Talk:Tablature

Proposed Merges

I am perfectly happy to discuss this proposal but I would prefer to not list my reasons until they are actually asked for—please post questions concerning this merge on my talk page under the section heading Q&A for Proposed Merges. Bubble anonymous (talk) 20:06, 1 April 2010 (UTC)

I'm against this merge for reasons already stated on the individual articles talk pages. Jason Quinn (talk) 19:41, 20 May 2010 (UTC)

Slides & bass

I don't know many contemporary songs that employ slides... "ATWA" is a good example but it's not what I would call a "popular" song. If anyone knows a better example, feel free to chime in. -- Ô¿Ô

How about the opening bass line to "Otherside" by the Red Hot Chili Peppers? Be good to get some non-guitar tab onto this page... leigh

The solo of Metallica's Ain't My Biotch is played all with slide. [fluti@abv.bg]

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Trouble by Coldplay17:34, 20 March 2007 (UTC)

Wright's guide

I have a question....one of the contributors to the old OLGA tab archive (Howard Wright) wrote a tablature guide for that site, which is pretty vast and encyclopedic. Would it be appropriate to ask him if we could use his guide here? Or I suppose we could just put a link to it. If anyone else wants to take a look at it, the link is: http://www.jmdl.com/howard/music/tabfaq.html Adam Bishop 16:28 16 Jun 2003 (UTC)

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Monospace

Somebody less new to Wikipedia than me should convert all these tab examples to a monospaced font, and probably even add a note saying that viewing tablature online is often impossible when it's not displayed in a monospaced font. leigh

They're all in a monospace font on my screen. Adam Bishop 06:42, 7 Dec 2003 (UTC)

External links

Though it would seem that not all tablature sites are created equal, the problem seems to me that they are. They either share or steal the same tabs, so one can look through six sites and find the same exact information and nothing new. Thus we may need some sort of criteria for including and exluding external links. I notice, for instance, that one of the better sites, OLGA, is not included, while several similar sites similar to each other are. Perhaps we could have a short description of the link explaining its pluses, minuses, or other differentiating details? Hyacinth 29 June 2005 07:50 (UTC)

I've heavily trimmed this section per the guideline. - brenneman^{L} 04:57, 23 March 2006 (UTC)

MXTabs.net has relaunched, and should have an external link provided. http://rebirth.mxtabs.net —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.196.76.162 (talk) 14:26, 13 March 2008 (UTC)

CleanTab.com is probably the nicest tab site around right now. I suggest them because they seem to emphasize their tablature and not their advertisements. http://cleantab.com —Preceding unsigned comment added by GuitarTabGuy (talk • contribs) 18:20, 6 July 2010 (UTC)

Tablature Wiki

Someone should create something like WikiTab or along those lines that would be the same idea as Wikipedia (where everyone can edit it) but for guitar, bass, etc tabs. The only problem I see with doing something like this is that much of the tablature community consists of young, often immature musicians who may erase/incorrectly change/deface credible tabs. It may require heavy moderation. This is just a thought, maybe someone could pick up on it. --68.80.154.52 15Aug2005

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A place like this actually exists -- it's called TabWiki. There are already 1350 members (as of this writing) and it has only been in operation since February 2005. I think it has great potential. There is already a community of active tabbers, but it still has a way to go just to catch up to the collection of other, more established sites. It's located at http://www.tabwiki.com. --RockyRaccoon 21 Oct 2005.

I just had the exact same idea of a tab wiki, and came here to see if it existed. i will check out tabwiki immediately - thanks rocky! as for that link, i've put it into the article, cos i'm sure there must be others interested. [halio]

According to Wikipedia's policies and guidelines on talk pages, the content of talk pages should be related to the maintenance of the article, rather than general discussion of the topic; please continue this discussion elsewhere beyond this page. --Joseph Yanchar (talk) 15:29, 13 April 2015 (UTC)

Classical vs Contemporary

It seems like this article is trying to be a compromise between modern tabs (generally seen as an easy way out of sheet music) and the classical tablature used before the standardization of sheet music. As an avid garage rocker, the impression I get is that nearly all tablature used today is ASCII tab; even when it's written by hand it follows the same formatting rules. I propose that the classical portion of the article should be split off into a new Classical Tablature article. The remainder should be merged with ASCII tab, keeping the Tablature name. Nialsh 14:23, 14 June 2006 (UTC)

Legality Debate

The last section of this article detailing the legal issues that online tabulatures are raising are either very badly written or have been the subject of various editing wars between those who are pro-legalization and anti-legalization. Either way, it is unacceptable in its current form and should be re-written with no biases and perhaps the controversy should have a separate section of its own for those keen on this issue to butt heads.

I did a re-write. It was hard to fix some of the non-NPOV stuff without outright deleting it. As an intermediate, I placed requests for citations. If these aren't answered soon, the statements should be deleted. - Sancho McCann 13:04, 3 August 2006 (UTC)

I second the deletion of the last "hypothesis" section if citations are not made soon. It seems to provoke a highly inflamatory context and is neither neutral nor informative. I also second the legal issues having its own page. It may draw more attention, thus drawing more experts. - Blueshango 15:23, 3 August 2006 (UTC)

The last edit by Charlescosh was nothing but a removal of the citations that were requested in order to bring factuality to the section. I updated the portion in question by removing the non-NPOV content and making it in compliance with neutrality standards without completely eliminating it. I also cleaned up the grammar and punctuation and added the current event banner. Hopefully this edit will be satisfactory. - Blueshango 15:45, 4 August 2006 (UTC)

"The Music Publishers' Association (MPA) has recently deemed unauthorized tablature illegal and is beginning to shut down websites that offer free tablature." It seems to me that the MPA is not a legislating body and can't make anything illegal; is the MPA really the one shutting down websites? I think it is their threats of legal action. Seems to me the section still needs some work. I'd try but i really don't know much having had something of a shock when i tried to find a tab yesterday :-( 71.82.71.185 20:15, 4 August 2006 (UTC)

So far as my understanding of the situation (and I'm an avid fan of both guitar tabs and copyright law), there have only been threats by the MPA, NMPA, EMI, and other companies and organizations. No free Internet tablature site has ever gone to court, nor has any case been brought up by United States Legislature or Supreme court. The tactic of companies and organizations is to threaten sites and hope they comply. Tablature websites don't generate enough revenue to actually wage a legal battle, so they often go shut down completely, stay open in disobeyance, start similar websites with the same content, or locate servers in countries/jurisdictions where the copyright laws do not apply. The tale of the On-Line Guitar Archive reflects this. OLGA may not have been the first tablature website, but it was the biggest. Then EMI threatened a lawsuit, and it shut down. What happened afterward was the emergence of so-called "renegade" OLGA sites around the world (I remember one in Poland and another in South Africa that popped up). OLGA later revived itself on the basis of fair use doctrine; specifically, a bypass of copyright infringement due to the site offereing an educational service and distrubuting educational products. Nothing has ever gone to court, and no legal decisions have been made. Only threats by major publishing organizations. I continue to follow this day-by-day, as I find it really interesting. Again, there is no direct legislation on free Internet tablature--they've been too busy fighting over illegal music and movie pirating. All that exists is lots of arguments, speculation, and--most definitely--opinions. - Blueshango 21:14, 4 August 2006 (UTC)

its so stupid all these copyright debates. Is it illegal to show someone how to play something when you're sitting next to them? What about writing it down on paper for them? What about writing it in a .txt file to email to them? So what's the problem with posting tabs online. Most are complete s**t though so if you want the real thing then buy the official tab book. Does the music industry realise its killing itself?

www.bassmasta.net and www.guitarmasta.net are back online and now features their legal stance on the index page.

I agree. Tabs must be copied from copyrighted PRINTED material in order to be illegal, meaning that they have to have been copied directly from already-published tab books put out by the copyright holders of the music. Any tab created by an individual without direct plagiarism from a published source cannot be illegal, for the same reasons that selling audio rips of Simpsons DVDs would be illegal but teaching people how to do a Bart Simpson impression would not be.67.177.49.13 (talk) 22:58, 16 May 2008 (UTC)

Totally. If I heard a song on the radio and I figured out some tabs, my own arrangement of it, on my guitar, and I wrote these tabs out, how is that SOMEONE ELSE'S "intellectual property?" What if I didn't write my chords down in tabs, but instead decided to teach a buddy of mine the chords by telling him what chords I use? This is "intellectual property" lunacy. What a money grubbing ploy. Broadcast your "intellectual property" long enough, SOMEONE'S gonna learn how to play it. People really are that smart. Maybe if these self-servirg "artists" are so afraid of their "intellectual property" being "stolen," they shouldn't broadcast their music for all the world to see. How is it artists and labels can stuff their "intellectual property" into the minds of people and then accuse them of "theft?" Maybe they should hold special concerts where people pay to hear music exclusively. Paying customers can be asked to sign an agreement to be shot in the head as soon as the concert is over to prevent "intellectual property" from being stolen in their minds. Maybe in the future, we'll live in a reality were our eyes and ears will be cut out of our bodies, and we'll have to pay to hear or see things. Similarly, perhaps our vocal cords will be torn out to prevent us from communicating "intellectual property" to others. Or have our hands cut off to prevent us from using sign language. I think "intellectual property" law can only go so far. Threatening others for writing and distributing tabs is going too far IMO.KogeJoe (talk) 07:53, 12 May 2010 (UTC)

This section was still awful in terms of correct English grammar, and I've rewritten most of it. It still has problems with the content, but at least it no longer reads like a babel fish translation of a chinese manual. 84.114.214.144 (talk) 20:48, 25 September 2009 (UTC)

Hi, that would be nice if someone could explain what make a Guitare Tablature legal and what make it not. What is the difference between the two? It's not very clear. What process or steps should be done to make legal Guitare Tablature on line in the safest way of doing it? Thanks! 67.68.174.77 (talk) 02:45, 16 August 2010 (UTC)

I think this needs a rewrite. Tablature itself isn't illegal. It's the act of Copyright infringement Sweetie candykim (talk) 18:56, 2 January 2013 (UTC)

Happy Birthday tab

I added a part from Happy Birthday to give readers who may not be familiar with chords an example they can relate to easier. I think it's a good idea, correct me if I'm wrong.--LifeEnemy 14:21, 10 August 2006 (UTC)

It's okay for now, but if free Internet tablature of copyrighted material is deemed illegal in the future, it may need removed. The song is copyrighted (see Happy Birthday To You). -- Blueshango 01:08, 11 August 2006 (UTC)

External links

Following the guidelines at WP:EL and WP:SPAM, I've replaced the large external link section with a dmoz ODP link in this edit. Good links that pass WP:EL should be added back individually if a consensus supports their inclusion. -SpuriousQ (talk) 12:29, 13 February 2007 (UTC)

Cleaned out (a dozen links) again, and added a {{subst:nomorelinks}} template. Femto 12:06, 7 April 2007 (UTC)

External link proposal

I'd like to propoes that an external link to printable blank TAB paper be added to this page, as I believe it would be a useful resource for readers: http://www.guitaristhelp.net/Manuscript_TAB.gif I, therefore request that the suitability of this link is assessed by Wikipedia editors. Guitaristhelp 09:31, 12 July 2007 (UTC) 12th July 2007

polyphone guitar tabulature

I would like to put my page http://www.en.tabulaturen.eu/ to "External links" Text: "Collection of polyphone tabulatures". As far as i know there existed no polyphone tabulatures in the past. Please think about my wish and excuse my bad English :-) Stefan1951Stefan1951 —Preceding signed but undated comment was added at 11:37, 13 October 2007 (UTC)

• Don't do that. It is inappropriate.Galassi 01:58, 14 October 2007 (UTC)

you make advertising for guitar pro and other programs, but when a little privat musicteacher wants to put a link for a small site (with very good information... ask any musizian or guitar player about polyphone tabulatures) to this please.... don´t do that, forbidden, inappropriate

however i will NOT do that. goodbye S.B.S.B. = Stefan1951 —Preceding signed but undated comment was added at 08:42, 14 October 2007 (UTC)

• Stop spamming, or you will be banned.Galassi 14:53, 14 October 2007 (UTC)

IMO it's rather a shame it wasn't included, the link is now down. As a professional guitarist I would have been interested in seeing these. Also the coment regarding inclusion of other programs is valid - although I've just removed most of the SmartScore spam, which incidently, was added by the president of the company that produces it. RichardJ Christie (talk) 01:01, 21 November 2007 (UTC)

How to Read Guitar Tabs

• This is a very good site to learn how to read guitar tabs, and it has a page with easy tabs for practicing: http://tabizer.com/en/page/how-to-read-tabs —Preceding unsigned comment added by JoePalfalviJr (talk • contribs) 08:59, 19 November 2010 (UTC)
• I think this link for reading guitar tabs should be included: http://www.mahalo.com/How_to_Read_Guitar_Tabs

Evbro (talk) 23:08, 19 December 2007 (UTC)

• This is a great article with diagrams and videos on how to read guitar tab: http://howtoplayrockguitar.com/articles/24/1/How-To-Read-Guitar-Tab/Page1.html

monkfunk (talk) 14:06, 30 March 2008 (UTC)

Section: Fingering position determination. musica ficta - scordatura

This has resulted on over 23 different tunings for viola da gamba (With ref. Frank Traficante, "Music for Lyra Viol: Manuscript Sources", Chelys: The Journal of the Viola da Gamba Society 8 (1978): 4-22.)

I've removed the above sentence for a second time as it is at best, ambiguous. The statement, in its context, claims that tablature "has resulted" in over 23 tunings. Tablature does not "result in', nor cause, any tunings. Perhaps the author merely means that there exist 23 different tunings for viola da gamba recorded in tablature sources. I'm not disputing the tunings, only the claim of causality that is inherent in the wording "has resulted in" RichardJ Christie (talk)

History stuff

I'm reading John King's preface to "Famous Solos and Duets for the ʻUkulele". He mentions that the Harvard Dictionary of Music remarks that "the notation for the ukulele follows the principles used in the lute tablatures of the 16th century but was invented independently." He continues, "[this statement] takes on a new significance given the re-emergence of tablature in the notation of printed music in the last half of the 20th century. Largely abandoned and shunned as inferior in the 19th century, [tablature]...was re-introduced as an acceptable notational language for guitar only some years after, and in recognition of, the sensationally popular work of the ukulele pioneers." I'm not sure how to fit this into the article. Any thoughts? --jpgordon^{::==( o )} 18:33, 10 July 2010 (UTC)

His statements appear highly subjective, for example, how popular is "sensationally popular"? What evidence is there that rise in guitar tablature use is "in recognition" of ukelele tab? What is an "acceptable notational language? Acceptable by whom? Introductions written for commercial publications hardly constitute peer reviewed journals, not a sound citation in my opinion. RichardJ Christie (talk)

True enough. His history of the ukulele -- unfinished when he died -- is likely as richly footnoted as the article I'm citing; I hope someday it sees the light of day, as he was a meticulous researcher. "Sensationally popular" doesn't belong in the article, certainly -- though anyone slightly familiar with the history of 20th century fads knows that everything uke was huge for a few years in the '20s, including the sales of sheet music and methods. --jpgordon^{::==( o )} 13:09, 16 July 2010 (UTC)

"Website" is one word, and starts with a small "w"

I fixed the "Web site" issue (I consider it an issue at least), since it made the reading of the article a bit complicated. The article said "Web site" in every place it should have said "website". Also, since it is not a name, it should not be capitalized, unless it's the first word of the sentence and any other similar rules of grammar. Elchafa (talk) 17:37, 16 November 2010 (UTC)

Nothing on the capo ?

That article has something on tablature at Capo#Use. Methinks the reverse should also be. I am trying to find out how to write tab notation when a capo is used. --Jerome Potts (talk) 01:16, 25 June 2017 (UTC)

Guitar chord diagrams?

Aren't guitar chord diagrams a form of tablature warranting at least a mention here? JMT32 (talk) 02:48, 7 October 2017 (UTC)