify as many times as you like. So may Guitar Pro be with you on your musical journey.

Bibliography
www.guitar-pro.com

To see the spec sheet and rating table, download the magazine in PDF