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1.2.3.6 Showing melody rhythms

Sometimes you might want to show only the rhythm of a melody. This can be done with the rhythmic staff. All pitches of notes on such a staff are squashed, and the staff itself has a single line

     
     <<
       \new RhythmicStaff {
         \new Voice = "myRhythm" {
           \time 4/4
           c4 e8 f g2
           r4 g g f
           g1
         }
       }
       \new Lyrics {
         \lyricsto "myRhythm" {
           This is my song
           I like to sing
         }
       }
     >>

[image of music]

Guitar chord charts often show the strumming rhythms. This can be done with the Pitch_squash_engraver and \improvisationOn.

     
     <<
       \new ChordNames {
         \chordmode {
           c1 f g c
         }
       }
     
       \new Voice \with {
         \consists Pitch_squash_engraver
       } \relative c'' {
         \improvisationOn
         c4 c8 c c4 c8 c
         f4 f8 f f4 f8 f
         g4 g8 g g4 g8 g
         c4 c8 c c4 c8 c
       }
     >>

[image of music]

Predefined commands

\improvisationOn, \improvisationOff.

Selected Snippets

For guitar music, it is possible to show strum rhythms, along with melody notes, chord names, and fret diagrams.

     
     \include "predefined-guitar-fretboards.ly"
     <<
       \new ChordNames {
         \chordmode {
           c1 f g c
         }
       }
     
       \new FretBoards {
         \chordmode {
           c1 f g c
         }
       }
     
       
       \new Voice \with {
         \consists Pitch_squash_engraver
       } \relative c'' {
         \improvisationOn
         c4 c8 c c4 c8 c
         f4 f8 f f4 f8 f
         g4 g8 g g4 g8 g
         c4 c8 c c4 c8 c
       }
     
     
       \new Voice = "melody" {
         \relative c'' {
           \improvisationOff
           c2 e4 e4 
           f2. r4
           g2. a4
           e4 c2.
         }
       }
      
       \new Lyrics {
         \lyricsto "melody" {
           This is my song.
           I like to sing.
         }
       }
     >>

[image of music]

See also

Snippets: Rhythms.

Internals Reference: RhythmicStaff, Pitch_squash_engraver.

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