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Firstly, sorry if I'm missing something basic, but I'm new to standard notation. I felt stuck because I'm doing a cover song @ 76 BPM, but I realized there's a lot note durations equal to 5 and 3 64th-notes in the score. Besides tied notes, is there any way I could adjust the BPM to get the same tempo at a slightly more neat setup of notes?

Any tips would be appreciated. I'm using MuseScore. Although my question does not concern software, I'm mentioning just in case there's some workarounds that aren't supported by the software.

EDIT: The way I have the score written, the 5/64 notes are tied 1/16 and 1/64 notes and the 3/64 notes are dotted 1/32 notes. Since I'm doing a cover song, I checked there's no inaccuracy with the timing. I'm just asking if there's a way I could clean up the clutter, maybe some adjustment to the BPM to make the same tempo fit a more neat notation (preferably without ties). It's mainly a workflow thing, because when I'm doing parts for the left hand (where I'm basically playing a chord pattern and improvising between chords), it would be easier to calculate the durations if there were fewer tied notes.

EDIT 2:

A sample of the score

A small portion of the score. Except the blue highlight, the tied notes are the 5/64 ones, and the dotted ones are 3/64. The tempo is 76 BPM as mentioned, and I'm notating in 4/4, because with 5/64 and 3/64 notes usually in pairs, I can have 8 pairs in a measure. It's just a random guess but the song (link in the comment) seems to utilize syncopation by 1/64 note a lot in what would have been 1/16 notes.

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    Hi @JayadeepMir. Welcome to Music Practice and Theory. A question about your question: are you asking for a way to avoid writing groupings of five and six 64th-notes, or something else? Please clarify. Thanks.
    – Aaron
    Commented Oct 1, 2020 at 8:04
  • 3
    Maybe your quantize value is set too fine and is showing up every tiny inaccuracy in your playing?
    – Old Brixtonian
    Commented Oct 1, 2020 at 11:04
  • Edited the question.
    – Jayadeep Mir
    Commented Oct 1, 2020 at 20:06
  • Have you tried just using 1/16 notes instead of 5/64 and 3/64? That's an awfully fine distinction to be making (the difference is about 1/20 of a second).
    – Sophie Swett
    Commented Oct 1, 2020 at 20:26
  • We lack information. Could you give us the title of the song, and perhaps a recording? Is it played to a metronome? From your description I have impression you're trying to match the length of the notes to a recording. I'm not sure if you understand the concept of beats and meter which should be the first thing to establish when trying to notate music. Meter defines the logic structure within which you write a rhythm.
    – user1079505
    Commented Oct 1, 2020 at 21:48

1 Answer 1

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For MIDI purposes, you'll have to stick with ties. Because standard notation is binary (i.e. whole note = 2 half notes; half note = 2 quarter notes; etc.) there's no way to build a "5" note without them.

For a "performance edition", here are a couple of alternatives.

  1. Notate in 4/2 time, half-note = 76bpm, "swing" feel. This leaves the rhythmic interpretation to the performer.
X:0
T:Man Roya Re
C:Naveed Nashad
Q:1/2=76
R:Light swing feel
K:D
M:4/2
L:1/8
AA fefe fefe | dABd- d2 dc c2 de dBAG
  1. Notate in dotted rhythm, but include a note that the proportions should be 5:3. This puts control of the rhythmic interpretation in the hands of the arranger.
X:0
T:Man Roya Re
C:Naveed Nashad
Q:1/2=76
R:play dotted rhythms in 5:3 proportions
K:D
M:4/2
L:1/8
A>A f>ef>e f>ef>e | d>AB>d- d2 d>c c2 d>e d>BA>G
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  • Alright, thank you so much for this. It's useful to know it can be written down in simpler terms for a performance, although for my own workflow, I guess I'll have to stick with the older form because I'll be mixing MIDIs. (Or maybe look up a plugin that implements swings... I don't think the default setup does)
    – Jayadeep Mir
    Commented Oct 2, 2020 at 4:24
  • @JayadeepMir Glad I could help. As a suggestion, add to your original question that you'll be using this as the basis for MIDI. That's an important detail.
    – Aaron
    Commented Oct 2, 2020 at 4:28
  • Added a reference in the title :)
    – Jayadeep Mir
    Commented Oct 2, 2020 at 4:34

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