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I downloaded and installed MuseScore on my PC. I tried recreating the following fragment:

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Here are my settings:

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The steps I followed to construct this measure:

Treble clef:

  1. Choose treble clef line by mouse (press around -).
  2. Click Input note by name (N). Click Rest. Put it in first position on treble clef line.
  3. Choose 3-rd Rest on treble clef line.
  4. Click Input note by name (N). Then click Quarter note. Then click Tuplet, then Triplet.
  5. Place Quarter notes at desired position.
  6. Click 1-st Rest on treble clef line. Then click Augmented dot.

Bass clef:

  1. Choose bass clef line by mouse (press around -).
  2. Click Input note by name (N). Click Rest. Put it in first position on bass clef line.
  3. Choose 2-nd Rest on bass clef line.
  4. Click Input note by name (N). Then click Quarter note. Then click Tuplet, then Triplet.
  5. Place Quarter notes at desired position.
  6. Click 3-rd Rest on bass clef line. Then click Augmented dot.

Here is the result:

enter image description here

Why are there differences that I have marked in red? How can I fix the result?

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  • 2
    As answered below, you input triplets even though your example doesn't have any. The beams connecting 3 8th notes hints at a 6/8 time signature, but maybe its just that one measure and 3/4 is fine otherwise. In 6/8 Musescore would default to those 3-note-beams, but you can also adjust that behavior: handbook.musescore.org/notation/rhythm-meter-and-measures/beams Commented 2 days ago
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    The tempo is fairly fast. Are you sure that you want 330 of the eighth notes every minute? If so, depending on why you want that, you might consider notating it in 6/8 with the notes you've shown here as 16th notes (which would cover only half of a 6/8 measure) and then set the tempo at dotted quarter = 120 (which is a bit slower, corresponding to 160 as notated here; to match 165 it should be 123.75 but even 124 is an odd metronome marking, as is 165 -- traditionally you have 120, 126, ... 160, 168). Commented yesterday
  • Call me suspicious, but what instrument are the notes meant for? These are the exact tones you'd play when arpeggiating the Em chord on a guitar. But surely nobody would write a guitar score as double staff, or would they? Commented 22 hours ago
  • @Divizna youtu.be/XXNwIeN7zDU?si=bw9YV9pEsvf_VqfY Check out the video description. It's a metal song, rearranged and played on piano. Commented 22 hours ago

3 Answers 3

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So, I just checking the measure, not commenting on your exact steps.

Your first example has meter 3/4 but note beaming for groups of three, which implies you want triples of compound time 6/8 meter.

Here are examples.

enter image description here

Notice in the first two, the meter is 3/4 and the note beaming is in groups of two notes. The third shows 6/8 meter and note beaming in groups of three.

The second example uses cross staff notation. https://musescore.org/en/handbook/3/cross-staff-notation

Your example isn't wrong, but it suggest some kind of mixing of meters and accents, which sometimes is show like this...

enter image description here

The song America from West Side Story uses that kind of metrical feel. But I don't think you're trying to do some fancy mixed meter thing.

I suspect you actually want the 6/8 feel. If so, change the meter, and then try notating in Musescore, it might go easier. If you aren't sure whether to use 3/4 or 6/8, think about how you would clap your hands of tap your foot to the measure. Is the measure 2 beats of 3 beats. If you're just tapping you foot twice, try 6/8 meter.

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  • Exactly, I somehow missed it: ibb.co/PzCm6sSt but why then is the tabs not 6/8, but 3/4? Commented 2 days ago
  • @ayr I'm not sure if it's only me, but the linked image cannot be opened ("That page doesn't exist"). Is the tab from original/official sheet? Or perhaps it's a fan-notation? Commented 2 days ago
  • @AndrewT. This is the notation attached to the YouTube video. I don't know about the fan notation, as the instrumentalist there is quite strong and should be well-versed in music theory. There might be some nuances to it, considering 3/4 = 6/8 = 0.75. But there might also be an error, I don't know. And here's the original image: freeimage.host/i/fL3MaP1 My previous link doesn't work either. Commented 2 days ago
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    @ayr, ok, I thought you meant a Musescore tutorial on Youtube. If meter and rhythm notation, and how to work with those in Musescore is unclear, there should be some good tutorials in Youtube. Commented yesterday
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    @ayr. Here is a quick topic list to think about: meter type duple, triple, and compound; rhythm: beat, beat subdivisions, beaming, dotted notes, tied notes, tuplets. If you get comfortable with playing around with those elements in Musescore, you will have come a long way on the fundamentals. Commented yesterday
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To explain even more simply, you input triplets because you saw notes connected by beams in groups of three and thought that means triplet, but it doesn't necessarily.* The way we connect beams is just a matter of convenience, making the rhythm easier for the performer to notice. The following measures all mean exactly the same thing: Four measures of 3/4 time signature filled with eighth notes, each beamed in a different combination

They're all ordinary eighth notes. Now, the first example is the best choice, as it makes the 3/4 rhythm clearly visible at a glance. The second is easily mistaken for 6/8, and the third and fourth are just cluttered and hard to read.**

Your initial example was presumably notated by an amateur who beamed the left hand and right hand notes together in groups of three simply because they were in the same clef. A better approach would have been to beam the second beat together across the clefs, or to leave those notes unbeamed like excerpt from the question with the second beat unbeamed

To avoid further confusion, I suggest learning some of the basics about how durations are notated, about meters, and especially about "simple vs. compound" meters.

* Besides the telltale "little 3s," you can identify a triplet simply by doing the detective work in context. If you see three notes, and all the other notes in the measure leave room for one beat, then they're a triplet! See the discussion around this question; whether or not the notes pictured in the question are triplets, there are passages in that score in you find a measure filled with groups of three eighth notes that are clearly triplets, without the "3." But in your case, if these were triplets, there would be only two beats in the measure.

** (Fun fact, in the 17th century it all used to be printed like the fourth example, until printers made pieces of type for beams! Or switched to engraving entire pages instead of using moveable type.)

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The original score (first example) uses regular eighth-notes, and you (second example) used eighth-note triplets. That's the main reason of the difference.

Triplet is a rhythm where three notes last the same as 2 regular notes. So an eighth-note triplet lasts the same as two eighth notes, or a single quarter-note. Triplet is indicated by the digit '3' above or below the group - the one you circled.

In a 3/4 measure, there is room for 3 quarter notes. In your second example you have a rest at beat 1, a triplet in the bass clef on beat two, and a triplet at beat 3 in the treble clef. It adds up correctly, but it's a different rhythm from the first example.

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