Power Tab
Power Tab
You might wonder what the heck a power tab is. I know I wasn’t entirely sure what it meant. Tab is short for tablature, which is form of musical notation that indicates fingering rather than musical pitches. It is commonly used for stringed, fretted instruments like guitar, it but can also be used for free reed aero phones like a harmonica.
An alternate use for the word can refer to conventional chord symbols for harmony or note names for melody.
For a beginner, tablature is much more easily read than standard notation. Once the instrument is tuned, all you need to do is place your fingers on the indicated string and fret and sound the note. It is a closer visual representation of the actual fret board so it is much easier to use. Guitar tablature has six lines representing the strings and bass tablature has four lines. The numbers on the lines indicate the proper fret to use. There are also various lines, arrows and other symbols to denote bends, pull-offs, slides, and so forth.
There are various computer programs for writing tabs. Some programs may also write lyrics, guitar chord diagrams, and chord symbols. Power Tab Editor is a free tab authoring tool for Windows. Each power tab file contains two scores, one for guitar and one for bass. The Power Tab Editor is able to import MIDI tracks and export to ASCH Text, HTML, and MIDI formats. Many of the tablature sites are free.
There are some ongoing legal issues involving the distribution of free tablatures of copyrighted music. Some of the free tab sites claim to be educational providers or non-profit organizations even though they are not registered as such. One proposed solution is an alternative compensation system which allows widespread duplication of copyrighted works while paying copyright owners and songwriters. Some free sites have chosen to shut down until a compromise is reached but there are a number of legal services that have been licensed by music publishers. MetalTabs.com, for example contacts the bands to grant permission to post tablature and to date very few bands have refused.
Legal guitar power tab sites are on the rise. They usually hire professional musicians to transcribe the songs and charge from .99 to 6.99 to purchase legal tabs. This is not a lot of money to get a song you need. Other websites offer user-created tabs and have obtained legal clearance to post them online. They usually do not charge users, but share advertising revenue with publishers and/or songwriters.
