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Tablature (or tabulature, or tab for short) is a form of
musical notation Music notation or musical notation is any system used to visually represent aurally perceived music played with instruments or sung by the human voice through the use of written, printed, or otherwise-produced symbols, including notation f ...
indicating instrument fingering rather than musical pitches. Tablature is common for
fret A fret is any of the thin strips of material, usually metal wire, inserted laterally at specific positions along the neck or fretboard of a stringed instrument. Frets usually extend across the full width of the neck. On some historical instru ...
ted stringed instruments such as the
guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected string ...
,
lute A lute ( or ) is any plucked string instrument with a neck and a deep round back enclosing a hollow cavity, usually with a sound hole or opening in the body. It may be either fretted or unfretted. More specifically, the term "lute" can ref ...
or vihuela, as well as many
free reed A free reed aerophone is a musical instrument that produces sound as air flows past a vibrating reed in a frame. Air pressure is typically generated by breath or with a bellows. In the Hornbostel–Sachs system, it is number: 412.13 (a member ...
aerophone An aerophone () is a musical instrument that produces sound primarily by causing a body of air to vibrate, without the use of strings or membranes (which are respectively chordophones and membranophones), and without the vibration of the inst ...
s such as the
harmonica The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica in ...
. Tablature was common during the Renaissance and Baroque eras, and is commonly used today in notating many forms of music. Three types of organ tablature were used in Europe: German, Spanish and Italian. To distinguish standard musical notation from tablature, the former is usually called "
staff Staff may refer to: Pole * Staff, a weapon used in stick-fighting ** Quarterstaff, a European pole weapon * Staff of office, a pole that indicates a position * Staff (railway signalling), a token authorizing a locomotive driver to use a particula ...
notation" or just "notation".


Etymology

The word ''tablature'' originates from the Latin word ''tabulatura''. ''Tabula'' is a table or slate, in Latin. To tabulate something means to put it into a table or chart.


Origin

The first known occurrence in Europe is around 1300, and was first used for notating music for the organ.


Concepts

While standard notation represents the rhythm and duration of each note and its pitch relative to the scale based on a twelve tone division of the octave, tablature is instead operationally based, indicating where and when a finger should be placed to generate a note, so pitch is denoted implicitly rather than explicitly. Tablature for plucked strings is based upon a diagrammatic representation of the strings and
fret A fret is any of the thin strips of material, usually metal wire, inserted laterally at specific positions along the neck or fretboard of a stringed instrument. Frets usually extend across the full width of the neck. On some historical instru ...
s of the instrument, keyboard tablature represents the keys of the instrument, and woodwind tablature shows whether each of the fingerholes is to be closed or left open.


French lute tablature

F____________________
D____________________
A____________________
F____________________
D____________________
A____________________
Lowercase letters or "glyphs"are placed on each of these lines to represent notes. If it is required to play an open D course, for instance, a small ''a'' will be placed on the appropriate line. For a note with the finger on the first fret a ''b'', a note on the second fret a ''c'', etc. However, as mentioned above, ''j'' was not used since it was not considered a separate letter from ''i'', and ''c'' often looked more like ''r'' or the third letter of the Greek alphabet, Γ (gamma). Thus:
F_____c___
D_____a___
A_____b___
F_____c___
D_____a___
A_____b___
G - a
would represent a G-minor chord (on a Renaissance lute in G-tuning), All open strings would represent a D-minor chord:
F______a________
D______a________
A______a________
F______a________
D______a________
A______a________
D- ///a
The strings below the sixth course are notated with additional short
ledger line A ledger line or leger line is used in Western musical notation to notate pitches above or below the lines and spaces of the regular musical staff. A line slightly longer than the note head is drawn parallel to the staff, above or below, spaced ...
s: glyphs are placed below the staff. These courses are tuned in accordance with the key of each piece played:
G- a
F- /a
E- //a
D- ///a
C- 4
B- 5
A- 6


German lute tablature

The origins of German lute tablature can be traced back well into the 15th century. Blind organist
Conrad Paumann Conrad Paumann (c. 1410January 24, 1473) was a German organist, lutenist and composer of the early Renaissance. A blind musician, he was one of the most talented musicians of the 15th century, and his performances created a sensation wherever he ...
is said to have invented it. It was used in German-speaking countries until the end of the 16th century.


Computer programs for writing tablatures

Various computer programs are available for writing tablature; some also write lyrics, guitar chord diagrams, chord symbols, and/or staff notation. ASCII tab files can be written (somewhat laboriously) with any ordinary word processor or text editor, using a
monospaced A monospaced font, also called a fixed-pitch, fixed-width, or non-proportional font, is a font whose letters and characters each occupy the same amount of horizontal space. This contrasts with variable-width fonts, where the letters and spaci ...
font such as 'Courier New' so that characters maintain vertical alignment across all strings.


Guitar tablature

Guitar tablature is used for acoustic and electric guitar (typically with 6 strings). A modified guitar tablature with four strings is used for bass guitar. Guitar and bass tab is used in pop, rock, folk, and country music lead sheets, fake books, and songbooks, and it also appears in instructional books and websites. Tab may be given as the only notation (as with chord tab in songbooks that only include lyrics and chords), or, as with guitar solo transcriptions, tab and standard notation may be provided. Sheet music consisting of tablature is sometimes referred to as "tabs." The following examples are labelled with letters on the left denoting the string names, with a lowercase ''e'' for the high E string. Tab lines may be numbered 1 through 6 instead, representing standard string numbering, where "1" is the high E string, "2" is the B string, etc. Also, the order of lines is not standardized. Some tablature is written in pitch order, with the high "e" string on top, and descending in pitch order to the low "E" string on the bottom. Other tablature is written the other way, with the string closest to the ceiling (the low "E") on top and the one closest to the floor (the high "e") on the bottom. To avoid confusion, tablature writers will often write the pitches to the left of the tablature so the reader knows the convention being used. The numbers that are written on the lines represent the fret used to obtain the desired pitch. For example, the number 3 written on the top line of the staff indicates that the player should press down at the third fret on the high E (first string). Number 0 denotes the nut — that is, an open string. If music is to be played using a capo, the numbers always indicate the number of frets from the capo, and not from the nut (thus, it is
transposed In linear algebra, the transpose of a matrix is an operator which flips a matrix over its diagonal; that is, it switches the row and column indices of the matrix by producing another matrix, often denoted by (among other notations). The tr ...
into the capoed key). For
chords Chord may refer to: * Chord (music), an aggregate of musical pitches sounded simultaneously ** Guitar chord a chord played on a guitar, which has a particular tuning * Chord (geometry), a line segment joining two points on a curve * Chord ( ...
, a letter above or below the tablature staff denotes the
root note In music theory, the concept of root is the idea that a chord can be represented and named by one of its notes. It is linked to harmonic thinking—the idea that vertical aggregates of notes can form a single unit, a chord. It is in this sens ...
of the chord, chord notation is also usually relative to a capo, so chords played with a capo are transposed. Examples of guitar tablature notation: The chords E, F, and G as an ASCII tab:
e, ---0---1---3---
B, ---0---1---0---
G, ---1---2---0---
D, ---2---3---0---
A, ---2---3---2---
E, ---0---1---3---
     E   F   G
Tablature can use various lines, arrows, and other symbols to denote various legato techniques, such as bends,
hammer-on A hammer-on is a playing technique performed on a stringed instrument (especially on a fretted string instrument, such as a guitar) by sharply bringing a fretting-hand finger down on to the fingerboard behind a fret, causing a note to sound. This ...
s, trills,
pull-off A pull-off is a stringed instrument playing and articulation technique performed by plucking or "pulling" the finger that is grasping the sounding part of a string off the fingerboard of either a fretted or unfretted instrument. This intermediate- ...
s, slides, and so on. Common tablature symbols represent various techniques, though these may vary, include: Further symbols to indicate note lengths may be used along the top of the tablature, examples include: Guitar tablature is not standardized and different sheet-music publishers adopt different conventions. Songbooks and guitar magazines usually include a legend setting out the convention in use. The most common form of lute tablature uses the same concept but differs in the details (e.g., it uses letters rather than numbers for frets). See above. When circles are used to indicate fingering, sounded notes are white, an assumed root is grey, and a sounded root is black.


Musette tablature

The standard notation shown in the illustration is also taken from de Scellery; no explanation is given for the slur-like symbol; the comma (,) is explained as indicating a ''tremblement'', starting on the note above. No explanation is given for the unusual beaming or the significance (if any) of where note-length symbols are repeated.


Harmonica tablature

For example, on a "C" diatonic instrument:
Unbent    Bent lv1    Bent lv2    Bent  lv3
3i (B)    3i,   (Bb)   3i, ,  (A)    3i, , ,  (G#)
To indicate button-press on a chromatic instrument, a similar indication to first-level bending may be used. The breath indicator may be placed right next to the hole number, or below the number. The same is true for bending or button-press indicators. To indicate the beat, in the arrow system the length of the arrow may be varied. However, the more popular method is to use a slightly simplified rhythm-symbol notation, such as "o" for a semibreve, // for a minim, "/" for a crotchet, "." for quavers, and place them above the characters, while spacing them accordingly. For chords, the numbers to play are shown, so, for example: a C major (CEG) chord (on a C diatonic instrument): 456e However, they may simplify it, especially when playing blues. For chords, it was common to just play three or two holes instead (sometimes even just one), especially when the instrument is not of the same key. For example, in the blues progression in G (G G G G7 C C G G D7 D7 G G) it is common to use a C diatonic instrument, and notate the following: *G chord (G-B-D): 34i (BD) *G7 chord (G-B–D-F): 45i (DF). *D7 chord (D-F-A-C): 4i (D) or 4e (C) There are many harmonica tablature systems in use. The easiest tablature system works like this. Diatonic Harmonica tablature
 2  = blow the 2 hole
-2  = draw the 2 hole
-2' = draw the 2 hole with a half bend
-2" = draw the 2 hole with a full bend
chords are shown by grouping notes with parentheses (2 3) = blow the 2 hole and the 3 hole at the same time Chromatic Harmonica tablature
  2 = blow the 2 hole
 -2 = draw the 2 hole
 <2 = blow the 2 hole with the button in
<-2 = draw the 2 hole with the button in
Here is an example of harmonica tablature: "Mack the Knife" C Diatonic
5   6   -6   -6   5  6   -6     -6
Oh the shark has pretty teeth, dear
-4  -5  -6    -6  -4 -5   -6
And he shows them pearly white
 6  -7  -8    7   -7   -6  7     -4
Just a jack knife has MacHeath, dear
 5  -5   7   -4  7  -7  -6
And he keeps it out of sight


Legal issues

By early 2006, an unprecedented legal move was taken by the Music Publishers Association (MPA), initiating the removal of unlicensed guitar tablature from websites. The MPA had been pushing for websites offering free tablature to license or be shut down. MPA president Lauren Keiser said that their goal is for owners of free tablature services to face fines and even imprisonment. Several websites that offered free tablature have taken their tablature off-line until a solution or compromise is found. One of the proposed solutions is an
alternative compensation system Various copyright alternatives in an alternative compensation systems (ACS) have been proposed as ways to allow the widespread reproduction of digital copyrighted works while still paying the authors and copyright owners of those works. This article ...
, which allows the widespread reproduction of digital copyrighted works while still paying
songwriter A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music ...
s and copyright owners. In addition, there are now a number of "legal" services offering guitar tablature that have been licensed by music publishers. One site, MetalTabs.com, contacts the bands themselves for permission to post tablature. Few bands have declined the request. The tablature debate was featured on
NPR National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...
's ''
Morning Edition ''Morning Edition'' is an American radio news program produced and distributed by NPR. It airs weekday mornings (Monday through Friday) and runs for two hours, and many stations repeat one or both hours. The show feeds live from 5:00 to 9:00 A ...
'' in a segment entitled "Music Industry Goes after Guitar Tablature Websites" on August 7, 2006. On April 10, 2010,
Ultimate Guitar Ultimate Guitar (Ultimate Guitar USA LLC), which is also known as Ultimate-Guitar.com or simply UG, is an online platform for guitarists and musicians. Its website and mobile application provides guitar tablature catalogues and chord sheets. ...
(UG), a Russian free tablature website, entered a licensing agreement with Harry Fox Agency. The agreement included rights for lyrics display, title search and tablature display with download and print capabilities. HFA's over 44,000 represented publishers have the opportunity to opt into the licensing arrangement with UG.


Rise of legal guitar tablature sites

In light of the legal questions surrounding user-created online guitar tablature, a number of companies have been formed that claim to offer consumers legal online tablature, which has been officially licensed from songwriters and/or music publishers. These companies offering legal content generally fall into three categories: * Websites that offer "professionally-created" content: These websites typically hire professional musicians to transcribe songs into guitar tablature, and generally charge anywhere from $0.99 to $6.99 for the ability to purchase legal pieces of guitar tablature. These websites also claim to have acquired the proper licenses to display this tablature online. Several websites in this first category specifically cater to guitarists. * Websites that offer "user-created" tablature, but have obtained the proper legal clearances to post these transcriptions online. There are several websites that fall into this second category, which generally do not charge consumers for using these user-created tablature pieces, and share any advertising revenue with music publishers and/or songwriters. * Websites that index other tablature resources, and offer unique formatting options.


Mxtabs.net

Mxtabs.net closed because of copyright-holder complaints. However, as of February 23, 2006, the owners of Mxtabs put the website back online with a letter explaining their position. In short, they believe that the purpose of Mxtabs is to "...aid musicians in learning their instruments." They claim that Mxtabs has accounted for as much as $3,000 a month in sheet music sales, and offers many tablatures that are not published in sheet music, so Mxtabs and similar sites are the only place that musicians can find a way to play these songs (other than figuring the songs out for themselves). The letter concludes by pointing out that nobody has shown that tablature renditions are illegal, then requesting that sheet-music companies contact Mxtabs to create a system of tablature licensing. On February 29, 2008, MXTabs.net relaunched as the first legitimately licensed site designed to provide musicians with access to free tablatures, while also compensating music publishers and songwriters for their
intellectual property Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, co ...
. As with other
user generated content User-generated content (UGC), alternatively known as user-created content (UCC), is any form of content, such as images, videos, text, testimonials, and audio, that has been posted by users on online platforms such as social media, discussion f ...
sites, MXTabs.net users are encouraged to create, edit, rate, and review their own tablature interpretations of their favourite songs. However, unlike other user-generated content sites, only songs that have received explicit permission from participating copyright owners will be made available online.


Guitar Tab Universe

On 17 July 2006, Guitar Tab Universe (GTU) posted a letter on its home page that its
ISP An Internet service provider (ISP) is an organization that provides services for accessing, using, or participating in the Internet. ISPs can be organized in various forms, such as commercial, community-owned, non-profit, or otherwise private ...
had been jointly threatened with legal action by the National Music Publishers Association (NMPA) and the MPA "on the basis that sharing tablature constitutes copyright infringement". In response, GTU's site owner(s) immediately created a website named Music Student and Teacher Organization (MuSATO) to attempt to reposition themselves from an illegal-copyrighted-materials provider to an "education provider". MuSATO's main objective is to use
fair use Fair use is a doctrine in United States law that permits limited use of copyrighted material without having to first acquire permission from the copyright holder. Fair use is one of the limitations to copyright intended to balance the interests ...
as their rationale to publish tablature
free of charge The English adjective ''free'' is commonly used in one of two meanings: "at no monetary cost" (''gratis'') and "with little or no restriction" (''libre''). This ambiguity of ''free'' can cause issues where the distinction is important, as it ...
. By claiming to be an educational provider, they do not have to obtain
publication right Publication right is a type of copyright granted to the publisher who first publishes a previously unpublished work after that work's original copyright has expired. It is in almost all respects the same as standard copyright, but excludes moral ...
s or pay royalties to the original composers. MuSATO claims to be educational by classifying users downloading tablatures as "music students" and transcribers as "music teachers". GuitarTabs.com has been contacted by the NMPA and MPA with similar copyright infringement allegations. The NMPA and MPA have also threatened Guitar Tab Universe with similar legal action. A copy of the certified letter received by the site owner, along with a brief note similar to the one posted on Mxtabs, has been posted on their website.


OLGA.net

The On-line Guitar Archive (OLGA) is another tablature site that has been removed after receiving letters from lawyers representing the NMPA and the MPA.
OLGA is currently offline while we attempt to resolve legal issues with the archive.

We received a "take down" letter (pages 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 & 6 ) from lawyers representing the NMPA and the MPA.

We greatly appreciate your support and hope to return to providing resources to the aspiring guitarist as soon as possible. Contact rcwoods for more information. In the meantime, we recommend the usenet newsgroups rec.music.makers.guitar.tablature and alt.guitar.tab.


See also

* ASCII tab *
Digital sheet music Digital sheet music is technology for representing and displaying sheet music in a computer-readable format. With the emergence of several technological innovations, sheet music evolved in several stages into what was to be termed digital sheet ...
* Drum tablature *
Fret A fret is any of the thin strips of material, usually metal wire, inserted laterally at specific positions along the neck or fretboard of a stringed instrument. Frets usually extend across the full width of the neck. On some historical instru ...
*
Keyboard tablature Keyboard tablature is a form of musical notation for keyboard instruments. Widely used in some parts of Europe from the 15th century, it co-existed with, and was eventually replaced by modern staff notation in the 18th century. The defining chara ...
*
Klavar notation Klavarskribo (sometimes shortened to klavar) is a music notation system that was introduced in 1931 by the Dutchman . The name means "keyboard writing" in Esperanto. It differs from conventional music notation in a number of ways and is intended to ...
* Kunkunshi *
Musical notation Music notation or musical notation is any system used to visually represent aurally perceived music played with instruments or sung by the human voice through the use of written, printed, or otherwise-produced symbols, including notation f ...
* Shamisen tablature * Trumpet tablature


Notes


External links

* * *
Polyphone Tabulaturen
(''in German language'') {{Authority control Musical notation