Tabbing Converse

[Rob MacKillop]

Tabbing Converse is very likely a waste of time - as I've just found out. It took me an hour to do one short piece, Modoc Reel, and trying to put in all the info Converse supplies is quite a challenge. I've noticed Marc Smith's and Tim Twiss's attempts and comments, and have to agree with them that it is a difficult job.

 

Here's my tab-only version of The Modoc Reel: Modoc Banjo.pdf 

 

Converse uses three versions of the number 1 to indicate the striking finger:

 

A 1 on its own begins a 'Combination' stroke where the stroke is played in combination with the thumb resting in preparation on another string

 

A 1 with a dot under it indicates a 'Hammer' stroke - a firm downward stroke without the thumb falling simultaneously onto another string. The Thumb supports the index finger by resting on it.

 

A 1 with a line through it - this appears quite often but I can't find an explanation of it. Does anyone know?

 

I've indicated the first two with a C for Combination and an H for Hammer. I have made things less cluttered by not indicating that it is the thumb which strikes the fifth string.

 

The question is - how much of this is needed? How much of it would be obvious? How much of it needs to be indicated? Does the notation differ from modern clawhammer technique enough to warrant the time to notate every right-hand fingering? Could Converse have simplified things by just saying that any finger strike that is not followed by a thumb stroke should be a hammer stroke?

 

I know the ideal would be a facsimile on one page and the tab on the facing page, but let's face it, most people would not keep darting back between the two. I can see the point of having the tab beneath the standard notation, but even there, how much info do we duplicate in each stave, as most folk are not likely to look at both?

[Rob MacKillop]

I just use Word. They accept that.

[John Masciale]

I use a lower priced sub-version of Finale - Allegro. I have used it to great effect, and even played with the tablature stuff in it.

[Tim Twiss]

Also...nothing wrong with hand written tab. I like that most of all....notation also. A million times faster, unless you've mastered keystroke entry only for software....ha ha.

[Trapdoor2]

I've been very happy with TablEdit...but I seem to be able to find music that pushes its limits. The grace-note thing continues to be my bugboo. Notating a 5th string grace-note attached to a 1st & 2nd string chord requires a lot of silly work for the TAB side but it prints out fine. The same figure is easier to generate in notation but it has to be faked in...and to get it to print, it has to be different than what works for the TAB side.

Sigh.

I need to just buy Finale and see how it works. I want to experiment with SmartScore some more anyway...sure would be nice to let the OCR read all this old sheet music!

[Rob MacKillop]

I found the OCR with Sibelius to be way too troublesome. I'm quicker inputting notes manually.

[Trapdoor2]

I worked with the demo version of SmartScore a few years back. It works quite well with very clear images but the least bit of fuzziness caused a multitude of errors. Unfortunately, it also had problems with dotted rhythms...which are really a pain to enter manually (so I was hoping the OCR would do it for me).

That's been several revisions ago, perhaps it is better now...

[Ian Bell]

Modoc Reel - Today was Victoria Day - a holiday Monday in Canada. I had the banjo in in the back yard and just finished playing the "Boston Jig" (Winner's 1872) a few times. I had Rob's tab for Converse's "Modoc Reel" printed out and thought I'd take a run at it. It fell under my fingers like I'd known it all my life. I thought , "Hey I'm getting pretty good at this..." then I realized it was the same tune I'd just been playing for ten minutes - with just a few extra flourishes in the B part! The Boston Jig version is written out in 2/4 with twice as many bar lines. Modoc Reel's a much funkier sounding title. Tab seems to work fine!

[Rob MacKillop]

I thought it was a familar piece. BTW, what does Modoc mean or refer to? Is it a place?

[Ian Bell]

Modoc is a town in Arkansas. It's also the name of a First Nations tribe.

Rob MacKillop said:

I thought it was a familar piece. BTW, what does Modoc mean or refer to? Is it a place?

[Rob MacKillop]

Ah, and we know that Converse did live with an Indian tribe at some point in his life.