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Midi Guitar Strumming in Logic


Ascarpo

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I'm wondering if there is a way to play guitar chords (strumming) with midi guitar in logic. I've tried using the scripter "guitar strummer", but it's been very difficult for me to make upstrokes effectively. I've seen others post online about using the arpeggiator and chord trigger, but I haven't had much luck with them either. I know I could manually write in the strumming pattern in midi notes, but I'm not too experienced with playing guitar so it'd be challenging for me to do so. If this is the only way to effectively do it, I'd appreciate any advice for writing them in and figuring out which notes to write in!

The strumming pattern I'm trying to make is very basic (just a simple downstroke downstroke upstroke basically looped throughout the song with different chords). If anyone has any recommendations please let me know!

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You could start by using Q-Flam in the Region Inspector to spread out the notes so they play one after the other as in a real picking pattern (positive values for downstrokes, negative values for upstrokes):

 

guitar-midi.gif.043d7cf6b8ddcbaacd91a1d372d093ad.gif

 

Then make sure you introduce some velocity variations. The first note in a stroke is typically much stronger than the others, so the lower note for an upstroke, and the upper note for an upstroke, often have the highest velocity.

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Thank you. I'll definitely start there.

Is there a way where if I wanted to play an F chord, all of those notes would automatically be put in the midi piano roll just by pressing an "F" on the keyboard? Or will I need to manually enter each note that makes up each chord?

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You can use the Chord Trigger midi plugin. There are some presets in there. Guitars are complex and unique. You need some music theory/knowledge to make it sound realistic. Lot more work than just playing the guitar and record it with a mic but if you don’t play the instrument then probably this is your best choice. I’m sure if your poke around in Google you can find what notes build up a chord on the guitar.
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Thanks. I've been using the chord trigger midi plugin to just get some basic chords in. The only issue I'm having is that the piano roll only shows the single key/note I'm pressing for the chord trigger to make the chord. Meaning, I'm unable to use the Q-Flam to create upstrokes and downstrokes. Do you know if there's a setting to make the chord trigger put all of the notes into piano roll instead of just the one? If not, I'll just use the chord trigger as a guide to know which notes to manually write-in in the piano roll and I'll use Q-Flam from there.
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Thanks everyone for the kind praise for my PDF. I create these for myself because I often forget how to do something in Logic, so it probably isn't as thorough as it should be for a tutorial, but I am pleased that it is deemed helpful.

The way it's organized, you can scroll through the pages and it's almost like a frame by frame video where you're in control of the pace. It's pretty cool. :)

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Thank you David, coming from you that is some complement. Learning at your own pace is why anyone seriously wanting to learn Logic buys your books rather than just watching online videos that are either too fast - skipping important details, or too laborious and irrelevant!! :)
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Thank you David, coming from you that is some complement. Learning at your own pace is why anyone seriously wanting to learn Logic buys your books rather than just watching online videos that are either too fast - skipping important details, or too laborious and irrelevant!! :)

I agree. For these reasons, video is not my favorite medium for teaching (or learning).

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Dox's technique may seem like a lot, but I imagine, if this is something you do often, you could create a patch for it. Then with a single click, you get both tracks and the routing.

 

I actually use MIDI FX FREEZE https://apps.apple.com/us/app/midi-fx-freeze/id1475527978 which is super simple to use. I think it used to be free but it costs a few bucks now. Unless you're doing this all the time, I'm not sure it's worth it 'cause Dox's way is easy enough.

423075545_2021-10-0709_36_34.gif.f3aedb22907b8ed6051a1db1f6ba79ae.gif

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