Re: tab

[Rune Zedeler]

David Raleigh Arnold wrote:

> Thanks much.  The scholarly poster is right that there are
> historical instances of putting the first string at the
> bottom, but English renaissance lute tablature and all
> modern tabs have the first string at the top so the
> low notes will be on the bottom.  *No one alive* is really
> used to the upside down systems.

Well, I know peoble who prefer the tabs either way.


> Pitch wasn't the issue anyway, just the definition
> of the first string, which doesn't vary for stringed
> instruments, fretted or not.  Of course a left handed
> player has his first string closest to his left hand
> instead of his right, but it's still the 1st string.

I think you misplaced the last "left" and "right" in that statement...?

> And I really would like to know how to get rid of
> the stems in the tab.

I have given you an answer on that one.


> How about a short cut like this example for banjo?

Yes, the semantics for lilypond are quite hairy, currently - and lots of 
syntax extensions could be made to simplify things - especially the way 
of setting the properties and moving around grobs.


> \defStrings d'=d b=b g=g d=c g'=s

Yes, the defStrings sounds like a nice macro. But I would personally 
currently put other syntax extensions much higher on the todo-list. 
Having to refer to the strings by number should be no big problem for 
the musicians actually playing the instruments?

> I don't know whether you have taken into account the
> fact that guitar transposes an octave, sorry, I've never
> used \treble for guitar music.

Well, I also prefer using the "G_8"-clef - so that the music is really 
notated in the octave where it sounds.
I definitely think that default guitar strings should be defined like 
this. If one want's to define and display music one octave off (which is 
historically the normal thing to do), one could do

<
  \context Staff { \music }
  \context TabStaff \transpose c { \music }
>

I think that this would be intuitive enough - also for normal users.


-Rune