streamlined ASCII TAB for Anglo

[Jody Kruskal]

I have skype students all over the globe. Teaching Anglo concertina has in turn taught me many insights into my own playing. One useful tool in my lessons has been Gary Coover's Anglo Tablature, but it’s time consuming to make those scores. Here is a streamlined ASCII TAB version that can be emailed as text. It has been working well with some of my students.

For instance, today's lesson with my student P.D.Q. He lives about 400 miles away and is an experienced  beginner. P.D.Q. wants help playing Galway Girl with his Clancy Brothers tribute band. He just wants to play the instrumental break and when I asked him to sing it to me he was willing and able.

So, in cases like this where the melody is well known, my streamlined ASCII TAB notation really shines.

This example features four lines in a fixed space font.

• The top line are the chords.
• Next line are the bellows direction indications. No line above means push and a line above means draw.
• Next line down are the right hand button numbers in the 1-5, 6-10 system.
• The bottom line are the left hand button #s (the "a" buttons here are in the accidental far row).
• The dots are rhythmic place holders. In this example they all change the previous note from a 1/4 to a 1/2.

 

Galway Girl - Instrumental Break (C/G Anglo arr. Jody Kruskal)

    C                                       F                        C
        __                  __              ______  _   _        __
|   2   2   1   .   |   2   2   1   .   |   7   7   77  87   |   7   6   6   .   |
    3   4a  3           3   4a  3           1a  4   1a  4        4   4   4

 

    F       C           G       C           G                        C           
    _______             _   __              _________   _        __
|   7   .   6   .   |   32  2   2   .   |   2   2   22  32   |   2   1   1   .   |
    1a  4   3   5       1   4a  3   5       1   4a  1   4a       4   4   4

 

 

I’ve included a picture of the tab for reference, but above is the text, all in a jumble because C.Net will not let me specify the font displayed. To make it look right, copy and paste The text into a word processing page. Reformat the text into courier font at 9 points and voila!... all the features line up, just like in the picture below. This kind of tab is quick to make and easy to read with just enough information to be really useful.

 

If only I could make the bar lines bigger/longer without messing up the spacing. Anyone know how to do that?

Edited May 4, 2019 by Jody Kruskal

[Don Taylor]

7 hours ago, Jody Kruskal said:

 

If only I could make the bar lines bigger/longer without messing up the spacing. Anyone know how to do that

Oops, please ignore - I thought I had a solution but it did not work.

Edited May 4, 2019 by Don Taylor

[tealeaf]

If you were to type it in as "code", using the "<>" button in the forum editor, then it should (hopefully) use a monospaced font. Here's a test!

 

    C                                       F                        C
        __                  __              ______  _   _        __
|   2   2   1   .   |   2   2   1   .   |   7   7   77  87   |   7   6   6   .   |
    3   4a  3           3   4a  3           1a  4   1a  4        4   4   4

 

    F       C           G       C           G                        C           
    _______             _   __              _________   _        __
|   7   .   6   .   |   32  2   2   .   |   2   2   22  32   |   2   1   1   .   |
    1a  4   3   5       1   4a  3   5       1   4a  1   4a       4   4   4 

 

[JimR]

I 'd expect any monospaced font would work.

[Jody Kruskal]

Thanks for the tip Tealeaf. OK, so how about using stacked bar lines like this. Do you think it is clearer or just redundant.

 

Of course, this sort of shorthand tab can be drawn by hand, perhaps to better effect.

 

|   C               |                   |   F                |       C           |
|       __          |       __          |   ______  _   _    |   __              | 
|   2   2   1   .   |   2   2   1   .   |   7   7   77  87   |   7   6   6   .   |
|   3   4a  3       |   3   4a  3       |   1a  4   1a  4    |   4   4   4       |

 

|   F       C       |   G       C       |   G                |       C           |
|   _______         |   _   __          |   _________   _    |   __              |
|   7   .   6   .   |   32  2   2   .   |   2   2   22  32   |   2   1   1   .   |
|   1a  4   3   5   |   1   4a  3   5   |   1   4a  1   4a   |   4   4   4       |

Edited May 5, 2019 by Jody Kruskal

[tealeaf]

14 hours ago, Jody Kruskal said:

Thanks for the tip Tealeaf. OK, so how about using stacked bar lines like this. Do you think it is clearer or just redundant.

 

Of course, this sort of shorthand tab can be drawn by hand, perhaps to better effect.

 

|   C               |                   |   F                |       C           |
|       __          |       __          |   ______  _   _    |   __              | 
|   2   2   1   .   |   2   2   1   .   |   7   7   77  87   |   7   6   6   .   |
|   3   4a  3       |   3   4a  3       |   1a  4   1a  4    |   4   4   4       |

 

|   F       C       |   G       C       |   G                |       C           |
|   _______         |   _   __          |   _________   _    |   __              |
|   7   .   6   .   |   32  2   2   .   |   2   2   22  32   |   2   1   1   .   |
|   1a  4   3   5   |   1   4a  3   5   |   1   4a  1   4a   |   4   4   4       |

 

Personally, the stacked barlines look clearer to me. I'd be tempted to have those lines only in line with the left-hand/right-hand lines, though, as a balance between clear barlines without overly cluttering the space. (So the bottom two lines in your example tab.)

 

It's a nice system, though. Having wrestled through scoring things attractively using MuseScore, this is certainly a lot faster for transcribing!

[Stephen Selby]

I like to show the musical notation together with the tab. I find that printing out to a .pdf file is easy for me and students. Of course, I realise the advantage of ascii text; but it seems very prone to messing up by different displays and fonts. 

 

Please see file:///Users/srselby/Downloads/Lads of Alnwick.pdf .

[Roger Hare]

22 hours ago, Stephen Selby said:

...Please see file:///Users/srselby/Downloads/Lads of Alnwick.pdf .

 

Can't see it. I think you need to attach the file directly to your post?

[Wolf Molkentin]

5 hours ago, lachenal74693 said:

 

Can't see it. I think you need to attach the file directly to your post?

 

The link appearing is local, not accessible via the net.

[Stephen Selby]

Does this work?

 

[Wolf Molkentin]

yes - leading to a post with two PDFs attached (which are downloadable)