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Dirty-South Blues Harp forum: wail on! >
Rhythm Tab System
Rhythm Tab System
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mickil
49 posts
Mar 09, 2009
2:31 PM
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I've done this rhythm tab project thing because I'm miffed that there's no way that I know of to effectively tab rhythm for harp music on a computer keyboard, so that it can be e-mailed around, etc. If there is one out there and it's better than this one then please let me know.
Mike Quill has done a pretty good job of describing how to notate pitches on the site that's linked to on the FAQs page of this site. But, as he says, 'What tab doesn't show is timing and rhythm...' Unless you KNOW the piece already that's being tabbed, there's no way to work out what duration the notes should have, or at at least roughly what their duration is supposed to be, taking swing or any other style into account.
That's no good, and it ain't beyond the whit of man to remedy.
This system is not meant to be just for the Blues; rather, it is a way of notating any rhythm or beat for any style of music.
There are a few things to follow for it to work. Well, ten(edit) in fact. That's all.
1. Use a Teletype font, like in Notepad
If you don't do this, the harp tab - written above the rhythm tab - won't line up or make any rhythmic sense.
2. Time signatures
Time signatures, 4/4, 12/8, etc, are written on a line above the harp tab, along with any comments or footnotes you want to add, eg, speed, volume, bar numbers and what have you. This is not that important, but it does leave room in the tab for comments, etc.
3. Marking beats and bars
Beats and bars are marked out underneath the notes that they refer to, just as normal:
12/8 (slow shuffle)
2 3 4 4> | 5 4> 3 2 |
1 2 3 4 | 1 2 3 4 |
4. Divisions of beat(s) - duplets, triplets, etc
Where you want to change these from the norm, or add clarity, they can be shown in square brackets [] BEFORE the beat(s) that they relate to:
12/8
4' 4 5 4' 4 5 4 4' 4> 3' | 2 |
1 2 [2]3 [2]4 | 1 2 3 4 |
This just means that the last four notes in bar 1 brake out of a shuffle rhythm and are played as duplets over beats 3 and 4.
It could also have been written:
12/8
4' 4 5 4' 4 5 4 4' 4> 3' | 2 |
1 2 [4]3 4 | 1 2 3 4 |
Two groups of two or one group of four, it doesn't matter.
Another example:
4/4 (straight time)
6> 5 4 4> 3' | 2 |
[3]1 2 3 4 | 1 2 3 4 |
This means that the first three notes are played as triplets over beats 1 and 2.
5. Clarifying which beat(s) divisions - [2], [3], [4], etc - apply to
In this example from above:
12/8
4' 4 5 4' 4 5 4 4' 4> 3' | 2 |
1 2 [4]3 4 | 1 2 3 4 |
it's blatantly obvious that [4] relates to beats 3 and 4.
However, if you need to clarify it - say in a cluttered passage - write it like this:
[4/2]
It's just a way of saying that those 4 units are divided into the 2 following beats.
6. Dotted rhythms and other divisions of the beat
Here's a bar of 4/4 with 8 straightforward quarter notes:
4/4
2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 |
1 2 3 4 |
But, say you wanted the notes to be played as a dotted rhythm.
First, add a number in square brackets, like before, to show that you're going to divide the beat up in a certain way:
[4]
Next, add a colon to separate how the beat will be divided:
[4:]
Then break up the beat with numbers separated by semicolons:
[4:3;1]1 [4:3;1]2 [4:3;1]3 [4:3;1]4
I'll break this down:
[4 - the beat is divided into 4, or, in this case, sixteenth notes
[4:3 - the first note takes up 3 sixteenth notes
[4:3;1] - the second note takes up 1 sixteenth note
[4:3;1]1 - and it all applies to beat 1 in the bar
then beat 2, etc.
7. Repeating rhythmic patterns
To save time and typing, and make things clearer, use a double quote - for ditto.
Here's that last pattern again without all the clutter:
[4:3;1]1 "2 "3 "4
8. Irregular rhythms
These are shown by additional sets of square brackets. Though, this is more for jazz and classical.
Let's say you want to break beat 1 into five equal notes:
[5]1
Fine!
But, say you want the first 3 notes to take up half the beat, a common enough rhythm in some types of music.
If you used the method I did above, each note would = 0.83333333333, which is just plain silly, unless you're a computer.
Instead, just do this:
[5[3][2]]1
There are five notes in this beat, which are shown as two separate, but equal groups; the first group has three notes in it, the second group has two; and, they all relate to beat 1.
9. Irregular dotted rhythms
This is exactly the same as with regular dotted rhythms. Just apply the ratio to the relevant part of the beat.
Here's the previous example:
[5[3][2]]1
The first three notes of the five would be put into a dotted rhythm like this:
[5[3:1.5;.5;1][2]]1
I'll break this down like before:
[5 - the beat is divided into 5 notes, regardless of their durations
[5[3 - the first half of the beat is divided into 3
[5[3:1.5 - the first note takes up 1.5 of that 3
[5[3:1.5;.5 - the second note takes up .5 of the 3
[5[3:1.5;.5;1] - the last note takes up 1 of the 3
[5[3][2]] - and it all applies to the first half of the beat
[5[3][2]]1 - which is beat 1
I know this looks horrible, but rarely would you need to go to these sorts of extremes, unless you're some kind of masochist or your name is Stockhausen or John Cage. It's just there if you really wanted to use it.
10. Rests (silences)
These aren't included on the rhythm tab line. Instead, use a \ on the harp tab line itself where you want the silence to be. Just think of the silence as a note, be it one with zero cycles per second. You could even fill it with a cough on the top line.
So that's it. I know it's new and I know it may look alien, but it works, and can be learnt quickly. It has just a few simple rules and a few symbols - [ / : ; ] " | and \. And you don't have to notate the rhythm for every note, but you CAN notate something that otherwise might not be clear. All it's meant to be is a learning tool that gives you the same power to notate as conventional manuscript, but on a computer keyboard - at least for harp music.
Also, it's no less fiddly than writing complex rhythms in standard notation. Besides, there are only a handful of combinations that you'd use most of the time, which would soon become familiar, just like standard notation does when you know it.
On the face of it, it can't notate poly rhythms: it's linear with just - out of necessity - one line. But, that's deceptive. When you write:
[3/2]1 2 3 4 | in straight 4/4 time, or: [4/2]1 2 3 4 | in shuffle time, that's exactly what you're doing, creating poly rhythms.
It does reach a performer's limitations when you do something like this:
[13/3]1 2 3 |
That's 4.33333333333 notes per beat. Obviously, no human can work this out while playing. You just fit the notes in as best you can. The example may look unlikely, but classical music after around 1830 does this sort of thing all the time: Liszt, Chopin, and much later on Luciano Berio and others.
The only thing I don't like about it is that you have to mess about a bit lining the notes up with the beat, but it's not that hard. Well, no harder than it would be with normal music. If you doubt me, just try writing out that [13/3]1 2 3 | on conventional manuscript with an underlying beat.
EDIT: it does have one more drawback. I know some of you guys read this before I messed about with the HTML so that the spacing lined up; it was an incomprehensible mess that made me look like a mad man.
Well, that's a major drawback as far as sharing stuff on here goes. I'd forgotten that the form we type our posts in is just parsed as HTML, which cancels all spaces except one, unless you type the thing. But, it does still work in e-mails and word processors, etc.
One last thing. The reason I describe the division of the beat or beats in square brackets BEFORE the beat(s) is so that there can be no doubt about which beat(s) that division refers to.
And yes, I know it looks like computer code!
Give me your thoughts, harp people.
Last Edited by on Mar 10, 2009 3:49 PM
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oldwailer
559 posts
Mar 10, 2009
1:07 AM
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Man, you did some serious work on this--I think I might just stay with my usual method to learn a song, though--buy the tune and listen to figure out timing.
This is just too much for my little brain--I must go sleep now. . .
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Aussiesucker
172 posts
Mar 10, 2009
3:03 AM
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Yeah. Too hard for me. Wouldnt it be easier to learn to read music? I have never had success with tabs ie I have to know a tune by ear before I attempt to play it. Tabs are for me a starting point or a reference through a tough passage. You have put in an enormous amount of work & if it works for you and is easier for you to follow then go for it.
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mr_so&so
46 posts
Mar 10, 2009
10:46 AM
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Mickil, I will have to study what you have done when I have more time, but I commend you on the effort. I too have been pondering the idea of having an Adam-style harp tab system that includes rhythm and emphasis and can be "computerized". This would make sharing much easier. I'd be interested in helping out, if need be, and I will certainly provide you with some feedback. Thanks for sharing this.
@Aussiesucker Reading music is a skill I may learn eventually, but predating computers by a few centuries, it also has the problem of not being very easy to write or transmit electronically.
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mickil
51 posts
Mar 10, 2009
12:26 PM
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Thanks mr_so&so. I'm gonna have a go at fixing the spacing in an hour or two so that the post actually makes sense. Done it! Boy, was that a drag!
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'If it sounds GOOD to you, it's bitchen; if it sounds BAD to YOU, it's shitty' - Frank Zappa
Last Edited by on Mar 10, 2009 3:38 PM
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GermanHarpist
133 posts
Mar 10, 2009
4:49 PM
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Ok, now I get it. Very nice!
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germanharpist, harpfriends on Youtube
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mickil
53 posts
Mar 10, 2009
5:19 PM
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Thanks, GH.
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'If it sounds GOOD to you, it's bitchen; if it sounds BAD to YOU, it's shitty' - Frank Zappa
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mr_so&so
48 posts
Mar 11, 2009
11:28 AM
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Mickil, I got back to looking at this after it was tidied up, so thanks for that. Not being a music reader, I had to spend some time in Wikipedia to get my time signatures straight, before going at it again.
Your tab seems to do the job, but perhaps is a little complex (for me) to decipher at a glance. If you are familiar with Adam's tabs, he uses "1 a 2 a 3 a 4" for two notes per beat, and "1 & a 2 & a 3 & a 4" for triplet rhythm, etc. I find this easier to digest while trying to play along. Perhaps there are some serious limitations to this approach, but it may be that for blues harp tabbing, some simple rhythm cues, as above will serve the purpose.
It is also not clear to me how your system deals with syncopation. Perhaps it's all in there, but I can't wrap my head around it just yet. If you could provide an example comparing a snippet from one of Adam's tabs (not too much, respecting his copyright), or an Adam-style tab of a familiar tune, with your own version, that would be very helpful.
Again, thanks for taking this on.
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mickil
60 posts
Mar 11, 2009
12:34 PM
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mr_so&so,
Thanks for taking the time to go through it.
I've downloaded a few of Adam's things, but strangely enough, none of his tabs, only ones that others have done for him.
You're right that 1 a, etc is easy to read while playing along, but that approach does only deal with the very basic, which is enough for most stuff. My method, in those two cases would just go 1 2 3 4. You'd know that the beat is split into 2 or 3 from the time signature.
What I've tried to do is something that for most of the time would be quite straightforward, but can handle complex rythms when necessary.
The syncopation in my tab just works by having a note that starts on a weak part of the beat.
Like you, I get a bit worried about copyright on here when mentioning other peoples' stuff. So, I'll tab out something and put up a link to a clip of it. But, first I must go and buy some beers!
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'If it sounds GOOD to you, it's bitchen; if it sounds BAD to YOU, it's shitty' - Frank Zappa
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mickil
68 posts
Mar 12, 2009
1:56 PM
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mr_so&so,
I've recorded a clip and tabbed it out. I'm just haveing a bit of a problem uploading them to RapidShare.
I'll post them when I've figured it out.
In the meantime, this is the whole system in a nutshell:
12/8 : time signature (12 X 8th notes: 4 X 3)
1 2 3 4 | : marking beats and bars
[2]3 : divide beat 3 into 2 (duplets: break out of shuffle)
[6/2] 3 4 : divide beats 3 and 4 into 6 (triplets: break out of straight time)
[3:2;1]4 : divide beat 4 into 3 (the first note takes up 2 thirds of the beat)
" : repeat the last rhythmic pattern
5[3][2]1 : divide beat 1 into 5; the first half as triplets, the second half as duplets
[3:1.5;.5;1] : dotted rhythms always involve half a note's duration somewhere (1.5 + .5 + 1 = 3)
\ : rests (silences) are written above the rhythm tab (\ = a whole beat or part of a beat)
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'If it sounds GOOD to you, it's bitchen; if it sounds BAD to YOU, it's shitty' - Frank Zappa
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mickil
74 posts
Mar 13, 2009
6:41 AM
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mr_so&so,
I've done it.
Here's the link for the tab; it's just a .txt file.
And here's the audio file.
I've tried to make it so that it includes the whole system.
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'If it sounds GOOD to you, it's bitchen; if it sounds BAD to YOU, it's shitty' - Frank Zappa
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