I still maintain that standard notation (SN) is best for showing harmony and timing, and that tab's only real advantage is for fingering, though I often find myself changing even that. Remember that much of the classical repertoire survives in SN by putting in left finger numbers, sometimes even the string a note should be plyed on, right finger pima designations, B for barre, and so on, which all help but maybe aren't as intuitve as tab.

Perhaps because I can hear much of the music in my head when I see it on the page SN is my preference. The same doesn't happen with tab for me except by the extra mental step of converting it to notes. Without timing, forget it, tab only works if you've got a recording or already know what it should sound like.

Lines, dashes, beat numbers, dududdu strokes, simply aren't a necessity when we already have a more compact and universal method of indicating timing, and pick strokes don't need to be shown at all. No need to reinvent the wheel. SN has weaknesses, like for guitar fingering, but I don't think there's a need to change other elements of notation, or replace it with another language.

daylia, btw, that music you indicated with the mishmash of notation dates to before common everyday cut and paste so I imagine that it's not only a joke, but a hand produced one at that. Some of the notation is quite funny.

My feeling is I'm swimming against the tide of tab that won't be stopped, so I do teach it but try to put it in perspective. I agree that ultimately SN and GOOD tab combined work best, but there's so little good tab.

Peace, Mooh.