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GuitarSet: A Dataset for Guitar Transcription

Summary

~3 hours of solo acoustic guitar recordings with comprehensive per-string annotations. Recorded with a hexaphonic pickup providing isolated per-string audio alongside a mono microphone. Annotations include note pitches, onset/offset times, string assignments, fret positions, and playing techniques. Uses the JAMS (JSON Annotated Music Specification) format. This is the gold standard for guitar transcription research and the template for creating instrument-specific transcription datasets.

Key Claims

  • Hexaphonic pickup enables automatic per-string annotation (pitch tracking on isolated string signals)
  • JAMS format provides a standardized, extensible annotation framework
  • 360 excerpts x 6 players x various styles provides sufficient diversity for training
  • Per-string ground truth enables training models that output tablature (string + fret), not just pitch