Written by Howard Wright
Howard.Wright@ed.ac.uk
Copyright Howard Wright and the olga-grunts
Contents
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What is TAB
TAB or tablature is a method of writing down music
played on guitar or bass. Instead of using symbols
like in standard musical notation, it uses ordinary
ASCII characters and numbers, making it ideal for
places like the internet where anybody with any
computer can link up, copy a TAB file, and read it.
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What TAB will
tell you
TAB will tell you what notes to play - it will tell
you which string to hit and which fret to fret it
at.
TAB will tell you where hammer-ons, pull-offs,
bends, slides, harmonics and vibrato are used.
TAB will tell you what tuning the piece is in. If
this isn't given explicitly, assume normal tuning.
TAB should also give you information on use of capos
etc.
TAB will give you an indication of the ryhthm of the
piece - i.e it will tell you which are the long
notes and which are the short notes.
However it will not tell you exactly how long or how
short they are.
This leads me on to ...
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What TAB won't
tell you
TAB will (usually) not tell you the note lengths of
the notes - so in most cases you will have to listen
to the song yourself, with the TAB in front of you
to work out the ryhthm of the notes.
TAB will not tell you which fingers you use to fret
which note.
TAB will (usually) not tell you anything about
picking and strumming - you will have to decide for
yourself where to use upstrokes/downstrokes and so
on.
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Reading TAB
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TAB notation
- the basics
TAB is simple to read, and should be simple to write
if you want to submit a song you have worked out
yourself. The idea is this :
You start out with 6 lines (or four for bass). These
correspond to the strings of the instrument. The top
line is the highest pitch string, and the bottom
line is the lowest pitch string. Below is a blank
bit of TAB with the string names at the left.
E----------------------------------------------------------------
B----------------------------------------------------------------
G----------------------------------------------------------------
D----------------------------------------------------------------
A----------------------------------------------------------------
E----------------------------------------------------------------
Numbers are written on the lines to show you where
to fret the string with the left hand. If a zero
appears , this means play the open string. Like
standard musical notation, you read from left to
right to find out what order to play the notes. The
following piece of TAB would mean play the sequence
of notes (E F F# G G# A) on the bottom E string by
moving up a fret at a time, starting with the open
string.
E----------------------------------------------------------------
B----------------------------------------------------------------
G----------------------------------------------------------------
D----------------------------------------------------------------
A----------------------------------------------------------------
E---0--1--2--3--4--5---------------------------------------------
OK so far ?
Here we have notes being played one at a time. If
two or more notes are to be played together, they
are written on top of one another, again just like
standard notation.
In the next example we have a G bar chord.
E----3-----------------------------------------------------------
B----3-----------------------------------------------------------
G----4-----------------------------------------------------------
D----5-----------------------------------------------------------
A----5-----------------------------------------------------------
E----3-----------------------------------------------------------
So this means play all these notes together as a
chord.
You might see the same chord written like this :
E--------3-------------------------------------------------------
B-------3--------------------------------------------------------
G------4---------------------------------------------------------
D-----5----------------------------------------------------------
A----5-----------------------------------------------------------
E---3------------------------------------------------------------
Which would mean strum the same shape starting at
the bottom string, so that each string is hit
slightly later than the last string, but all notes
will ring together. Below is am example of the same
shape again, but now the gaps between the notes are
bigger - so you would probably pick the strings
separately instead of slowly strumming the shape.
E------------------3---------------------------------------------
B---------------3-----3------------------------------------------
G------------4-----------4---------------------------------------
D---------5-----------------5------------------------------------
A------5-----------------------5---------------------------------
E---3-----------------------------3------------------------------
You might ask - How do I know how fast or slow to
play this ? Are all the notes supposed to be the
same length ? This is where TAB differs from
standard notation. Most often TAB will not give you
any information on the note lengths. It is usually
left up to you to listen to the song to pick up the
rhythm. However - don't despair. TAB should give you
some indications of timing. In the example above all
the notes are evenly spaced so you can reasonably
assume that the notes are the same length (maybe all
eighth notes or quavers) but this may not always be
true - it depends on who wrote the TAB.
As a general rule, the spacing of the notes on the
TAB should tell you which notes are the long ones,
and which are the short and fast ones, but obviously
it won't tell you if a note is a triplet or anything
like that. Again, this will depend strongly on the
person who wrote the TAB.
As an example, here are the first few notes of the
American National Anthem in TAB. You should see
fairly clearly that the different spacing
corresponds to the different note lengths.
E-----------------------0--------4--2-0--------------------------
B---0--------------0---------------------------------0-----------
G------1------1----------------------------1----3----------------
D--------2-------------------------------------------------------
A----------------------------------------------------------------
E----------------------------------------------------------------
Obviously it will be a lot easier to play the TAB
for a song you know well than for a song you've
never heard of because you will already be familiar
with the ryhthms of the familiar song.
Other symbols used in TAB
So far I've looked at what notes to play : which
string to hit, and where to fret it. I've mentioned
how to get an idea of note lengths by looking at the
spaces between notes on the TAB, but this can only
be a rough guide. You will always have to check with
the original track to work out details of the
rhythm.
A lot of other imprtant information can be included
in a piece of TAB. This includes hammer-ons, pull
offs, slides, bends, vibrato and so on.
The standard practice is to write extra letters or
symbols between notes to indicate how to play them.
Here are the letters/symbols most often used :
h - hammer on
p - pull off
b - bend string up
r - release bend
/ - slide up
- slide down
v - vibrato (sometimes written as ~)
t - right hand tap
x - play 'note' with heavy damping
For slides, s is sometimes used to indicate either
an up or down slide. Symbols for harmonics are
explained below in Section 3.2 That last one, the x,
is used to get a choppy, percussive sound. You
usually use your fretting hand to lightly damp the
strings so that when you pick the note it sounds
dead.
Note that the use of 'x' is totally different from
the use of an 'x' when giving chord shapes.
For example if you wrote the chord of D, you would
see :
EADGBE
xx0232
where the 'x's mean do not play this string. In tab
it is implicitly assumed that a string is not played
if it is not marked. So the same chord in TAB would
be :
E-----2----------------------------------------------------------
B-----3----------------------------------------------------------
G-----2----------------------------------------------------------
D-----0----------------------------------------------------------
A----------------------------------------------------------------
E----------------------------------------------------------------
with no 'x'. The x is is only used in TAB to
represent a heavily muted string which is
picked/strummed to give a percussive sound.
There are a number of other symbols for things like
whammy bar bends, pick scrapes and so on. There
seems to be no particular standard way of writing
these - details should be given in the TAB to
explain what the symbols mean.
Bass TAB will probably need a few extra symbols to
cope with the different techniques used in bass
playing - for example slapping and 'popping' the
string with thumb or middle finger. You could use
's' for slap and 'p' for pop as long as you wrote
them underneath the lines of tab to distinguish them
from slide and pull off which would be written on
the lines of tab.
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Hammer ons and
pull offs
With hammer-ons and pull-offs you might find things
like these :
E----------------------------------------------------------------
B----------------------------------------------------------------
G----------------------------------------------------------------
D----------------------------------------------------------------
A---------5h7-----------5h7--------------------------------------
E---0--0----------0--0-------------------------------------------
which would mean play the open E twice, then hit the
A string at the 5th fret and hammer on to the 7th
fret.
Pull offs look very similar :
E----3p0---------------------------------------------------------
B---------3p0----------------------------------------------------
G--------------2p0-----------------------------------------------
D-------------------2--------------------------------------------
A----------------------------------------------------------------
E----------------------------------------------------------------
Here we have a descending blues scale using
pull-offs to the open strings. For each pull off you
only pick the first note of the pair with the right
hand - so in this example you would pick all the
notes on the 3rd and 2nd frets, and the open strings
would be sounded by pulling off.
Because you give the string an extra bit of energy
when you hammer on and pull off, you only need to
hit the first note with the picking hand. You could
even have a long string of hammer-ons and pull-offs
like this :
E----------------------------------------------------------------
B----------------------------------------------------------------
G---2h4p2h4p2h4p2h4p2h4p2----------------------------------------
D----------------------------------------------------------------
A----------------------------------------------------------------
E----------------------------------------------------------------
In this case you only pick the first note.
Note - you might see other symbols used to mean
hammer on or pull off, for example ^ can be use to
mean hammer-on and pull-off, e.g:
G---2^4^2----
which would mean "hit the note at the 2nd fret,
hammer-on to the 4th and pull-off to the 2nd fret".
It would make things easier if everyone used the
same symbols, so unless you have a strong objection
to 'h' and 'p' please use those. In any case, for
any tab you send you should always explain what your
symbols mean so if you use anything 'unconventional'
make sure you explain what it means.
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Bends
When bends are involved you need to know how much to
bend the note up. This is indicated by writing a
number after the 'b'. For example, if you see this :
E----------------------------------------------------------------
B------7b9-------------------------------------------------------
G----------------------------------------------------------------
D----------------------------------------------------------------
A----------------------------------------------------------------
E----------------------------------------------------------------
it means strike the B string at the 7th fret, then
bend the note up two semitones (one whole step) so
that it sounds the same pitch as a note fretted at
the 9th fret would do. (Sometimes the bend is
written with the second part in brackets, like this
---7b(9)--- )
Something like this :
E----------------------------------------------------------------
B------7b9--9r7--------------------------------------------------
G----------------------------------------------------------------
D----------------------------------------------------------------
A----------------------------------------------------------------
E----------------------------------------------------------------
means play the note at the 7th fret, bend up two
semitones, strike the note again whilst it is still
bent, then release the bend so that the note has
it's normal pitch. Sometimes a pre-bend is used -
this is where the string is bent up *before* the
note is struck. After striking the note, the bend is
released. Pre-bends are usually written like this:
E----------------------------------------------------------------
B------(7)b9r7--------------------------------------------------
G----------------------------------------------------------------
D----------------------------------------------------------------
A----------------------------------------------------------------
E----------------------------------------------------------------
This means: fret the note at the 7th fret and bend
the string up two semitones (without actually
playing the note). Now strike the string and release
the bend.
You sometimes get a note which is bent up only a
quarter of a tone or so. In this case it would look
a bit strange to write :
B--------7b7.5--------
if you have to bend it up half a fret's worth.
Instead it's written as :
bend up 1/4 tone
E----------------------------------------------------------------
B------7b--------------------------------------------------------
G----------------------------------------------------------------
D----------------------------------------------------------------
A----------------------------------------------------------------
E----------------------------------------------------------------
with instructions on how much to bend written above
the note.
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Slides
The most common symbols used for slides are / for a
slide up and for a slide down.
You might also see 's' used to mean slide.
You don't always need separate symbols for 'up' and
'down' slides since a line of TAB reading :
E----------------------------------------------------------------
B------7/9-------------------------------------------------------
G----------------------------------------------------------------
D----------------------------------------------------------------
A----------------------------------------------------------------
E----------------------------------------------------------------
is clearly a slide up from 7th to 9th fret. However
you might also see things like these :
E----------------------------------------------------------------
B------/7-9-7---------------------------------------------------
G----------------------------------------------------------------
D----------------------------------------------------------------
A----------------------------------------------------------------
E----------------------------------------------------------------
where the exact start or finish of a slide is not
given. Here you have to know whether you're sliding
up or down. In these cases use your judgement to
choose the starting or finishing fret. The effect
usually desired is to have a note 'swooping in' from
a lower pitch or dropping suddenly in pitch as the
note fades.
You could have a whole series of slides running
together, like this
E----------------------------------------------------------------
B------7/9/119767--------------------------------------------
G----------------------------------------------------------------
D----------------------------------------------------------------
A----------------------------------------------------------------
E----------------------------------------------------------------
which would mean you only strike the first note with
the pick using the sustain to produce the other
notes.
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Note length
information
Occasionally you will find TAB which includes
information on all of the note lengths. There seems
to be no particular 'standard' way of doing this,
but it usually involves a line of letters or symbols
above the TAB.
See below (Section 3.2 part 6) for more details.
If the explanation of the timing symbols is not
given in the TAB then you've got a problem ! In this
case a quick email to the author to ask for
enlightenment is the only way forward.
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Writing Guitar
Tablature
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Getting started
Perhaps one of the most important things to do
before you start typing up a piece of TAB is to
decide exactly how much information to include in
it. The trick is to convey the right amount of
information in a clear, easily readable form.
Questions you can ask yourself are :
Is the song played using mostly chords ?
Are there a number of riffs which appear throughout
the song ?
Is there a clear verse/chorus/middle bit structure ?
By planning ahead a little you should be able to
produce a clearly structured TAB which will not only
be easier for others to read, but also easier for
you to type in.
There are also choices to be made when deciding what
package to use when typing the TAB in. All you
really need is a simple text editor, however a
mouse-driven editor will probably make things
easier.
When you start typing in it saves time if you draw
out one blank stave and then make 8 or 10 copies of
these before you start typing in the fret numbers
etc.
If you use a more complicated package like Microsoft
Word then make sure that the characters you use are
all the same length. If an 'm' character is wider
than an 'i' character then your TAB is going to look
very strange on another text editor. Choose a font
where all charcters get the same width - Courier
usually does the job.
There are also a number of programs available by ftp
which were written specifically to make TAB writing
easier. Details of these programs including ftp
addresses are in the 'TABBING MADE EASY' FAQ by John
Kean, along with other useful hints for writing TAB.
You can obtain this FAQ from OLGA (www.olga.netsoftware.html).
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To TAB or not to
TAB
If a song can be described well with just chords,
then it will be a lot easier to read and write if
you just use the chord shapes, rather than tab out
the chords.
BUT - if you do just send in the chords it makes
things much clearer if you give the chord shapes as
well. For example, if you wanted to send in Led Zeps
'Gallows Pole' you could write:
Intro : A7 G/A A7 Am7 Dadd4/A A7 G/A A7 Am7 Dadd4/A
Verse : A7 G/A A7 Am7 Dadd4/A A7 G/A A7 Am7 Dadd4/A
A7 G/A A7 Am7 Dadd4/A G D
A7 G/A A7 Am7 Dadd4/A A7 G/A A7 Am7 Dadd4/A
(You should really have the words underneath as
well, but I can't remember them at the moment !)
Now this is OK, but how many people actually know
how to play Dadd4/A off the top of their heads ?
What you need to do is include some chord shapes
like this :
EADGBE EADGBE EADGBE EADGBE EADGBE EADGBE
x02020 x02010 x04035 320033 xx0232 x00000
A7 Am7 Dadd4/A G D G/A
To TAB out these chords will take a lot longer to
type in, and will probably take people a lot longer
to read and understand. Where a song is based around
chords like this, it makes things much easier if you
just give chord shapes and names, then show where
the chords go in relation to the words.
[Back To Contents]
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Things
to do when writing TABs
One of the most important considerations when typing
in TAB is to make it clear and easily readable.
There are a few simple things you can do to make
things work.
Use spaces !
It's amazing the difference it can make if you
insert a few blank lines in the right place. If you
are used to writing the words above or below the
lines of TAB make sure you leave a few lines free so
that it's clear whether the words belong to the line
of TAB above or below. Space out the individual
lines of TAB and the whole thing will be a lot
easier for others to understand.
Define the symbols you use.
It would make everybody's life a lot easier if
everyone used the same symbols for hammer ons, bends
etc.
BUT - if you are convinced that your particular way
of writing bends and slides makes much more sense
than anyone else's, that's OK as long as you tell
everybody what system you use. It makes very good
sense to start your TAB file with a list of symbols
used.
The list of most commonly used symbols is below :
h - hammer on
p - pull off
b - bend string up
r - release bend
/ - slide up
- slide down
v - vibrato (sometimes written as ~)
t - tap (with strumming hand)
x - muted, struck string
when you get on to harmonics , you might see a
variety of symbols used. Even in standard music
notation, an accepted way of writing natural and
artificial harmonics has neverbeen agreed ! However,
using brackets is the standard way of writing
harmonics, so a natural harmonic at the 12th fret
would be :
E----------------------------------------------------------------
B----------------------------------------------------------------
G----------------------------------------------------------------
D----------------------------------------------------------------
A----------------------------------------------------------------
E-------------------------------------------------------------
Normal brackets () are sometimes used for grace
notes or optional notes so 'pointy' brackets is the
usual choice for harmonics. Because there are no
standards (in written music or tablature) to
distinguish between natural and artificial
harmonics, some confusion sometimes arises. If you
are writing out some tab with harmonics, it's best
to add a note to say whether they are natural
harmonics (most commonly at the 5th, 7th and 12th
frets) or artificial (pinched) harmonics. With
artificial harmonics, you have to fret a note with
the left hand (say at the 2nd fret) and pinch the
harmonic an octave above (at the 14th fret) so you
should make it clear whether the number you write in
the tab is the fretted or pinched note. It is more
common to tab out the pinched notes, so if you see
tab like this :
E----------------------------------------------------------------
B----------------------------------------------------------------
G----------------------------------------------------------------
D----------------------------------------------------------------
A----------------------------------------------------------------
E--------------------------------------------
It will usually mean fret notes at the 2nd, 4th and
5th frets, and play the artificial harmonics at the
frets shown in the tab.
Label bits of the TAB
It makes things a lot easier if you can see where
the 'verse' and 'chorus' parts of a song are, so put
a few labels in certain places to guide people
through it.
Many songs will have clear 'verse' and 'chorus'
structures - so you can tab out the riffs/chords or
whatever for these just once, and then indicate
where these are repeated. Or there maybe a couple of
important riffs which are used - so TAB these out
and label them 'Riff One' and 'Riff Two' - then when
they come up later in the song you can just say
'repeat Riff One four times' instead of tabbing the
whole thing again.
As long as it's clear which bits of TAB go with
which label, you will save yourself time this way as
well as making it easier to read for others.
Include Artist/album
It's useful for others to know where to find the
original song, so at the beginning of each TAB
include some information on the artists who recorded
the original, and the album on which the song can be
found.
General comments
It's also useful to include a few lines at the
beginning of the TAB to explain the style of the
song, or to point out important features such as
alternative tunings, use of capos etc.
A few words along the lines of "use a staccato,
funky kind of strumming style for the chords, then
change to a sustained feel for the lead line" will
help people to get an idea of how to approach the
playing style.
Information on the type of guitar
(electric/acoustic, 6 string/12 string) and effects
used would be useful.
One point on the use of capos and alternative
tunings :
For TAB using a capo, it's standard practice to
write the numbers of the frets relative to the
position of the capo. So if you had a D major shape
with a capo at the 2nd fret the TAB would be :
E----2-----------------------------------------------------------
B----3-----------------------------------------------------------
G----2-----------------------------------------------------------
D----0-----------------------------------------------------------
A----------------------------------------------------------------
E----------------------------------------------------------------
The notes fretted on the top three strings are 2 or
3 frets above the capo position, so they are written
with the numbers 2 or 3, even though you actually
fret the notes at the 4th and 5th frets.
When writing out the names of chords played using a
capo, it's usually best to use chord names that take
into account the actual pitch of the notes. For
example, in the tab example above, guitarists
recognise the chord shape as a "D shape", but
because the capo is at the 2nd fret the actual chord
is an E (2 semitones up from a D), so you should
write the chord name as E. This makes it easier for
other musicians (or other guitarists who aren't
using a capo) to play along in the right key.
It's similar with TAB for guitars tuned a semitone
or tone lower than usual. If a song should be played
with the guitar tuned to Eb Ab Db Gb Bb Eb, and it
has this chord :
Eb-----0---------------------------------------------------------
Bb-----0---------------------------------------------------------
Gb-----1---------------------------------------------------------
Db-----2---------------------------------------------------------
Ab-----2---------------------------------------------------------
Eb-----0---------------------------------------------------------
although it "looks like an E chord" it is actually
an Eb, because of the tuning, so in the long run, it
avoids confusion to call it an Eb.
Timing information
You may want to get really serious and include
details giving the precise rhythm of the piece. This
will involve a lot more typing, but it means all the
information necessary to play the piece is given
explicitly.
One way to approach this is to write a line of
dashes interspersed with numbers which count the
beats. So in 4-4 time, you would have :
1---2---3---4---1---2---3---4--- etc
Under this you can write a line of d's and u's to
represent down and upstrokes. Here is a simple
example where the rhythm is 2 crotchets (quarter
notes) followed by 4 quavers (8th notes)
1---2---3---4---1---2---3---4--- etc
d---d---d-u-d-u-d---d---d-u-d-u-
You could expand on this to use upper and lower case
letters to indicate accents and so on. If you use
this method make sure that you clearly separate the
2 lines of rhythm information from the 6 lines of
TAB !!!
One other way of including timing information is to
use one letter/symbol for each note type.
For example use e for 8th note (quaver), s for 16th
note (semi- quaver) and so on. The letters you use
may well differ depending on whether you're used to
the american system of quarter notes, 8th notes etc
or the english system of crotchets and quavers , but
the method is the same.
If you're not sure of the 'translations' here they
are :
whole not semibreve
half note minim
quarter note crotchet
8th note quaver
16th note semiquaver
32nd note demisemiquaver
64th note hemidemisemiquaver
Simply write the letters above the corresponding
note in the TAB. (Make sure you define which
letters/symbols you use)
Here's an example of what this looks like :
This is the opening riff from the Beatles' Ticket To
Ride
q e e t t t q e e t t t
E--------0-----------0--------0-----------0----------------------
B-----------2-----0--------------2-----0-------------------------
G---2----------2----------2---------2----------------------------
D----------------------------------------------------------------
A----------------------------------------------------------------
E----------------------------------------------------------------
Here I've used q for quarter note, e for 8th note
and t for triplet quarter note.
If you want to send in a TAB with rhythm information
like this then it's essential to explain the system
you use. I've seen a lot of different systems of
letters and numbers of varying degrees of simplicity
and readability. Whichever you choose to use, you'll
have to explain all your symbols to make sure others
can work out what the hell you're on about.
If you want to give a few clues as to the rhythm of
the TAB, but don't want to get too involved, use of
bar lines is an effective way of conveying timing
information.
Simply insert a vertical line of |'s to indicate the
end of a bar. So using the national anthem example I
had before, with bar lines it looks like this :
E--------|---------------|0--------4--2-|0--------------|--------
B---0----|----------0----|--------------|---------------|0-------
G------1-|-----1---------|--------------|-----1----3----|--------
D--------|2--------------|--------------|---------------|--------
A--------|---------------|--------------|---------------|--------
E--------|---------------|--------------|---------------|--------
Lyrics
It's a lot easier to follow a piece of TAB when
you've got at least some of the lyrics to follow,
and you can match up the notes/riffs in the TAB to
the lyrics.
Try to include lyrics for at least the first verse
and chorus. If you're not sure of the words you can
www.lyrics.ch - there is a large collection of song
lyrics held there.
Failing that a request to the newsgroups along the
lines of
" Please mail me the lyrics to such and such so that
I can make a proper job of the TAB I'm working on"
will usually get a sympathetic response.
As a final note on writing TAB I should say that
whenever you post to the newsgroups ALWAYS cross
post to both guitar groups, and also mail a copy to
guitar@nevada.edu so that it can be included in
OLGA.
For more information on posting to the guitar
newsgroups and OLGA see the other FAQs regularly
posted to the guitar newsgroups.
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Things to avoid
Tab Wraparound
One of the most common problems in writing TAB is
text wraparound. This makes the TAB almost
impossible to read but is very easily avoided.
The problem occurs when you write a line of TAB
which is maybe 80 or 90 characters long. For a lot
of people this is too wide for their screen, so what
should be a single line of tab ends up being split
onto two lines.
(This probelm only occurs with text files, not with
HTML. I've simulated the effect below)
Here is what it looks like :
E---------------------------------------------0-------------------
----------------------------
B---------------------------------------2--4-----4--2-------------
----------------------------
G------------------------------1--2--4-----------------4--2--1----
----------------------------
D---------------------1--2--4-----------------------------------4-
-2--1-----------------------
A------------0--2--4----------------------------------------------
-------4--2--0--------------
E---0--2--4-------------------------------------------------------
----------------4--2--0-----
This looks pretty weird when you see it. When I
wrote it, using Windows 'Notepad', it looked fine
because I could fit the whole thing on one screen.
For most newsreaders though, it is too long and you
run into problems.
All you have to do is be careful when you type in
TAB so that you the maximum width of line is say 60
characters.
I've tried to do that in this FAQ so that the
maximum width is about
|---------------------------------------------------------------|
this much. If you limit your TABs in the same way,
you should be OK.
Of course, if TAB does get wrapped around the author
might not realise because it looked fine on his/her
screen when they wrote it. It might be worth letting
them know of the problem, so they can be careful in
the future.
(This includes me ! If parts of this FAQ are too
wide for your screen, please let me know !)
Very squashed TAB
It's amazing how easy it is to ruin an otherwise
good piece of TAB by not spacing it out so that the
end result is a mass of cramped TAB, explanations,
labels etc.
When you finish typing up, go back through the TAB
and see if you can insert a few blank lines here and
there to separate verse from chorus or whatever. It
really does make it a lot easier for others to read.
It might also be worth considering if you've
included too much detail in the TAB. Usually this
will not be the case, but I have seen a few TABs
which go into great details, but are extremely
off-putting to try to read because of the sheer
quantity of information.
Unnecessary repetition
If a line of TAB or a particular riff is repeated a
number of times then save yourself the effort, TAB
it once.
It's also easier to read like this.
That's all I think you need to know about reading
and writing TAB. If there's anything important you
think I've left out or if there are bits of the FAQ
which you can't understand then let me know.
You can contact me at :Howard.Wright@ed.ac.uk |
