Question about tab notation
Hello David,
(Look for the TL;DR if you'd like to skip the intro)
I picked up a harmonica about 6 or 7 months ago after returning from mentoring a youth group for a week camping trip. Long story short, as soon as we got back I searched out the local music store and purchased my first harmonica. I had done very little research into harmonica and especially blues harmonica, but the guy in the music store suggested that most begining lesson material was provided in the key of C and that he would recommend starting with that. So with that knowledge I purchased a Special 20 in the key of C.
I really liked the idea that there was an offer for a free month of lessons and was super excited to start. So I logged on here and dove right in. I was a little dissapointed to find out that you have a very small amount of lessons in the key of C (I wished there was some indicator on the packages that would have directed me to buy the A rather than the C) but I did go through your intro lesson.
After that I turned to the internet; anywhere that I could find that would help me pickup some songs, so chugging patterns, some bending techniques, watching some of the greats, ect. I was pretty much hooked. I play my harmonica every morning during my drive to work (my wa wa hand techniques are greatly suffering :() for about 15 to 20 minutes, and 15 to 20 minutes on the way home. I'm able to play most songs that I can come up with (star spangled banner, oh susanna, home on the range, etc) and I've even gotten pretty good at playing a song by ear without tab.
I just got myself an A harp for my birthday and so I thought I'd come back here and give this another shot. See if I can take my playing to the next level. One thing I've noticed though (and its going to be a little hard for me to shake) is that all over the net the tab notation I'm seeing most often is just a little different than yours. Most sthing I've seen have a negative sign for the draw (-4) and no sign or a plus for the blow (4) or (+4). Being the complete and utter beginer on the harp I have idea what the 'standard' is or if there is even such a thing for tablature.
TL;DR:
So all of that and I finally get to the question (Sorry about that). Is there a specific reason why your notation has draw with no sign (4) and blow with the plus sign (4+). Do you find that its more successful in the long run, more standard, or is it simply how you learned and therefore carried it forward with you?
Thanks!
I hope I didn't come across as the guy who wants you to change the way you've been doing things for so many years and with much success. Rather I was curious if there was a piece I was missing with your system. You said a key thing that I'm taking away from your response:
- "and use nothing for the draws (this was chosen due to the fact the majority of notes used in blues are draw. Draws being the most common it made sense to make them the most simple)"
That makes a lot of sense and I do have a mental shift to make as I've been playing mostly in the 1st position on my C harp.
Thanks for the speedy response.
No worries, you were clear in what you were asking.
Welcome to the harmonica jkendall. Yes, only practicing in the car can do that to one's hand techniques!... you're not alone ;-)
When I started writing books in the early 90's the standard music notation in print was the hole number and an up or down arrow below it to indicate draw or blow. Combined with music notation this made for three levels to look at... rhythm, hole and breath... very slow for reading.
My solution was to drop the arrows and use nothing for the draws (this was chosen due to the fact the majority of notes used in blues are draw. Draws being the most common it made sense to make them the most simple) and a plus for blows. This made for a more left-to-right reading TAB system that I found to be much faster.
When the internet came around people started to share their music in their own unique notation system. Since there's no "board of standard harmonica notation" and money to enforce their laws you can expect to see a lot of different systems.
They all work, it just gets down to choosing the one that works for you.
P.S., standard music notation is "standard" and universal, so you may want to learn how to read music... it helps in a lot of ways. Note that I write all of my music in C Score, so you'll learn how to read very quickly with me. Start going through the Music Theory lessons if you haven't already done so, it teaches you what you need to know. The Rhythm Training lesson will teach you about note durations.
Take care.