First Words
It's not our intention to attempt to teach anyone how to play guitar or create arrangements, as such (although, inevitably, some tips on these subjects are bound to pop up). There are far too many different styles of playing and arranging for this to be practical and, even if it were, to do so would require much too lengthy a document. Our goal is simply to provide you with tips on how to use the software to produce better transcriptions.
Most students simply don't want to have to learn classical notation before they start playing their instrument. It's a relatively complicated system that can't be taught in a single, fifty minute lesson. To be honest, most beginners want to leave that first lesson playing "Dill Pickles Rag" or Robert Johnson style blues as if they have been practicing all their lives. It just ain't gonna happen! On the other hand, tablature, as I'm sure you've all discovered, can be understood on short notice and can be sight read after just a few hours of usage as compared to classical notation which can take months before it can be sight read, thus getting things off to a slow start.
Tablature has a number of advantages over classical musical notation (solfeggio) as regards fretted instruments. Classical notation is intended as a universal musical language but is, in fact, most suited to instruments where each, individual note is to be found at only a single position. We don't have that luxury. Furthermore, it should also be kept in mind that most people using the tablature system do not sight read classical notation. If they did, they would use that instead! More advanced students will usually have enough knowledge of the classical notation system to be able to interpret it slowly and painstakingly, but that's about it.
One of the great advantages of tablature is the fact that it's much more visual in its presentation. Rather than the abstract placement of symbols representing pitch, tablature provides concrete directions as to the exact placement of the fingers. The actual pitch value is, in fact, completely irrelevant! This last is very important to keep in mind when writing tablature.
This visual approach to notation places a certain amount of responsibility on the shoulders of the one producing the transcription, especially in the areas of note duration and rhythmic notation. Your primary ambition (in addition to making good arrangements available to all) should be to provide a transcription which is easily read. What is technically correct according to the rules governing the writing of classical scores does not, necessarily, produce an easy-to-read tablature.