Music - Guitar Tab Software

Ted Calver

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Anybody have a recommendation for guitar tablature software? I'm looking at Guitar Pro 6, but reviews are mixed. TablEdit also looks promising, but reviews on it are mixed too.
 
I picked up Guitar pro 6, just because it was so ubiquitous. It works, but all I do is download files and load it up and use.

I just got Rocksmith 2014 (Darren did too), and I have to admit it's kind of fun so far. You get a special USB cable, and the game can actually determine what you are playing.

The only thing that bugs me is the default mode for it has the low e at the top, but you can easily invert that. It's not the same as normal tab, and takes a little getting used to.
 
I've used Tux Guitar (http://www.tuxguitar.com.ar/) in the past and I actually re-installed it tonight. They have a community site that folks contribute tabs that you can load up for free. Some of the tabs actually have all tracks of a song (guitar, bass, drums, vocals, etc.), just click on the instrument below and it will display that instruments tabs. You can also print out the tabs you want.

tuxguitar.jpgtuxguitarprint.jpg


Windows download:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/tuxguitar/?source=dlp
 
Are you looking for tabs for songs or just chord shapes Ted?
Jim ...I'm looking for a program that lets you write, read and play tabs. Apparently you can also download tabs and the program will show you how they sound.
Darren thanks. Lots of positive reviews on Tux.
Brent...Guitar Pro 6 lets you hear what the tabs are supposed to sound like, right?
 
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I'm no help...I've not tried any of the tab software packages. Looks like pretty cool stuff, if it works. :thumb:

Back in my day, we had to learn songs by ear and write them all out by hand. Uphill. In the snow. And we LIKED it! :rolleyes: :D

Dang kids. Now get off my lawn!
 
.... we had to learn songs by ear and write them all out by hand. Uphill. In the snow. And we LIKED it! ....
Funny you should mention that. Thus far, my guitar lessons at Music & Arts have consisted of the instructor writing out some lick or scale on a piece of yellow legal pad and me trying to play it for half an hour. Wondering what else was out there (and for the same price as I pay for just one month of lessons at M&A), I signed up for a year of access to JamPlay when they had a holiday special. Lots of instructors and the quality of the instruction is very good. There is enough of a mix of theory and practice to keep interest peaked, you can proceed at your own pace and most importantly for me, can loop any portion of the lesson until you get it right. There are also live video chat sessions with the instructors. At yesterdays M&A lesson I mentioned how much I liked the JamPlay format and was fishing for some theory along with the lesson. My instructor got a strange look in his eye and said "theory? You want some theory? I can fix you up with some theory. Lets start with C major". So in less than 5 minutes, off the top of his head while I was practicing a blues lick he wrote out this complete reference guide to the chords in C major. I was pretty blown away. He's in his fifties and has been playing since he was eight. Can you guys do that, or should I not be impressed?
chords 004.jpg
 
That is pretty impressive to me, Not sure how to read it, but impressive!
Brent, it's as if you are sitting across from someone playing. Guitar head is to your right, fat E is on top and skinny E is on bottom. He labels which fret. It messed me up at first too, but I've gotten used to it.
 
Interesting notation style. I'd have to say it kind of hurts my head to think about it, since I'm so used to low e on the bottom. Seems backwards to me. Same with the default for rocksmith.

Guess I spent too much time reading music and tab, where the low notes are on the bottom.
 
Funny you should mention that. Thus far, my guitar lessons at Music & Arts have consisted of the instructor writing out some lick or scale on a piece of yellow legal pad and me trying to play it for half an hour. Wondering what else was out there (and for the same price as I pay for just one month of lessons at M&A), I signed up for a year of access to JamPlay when they had a holiday special. Lots of instructors and the quality of the instruction is very good. There is enough of a mix of theory and practice to keep interest peaked, you can proceed at your own pace and most importantly for me, can loop any portion of the lesson until you get it right. There are also live video chat sessions with the instructors. At yesterdays M&A lesson I mentioned how much I liked the JamPlay format and was fishing for some theory along with the lesson. My instructor got a strange look in his eye and said "theory? You want some theory? I can fix you up with some theory. Lets start with C major". So in less than 5 minutes, off the top of his head while I was practicing a blues lick he wrote out this complete reference guide to the chords in C major. I was pretty blown away. He's in his fifties and has been playing since he was eight. Can you guys do that, or should I not be impressed?
View attachment 80356

I'm screwed...I can read that...Modes and scale variations. Back to medical books.
 
I know the mode theory, but the way I learned it emphasized the numbers more than the names and letters. I still think of a II scale more than a Dorian scale, but it's still essentially the same thing. There's a fair amount of the theory stuff that I used to know cold, but have forgotten as the result of not using it. Truth be told, I really don't think about the numbers or the names a lot when I'm playing lead. I mostly see and think about the shapes. What I'm working on lately are the various chord inversions and the places to find them all over the neck. Part of that learning curve involves getting better at quickly knowing the note names on all the strings (instead of just the E and the A) anywhere on the neck. It's just a matter of making myself do drills and doing rote learning.

I've seen and used the same type of notation (low E on top, sideways), but I had tablets made of printed neck and chord block paper so I didn't have to draw all the strings and frets. Makes it easier for the student to read and faster for me to draw.

Back when I was teaching, it was not uncommon for a student to bring me a new song on cassette tape, and in the course of a 30 minute lesson I'd figure out the main parts of the song, write it out in tab and/or chord diagrams, and run through it a few times with the student. I'm not that fast anymore, but my ear has gotten faster over the past 8 or 9 months as I've been learning new songs. It's kind of funny because when I first started playing in the band I'm in now, I spent a lot of time watching the left hand of the other guitarist (Mike) to make sure I was playing the right chords. These days, Mike is watching my left hand more than I'm watching him. (Coincidentally, Mike was one of my students back in the early '80s. He was also roommates back then with Jeff, who is our current bass player and the bass player I toured with back in the day.)
 
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