Nico Bako

Etude Builder

An etude is a short pattern said several ways at once: which notes, which fingers, which rhythm, which bowing. Type the three patterns below and they are cycled against each other — five notes against a rhythm of three against a bowing of two do not repeat for thirty notes. The tune runs until all three line up again. Transpose the finished etude with the −/+ control on the score, and the URL updates as you type, so a bookmark is an etude.

Scale degrees 1–7. Add ' for an octave up and , for an octave down, # or b in front to alter the degree (#7 gives harmonic minor), and a finger in parentheses where you want one marked: 1(1), 5(0) for an open string. A marked finger travels with its note, so it stays right when the pattern repeats. Join notes with + for a double stop — 1+3, or 1(1)+3(3) to finger both. A double stop takes one bow and one rhythm value, the same as any single note.

s sixteenth, e eighth, q quarter, h half, w whole. Add a dot for dotted: q.

Slur lengths — how many notes go under one bow. 2 2 1 1 is slur two, slur two, then two separate bows. Bow direction just alternates, so it is worked out for you rather than typed.

Note presets
Rhythm presets
Bowing presets

Open in ABC editor