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Thread: Need Advice!

  1. #1

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    Question Need Advice!

    My question is about drum tablature. I need to know everything about it. I play Rythm guitar with my friend who plays lead. I also sing. I'm in the 8th grade and at the end of the year the 8th grade always puts on a big show having to do with music and junk like that. But this year we wanna have a great show and i think we can do that by playing an actual song for once. I need to know about drum tab because my friend has a set of drums a bangs around on em and stuff like that. But he has never really gotten into it. And in the song we are playin u really need a drummer.

    So I need to know anything and everything about drum tab.(What the numbers are for the drums/cymbals u hit)EVERYTHING!!!!!!!:Oh yeah im also using guitar pro to edit the song so there are 6 strings for tab instead of 4.
    Last edited by bandmanager13; 02-15-2007 at 03:29 PM.

  2. #2

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    Well, you've come to the right place... I've read a lot of drum tablature and I know how to use Guitar Pro 5, so I'm your man I guess.

    Basically drum tablature is almost exactly like reading drum music, except that there is no note values per se.

    The stave is represented by symbols for each drum, a pipe "|" and then and appropriate number of dashes "-" to show timing.

    e.g.

    CC|----------------|
    Ch|----------------|
    Rd|----------------|
    Sp|----------------|
    HH|----------------|
    t1|----------------|
    t2|----------------|
    SD|----------------|
    FT|----------------|
    BD|----------------|
    Hf|----------------|
    Ct|1e+a2e+a3e+a4e+a|


    Key:
    CC - Crash Cymbal
    Ch - China Cymbal
    Rd - Ride Cymbal
    Sp - Splash
    HH - Hi-Hat
    t1 - High Tom/Tom 1
    t2 - Medium Tom/Tom 2
    SD - Snare Drum
    FT - Floor Tom
    BD - Bass Drum
    Hf - Hi-Hat foot
    Ct - Count

    Keep in mind that because there isn't a universal legend for tablature, many of the symbols have different variations. e.g. t1 can also be written t, and t2 written T.

    Also, because many of the drums/cymbals aren't used in most bars, the stave is usually compacted by removing those drums. Most of the time you'll see the stave looking like this:


    CC|----------------|
    HH|----------------|
    SD|----------------|
    BD|----------------|


    Secondly, each of the dashes "-" indicates the timing of the bar. For example, in the stave above, there are 16 dashes. This divides the bar into 16th notes. This is probably the most common division of tab bars.

    Hits on tablature are denoted a number of ways. The most common is for drums to be notated with "o" and cymbals with "x". However, for accents, these are usually capitalised.

    Legend:
    o - regular drum hit
    x - regular cymbal hit
    O - accented drum hit
    X - Accented cymbal hit
    g - ghost note
    b - bell (usually used on the ride)
    # - Choke (cymbal hit then grabbed by the hand to stop the note short)

    Those are the ones I can think of at the moment, the most common ones, if you find any others I'll gladly tell you what they mean.

    Also, when writing tablature, it's important to use the font Courier New. It is a preformatted text that makes all the letters take up the same amount of space. This makes all of the dashes line up nicely.

    That's pretty much all I have for now, if you have any more questions feel free to ask.

    Hope that helps,
    HB58
    My Kit: Pearl Session Custom 7 Piece w/ Zildjian Cymbals
    My Band: Lead Redemption
    Current Favourite Band: Necrophagist
    Current Favourite Song: To Rid The Disease - Opeth
    Next purchase: Pearl 18"x16" Floor Tom, Zildjian A Custom Crash

    Rudiments?

  3. #3

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    Thumbs up Thanks A Lot!!!

    Thanks so much you have no idea how much this has helped me and my friend out.

  4. #4

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    No worries mate, if you're in doubt about anything. Feel free to ask, or pm me.

    Also, this handy link might be able to help you out more too.

    HB58
    My Kit: Pearl Session Custom 7 Piece w/ Zildjian Cymbals
    My Band: Lead Redemption
    Current Favourite Band: Necrophagist
    Current Favourite Song: To Rid The Disease - Opeth
    Next purchase: Pearl 18"x16" Floor Tom, Zildjian A Custom Crash

    Rudiments?

  5. #5

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    nice one hellbell, u are real professional!

  6. #6

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    Way to go HB! Great instructions!
    Da' Bum
    Rockin' the beat for fadedblue
    Keepin' time for Andy Harrison & the AOP
    http://www.facebook.com/fadedbluemusic
    DW Performance 5 pc. in White Marine Pearl
    1972 Pearl Deluxe Custom 5 pc. in blue sparkle
    KAT KT-3
    Paiste cymbals
    Gibraltar hardware
    Axis pedals
    Vic Firth sticks
    Evans heads

  7. #7

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    I've only been playing for 6 years, and most of the time I've learnt tabs instead of using music books. It kind of gets me uptight when tabs aren't written correctly. Just a pet hate of mine.

    But I'm glad I can share my tab knowledge to people who need it.

    HB58
    My Kit: Pearl Session Custom 7 Piece w/ Zildjian Cymbals
    My Band: Lead Redemption
    Current Favourite Band: Necrophagist
    Current Favourite Song: To Rid The Disease - Opeth
    Next purchase: Pearl 18"x16" Floor Tom, Zildjian A Custom Crash

    Rudiments?

  8. #8

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    what song is it?
    Band: System of a Down
    Song: Atwa




    Current: four way independence

  9. #9

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    Cool Need Advice!

    Good on ya, HB! Great explanation!

    keep the beat goin' ... Don't keep it to yourself!

    Charlie

    "If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away." --Henry David Thoreau, "Walden," 1854

    "There's a lot to be said for Time Honored tradition and value." --In memory of Frank "fiacovaz" Iacovazzi

    "Maybe your drums can be beat, but you can't."--Jack Keck

  10. #10

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    Yeah, I'm actually curious as well. What song are you planning to play for your big show?

    HB58
    My Kit: Pearl Session Custom 7 Piece w/ Zildjian Cymbals
    My Band: Lead Redemption
    Current Favourite Band: Necrophagist
    Current Favourite Song: To Rid The Disease - Opeth
    Next purchase: Pearl 18"x16" Floor Tom, Zildjian A Custom Crash

    Rudiments?

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