Convert standard notation to mandolin tab

[mando.player]

Point taken. TAB is drastically less useful without note durations. I'd compare it to a paragraph without any spaces.

Tothefirstpointabove:maybetoyouitis.Tome,it'snot.E venifIdon'tknowthetune,orifnodurationisgiven,itiss tilluseful.JoeCarrtabbedoutallhismandolinsoloso
nJazzGrass.Nodurationsweregiven(heapologizedfortha t)andsomeofthetuneswerenotwell-known.Sti
ll,thetabshadbenefit.

The information is there, it's just difficult to work with it.

[AlanN]

I think the best way to get a tab from standard notation is to manually enter it into Tabledit. You get immediate confirmation that you have the correct note and duration and when you are done you can have the computer play the tune for you so you have an idea what it should sound like.

After you've done a few you know where a lot of those notes are. You can also see when you might need to choose another position to play a particular phrase. You kind of back into reading standard notation, maybe not well enough to play from it but well enough to understand what it says.

[ruraltradpunk]

I taught myself the basics of reading notation this week - I was inspired by attending a workshop last week where all the tunes learned were given out in handouts written in notation. Despite my initial panic I managed to hold my own at the workshop by just getting by with my ear, but it certainly was the kick up the backside I needed to sit down and just learn what the dots all mean! I'm delighted now that I did because now I'm no longer restricted to purchasing tune books that are written in TAB. I had a couple of great fiddle books laying around that I was basically ignoring because they were all in notation, now I find myself with a wealth of tunes to learn!

Jill

[dcc]

I found out about it from the following workshop notice here on the Cafe.

As I mentioned before, it's a no nonsense approach. There isn't a lot of hand holding. It's more of a "here's the rockpile, here's your hammer, now get to work" type of book. I guess once I'm at the bottom of the pile I'll be able to read...lol.

hi charlie. thanks for mentioning my book

dang... maybe i should have named one of untitled jigs, "pixie dust" !
pile of rocks? hmmm, and i thought i was being gentle, in a no nonsense kind of way...

how about 'stack of rocks'? no need to crush them, and also, nothing will fall on you... take them off the stack in the order presented, and yup, you will be able to read when you get to the bottom. (can be quite painless-- 15 minutes a day for a month would probably do the trick...)

[mando.player]

I wasn't trying to be harsh Debora, I like your "stack" analogy better. The book is very straight forward and focused. Which is good, nothing to distract or get in the way.

My start day BTW is Monday. I just need to find a free block of time I can devote to this that doesn't have mando before or after. I'm going to need a clear head for this to sink in.

[dcc]

Starting monday? Hey, cool #Hope it goes well. #

As for sinking in, i think one of the big snags lots of trad players hit is from trying to #read the entire range of the neck right away. #It's too many different notes, across too big a range, and it gets discouraging. #Too many things to remember all at once.

It's much easier to learn them in smaller groups. (open strings first, then pitches on individual strings-- associated with a diatonic key, not chromatically-- and then put them all together.)

It's analogous to recognizing an 11-digit number at a glance. #when does that get easy? #never. #it is a hardwired limitation of human cognition. #But we can get around it by 'chunking' things into groups, so 11-digits turns into 3 smaller groups, and then it is easy:

for example:
18005551212 #is more easily recognized (and remembered!) as 1-800-555-1212

chunking... it's the way to go. #painless, too, mostly. #5 groups: #first the open strings, then four pitches on each string across 4 strings (a nice friendly key, like D or G), give each one a week, and you will be standard notation literate in a month without any (or anyway not much) pain.

[12 fret]

I think different people relate to and retain symbolic information in different ways making both tab and notation useful. They each have their own strengths in particular settings and there's never a downside to more knowledge. TAB is a much older form of representing music but can be useful depending on how you percieve and retain information.

[jmcgann]

TAB is a much older form of representing music but can be useful depending on how you percieve and retain information.

Tab was developed before polyphony had developed much, and definitely long before average players had much of a conception of harmony...'round about 350 or so years ago, things began to change, and a more advanced and universal system for notating music, across the board and regardless of instrument, was developed to suit these needs.

Tab is an archaic tool that, like a shovel, still works fine for certain things...but it's not the best for brain surgery in this age of anesthesia, though

[mando.player]

When I was in college I did some progamming within different departments. The sociology department had this mapping system that would take in census data and produce maps with different layers or overlays. For example you could produce a street map of a city with shaded areas for population density of males, between the ages of 25-35, who make more than $50,000 annually and declare no religous affiliation. To the normal person this data is pretty useless, but to the person who requested it it may reveal a wealth of information.

One could view notation as the base map and tab as a specific overlay for that map. Classical music is as good an example as any. Suppose you had an intense urge to play one of Bach's Cello Suites, but the piece in it's native form didn't fall within the range of the mandolin. It needs to be transposed to another key, but which key? Using a combination of notation and tab, you could use software to find the "right" key. One that maps out nicely on the fretboard or makes the most of open strings.

I know this might an extreme example, but I think the main benefit of TAB is that it tells you exactly what to do. Unfortunately, notation for fretted instruments can't effectively convey exactly which D note to play. Now, whether you want that much information is a personal preference. I guess I just have a nuanced opinion of tab.

[mrmando]

If you happen to have the full version of Sibelius, it couldn't be easier to do the conversion. Select the standard-notation staff, copy it, and paste it onto the tab staff. Voila! Instant tab.

I didn't figure this out until yesterday. Now I no longer have to enter everything twice.

[mando.player]

Actually, my semi-crippled version (G7) also does this. Constraining the TAB fingering options is useful if you want to make the TAB closed (i.e. no open strings). The learning curve can be steep, but there is a lot you can do.

[mrmando]

I know this might an extreme example, but I think the main benefit of TAB is that it tells you exactly what to do. Unfortunately, notation for fretted instruments can't effectively convey exactly which D note to play.

Which is why I don't like tab so much; it just dictates fingering and interpretation instead of letting you work those things out on your own. If it really matters to the composer what string you play something on, he or she can certainly write in "sul D," etc., or put in position guides and fingerings over the noteheads. Check out any intermediate violin book and you're likely to find all that stuff. If, on the other hand, you're left to work out all those things on your own, then you just might become a smarter player in the process.

[mando.player]

As someone who's just learning to read notation, figuring out where to play things is a little overwhelming. Ideally, I'd love to get to a point where I can open a Real Book and play a head within a short period of time (with the "where to play it" question not being an issue). Until I get to that point, I'm using the tools that I have available to me.

As for adding guides/position markings/etc to notation, yes that can be done. I guess I was referring to "standard" standard notation, not instrument specific standard notation

Hopefully in a year I won't care because I'll be a super-sonic, bad-a$$ sight reader...lol.

[Ed Goist]

Alan-

Tottle's Bluegrass mandolin book has a key for converting notation to tab and vice versa. let me know if you don't have a copy.

Thought I'd resurrect an old thread instead of starting a new one...

The key mentioned above (it's on page 156 of Tottle's book) is quite good, but it is printed in ridiculously small print, making the conversion process from notation to tab tedious and hard on the eyes. Although too small, the layout of Tottle's notation to tab 'map' is outstanding: It displays the note location, the tab location, and the note name for every note in the mandolin's 3 octave range (Open G string to the second G on the E string [fret 15]).

Since the chart/map is so small, I was hoping to find an on-line version which I could download and/or print. However, and quite surprisingly, I can not find anything like this on-line! Does anyone know where one might be hiding?

Well, if an on-line version doesn't turn up, I'll probably just head over to Kinko's and get Tottle's chart enlarged as much as possible without losing the necessary resolution.

[John McGann]

Here is a free guide to help you convert your tab reading skills into notation reading skills.

[Loretta Callahan]

Thanks, John ... your pdf is a great reference for musical notation; I like your section on rhythm and how you visually laid out the different time signatures.

[Ed Goist]

Thanks very much John. Very thorough, helpful and well written.

[Ed Goist]

I'm back from the copiers with a larger, readable version of Tottle's Notation-Tab / Tab-Notation dictionary!

I have a question for those who knew tab first, and then learned standard notation. When reading standard notation now while you play, do you 'translate' the notation into tablature in your head as you read it?

I find it really interesting how much like learning a language all of this is.