Faux tab

[Wyllys]

Originally Posted by JimCA

Wyllys,

I like what you've done — it brings out the inner nerd in me. A suggested simplification:
1. Alway have same number of lines per measure — in this case 4.
2. Put off beat eighth notes on the same line in same form.
3. Silent beat lines a single “x” (easier to recognize than “x x x x x x”).
4. I’m not sure what role your initial period played.

Here is a rewrite — not sure I got your timing spot-on, but you get the idea. Now the eighth notes pop.n

Jim

x 5 x 5 x 7 : x x x x x 5
x 7 x 7 8 x : x x x 7 x x
x x 4 5 x x

x x 5 x 0 x
3 x x x 0 x
x 0 x x 1 x
x 1 x x 2 x

x 2 x x 3 x
x 6 x x 7 7 : x x x x x 5
x 7 x 7 8 x : x x x 7 x x
x x 4 5 x x

x x 6 x 0 x
4 x x 4 x x
3 x x 3 x x
2 x x 2 x x

0 x x 1 x x
x x x x 3 x : x x x x 1 x
x x x x 0 x : x x x 2 x x
x x x 0 x x : x 0 x x x x

x x 2 x 1 3
x 2 x
x 3 x 2 x 0
x 4 x

x 5 4 5 3 x : x x x 0 0 x
x x x 2 1 x : x x ~3 2 ~
x x ~ 4 3 ~: x x x x 0 x
x 4 x 3 x x : x x x x 0 x

x 2 x 0 x x
x
x
x

x

Jim...

VERY nice!

The period in question was just an alignment crutch to keep things from shifting back to the margin. The only thing both you and Stanron changed from my crude beginning is the bar lines. There's a three beat lead-in, so it goes "2 & 3 & 4 /1" rather than "1 & 2 & 3 4" as you've transcribed. I've edited this in the quote.

Hope you liked the arrangement. There's so much more when playing, both rhythmically and harmonically. I wrote basic bare bones triads and pairs with the occasional fuller standard chord fingering. It's impossible to notate everything that goes on and the beauty of working triads against bass is how much is right within reach for bringing out interesting interior lines and/or harmonic shading.

Thanks again for the great input and insight.

[Wyllys]

Originally Posted by SunnyDee

Anyone who can read notation may find Musescore helpful. I love it, free, open source, and it can convert tab to notation or notation to tab with a few clicks.

I tried Musescore, but the iPad version was next to impossible to edit. I have an app called Chord Sketch which is interesting for sharing linear strings of chord-block pics via Email. Not sure about posting them.

Thanks.

[JimCA]

Originally Posted by stanron

I suppose timing is a real difficulty in both reading and writing tab. Especially if the piece swings.

I remember when I was teaching that most students could get the fingering and picking from tab with little difficulty but the timing would be learned by ear, either from recording or teacher demonstration.

And for a swing piece do you write tab in 4/4 with a 'play with swing feel' instruction or tab it in 12/8 so that if anyone actually reads the timing they can get it right. I confess that I couldn't follow your tab until I remembered the tune. Then it made sense.

In "Extended Wyllys Notation (EWN)" without swing:

x 5 x 5 x 7 . x x x x x 5
x 7 x 7 8 x . x x x x 7 x
x x 4 5 x x
x x 5 x 0 x

In EWN with triplets or swing:

x 5 x 5 x 7 . x . x x x x x 5
x 7 x 7 8 x . x . x x x x 7 x
x x 4 5 x x
x x 5 x 0 x

[SunnyDee]

Originally Posted by Wyllys

I tried Musescore, but the iPad version was next to impossible to edit. I have an app called Chord Sketch which is interesting for sharing linear strings of chord-block pics via Email. Not sure about posting them.

Thanks.

For anyone else who is interested, Musescore, also, has a forum where people can help.

[Wyllys]

Originally Posted by JimCA

In "Extended Wyllys Notation (EWN)" without swing:

x 5 x 5 x 7 . x x x x x 5
x 7 x 7 8 x . x x x x 7 x
x x 4 5 x x
x x 5 x 0 x

In EWN with triplets or swing:

x 5 x 5 x 7 . x . x x x x x 5
x 7 x 7 8 x . x . x x x 7 x x
x x 4 5 x x
x x 5 x 0 x

Getting more brilliant all the time. Still needs this, though:

x
x 5 x 5 x 7 . x . x x x x x 5
x 7 x 7 8 x . x . x x x 7 x x
x x 4 5 x x

x x 5 x 0 x

From infra-nerd to exo-nerd. What a trip...

[stanron]

Originally Posted by HHP

TAB can have the same timing indications as notation, just most don't bother.

This is true. It is how Sibelius and Musescore offer timing in tab. My problem with notation style timing is that it is incremental in nature. The length of notes add up to whatever the time signature says it should be. I think of guitar timing as positions in a temporal framework. It avoids the limitations of using only two voices by stating only when notes start and not when they end. That is left as a matter of taste and convenience.

I use Musescore now and although it differs from Sibelius in many ways it does just as good a job. When I do tab below notation there is no need to include timing in the tab as it is there already in the notation.

For using tab in a forum like this text tab is so much simpler to produce and display than a notation editor file.

[Wyllys]

Update:

I've done some extensive corrective editing and the quoted "EWN" version in post #16 is the current "state of the art" in the notation and corrected fretting.

As to the "swingcopation" or triplet rhythm indication, I'm going to go with a colon rather than .x.

x x x x x x : x x x x x x

For slides, bracket the moving pair with ~ x x ~ .

x 5 4 5 3 x : x x x 0 0 x
x x x 2 1 x : x x ~ 3 2 ~
x x ~ 4 3 ~ : x x 5 x x x
x 4 x 3 x x : x x x x 0 x

x 2 x 0 x x
W