Special notes

Guitar and bass parts use several note types that go beyond a normal pitched note. alphaTab renders each with the head shape, glyph, or annotation its convention expects.

Natural harmonics

Natural harmonics — the bell-like overtones produced by lightly touching a string over the 5th, 7th, or 12th fret — render with a diamond-shaped notehead on the standard staff and an N.H. marker above the beat. The tab number stays on the touched fret.

Artificial and tap harmonics

Artificial (A.H.), pinch (P.H.), tap (T.H.), and semi (S.H.) harmonics extend the natural harmonic to any pitch on the fretboard — the squeal on a metal solo, the chime on a jazz-fusion melody. alphaTab uses the same diamond head with distinct labels above the beat and prints the sounding fret in parentheses next to the touched fret.

Ghost notes

Ghost notes — the almost-inaudible articulation notes used to fill out a funk or hip-hop bassline — render with the fret number wrapped in parentheses on the tab staff. On the standard staff the notehead keeps its normal shape but reads as quieter.

Dead notes

Dead notes are the percussive muted attacks common on funk-guitar rhythm chops — a strum with no defined pitch, only rhythmic drive. alphaTab renders them as an x in place of the fret number or notehead.

Tied notes across bars

Tied notes carry a single pitch across two written durations, most often across a barline where the composer needs the note to sustain through the downbeat. alphaTab renders each tie as a curved slur joining two noteheads, and when a tie crosses into a bar with a different key signature, it draws the correct accidental on the tied note so the pitch stays unambiguous.

Show it in code

The note types above are always drawn — they belong to the note itself. To strip the effect band labels for harmonics (N.H., A.H., T.H.) from a compact printout, hide the EffectHarmonics element:

import * as alphaTab from '@coderline/alphatab';

const container = getAlphaTabContainer();
const api = new alphaTab.AlphaTabApi(container, {
  core: { file: '/scores/song.gp' },
  notation: {
    elements: new Map([
      [alphaTab.NotationElement.EffectHarmonics, false],
    ]),
  },
});

getAlphaTabContainer() is a placeholder for the platform-specific render target.

Where to look next

• Effects and articulations — bends, vibrato, palm mute, and other articulation labels.
• Toggling notation elements off — hide any category globally.
• Grace notes, tuplets, and ornaments — the sibling coverage page for the small notes that decorate a melody.
• notation.elements — the settings entry point for the element map.
• NotationElement — every togglable element key.