MD TAB

Subject: RE: MD TAB
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 13 Feb 00 - 01:21 PM

Sounds like you're re-inventing ABC or SongWright. Or maybe conventional music notation or possibly shape note notation. They all do pretty much the same things.

Subject: RE: MD TAB
From: Pinetop Slim
Date: 13 Feb 00 - 09:30 AM

Ma-K: That is a problem, ain't it? With this code, I'd put pairs or series of short notes inside the commas. So 7, would be one long note and 77, would be two short ones or ,7777, would be four shorts. Or could use a back slash (\) to designate where a short note is coming, say: \78 would mean a short note at fret 7 is followed by a long one at 8. Another option would be to give the time signature and set off each measure with two dashes --. If you wouldn't mind, post the names of a couple of the tunes this has been a problem with and I'll see if I can work one of them out.

Subject: RE: MD TAB
From: Ma-K
Date: 12 Feb 00 - 02:47 PM

markf...I have alot of tunes in numbers but can't use because I don't know how long the notes are. How do you show short notes?

Subject: RE: MD TAB
From: Pinetop Slim
Date: 12 Feb 00 - 01:42 PM

Title:Rooty-toot Toot for Moon
Tuning: Mudcat Ionian
Note: Was hoping to find an Iowa song for Ma-K and couldn't; this old chestnut is by Gregg Brown, an Iowa guy. Sorry I can't get the numbers to match up with the syllables. Maybe one of the HTML pros could tell how to make en or em spaces?

5,6,7,7,7,7,5,6,7,7,7,7
The whole kit and ca-boo-dle is in dis-re-pair
7,8,8,8,8,7,6,8
There's no-where to go that ain't here
9,9,9,9,8,7,9,9,9,9,9
Cap-tains and cuck-oos from here to Tim-buk-tu
7,7,7,7,7,6,5,7,7
They're count-ing their dough in the mir-ror
7,7,7,7,7,7,6,5,6-5-3
Yeah, they're count-in their dough in the mir--ror
CHORUS:
5,6,7,7,7,7,6,5,7
Sing-in' root-y toot toot for the moon
7,7,8,8,8,8,7,6,8
You're the big-gest star I ev-er seen
8,9,9,9,8,7,9,9,9,9
A pearl of wis-dom, a slice of green cheese
7,7,7,7,7,7,6,5,3
And you're burn-ing just like ker-o-sene
5,6,7,7,7,7,6-5-3
Yeah, you're burn-ing just like ker-o-se--ne
OTHER VERSES: I can't quite remember the next verse or two, but the last one goes something like this:
So God bless motorcycles
And far-out heavy trifles
You know you can't memorize zen
So put your hat on your nose and your socks on your toes
Try to help someone begin to begin
Help someone begin to begin

Subject: MD TAB
From: Pinetop Slim
Date: 12 Feb 00 - 01:22 PM

MD Tab, short for mountain dulcimer tablature. This is a spinoff from the help for lap dulcimore thread, in case lap dulcimore, mountain dulcimer, hog fiddle and skattling players care to share tunes. The numbered code ain't as much fun as learning by ear, but it might work:
Title: Aura Lee (tune to Love Me Tender, which gets a lot of play around my house on Valentine's Day).
Tuning: Mudcat Ionian (MI for short). Tune the fat string so it's not too loose and not too tight. Sound it at the fourth fret and match the tuning of the other strings to that tone. Code: Number represents fret number, slash (/) means either hold a beat or fill with an out-back strum: 0, 3, 2, 3, 4, 1, 4///
As the black bird in the spring
3, 2, 1, 2, 3///
By the wil-low tree
0, 3, 2, 3, 4, 1, 4///
Sat and piped I heard him sing
3, 2, 1, 2, 3///
Sing of Au-ra Lee
Chorus: 5///, 5///, 5, 4, 3, 4, 5///
Aura Lee, Aura Lee, girl of yel-low hair
5, 5, 6, 5, 4, 1, 4, 3, 2, 1, 2, 3
Sun-light all a-round you came, flow-ers in the air