It's fair enough seeing how many people have viewed a certain tab, but this gives us no clue as to how accurate / useful it is - just how many people want to be able to play that song. If there was a simple 1-5 stars rating system (it could be optional) where people using the tabs could say how good they were it would help quite a lot with browsing tabs.
I'm not sure how easy it would be to do that, but I got the idea from ultimate guitar, so it probably can be done.
Just a thought,

Davey!

That is a good idea. I would need to investigate a bit to see if I can come up with a simple way of doing it. I have a few ideas but it would take me some time to develop. I will put it on my list of things to work on.

I like your idea too Davey. I swear, I often think some of the tabs should be rated more intermediate or even advanced, than what the author might of thought. Being able to rate how useful the songs are to the struggling harpist would definitely be helpful.

I also wish we could try to come up w/ a more standardized way of expressing the tabs. Even as a suggestion. (smile))) For me the "-" for draws and "//" for bends works for me, but we get quite a mix of harp tab transaltions, so that my head swims trying to transpose it into something I understand. lol When I started tabbing, I paid attention to the time signature... It somehow made it easier for me to count it out, if that makes sence? Music does have rhythem, & as a dancer, I get that! (smile)))

I will say that I can literally see the group is growing by the day on the Home page, and I think that is very kewl. There's all kinds of talent, resource, & personalities, that I'm often impressed.

~always Maria.

P.S.: I'm all over the board tonight because I got bad sick this week & been in bed (even hospitol bed). The doc's verdict is intestinal virus. (sigh))) Anyway, I'm starting to feel human, sick of the bed, and can't sleep, so I'm passin' my time surfin' familar ground. (smirky grin))) Cheers...

We've had lots of discussions on the standardization of tabs, and unfortunately, about the only thing anyone can agree completely on is positive numbers for blow and negative numbers for draw.

I personally find b, bb, & bbb after the note the most user friendly notation for bends. (I.E.: -1b, -2bb, -3bbb) Each b = a ½-step bend. Although I have seen /, //, /// used for bends, / also gets used to break the tab up into measures, or as rests. I've also seen (and this is what the little conversion utility uses) ~ used to represent a bend. so a half-tone bend would be ~-3, a full-tone bend would be ~~-3, and a 1½-tone bend would be ~~~-3.

If we take it over to chromatics, I also have seen / used for pushing the slide in, though # and < are more common. (I personally prefer #.)

As long as "different" or "awkward" notation is explained, there is no issue. The issue comes when people don't explain what they are doing and it is very different from the "norm."

As far as a rating system for the songs. Unfortunately, unless a tab is just unclear, there is no real way to rank the quality of a tab. It either ends up sounding like the tune or it doesn't. I guess you could rate the songs based on clarity and accuracy, but I think it would turn into nothing more than a popularity contest, and you already have that with the hit counter. True, it might be a more accurate popularity contest, but I doubt that it would be able to accurately tell how good a job of representing the song, the person who posted the tab did.

Lastly, as far as the "Advanced/Intermediate/Beginner" rating goes, several people don't even bother changing that when they post the tab. It's probably used about as much as the genre label, and in some cases that is due merely to uncertainty of the person who posts it. They may consider it simple and not be able to accuratly determine what skill level the tab truly is; or, as is more likely the case for a good number of the tabs, the poster just desn't think to change it.



Post Edited (10-17-05 12:04)

that's good info... I wasn't thinking about the 1/2 steps on my listed bends & used a double "//" to reflect any of my bends. That might be confusing, & when I get a chance, I'll go back & edit a few of my songs to reflect one 1/2 step note down, which all my songs are. I'm not good enough yet to get more than one 1/2 step down on my notes. (wink)))

Using a "b" to reflect bends doesn't work for me because quite often the "b" is used to show actual 'blows' too. "~" are good indicators of bends, but I usually take those & transpose them behind the numbers as my personal preference. (grin)))

Well, I guess I've come a long way baby, because just a few months ago, one of my first posts to this forum was, "how do you read these dang tabs!" lol And now, I'm posting a few of my own.

~always Maria.

Hope your Illness is finished and you are feeling better Maria.

It is hard to blow when you are feeling poorly.

Thanx scottishbob... It's been a rough week or so, but I am on the mend. The thing is, I can't eat too much at once or it comes back up, and I'm soo hungry for real food. I cheated w/ a little bowl of ice cream last night and paid for it today. (shagrin))) It's a heck of a "diet" plan... hehehe

You're right in that blowing into my harp is rather difficult right now... I can't really use my diaphram all cramped up. But I have made myself useful lately by tabbing out a few songs during my "up" times. (grinning from ear to ear)))

It's really cute the way my dutch shepherd, Ginger, keeps virgil over me while I'm sick. But every time I get to the end of a line I've tabbed & test it out on my harmonica, Ginger howls & pitches fits. She really isn't fond of my harmonicas. lol Usually I put her out in the kennel when I practice, but this week she hasn't left my side... for better or for worse. hehehehe

I pray life is going well for you scottishbob... thanx for inquiring after me.

~always Maria.

good morning! (smile))) Just a heads up that Dave Gage contacted me to let me know that he's finally added us to his website at: [www.harmonicalinks.com]

I haven't heard from anybody else that I contacted last week (before I got sick), but when I get a chance I'll see if I have anymore websites in my favorite places that might work. Not every harmonica or midi website I visit has a "links page." I'll let ya'll know, when I do.

~always Maria.

zephyrazure wrote:

> good morning! (smile))) Just a heads up that Dave Gage
> contacted me to let me know that he's finally added us to his
> website at: [www.harmonicalinks.com]
>
> I haven't heard from anybody else that I contacted last week
> (before I got sick), but when I get a chance I'll see if I have
> anymore websites in my favorite places that might work. Not
> every harmonica or midi website I visit has a "links page."
> I'll let ya'll know, when I do.
>
> ~always Maria.
>

Once again thank you for your help.

Also, when ranking the tabs, I don't think that ranking the tabber is clear enough as to what they mean by that. When I look at the highest ranks, I see the words "Heavy Contributer", but, there are some members who are ranked higher, than somebody who has posted more tabs than they did. Heavy Contributor means that you have submitted a lot, not by how good the tabs are, so there should be a ranking list for the number of tabs, and a ranking list of tabs that have been rated, and sort of average them out or something.

The ranking system details is listed on this thread, [www.harptabs.com] once I do the tab voting I most likely will replace that in the formula, or add it in weighting more.