I remember when my mom used to teach me piano and I always struggled to read both the bass and treble clef at the same time. For some reason my 10-year old brain just couldn't grasp the difference between those lower notes and the melody I was hearing on the higher keys.
Yes the grand staff was tremendously confusing to me. Though, as I would later discover, it was also a necessary part of notation development and music theory, even outside of the piano disciplines that I initially found so frustrating.
Moreover, the grand staff is really quite simple.
In its most typical form it has the treble clef at the top and the bass clef at the bottom. Hence the following "staff meeting" cartoon:

A little music theory humor.
In the context of a guitar and bass relationship, we can use the treble clef for our acoustic or electric guitar and the bass or "F clef" for our bass guitar. Once we know how to set this up, it's helping for writing and recording our own music.

Grand staff example for right and left hand.
In this tutorial I'll show you how to use Guitar Pro 7 to build a grand staff that will include both proper notation and a tab sheet. However, instead of piano, we'll be using the treble clef for guitar and the bass clef for a four string bass guitar, which means we'll need to set it up in Guitar Pro 7 to reflect that usage.
Prerequisites
This tutorial assumes you have access to the Guitar Pro 7 software, which can be downloaded here for Windows or Mac platforms.

How to set up a grand staff in Guitar Pro 7.
Setting Up Your Song
Whenever you open a new file in Guitar Pro 7 you have to setup your instrument(s) for the song you're going to build. From the initial screen select "New File" under the "PLAY & EDIT" section.

Select "New File" to start from scratch.
This will open up the "Add Track" dialogue box, which will allow you to select your instrument for audio playback. I've gone with the default selection of a steel string acoustic guitar.

Select your instrument in the "Add Track" dialogue box.
Notation Options
The notation options are provided under what should now be listed as the "Steel Settings" section. They show up in the form of five total buttons, with one grouping of three and a second grouping of two.

Notation settings in Guitar Pro 7.
You'll want to make sure the first, second and fifth boxes are selected and highlighted in a light blue color. That should give you the following elements in your score:
- Tab notation
- Standard notation
- Grand staff (upper and lower)
That fifth selection is the "grand staff" button which will setup your sheet with two clefs for each bar of music.

Selecting the grand staff toggle button will give you tuning options for the upper and lower staff.
You'll notice that there are now two different tuning options, one for the upper staff and one for the lower staff. Leave the upper staff as-is and select the four-string bass option for the lower staff.

Select bass, 4 strings and standard (E A D G) tuning.
Once you click the "Create" button, the following score and tab combinations are added to your project:

An empty project with a grand staff made up of two treble clefs.
You'll notice that you've got a six-string tab on top and a four-string "bass" tab on the bottom, both with an accompanying ledger. However, the ledger on the bottom defaults to a treble clef, which you can leave if you're only going to use the tab sheet. If you prefer to change it to a bass clef, here's how to do it:

Changing a treble clef to a bass clef in Guitar Pro 7.
Now you've got a treble and bass clef where you can track tabs for both a guitar and bass line. Here's a simple example (with audio beneath the tab sheet) using the G, C, Em and D chord progression.

Example tab with bass and treble clefs.
Notice that in the treble clef I've used whole notes for each chord, while the F clef uses quarter notes for a somewhat more dynamic bass line.
What if I want the bass to be a separate track?
In the example I've provided, the acoustic guitar and the bass guitar are both under the same track, therefore in the audio playback they both sound like an acoustic guitar. To add a separate track for bass, which will allow you to use a distinct sound for audio playback purposes, you'll need to set things up a little differently.
Notice that this is only relevant if you're interested in using the audio playback feature. Even then, it's not totally necessary. The notes produced in our previous example are still "bass" notes. They just sound more like an acoustic guitar tuned really low.
Creating a separate track for each instrument simply allows you to add individual audio properties to each one.
Create a New Track with Just the Treble Clef
You'll need to create a new track with just the treble clef, using whatever sound you prefer. Your new project should look like this with a single, empty treble clef and guitar tab combo:

To separate the bass and guitar music into different tracks, start with a single guitar track and treble clef.
Adding the Bass Track
Now, go up to "TRACK" in main menu and select "Add." This will bring up the instrument interface we mentioned earlier. From that interface, select your bass instrument sound and make sure that the "Upper Staff" drop down menu is set to your standard bass tuning.

Adding a standalone bass track.
Once you click "Create" you'll notice that the bass track shows up with the proper bass clef, but is in its own window, illustrated in the screenshot below:

The track shows up as its own tab in a new window.
If you notice at the bottom of the window, in the tracks and mixing section, you've now got two instruments listed (in my case, Steel Guitar and Electric Bass) which allows you to easily cycle back and forth between both your guitar and bass tabs. There's also a control that allows you to adjust the "Master" output of the entire song.

Track selection area in Guitar Pro 7 will list all tracks individually.
If you want to view and edit both tracks on your screen at the same time, one on top of the other, just go to the "View" option in the main menu and select "Multitrack." Alternatively, you can press F3 to cycle between Multi and single track viewing modes.
Here's what it looks like with both tracks listed in the multi-track view mode:

Use the multi-track view mode to list both tracks side-by-side for a simpler editing process.
Now you can edit both tracks just like we did in the previous example, but with different sounds and instruments applied to each one. Here's an example I came up with that uses the same chord progression and bass line as before, but with different sounds applied to each track:

Another example with instrument types adjusted on each track.
You can hear the difference in volume and tone between each track.
Again, if you don't care about the audio, separating each instrument out into different tracks might not be necessary. Just know that it's an option with Guitar Pro 7.
The important thing is to know how to make use of the grand staff and create more professional tabs that allow you to incorporate bass lines to go along with your chord progressions and melodies.
It's the most complete and "correct" way to build tablature alongside standard notation.
Your Questions
Have questions about this particular issue regarding Guitar Pro 7? Maybe just questions about the software in general?
Leave it in the comments section below and I'll do my best to answer.
This is preferable to sending an email since, assuming a dialogue in the comments section, future readers can benefit.
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Excellent! Thank you very much for the work you put into create this tutorial. I’ll be using it tonight to tab out Dust In The Wind by Kansas for The Harp Guitar. Going to do an improvement on the lyrics by having the full scripture: before the dust returns to the ground from which it came and the spirit returns to God who gave it. Ecclesiastes 12:7. The important complete words of King Solomon were left out..that our spirit returns to God who gave it! Thank you Jesus for Paradise!
Hey, thanks for sharing Martin – glad you found the tutorial helpful. And good call on the scripture.
Hey Bobby, is there a way to make a grand staff for a treble and bass part with only one tab at the bottom that applies to both…I do a lot of two handed bass and parts and this would really help.
Oh man, I honestly don’t think so, Pete. Would a bass tab sheet under both the treble and bass clef do the job? Or do you specifically need just ONE tab line beneath both the bass and treble notation?
Yes a tab bass sheet under both the table and bass clef is exactly what I’m looking for! But WITH notes from both clefs in the tab…
Sorry I’m a noob and couldn’t find a way to do this.
Most Helpful. Thanks!
Good to hear. Thanks.
Can you create different bar structures for different instruments on Guitar Pro 7? eg an eight repeat for track 1 that features on track 2 as 16 bars.
Hey James – If I’m understanding your question correctly, then yes – I believe you can do this in GP7.
Hi. Thanks for the reply Bobby. How?!
Hi Bobby, thanks for the reply. I tried to post before – I’m not sure if it worked. Can you tell me how if you have moment please. Thank you. James
It should be in that menu option off to the right. You can change tunings and instruments (I don’t have the software installed currently but I’m pretty sure it’s on the right side of the interface).