The Steel Guitar Forum

John that is cool for regular 6 string guys, I was taught that some time ago, and yes you would in turn read sheet music, however with pedal steel there are so many places to play a note.

I played cello in high school. We had what was called position markers. If they musical phrase was to be played at the 5th position it would be like the 5th fret. If i remember right we had 12 positions. We played strictly sheet music. Scored for the different instruments. But you could not get the same note on two different strings on the same fret and position. This does make PSG special in that respect. I'm sure we all change tab sometimes to suit ourselves. I do not like tab by itself because it show very little timing. I personally think one of the hardest things on sheet music is to read the timing. Eighth notes, dotted sixteenth notes, etc.... but we have to have the correct timing or it will not be the melody. If we wrote the timing of the note below each tabbed note we would have such a clutter of numbers it would be very hard to read quickly. I don't read tab very well. Still learning to sight read it, but I need the notation for the timing and the tab for the SUGGESTED position.
Bordley Palk

That's about the same way classical guitar music is written, a simple roman numeral above the standard notes to indicate the position.

Jeff

Well I have got some material from Doug Beaumier and I knew in advance that he wrote for a forgot now but either an 8 string or 10 string pedal! However, he not only wrote the tabs, but he also wrote notes! So even though I play a 6 string, NON pedal and my tuning is in C6, the tabbing of course will not work! but the notes will. Ok not 100% but I think the notes will at least get me close of what the song is!

haven't really tired his material yet, but the theory I think is correct and I should be able to play the 60 songs, I realize it won't sound like an 8 or 10 string with pedals, but hopefully close enough! Plus he shows the chords as well! lolol

Come on Doug Beaumier agree with me here!


Dean Living on S.I. NY

I agree with Doug Beaumier on the first page. Tab with musical notation above it is the way to go.

Doug's the man!!!

Casey

Come on Doug Beaumier agree with me here!

I agree! Thanks Dean and Casey.

One without the other seems incomplete now. I too like the notation above the tab.

"The number one reason standard notation is better than tab"

This thread shoulda been called " Name one reason standard notation is better than tab", cause I don't know of one pro steeler that sells steel courses written in standard notation only.

Bo, playing by EAR is easy for those guys!

In my teaching practice, I do what Doug Beaumier suggests: tablature, and above that, a panel with the timing notes written out. I haven't had time to crack the code between standard notation and logically finding it on the steel, but I hope to someday. When I do, I'll offer that as an option to students.

And I use QuarkXPress, my day gig page layout program, to create my tablature. It's slow, but it looks nice, and I'm getting faster at it as I do it more. I'd like to try TablEdit someday, Doug says it works great, and his tab is among the very best out there.

Here is an sample from my lap top I use when I play.
I put what ever info need on a page for that song and if it is a Into, outro, fill or just a special lick in the song I want to remember I have to use this type of notation simple because I think in terms of numbers.
I tend to play within a chord movement and chords are defined by numbers. The (I) would be the tonic and the (m3)would be the 3rd position of that minor and the (1,b7,3,b5)are the scale numbers for that minor position. This also is great if I need to transpose or modulate. In this case it is in the key of A and using the blues scale at what I call the 3rd position minor of the tonic. I know I use the F lever (raises E's up 1/2 step)for the b5 and the B pedal for the b7 in this position. And I know my blues bends are the C pedal (4<5) and F lever (4<b5) and the B pedal (6<b7)

I definitely think that tab plus notation is the way to go. When I was learning PSG I worked a lot with Winnie Winston's book (and still do for that matter). It was great but the lack of notation made it hard to get the timing right on the tunes I didn't already know.

For me, another GREAT advantage of the notation and tab shown together is that I can look at the standard notation, see what chord inversion it is, and then when I'm struggling with the grip, at least I know what it should sound like and when I've got it right. A good example would be a chord inversion with the b7 on the lowest string.
Harry

I am trying to put notation in tab form look at my example and tell me if it will work

my site for future tab

http://www.geocities.com/insp/SUPRO6420.html

my example

I'm not so sure that standard notation IS better :-