Conference napalm::guitar

    	I think tablature can be quite useful.  As a "jack of all
    instruments, master of none", I can read music but for guitar voicings
    I really appreciate tablature.  
    
    	For instance, as a songwriter my notebooks consist almost entirely 
    of songs in a chord description and tablature description.  Although I
    could notate this stuff in "standard notation", I find it much easier
    to write my non-standard chord formations in tab form.
    
    	Since the sound of a particular note cluster on a guitar varies
    som much depending on the position/strings used, I like to be able
    to see how others execute certain passages.  Especially since I
    almost always guess wrong when looking at standard notation and
    trying to figure it out how to play it on guitar.
    
    	I've also seen variants on standard notation that use the regular
    clefs for note description but which add string/fret information.
    (I think the book, Steve Howe: Guitar Pieces, uses this style.)
    This notation can also be quite useful.
    
    	If it works for you, stick with it!
    
    - John -

    Tablature is largely used for flamenco guitar music where the key
    and/or rhythm could change several times within the piece.  A good
    example would be SEVILLANAS in A minor_A major_D major, etc.
    
    Most music for classical guitar are written in standard notation.
     However, there some musics written for classical guitar in tablature
    form, those are hard to find.
    

    
    Re;.1
    I've used a very useful NON-Standard notation from a book on
    Scot Joplin "ragtime".  Ragtime I think would be pretty tricky in
    standard notation, but with all the fret/string indications it
    really made things alot easier.
    
    	If you're not a great music reader, like myself, this sort of
    notation can actually improve your abilty to read Standard Notation.
    Sorry, I don't remember the correct name of this book, but it's
    worth looking out for!
    
    Niall.
     

    	Tablature is most effective when the accompanying standard notation
    is also supplied. My latest game is Ragtime. A friend and I play
    acoustic guitar duets including quite a number of peices by Stefan
    Grossman and John Renbourn. These guys have at least two albums
    available featuring mainly guitar duets. The accompanying music
    book has both Tablature and regular music notation. 
    
   	Having learned guitar as a child via classical tuition I prefer
    to read regular music notation however, working out the Stefan Grossman
    peices with the aid of Tablature is a great advantage. I would say
    that having both the Tablature and regular music notation halved
    the time taken to learn a piece.
    
    	Some of the stuff we do ... Woman From Donori
    				    Looper's Corner
    				    Why a duck...
    
    	Does anyone else play this type of music? I love it - how about
    you!
    
    Colin.

I recently came across a booklet with some interesting Tab notations
for guitar.  Could someone possibly give a definition of these terms?
Also, above all the tab lines are fret numbers.  There also fret
numbers on the tab lines.  What are the numbers above the tab lines
referring to?

Tab Notation Terms:
------------------
Bend
Bend (half step)
Bend (whole step)
Bend (whole and half steps)
Bend (two whole steps)
Bend & Release
Hold Bend
Prebend (Ghost Bend)
Vibrato
Wide Vibrato
Vibrato with Vibrato Bar
Rake Strings
Vibrato Bar Dive and Return
Vibrato Bar Scooping
Legato Slide
Shift Slide
Pull Off
Hammer On
Ghost Note
Articulated Bend & Release
Artificial Harmonic (with pick, overtone of 5th generated)
Pure Artificial Harmonic
Open Harmonic
Tap Artificial Harmonic
Tap On Technique
Bend & Tap On Technique
Percussive Tone (Muffled)
Heavy Muting (P.M.)
Slight Bend (Microtone)
Staccato (short notes)
Choppy Phrasing (extreme staccato)
Pick Scrapes
Tremolo Picking
Unison Bend
Muting (distinct pitches)
Trill

    I've guessed at some of these, could someone possibly help out
    with the rest?  Thanks - Mike
    
Tab Notation Terms:
------------------
Bend                     \
Bend (half step)          \
Bend (whole step)          \
Bend (whole and half steps) \  Are Bends the act of pushing up on the
Bend (two whole steps)      /  strings so that they bend?  If so, I
Bend & Release             /   assume the length of a bend determines
Hold Bend                 /    the # of steps, correct?
Prebend (Ghost Bend)     /
Vibrato
Wide Vibrato
Vibrato with Vibrato Bar
Rake Strings
Vibrato Bar Dive and Return
Vibrato Bar Scooping
Legato Slide
Shift Slide
Pull Off  - Opposite of a Hammer On?
Hammer On - This is the act of fingering a string that is already active?
Ghost Note
Articulated Bend & Release
Artificial Harmonic (with pick, overtone of 5th generated)
Pure Artificial Harmonic
Open Harmonic - Harmonic on an open string?
Tap Artificial Harmonic
Tap On Technique - Harmonic tapping?
Bend & Tap On Technique - Harmonic tapping on a Bend?
Percussive Tone (Muffled)
Heavy Muting (P.M.)
Slight Bend (Microtone)
Staccato (short notes)
Choppy Phrasing (extreme staccato)
Pick Scrapes - scraping the strings with your pick?
Tremolo Picking
Unison Bend
Muting (distinct pitches) - muffling the string that is ringing out?
Trill

    Ok, here's what I'd say:
    

>Bend                     \
>Bend (half step)          \
>Bend (whole step)          \
>Bend (whole and half steps) \  Are Bends the act of pushing up on the
>Bend (two whole steps)      /  strings so that they bend?  If so, I
>Bend & Release             /   assume the length of a bend determines
>Hold Bend                 /    the # of steps, correct?
>Prebend (Ghost Bend)     /
    
    Yes, your analysis is correct.  Bends are where you push or pull the
    string across the fretboard to change the tone it's making.  There are
    12 steps in the western musical system used by most of us.  A major
    scale is "Whole/Whole/Half/Whole/Whole/Whole/Half".  Each fret on a
    guitar represents one half step.
    
>Vibrato
    
    Vibrato is a series of small up and back modulations around one central
    tone.  This is usually done by having the fretting hand make a series
    of small fast bends.
    
>Wide Vibrato
    
    Same thing, just more range.
    
>Vibrato with Vibrato Bar
    
    Use the tremelo bar to do the pitch change rather than the fingers.
    
>Rake Strings
    
    Like a pick rake, just scrape the pick around on 'em.
    
>Vibrato Bar Dive and Return
    
    A dive is where you use the bar to gradually lower the pitch of the
    note over a fairly large range.  Return is letting it come back to it's
    normal resting place.
    
>Vibrato Bar Scooping
    
    I think what they're probably talking about is using the bar to slack
    the string a little before the note is actually sounded, striking the
    string there, and letting the bar back up, thus having it "slide" up
    into the note.
    
>Legato Slide
    
    In general, Legato means play very smoothly, with very little noticable
    transition between the notes.  Slide the note around on the string in a
    smooth fashion, in this case.
    
>Shift Slide
    
    Sorry.
    
>Pull Off  - Opposite of a Hammer On?
    
    Yes, a pull off is where one note is struck and the finger is removed
    from the fret while it's still sounding allowing a finger holding a
    lower fret at the same to to sound a lower note.
    
>Hammer On - This is the act of fingering a string that is already active?
    
    Yes, a finger will strike a fret higher than one already sounding
    producing a higher note.
    
>Ghost Note
    
    I've seen this referring to a couple of different things.  Sometimes it
    means a "grace" note or passing tone, or one that's not clearly
    sounded.  Sometimes it is used to refer to an artifical harmonic (see
    below).
    
>Articulated Bend & Release
    
    This is just a bend and release that has more bending around then a
    simple up and down.
    
    
>Artificial Harmonic (with pick, overtone of 5th generated)
    
    Harmonics are overtones produced when the vibration of the string is
    divided into vibrating sections (like standing wave forms, remember
    physics?).  It produces a "pure" sounding higher pitched tone.  There 
    are several ways to produce harmonics and that's what the different
    things you have listed here refer to.  
    
    With a pick is instructing you to strike the string in a place where
    there would be a vibration "node" using the pick.  It's kind of hard to
    describe.
    
>Pure Artificial Harmonic
    
    I don't really know wht they're talking about here.  I would presume
    this would be no different than a normal artificial harmonic.  Perhaps
    they mean the harmonic produced approximately half way from the fretted
    point on the string and the bridge. 
    
    >Open Harmonic - Harmonic on an open string? 
    
    Yep, there are nodes around the 12th, 7th, 5th, ~4th, 2-3rd frets. (and
    variations of these, example around the 9th fret produces the same note
    as one of the others).
    
    >Tap Artificial Harmonic 
    
    This means produce the harmonic by tapping the string gently using the
    picking hand, probably about 12 frets higher than the note being
    fretted.
    
    >Tap On Technique - Harmonic tapping? 
    
    Maybe harmonic, probably not.  This generally refers to producing the
    tone  using the right hand by tapping the string (and holding), instead
    of fretting and picking the note.
    
    >Bend & Tap On Technique - Harmonic tapping on a Bend?
    
    Usually means tapping notes onto the same string currently sounding a
    note produced by bending, while the bend is held in place or
    articulated. 
    
>Percussive Tone (Muffled)
>Heavy Muting (P.M.)
    
    The PM means Palm Mute.  This is where you partly mute the vibration of
    the strings using the right hand.  It produces a stacatto (each note is
    very short) kind of tone.  
    
>Slight Bend (Microtone)
    
    Just a little bend, not an entire half step.
    
>Staccato (short notes)
>Choppy Phrasing (extreme staccato)
    
    See above, the basic idea is that the notes don't ring, they are
    immediately damped.
    
>Pick Scrapes - scraping the strings with your pick?
    
    Yep, not much more to say.
    
>Tremolo Picking
    
    Picking a string very quickly.  If you are familiar with mandolin
    players, they often use this technique.
    
>Unison Bend
    
    Where two or more strings are bent together while a note is sounded on
    each.
    
>Muting (distinct pitches) - muffling the string that is ringing out?
    
    Yes.  See above.
                                         
>Trill

    A Trill is a quick hammer-on/pull-off combination of two notes which
    are usually close to each other.  The key is the quickness of it.
    
    I imagine that someone else may want to add to/correct me in spots, but
    I hope this helps.  I know some of these techniques are difficult to
    describe with mere words, feel free to contact me offline if you are
    still having trouble understanding, Mike.  
    
    Have fun with them, it's this kind of thing that makes the guitar so
    expressive (and so much fun to play)!
    
    Greg

>    I imagine that someone else may want to add to/correct me in spots, but
>    I hope this helps.  I know some of these techniques are difficult to
>    describe with mere words, feel free to contact me offline if you are
>    still having trouble understanding, Mike.  
    
    I really appreciate it Greg.  The booklet with all the TAB notations
    in it came with an instructional video.  The problem is that the
    technique isn't always defined on the tape.  Being new at this,
    I was thrown for a loop when I looked in the booklet.  I can now
    piece things together when I see the definitions and the actual
    display on tape.
    
    Re: Slides
    
    On tape, the guitarist uses the bar to emulate a slide (didn't have
    a slide with him at the time of the taping).  Sounds like most of
    the slides refer to that solo.
    
>    Have fun with them, it's this kind of thing that makes the guitar so
>    expressive (and so much fun to play)!
    
    That's my whole motive! :-)

    Thanks again,
    Mike

    The other tab numbers mentioned in the base note are most likely
    instructions for right hand technique.  p,m,i is common also.

Tab Notation Terms 
------------------
Bend (half step) - Strike the note and bend up � step (one fret)
Bend (whole step) - Strike the note and bend up whole step (two frets)
Legato Bend & Release - Strike the note.  Bend up � (or whole) step,
       then release the bend back to the original note.  All 3 notes are
       tied; only the first note is struck.
Prebend (Ghost Bend) - Bend the note up � (or whole) step, then strike it
Ghost Bend & Release - Bend the note up � (or whole) step.  Strike it
                       and release the bend back to the original note.
Unison Bend = The lower note is struck slightly before the higher.  It
        is bent to the pitch of the higher note.  They are on adjacent strings.
Vibrato - The string is vibrated by rapidly bending and releasing a
          note with the fret hand or tremolo bar.
Shake or Exaggerated Vibrato - The pitch is varied to a greater degree
                        by vibrating with the fret hand or tremolo bar.
Pick Slide - The edge of the pick is rubbed down the length of the
             string.  A scratchy sound is produced.
Pull Off  - Both fingers are initially placed on the notes to be 
    sounded.  Strike the first (higher) note, then sound the lower note by
    pulling the finger off the higher note while keeping the lower note fretted.
Hammer On - Strike the first (lower) note, then sound the higher note
            with another finger by fretting it without picking.
Fretboard Tapping - Hammer (tap) onto the fretboard with the index or
        middle finger of the pick hand and pull off to the note fretted by the
        fret hand.
Tremolo Picking - The note is picked as rapidly and continuously as possible.
Natural Harmonic - The fret hand lightly touches the string over the
            fret indicated; then it is struck.  A chime-like sound is produced.
Artificial Harmonic - The fret hand fingers the note indicated.  The
        pick hand produces the harmonic by using a finger to lightly touch the
        string at the fret indicated in parentheses and plucking with another
        finger.
Artificial "Pinch" Harmonic - The note is fretted normally and a
        harmonic is produced by adding the edge of the thumb or the tip of the
        index finger of the pick hand to the normal pick attack.  High volume
        or distortion will allow for a greater variety of harmonics.
Tremolo Bar - The pitch of a note or chord is dropped a specified
              number of steps, then returned to the original pitch.
Palm Mute - The note is partially muted by the pick hand lightly
            touching the string(s) just before the bridge.
Muffled Strings - A percussive sound is produced by laying the fret
          hand across the strings without depressing them to the fretboard and
          striking them with the pick hand.