Continued from the previous message...

 
 
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.
 
 
 
 
-- 3 -- 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.
 
 
-- 4 -- 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.
 
 
 
-- 5 --  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 :
 
It's a lot easier for people to understand chord names etc if
they are written as though played *without* a capo.
For example, if you have a D shape chord played with a capo at
the 2nd fret you should write it as D major even though you will
actually be fretting notes at the 4th and 5th frets.
 
Also - for TAB using a capo, it's standard practice to write the
numbers of the frets *relative* to the position of the capo.
So again, if you had a D major chord with a capo at the 2nd fret
the TAB would be :
 
 
E----2-----------------------------------------------------------
B----3-----------------------------------------------------------
G----2-----------------------------------------------------------
D----0-----------------------------------------------------------
A----------------------------------------------------------------
E----------------------------------------------------------------
 
even though you actually fret the notes at the 4th and 5th frets.
 
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--------------------------------------------------------

Continued in the next message...
--- TriToss (tm) Professional 11.0 - #229
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