Forum - Banjo Ben Clark

TablEdit - RU a Nubie ? READ THIS

#21

Hey!
so i took your advice and bought tabledit.
trying to learn the program.
so here what i did.
I looked at Jim Pankey´s dougs tune. A song ive never heard or seen tab for and tried to write it down.
took a load of time to figure out 16th ornaments.And i dont really know the chord progresion, just to practice text
i filled some.
Anyway someone who knows the tune and tabledit please look
if something isent right.
thanks
also i dont know if i should use 1/4 or 1/8 and rest. did first Amin with 1/8 and second with 1/4 just to test
dougs tune practise.tef (1.2 KB)

next i was thinking of do som guitar backup but you need the chords for that :slight_smile:

#22

Hi Mats, I listened to your TAB and it sounds ok. I don’t know the tune so I can’t really say weather or not you have it down pat as Jim has taught it. I had a look at his YouTube page and went in search of his Free TAB to compare the two but couldn’t find it.

Like you I learned TablEdit from trial and error. I couldn’t find any tutorials on the software when I bought it. So yes it takes a little while to figure out all the bells and whistles.

If you have any TAB books to hand I would encourage you to use these to get familiar with the software but avoid tunes that use D tuners until you gain more experience of the software. Be aware that ALL TABs even TABs from books are not always well written or even accurate. That includes the Earl Scruggs book. Earl didn’t write those TABs. The same is also applies to TAB that comes with DVDs.

Don’t be afraid to experiment.

There’s a section on the Banjo Hangout where you can find some tips/ answers to questions on the use of some features in TablEdit.

I encourage you to download tef files from All the Hangout’s and other TAB sources and look at how others TAB stuff out. There are some great Banjo TABs on the Fiddle Hangout.

For the Guitar Backup, Checkout Banjo Ben’s TABs, Pretty much every TAB Ben has created has a guitar rhythm track. Ben always writes great TABs you can copy and paste measures across from one tef file to another. But remember to save your files…

From your TAB I noticed you hadn’t inserted a hammer-on so select the first note of the hammer on and press the H button.

For Slides - S
For Hammer on - H
For Pull Offs - P

For other effect’s click on Note from the top menu, then Special Effect’s which opens up a box of tricks.

Always make sure you are in lower case.

#23

Hi @KB1 Mats, Have modified your TAB a little, Added rhythm guitar, missing hammer-on. Shared an Alan Munde Lick and tweaked the speed a little. TAB doesn’t always sound right when it’s played slowly.

dougs tune practise.tef (2.2 KB)

#24

Hi Mats I found this on my puter. Don’t know where I got it from. Enjoy

dougs_tune.tef (14.5 KB)

2 Likes
#25

wow 109 long . learning all that will sure take a long time :slight_smile:
thanks for the feedback

1 Like
#26

Hi Mat’s I would say it’s an advanced level TAB. That’s probably why I forgot I had it and never got round to learning it. It has some really interesting licks and phrases so I may take on the challenge later this year when I have worked through the goals I am currently working on. Yes it’s a big TAB, but if you don’t try to eat the whole cake in one go you can at least nibble at parts of it. Have fun.

#27

Love this tune Archie. It’s got some nice melodic and syncopated licks like John Hardy. Is there a way we can put left hand (suggested) fingering on our tabs. That would save some time figuring out the left hand

1 Like
#28

Hi Roger, Be my guest. I didn’t write this TAB. It is huge. To be honest this is something you learn as your experience grows. Ben’s teaching has taught me that no one way is the right way there’s a lot you have to work through yourself. Ben has long slender fingers and can reach parts on the fingerboard my stubby little fingers cant still I watch his fingering closely. My advice would be to work through it in small sections. Make it a long term goal. six months or a year perhaps. It a good TAB to study and your left hand fingering will benefit from the challenge.

#29

I’m in the same boat with you on stubby fingers but even as a kid my aptitude for pitch and the ability to pick out notes came real easy for me. That inspired me to keep going and my mother encouraged me.

The left handed fingering is something I do enjoy working on. I never used tabs until I picked up the banjo. My reading music was never fluent. And when ‘midi’ came out it opened the door for classical, gosple, blues, ragtime, and jazz for me. learning it note by note. My left hand can reach octives on the piano but stretching beyond to the 3rd above the octive was my biggest disapointment in ragtime. STUBBY stikes again. Still not discouraged I made workarounds.

TablEdit reminds me of the MIDI programes that helped me learn music. Your advice ‘to work through it in small sections’ is very good advice indeed. That tune of yours we’ll call ‘Dougs_tune’ for now, till the real name shows up, is a big bag o’ licks for me and I thank you sir.

#30

Rodger, As far as I am aware Doug’s Tune is it’s name. It was composed and performed by Doug Dillard of the Andy Griffith TV Show back in the 60’s. Not only do I give out advice on banjo I chuck in a history lesson to boot. American history lesson from a Scotsman who has only visited the US one time.

3 Likes
#31

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=dillards+doug's+tune

2 Likes
#32

@Archie,

Is it really true - you have been here only ONCE?

I hope that will change soon! Seems you enjoy our Bluegrass culture!

Have you also studied the impact the Scots have made with early Appalachian music? Do you also study the use of Banjo music in Scotland?

Isn’t Tenor Banjo more common there?

#33

Hi @WillCoop if you mean the USA yes only once back in the 1980s I spent a month in California. I enjoy all kinds of banjo music, Bluegrass, Minstrel, Dixieland. Classic and Formby Ukulele Banjo. I am not drawn to Bela Fleck or Noam Pikelny style don’t get me wrong these are brilliant banjo players I just don’t like their style of music.

Yes I hear a lot of Scot’s and Irish fiddle music in Bluegrass. Tenor, Plectrum and Ukulele Banjos are more popular over here in the UK and Ireland although having said that there are a lot of bluegrass groups in and around the south of England.

I have two Tenor Banjos and two Ukulele Banjos but I prefer the 5 String and I have two of those a Fender FB 58 and a Stelling Master Flower

1 Like
#34

After reading some posts about Tabeledit and TEF files. I decided to download the “free” version reader. My question is whats the difference between the “free” version(besides being "free) and the pay version. Is it worth the $ to get the pay version reader?. What are the big differences? IMHO it takes a bit of getting used to. I like the way it shows the finger positions and moves with the song, but I still have to get used to it NOT sounding exactly like a banjo.

#35

Hi @_Tye_Stick As it’s name suggests TablEdit is a tool for creating and editing TAB files as well as having all the functionality of TefView . TefView the free version allows you to view and listen to TAB play and printout PDF TAB files.

If you plan on writing your own TAB or Tabbing out TAB books you have acquired over the years then I would say it’s well worth the $. All updates are free. Learning to TAB out stuff also helps you to read TAB but it does have a steep learning curve and the Handbook is not too helpful. I taught myself how to use it through trial and a lot of error.

2 Likes
#36

So i have downloaded this, but the version I have tells me I’m in demo mode. I wonder if I downloaded wrong or do I need to buy the full version.
Sorry I’m off the original topic.

#37

I should have read the whole list. now i’m understating this

#38

Hi Eugene, The Demo version is just that a demo, it allows you a sneak peek, there is a limitation to the number of measures you can save. You need to pay for the full version.

#39

I see

#40

I bought the full version. It is handy for editing tabs. The tabs for these lessons have you playing the A part, then the B part, then the ending. However, in a jam you will need to repeat A and B part a few times before the ending. If you have the editor, you can change it to do that.