There are two kinds of slashes, or hash marks, used to indicate improvised chording or comping. If you want to indicate ad lib comping, but you don’t require a specific rhythm, you can let Finale fill the measures with stemless slashes, spaced according to the time signature (four slashes in a measure, for example). If you want to indicate a specific rhythm of comping, Finale can turn the noteheads of any passage into slashes, still beamed and stemmed.
You can also create a passage of mixed normal notation and slash notation, and you can also turn any individual notehead into a slash (see Guitar Notation). If you need to display cue notes on a staff with slash notation, see To display cue notes on a slash notation staff and To create slashes-with-cue drum notation.
To create ‘comping’ slashes
- Choose the Staff tool
and select the measures in which you want slashes to appear. See Selecting music for some region-selecting shortcuts. - Choose Staff > Apply Staff Styles To > Score and Parts (or Current Part/Score). The Apply Staff Styles dialog box appears. Alternatively,
- Choose a staff style:
- Slash Notation hides all the music and replaces it with evenly-spaced hash marks. The number of hash marks is determined by the bottom number of the time signature.
- Rhythmic Notation turns the music into beamed and stemmed slashes, all on the middle line of the staff.
- Click OK (or press return). Any music that was in the selected region is now hidden; to restore it, choose the measures again, and choose Staff > Clear Staff Styles From (and then the desired score/part option).
See also:
