Forum - Banjo Ben Clark

TablEdit - RU a Nubie ? READ THIS

#1

Next to joining Banjo Ben as a Life Member this has to be the second best investment I have made in my quest to learn to play the banjo…

Whether your instrument of choice is Banjo, Guitar or Mandolin or all three I would encourage you to purchase TablEdit. or obtain the FREE TefView Software. It’s an excellent tool to assist you learn to read and listen to TAB in the form of a Tef File.

Ben creates TABs in both TEF and PDF Files for pretty much every lesson.

The beauty of TablEdit/TefView is you can actually hear and see the TAB, use it as an aid to help you learn to play your instrument. It helps you with your timing and as an aid to help you increase your playing speed as you develop your playing skills.

Over the last nine years I have been studying banjo I have lost count of how many times a Nubie has asked this question over on the Banjo Hangout.

How can I learn to play faster ?

Well mystery solved at last. Lot’s of practice and TablEdit.

TablEdit is a program for creating, editing, printing and listening to tablature and sheet music (standard notation) for guitar and other fretted, stringed instruments, including mandolin, bass and banjo (even taking into consideration the special aspect of the fifth string).

Additionally, TablEdit, while designed for guitarists, by guitarists, is not limited to fretted instruments like other tablature programs. Through ongoing consultation with experts on other instruments, TablEdit has developed support for hammered and mountain dulcimer, harmonica, diatonic button accordion, chromatic accordion, anglo-irish concertina, drums, violin, tin whistle, recorder, xaphoon, native american flute, autoharp, pedal steel guitar, arabic oud…

TablEdit runs on Windows and Mac. A lite version (TEFpad) is available for iOS and Android.

Here is where to find it.

http://www.tabledit.com/

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#2

Archie,

Do you need the purchased version to do some editing I would assume? I can’t edit with the free version I downloaded from Ben.

1 Like
#3

Hi Jason, As I recall you used to be able to download a DEMO version of TablEdit that allowed you to create/edit up to I think fifteen measures. It would not allow you to save more than the 15.

TefView is the FREE software that allows you to play and print Tef files. But if you want to create or edit large TABs you need the FULL version and it’s well worth the money. I have had no end of updates since I bought mine six maybe seven years ago. I have Tabbed stuff from books and stuff I have found on the internet. Tabbing out stuff also gets you more familiar with reading and recognising licks etc…

#4

what I am having issue with is all I wish to do is add two measures to front of each song. That gives me time to hit play button and reach down and position self to play. But it will not let me even put one measure ahead. I’ll attach a pic so you can see what it says.

Ben, you might consider adding two measures to any future tef files to give slow pokes like me a chance to get ready to play. :slight_smile: IMG_0115

1 Like
#5

Yeah, most of Ben’s lessons are more than 16 measures, so you wouldn’t be able to add additional measures to them with the demo version.

Try this. If you’re in the TefView software, click on the Play menu option, then click on Metronome. Select the sound you want and then check the box that says “Metronome only for n measure(s)” and set that to 2 (or whatever you want.) If you don’t want to hear the metronome during playback, slide the Volume slider all the way to the left. Then you’ll have 2 measures of silence before the 1st measure starts.

#6

Didn’t work. Still won’t let me save. I guess it still counts it as too many measures. The alternative is what I have always done which is open a song and quickly add two measures and don’t save. Obvious issue is time and time is what I don’t have a lot of. So 30 seconds times 5 practice songs adds up.

Thanks Mark

#7

I wasn’t talking about a way to save the song. I was talking about a way to give you some time to get ready before TefView starts playing. TefView is the free viewer version of the TablEdit software you’re using.

#8

Right. I do that with adding the two measures,Just don’t save it. I was looking for a way to save it. Save time. Prob just have to buy it

Thanks for your help.

#9

Jason

That’s why I encourage everyone to invest in the full version. I too used to get frustrated that I couldn’t edit TABs with the demo version. But hey spare a thought for the guy who has spent years developing this software. He needs to feed his family.

1 Like
#10

No doubt. Too many people want things free because of our electronic age. I’m sure Ben gets questioned all the time about his prices. They are check compared to many others. Tony Trischka is way more.

#11

No kidding! Even at Ben’s new prices, it’s still cheaper for a life time membership than it is to take 4 months of lessons from a seasoned teacher. This site is a steal if the buyer plans on sticking with it for any length of time. And if they’re not sure, they can go monthly for half the cost (or less) of a single lesson from a teacher.

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#12

I like they way he teaches the songs. And he speaks clear. I often have trouble hearing if ppl talk fast or somewhat muffled. So yeah definitely worth it

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#13

A lifetime membership is an incredible value. It’s less than the university charged students for a semester (30 mins/week) of my teaching guitar 40 years ago. There are many things one can spend a few hundred dollars on, but very few that can have a life-long impact. Banjobenclark.com is one heck of a good investment.

4 Likes
#14

Hi Archie I’m a nubie here in the forum and just got the TablEdit a couple of weeks ago and you hit it right the nose when you said

For composing and timing issues it has helped me 100%. And the forum looks like a great bunch of folks to help others. Thanks

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#15

Welcome Rodger I am sure your gonna make great progress now you have the right tools for learning at your disposal.

#16

Thanks Archie

#17

My pleasure, just glad you found my advice helpful.

#18

@sharingtimeagain1, I’m not sure if this is what you’re after, but I’ll shoot it anyway.

I don’t have .tef downloaded right now on my computer, but when I used to monkey with the free version there was a place where you could delay start for x-amount of seconds. I used to set it to ten seconds which gave me that time to hit play, get everything situated, then get to pickin’.

1 Like
#19

Hi Jason, I have been on Tony’s website and I can tell you it’s not a patch on what @BanjoBen has to offer. Two weeks in I cancelled my years subscription and requested a refund because he wasn’t delivering on his commitment. That was a while back so things may have changed after I left.

1 Like
#20

Thanks I’ll look for that option.