Tutorial

This portion of the manual is designed to walk you through the various stages of tablature creation. We'll start off with the basic steps and then add features as we go along. Although we recommend that you go through the entire tutorial, how much you actually read depends on your own ambitions concerning the writing of tablature. If you're only interested in writing down basic tunes or licks without regard to how they sound when played back in the program, you may only want to read the first few chapters. If, on the other hand, your aim is to provide a highly detailed tablature that not only contains exact fingerings and timings but sounds reasonably like an actual performance (we call these "Performance" or "Note-for-note" tabs) you'll probably want to read through the entire tutorial.

Shortcuts have been provided in TablEdit for all of the more common functions such as changing note duration (this includes toggling the dotted and triplet functions on and off), the most common effects (slides, pull-offs, hammer-ons, muted notes), changing scale views, Cut and Paste operations, etc. A complete list of the keyboard shortcuts available is found under "Hotkeys". I guarantee you that learning the ones for the functions you use most often will simplify your tablature-writing life enormously.

First words

Basic setup

The first step in creating a tablature is, of course, setting up the framework, whether this be a tablature grid or a classical stave, into which the notes and effects will entered. There are, however a few other things that should be done right from the start.

Score structure in TablEdit

Basic Tablature Entry

Note Entry and Editing

Note entry is, of course, the most basic of operations in TablEdit. Notes can be entered in either the tablature grid or in the stave. There are, however, differences in the procedures used and the functions available in each.

Note Duration

This explains the importance of correct note duration as concerns both the appearance of your tablature and the sound it produces.

Using Dynamics

How to use dynamics to produce a more "live performance" sound to your tablatures.

Notation Display

A page of tips about making classical notation come out right.

Using Markers

Selecting Items

See also:

Larry Kuhn's Tutorial
Bob Wolford' Tutorial