Day Tripper Tab by The Beatles Learn to play guitar by chord and tabs and use our crd diagrams, transpose the key and more. Free content. Guitar chords.
15 Shares For many years, Powertab was my program of choice when creating ‘ in PDF format. It allows the user to input fret numbers onto the “strings” and automatically puts the notes on musical staff.
The note duration and rhythms can then be changed/added for the benefit of those who read standard notation (you can’t choose to remove the staff, so if you want to do just plain tab, stick to a text editor). The Powertab program is free and is said to run on Windows versions 95 to XP, but I ran it using Vista without any problems. I have since moved on to using. I believe it is quite an upgrade from Powertab and if you plan on doing lots of work creating tablature, it’s probably well worth the $40.
Of its features. Setup: Once you get Powertab installed (just follow ), you need to go in and change some default settings to accommodate for the ‘ukulele’s four strings and tuning.
Click FileNew to bring up a window that asks for you to select the “initial tablature staff setup”. Select the “4” string option under “Guitar Score” and then click the little Windows icon in the upper right corner to save it as your new default. To get the notes on the staff to correspond with the ‘ukulele’s tuning, click on the little red guitar button under “file” (first column, second row).
This pulls up the “guitar setup” page which controls the staff display and MIDI playback sounds. Name your track in the “desc.” box if you like, keep the number of strings the same, change the “MIDI” sound to “acoustic guitar (nylon)” to get the closest ‘ukulele sound, and leave everything else in that column the same. Now move to the “tuning” column.
This is where you pick the tuning you hear (MIDI) and see (standard notation) in your file. For a low G tuning, set your strings up as A3, E3, C3, G2 from top to bottom using the little arrows on the right to go up and down through the different octaves (that’s what the numbers show – what octave the said note is in). For high G you would just change the G2 to a G3 (one octave up). This makes the MIDI file sound lower than an ‘ukulele itself, but keeps the notes on the staff in the proper octave. Again, you can click the default button in the lower right corner to save this tuning as default. Update: – I got this tip from r – who got it from someone else (thanks man!). Instead of “tuning down” to A3, E3, C3, G2 (or 3), put the tuning as A4, E4, C4, G3 (or 4 for high G).
That’s one octave up. Now adjust the little box that is labeled “Off” (offset) so that it says “-12”. This will offset the tuning so that it displays in the correct octave as well as sounds in the correct octave when you play it back with MIDI. Inserting Notes: Putting fret numbers on the strings is pretty straightforward. Move the blue cursor with the arrow keys or by clicking where you want it to go and enter a number. Adding Articulations: Select the note you want to add an articulation to with the blue cursor.
Then click the articulation in the bar above the staff. Some of the symbols are confusing, but hover your mouse over them and a little explanation will pop up.
Changing Note Durations: To change the length of a note, select it with the blue cursor and choose desired duration with the little dark blue notes at the bottom of the screen. Right now (in the image) I have the current note set as an eighth, it will change if I choose something different. You can also add dots (for dotted rhythms) and other things like accents, staccato triplets, etc Adding Rests: You can add a rest in an empty position on the staff and tab by putting the cursor in the empty spot and choosing the desired rest duration from the drop downs to the right of the note duration bar. The current rest duration is shown to the left of the drop down.
When you add a rest, the rest button is depressed (showing duration), you can remove the rest by clicking the button again, deselecting it. The rest and drop down to the right is for a low melody. Just use the rest box on the left for normal tabbing (adding a low melody gets confusing really fast, so I won’t cover it).
At the far left is a multi-bar rest option (for long pauses). Dividing Measures/Adding Repeats: Once you have a full measure you can add a divider by clicking the button with a vertical line on it – right above the “2” on the ruler above the staff.
This brings up a box that you can choose divider types with – normal, dashed, repeats, ends, etc Adding/Removing Lines Of Tab: You can squeeze a lot of notes into one line of tab, but it’s nice to give yourself some space to stretch out. Add a new line of tab at the bottom of the score by clicking the button with a music staff and a green “+” sign (located under the MIDI controls).
You can add a bar of tab above or below the selected line by clicking the staff button with the green arrow pointing to where the new line will go. A line of tab can also be removed by clicking the staff button with a red “-” sign. You can also attach a second staff for multiple tracks or ‘ukulele parts by clicking the button with two staffs connected together. Adding Chords: To add a chord above the staff where your cursor is, click on the little “Cm” button (three buttons to the right of the “little red guitar”). This brings up a window that you name the chord in. To do so, click on the root note (name note – Cm would be “C”) and then choose the formula (major, minor, 7th, etc).
You can add extensions and bass notes if you like. Check the “preview” to see what will be displayed. Then click OK. You can add a chord just by clicking in the thin “chord space” above the staff once you have added the first chord. The chords show up above the staff like this: Adding File/Tab Information: You can add info about the song (name, artist, album, etc) by going to ViewFile Information. None of this is visible while you are working in Powertab, but it shows up as a nice looking header once you print (see below).
Inserting Text: Sometimes the notation signs don’t cover all the bases and you need to add some of your own narration. Add a text box in the vicinity of your blue cursor by clicking on the button with “ab ” on it (located to the right of the chord button). Write your note, change the font and size (using the Word style controls), and click outside the text box – now you can drag it around. As you add to the tab, the text boxes seem to migrate around, so you will need to move them back into place every once in a while. Using the MIDI Controls: The MIDI feature lets you hear what your tab sounds like. This is especially helpful when working on rhythms.
It is a computer, so it only knows what you tell it to play, but if a tab is done correctly it can sound pretty close to the real deal. Note: you must tell the MIDI function what tuning setup to use by making sure that “Gtr 1” is displayed at the beginning of the score. It is there by default, but if you remove it by accident, highlight the note you want the MIDI input to start on and click the “Gtr. In” button and select the instrument setup you would like to use. The controls are similar to your CD or tape player.
You can play your tab from the beginning by clicking on the leftmost alien-green arrow (the arrow has a small line to the left of it). Or, play the tab from the measure the blue cursor is in by clicking the next green arrow to the right. Pause the playback by clicking the pause button and stop it by clicking the stop button.
Toggle the metronome on and of by clicking the green triangle. Creating a Chord Diagram List: If you make a chord dictionary, it will show chord boxes under the file information when you print the tab. To open up the chord diagram window, click on the chord box button located to the right of the “little red guitar”. To add a chord to the diagram list, click on the chord box button in the upper right corner of the window (it looks the same as the one above). This brings up a smaller window with a blank chord box.
Click on the frets where you want the fingers to go – click behind the nut for open strings. As you create the chord voicing, the “suggested names” list on the right will change. Pick the most relevant name once you finish the chord. A lot of the time the suggested name includes a bass note (slash chord – C/B). You can edit the name by clicking on the “Cm” button above and to the right of the chord box.
This window works just like the first chord window I described (above). Continue adding new chords until all grips in the song are covered. You can edit and delete chords as you go along by clicking either the pencil or red “X”.
More: There are a few more musical notation things that are pretty self explanatory like key signatures, time signatures, dynamics, tempo, rehearsal signs, and more. The general rule is: wherever your blue cursor is, is where the item will show up. Saving and loading files is just like any other program.
Cleaning Up: Note spacing and “musical correctness” usually gets lost at some point in the process of creating a tab, so it’s nice that the folks who made Powertab included some cleanup tools. The first is the justify function. Click to a line of tab and click the justify button (located under the MIDI controls, it has a half dozen or so horizontal lines on it) to even out the note spacing according to durations and rests.
The second feature is the score checker. It guides you measure by measure through notation errors (like having too many or too few notes in a measure, missing end bar, and all kinds of other things).
Bring up the score checker window by clicking on the button with a green check-mark superimposed on music staff (to the left of the MIDI controls). The score checker tells you what the problem is and what measure it is in, but beyond that, you are on your own. It’s great theory practice to figure out total durations and the various other errors you might run across.
Printing to PDF: If you want to be able to share your tab in an easily accessible format once it is finished, I recommend “printing” it to a PDF file. If your computer is set up right, you should be able to go FilePrint and select “PDF” from the printer name drop-down and click “OK”.
Then just name your file and locate it so you can find it for future use. If your computer is not cooperating (like mine) “PDF” won’t appear in the drop-down and you have to do some trouble shooting. My solution was to download the free PDF995 file converter.
Once the program is installed, “PDF995” should become an option from the printer name drop-down. You have to see a splash page and click “keep using sponsored version” every time you print, but it seems to do the job fine. Conclusion: There are plenty more features to experiment with in Powertab, but this should get you started.
Practice makes perfect.
TablEdit for Banjo TablEdit has supported banjo tablature since it's earliest days. TablEdit was the first tablature program to handle the fifth string correctly, and supports four string banjo as well! The first thing to do when starting a new TAB for banjo is to select the instrument.
This is very easily done by opening a new file, clicking on the tuning to the left of the TAB staff and select your preferred banjo tuning from the pull down list. If you don't find your preferred tuning on the pull down list, just select the one that's closest and adjust the individual strings to suit your needs. Now, to be totally honest, Matthieu and I are not banjo players, we're guitarists. But we recognize the special and unique qualities that make the banjo the instrument that it is.
With that in mind, we decided that I should ask a banjo player for their thoughts about TablEdit and the banjo. Enter Richard 'Rick' McKeon, banjo player and instructor extrordinaire! The following is my conversation with Rick: An interview with Banjo Instructor Richard McKeon Keith: As a banjo teacher, what attracted you to TablEdit? Rick: I have tried a lot of different music/tab programs and TablEdit is my top choice. I use it as a tool for working out arrangements, for writing tabs for my students and to develop graphics for my instructional videos.
Keith: Can you list a few specifics? Rick: TablEdit has some great features for teaching banjo.
For starters, there's the treatment of the 5 th string, placement of lyrics, easy highlighting of notes, nice export features. TablEdit is a good transcribing tool with easy placement of chord diagrams and special characters. Not to mention that TablEdit has become The de facto standard for banjo. Keith: Those are some great points. Let's take a look at the treatment of the 5 th string.
Rick: TablEdit recognizes that the 5 th string is shorter than the other strings. Some other TAB programs don't do that. I like to use the “print preview” of chord diagrams blown up real big, as much as 800 percent, and together with a screen capture program to grab nice graphics of chord diagrams that I import into my instructional videos and documents. Keith: I see, so you get a nice crisp and clean look even at high magnification. No doubt that contributes to the professional quality of your lessons. You mentioned the placement of Lyrics?
Rick: For banjo songs especially placement of the words exactly where they go in the tab is important. This helps my students keep track of where they’re at in the song. Keith: Again, helping you make a quality learning tool for your students.
Rick: That's right, and TablEdit allows for easy highlighting of melody notes with a background color. Keith: So the students can pick out the melody as they are learning to play. So, how do the export features come in to the mix?
Rick: When putting together an instructional booklet I often use the Print View page and export a metafile to the clipboard. Then I can easily paste the page into a Word document. Then I will save out the Word document as a PDF file. Keith: That is handy, isn't it? So what makes TablEdit a good transcribing tool?
Rick: When I'm creating a banjo arrangement I start with the melody and then add in banjo rolls and embellishments. Many times the only source for the melody is music written for piano – usually in a different key. TablEdit allows for easy input in standard notation and easy transposition to the key I want – usually the key of G. Once I have the arrangement worked out I usually display the tab only. Keith: That makes sense, and I see how that can open whole worlds of music for banjo players too.
You mentioned chord diagrams and special characters? Rick: I did, easy placement of chord diagrams and special characters. With the banjo we use a lot of partial chords and finger placements that might not be obvious. TablEdit allows for easy chord diagram creation and placement. So, instead of just naming the chord I can show the diagram in the tab where it belongs.
Keith: I like the idea of TablEdit as the de facto standard for banjo, but isn't that a bold claim? Rick: In my opinion TablEdit is becoming the de facto standard for banjo tabs. There are hundreds (probably thousands) of tabs on the Internet available for downloading. When I exchange songs with other banjo players it is always in the TEF format. Keith: OK, well, you're the expert on that, I'll take your word for it.
Now, what do your students like about TablEdit? Rick: Several of my students use TablEdit or your free TEFview. There are many advantages over just giving them the printed tab. Keith: Such as? Rick: For starters, they can listen to the sound of an unfamiliar tune. Keith: So they know how it's supposed to sound and have a practice goal to work toward.
That makes sense. How about another example? Rick: They can play along at different speeds. Keith: Right, and using the Loop and Increase Speed options to improve their mastery of the piece. I like that point! How about one more? Rick: I might give them an assignment of writing some variations or an arrangement starting with just the melody.
Once they are familiar with the program, writing tabs is much easier than writing them out by hand on tab paper. Keith: I'm sure that makes it easier for them to explore their own arrangements too. Rick, it's been really nice chatting with you, thank you so much for your time! Rick: My pleasure. Richard McKeon is a banjo and guitar player and instructor in Prescott, Arizona.
He has written and published four DVDs on playing banjo and guitar. His books, guitar and banjo instruction videos and his TablEdit arrangements can be found on his web site at Rick's not the only Banjo player singing TablEdit's praises, over the years I've heard from hundreds of banjo players and instructors. Here's what a few of them have to say. Of all the music programs that I use I find TablEdit to be the one I use the most.
It is the most practical and easiest to use of all the notation and/or tab programs that I have tried. I am interested in Bluegrass so there are a lot of tabs that I download for banjo, mandolin and guitar.
I am studying banjo and I enter tabs and play them back to hear the way they sound. I've also done the same thing with guitar tabs. Joseph Wilbert New Orleans, LA I use TablEdit as a part of my instructional program. I find it to be an instrumental component for my students and myself. It gives me the ability to create lessons for my students that they can follow either by using the free viewer or printouts of the tablature.
For the student, they benefit greatly by having the ability to adjust the tempo to whatever speed they need and select specific phrases they may be having trouble with. I play bluegrass banjo in a band and need to be able to work out my own breaks. TablEdit gives me the freedom to write, edit and playback my creations. I don't always remember what I've played in the past, so it's nice to be able to refresh by memory from the files I've made. Whether you are a beginning musician, or a proficient picker, I'm confident that you will find TablEdit as useful and helpful as I do. Brad Miller Banjo Instructor Poulsbo, WA.
Thanks.TablEdit has been a big help to me. I play in a band where some of the people are only note readers. I am not, so teaching them had been difficult clumsy. Using TablEdit I was able to tab out some pieces that immediately translated to notes that they were able to read easily.
I will continue to do this. I also give lessons on various instruments, including guitar, mandolin, fiddle, and banjo. This product enables me to 'change gears' readily, as well as print out tabs and chord pictures for my students. I have it on my desktop and laptop so I can write or compose, or save musical ideas.
This is a remarkably helpful tool, and worth every penny to any level musician. This is a truly wonderful product. It has become indispensable to me.
Steve Loring Cadillac, MI, Thanks Keith for the unfailing tech support, TablEdit is a terrific program. I play 5 string banjo, and Tablature is a huge part of learning to play tunes and techniques. There is a world of Banjo players out there using this program and churning out material in the TablEdit format, then making it available for others and that's why I chose to use TablEdit. I can read, print and playback the Music and Tabs that they have created with this program. I can adjust tempo, loop phrases and much more. It's just a Hoot!
Sight reading with this program develops great hand/ear coordination! Thanks all you pickers out there! Appreciate your TablEdit efforts!! Chris Stear Gibsons, BC, Canada TablEdit for Banjo Resources Here are a few web sites that have banjo resources created with an using TablEdit: Learn how to play banjo, mandolin and guitar under the instruction of noted Nashville musician Banjo Ben Clark. Featuring video instructions, tab downloads, private lessons, a forum and much more!
The Banjo Hangout-a banjo player's resource for everything banjo related, including lessons, tablature, and links to other banjo and bluegrass websites. Banj'r is Don Borchelt's interactive collection of 77 three-finger style bluegrass banjo arrangements, presented in an interactive tablature format within a unique computer program. An amazing resource for students and players featuring books for the Five Sting Banjo by Ross Nickerson. Clawhammer Banjo and Three Finger Banjo Books by 'Wild Jimbo' Pankey. Folk music site that provides free MP3 and video hosting for folk and acoustic artists as well as tablature and tutorials for ukulele, banjo, guitar, and harmonica.
The tablature is free for you to download and print for your own use. This website is my attempt to share some of the wonderful music I have enjoyed over the years. Your comments and suggestions are always welcome. Instructional videos now available!