Example of numeric vihuela tablature from the book "Orphenica Lyra" by Miguel de Fuenllana (1554). Red numerals (original) mark the vocal part.

Tablature (or tabulature, or tab for short) is a form of musical notation indicating instrument fingering rather than musical pitches.

Tablature is common for fretted stringed instruments such as the lute, vihuela, or guitar, as well as many free reed aerophones such as the harmonica. Tablature was common during the Renaissance and Baroque eras, and is commonly used in notating rock, pop, folk, ragtime, bluegrass, and blues music.

Three types of organ tablature were used in Europe: German, Spanish and Italian. There are several types of ocarina tabulature.^[1] Harp tablature was used in Spain and Wales.

To distinguish standard musical notation from tablature, the former is usually called "staff notation" or just "notation".

An alternate usage of the word "tab" is common on the Internet, where it can also refer to conventional chord symbols (for harmony), or note names (for melody).

Tablature[link]

Etymology[link]

The word tablature originates from the Latin word tabulatura. Tabula is a table or slate, in Latin. To tabulate something means to put it into a table or chart.

Spelling[link]

There are two different common spellings, with (tabulature) and without "u" (tablature).

Both of these words are frequently shortened to "tab" in casual speech. To be less ambiguous, it is preceded by an instrument name, when required, e.g., "guitar tab", "bass tab", "organ tab".

Origin[link]

The first known occurrence in Europe is around 1300, and was first used for notating music for the organ.^{[2][page needed]}

Lute tablatures were of three main varieties, French, Italian (also widely used in Spain, Bavaria and southern France), and German, detailed below. A special variety of Italian tablature called "Neapolitan" was in use in southern Italy, and a Polish variety of French tablature appears in one manuscript. French tablature gradually came to be the most widely used. Tablatures for other instruments were also used from early on. Keyboard tablatures flourished in Germany and in Spain. Much of the music for the lute and other historical plucked instruments during the Renaissance and Baroque eras was originally written in tablature, and many modern players of those instruments still prefer this kind of notation, often using facsimiles of the original prints or manuscripts, handwritten copies, modern editions in tablature, or printouts made with computer programs.^{[3][Full citation needed]}

Concepts[link]

While standard musical notation represents the rhythm and duration of each note and its pitch relative to the scale based on a twelve tone division of the octave, tablature is instead operationally based, indicating where and when a finger should be placed to generate a note, so pitch is denoted implicitly rather than explicitly. The rhythmic symbols of tablature tell when to start a note, but usually there is no indication of when to stop sounding it, so duration is at the discretion of the performer to a greater extent than is the case in conventional musical notation. Tablature for plucked strings is based upon a diagrammatic representation of the strings and frets of the instrument, keyboard tablature represents the keys of the instrument, and recorder tablature shows whether each of the fingerholes is to be closed or left open.

Tablature vs. standard staff notation[link]

Diatonic scale on C, guitar tablature.  Play (help·info)

Tablature is more easily read by a novice fretted string musician than standard notation; all one needs to do is tune the instrument, place one's fingers on the indicated string and fret, and sound the note. During the Renaissance, tablature was used by professionals and amateurs alike to set down music for lute, cittern, bandora, orpharion, four- and five-course early guitar, and violas da gamba. Repertoire for lute began to change during the 18th century; use of the lute in orchestras to play basso continuo obliged lutenists to work from parts written in the staff notation suitable also for keyboard instruments and harps. Tabulature continued in use for solo lute and guitar works, but eventually lost popularity and nearly died out, remaining in informal use amongst amateurs, aficionados, and within folk idioms such as flamenco.^{[citation needed]}

Victorian-era musicologists found themselves in a quandary when it came to publishing scholarly editions; players of the original instruments were uncommon, whereas most musicologists did play piano.^{[citation needed]} Editions prior to the early music movement presented the music transcribed for guitar or piano (or both), leaving lute players at a loss for their own repertoire as it was originally published. Popular interest in early music created a need for performing editions of Renaissance repertoire in tablature.^{[citation needed]}

After World War II ended, acoustic and electric guitar became popular, and guitar tablature was reborn.^{[citation needed]}

Tablature notation has two significant deficiencies. First is an inability to convey the duration of notes sustained against a melisma. Only the beginning of each note can be shown; which notes of a chord should be sustained, and for how long, is an artistic decision for the player.

The second problem is one of choice. Historical lute tablature has three major forms (French, German, Italian); each of these has variants. Modern players usually specialize in just one form, and it is difficult to become facile at reading all of them. The surviving repertoire is divided roughly equally, with French and Italian being preferred by modern players over German (especially facsimile editions, as the originals were published in black letter type which is unfamiliar to modern readers). Modern publishers have a difficult decision to make in choosing a form for a modern anthology.^{[citation needed]}

Differences between systems[link]

• Direct visual representation

When compared to standard notation, tablature is a closer visual representation of the instrument's fretboard. It does not require as much training for players to be able to read tablature; therefore it is often easier and quicker to interpret.

• Fingering position determination

Tablature removes the requirement for the player to determine the fretboard position within which the notated music is to be executed. Notes on the guitar can be played in different fret hand positions and upon several different strings; for example the note C4 could be played on the third string at the fifth fret or on the fourth string at the tenth fret. In the case of fretted instruments such complexity makes the relationship between staff notation and playing technique less direct than in the case of the piano and many other instruments. Whilst standard staff notation can remove the string/fret ambiguity by further indicating the playing position (usually with Roman numerals), tablature does not contain this ambiguity. Tablature has two additional advantages. First, it clearly identifies the note. Tablature makes explicit all instances of musica ficta, so that there is no guesswork about whether a note is, for example, an F or an F♯. Second, tablature can notate music in different tunings and scordaturas.

• Simple typewriter-font representation

Tablature can be easily (albeit crudely) represented as ASCII tab. This is a plain-text computer file using numbers, letters, and symbols to construct tablature. This characteristic makes it easy to distribute tablature electronically, a practice that has become very widespread; it is now possible to find free tablatures for virtually any popular music on the Internet, although a considerable number of those tablatures may be inaccurate and also illegal. (See Tablature (Legal Issue) below.)

• Instrument-specific

Tablature is instrument-specific, while staff notation is generic. Tablature does not provide any skills transferable to other instrumental or general musical study. Tablature can only be read easily by a player of one particular instrument, whilst music written in staff notation can be played on any suitable instrument. Reading solely from tablature compromises communication with other musicians such as flаutists or violinists, who are commonly trained only in the use of standard notation. Reliance solely upon tablature limits the repertoire of the player to works published in tablature or transcribed into it. A player who can read both forms of notation is at a decided advantage.

• Inherent harmonic or analytical information

The science of harmony and musical analysis is codified by recourse to standard musical notation. Standard musical scores enable musicians to utilise advanced tools for such analysis. These tools cannot be easily applied to, or from, tablature. Therefore the study of musical theory is hindered by reliance upon tablature.

• Rhythmic information

Tablature notation provides limited information on rhythm and timing. Tablature writers sometimes provide limited rhythmic information by adding note stems, flags and beams above the fret glyphs but the system is not as well-defined as in standard notation.

• Distinction between musical parts

Multiple parts cannot be rhythmically distinguished within tablature notation. This is a serious limitation when conveying information required for the proper rendition of multiple-part music on any polyphonic instrument.

• Indication of pitch

Tablature notation shows how the notes are fingered; relative pitch is shown and actual pitch can be calculated by considering the tuning, but it takes experience for a player to sing (or internalize) the notes by sight. Dynamic markup is usually left to the performers artistic sense. It can be difficult to get a general outline of the music by simply studying the tablature page without recourse to playing it through or listening to a recorded version beforehand. In contrast staff notation allows musicians to sing from sight.

Lute tablature[link]

French Renaissance style lute tablature, with corresponding notation for guitar: a simple Renaissance dance, printed by Pierre Attaingnant.

Lute tablature is similar to guitar tablature, but comes in at least three different varieties. The most common variety used today is based on the French Renaissance system (see example at right). In this style the strings are represented by the lines on the staff (occasionally the spaces above the lines on the staff), and the stops are indicated by lowercase letters of the alphabet (rather than numbers), with the letter a indicating an open string and the j skipped (as it was not originally a separate letter from i). A six-line staff is used, just as for modern guitar tablature. However, lutes were not limited to 6 strings or courses (they could have as many as 19), and stops for any courses beyond the sixth were shown below the bottom line, with short diagonal strokes (see below).

The letters soon developed somewhat stylized forms for ease of recognition. In particular, the letter c often resembled r. This was common in many styles of Renaissance handwriting, but also helped to differentiate c from e. Also, sometimes y was used for i.

Lute tablature provides flags above the staff to show the rhythms, often only providing a flag when the length of the beat changes, as shown in the example. (Notice that this piece begins with a half measure.)

Other variants of lute tablature use numbers rather than letters, write the stops on the lines rather than in the spaces, or even invert the entire staff so that the lowest strings are represented at the top and the highest are at the bottom (e.g., Italian Tablature).

As with guitar, various different lute tunings may be used, all written using the same tablature method. A tenor viola da gamba can usually be played directly from lute tablature as it typically uses the same tuning. A guitar can often be played from lute tablature by tuning the G string down to an F♯ and putting a capo at the third fret to preserve the original pitch.

In standard Baroque lute tabulature, each staff has six lines, representing the first six courses. The course of the highest pitch appears at the top, and that of the lowest appears at the bottom. (The Italian Archlute of the same period uses an opposite system.)

F____________________
D____________________
A____________________
F____________________
D____________________
A____________________

Lowercase letters or "glyphs"are placed on each of these lines to represent notes. If it is required to play an open D course, for instance, a small a will be placed on the appropriate line. For a note with the finger on the first fret a b, a note on the second fret a c, etc. However, as mentioned above, j was not used since it was not considered a separate letter from i, and c often looked more like r. Thus:

F_____c___
D_____a___
A_____b___
F_____c___
D_____a___
A_____b___
G - a

would represent a G-minor chord,

All open strings would represent a D-minor chord:

F______a________
D______a________
A______a________
F______a________
D______a________
A______a________
D- ///a

The strings below the sixth course are notated with additional short ledger lines: glyphs are placed below the staff. These courses are tuned in accordance with the key of each piece played:

G- a
F- /a
E- //a
D- ///a
C- 4
B- 5
A- 6

A number of slightly different systems were used to show rhythm: some scribes and printers used headed notes, but it was simpler for a scribe to use headless tails for the fast-moving notes these plucked instruments commonly played (breve to semi-fusa); and early printers followed the scribal practice. Individual tails were sometimes combined into 'grids', resemblimg today's beams. The semibreve was indicated by an untailed line, the breve by a circled line or a line flagged to the left. Regarding notation of rhythms, French manuscripts tend to use a more florid script for the rhythmic values while English and Germanic manuscripts tend to use a more conservative script.^{[citation needed]}

The lute was a virtuoso's instrument, and rapid ornamentation in the form of graces, trills, shakes, fall-backs, mordents, etc. were expected of players ad libitum to ornament the music artfully, beyond just playing the written notes. Some of these ornaments may be written out, but more commonly a special symbol would mark places where they might be used; these symbols are the subject for a special discussion; each scribe and composer had a different style of ornamentation and there were a variety of ways to notate them. However, for a general discussion of French tablature ornaments see Furnas' dissertation discussing the Manchester Lyra viol manuscript.^{[citation needed]}

The majority of viola da gamba tablature manuscripts is written in French Baroque tablature. The difference between viola da gamba tablature (also called lyra viol tablature) and lute tablute is that the chords in lyra viol music must include all the strings between the highest and lowest notes in the chord. Lutinists, however, can play broken chords (chords that do not include all the internal strings within a chord). Additionally, a diagonal slash often appears in lyra viol manuscript, indicating a slur. As these distinction are subtle, manuscripts have often been misidentified.^{[citation needed]}

Two features of French tablature are critical. French tablature does not use the letter i. It is replaced by the letter y. Second, the letter c is often written in a manner that suggest the letter r or a small capital Greek gamma.

A few lyra viol manuscripts notate music above the octave. In such rare cases, no letters are ignored. Thus, letters follow: h, y, j, k, l, and m. Lyra viol music above the octave is extremely rare. Contemporary composers, including Peter H. Adams have written music up to the octave and a fifth above the open string.^{[citation needed]}

German lute tablature[link]

Types of lute tablatures

The origins of German lute tablature can be traced back well into the 15th century. Blind organist Conrad Paumann is said to have invented it.^[4] It was used in German-speaking countries until the end of the 16th century. When German lute tablature was invented, the lute had only five courses, numbered 1 (the lowest sounding course) to 5 (highest). Each place where a course can be stopped at a fret is assigned with a letter of the alphabet, i.e., the first frets of courses 1 through 5 are represented by the letters a through e, the second frets by f through k, and so on. The letters j, u, w, are not used. Therefore, two substitutional signs are used, i.e., et (resembling the numeral 7) for the fourth course's fifth fret, and con (resembling the numeral 9) for the fifth course's fifth fret. From the sixth position upwards, the alphabetical order is resumed anew with added prime marks (a', b', ...), strokes above the letters, or the letters doubled (aa, bb, ...). When a 6th course was added to the lute around 1500 CE, different authors used different symbols for it. Chords are written in vertical order. Melodic motions are notated in the highest possible line, notwithstanding their actual register. Rhythmical signs, which are written in a line above the letters, are single stems (semibreves), shafts with one flag (minims), stems with two flags (crotchets), stems with three flags (quavers), stems with four flags (semiquavers). Stems with two or more flags can be grouped into units of two or four ("leiterlein" in German, i.e., small ladders).

Computer programs for writing tablatures[link]

See List of guitar tablature software

Various computer programs are available for writing tablature; some also write lyrics, guitar chord diagrams, chord symbols, and/or staff notation. ASCII tab files can be written (somewhat laboriously) with any ordinary word processor or text editor.

Both Sibelius and Finale software offer some lute tablature support in Italian, Spanish, and French styles, but no German, as is offered by Fronimo. Sibelius and Finale do not provide fonts to score lute tablature giving an historic appearance, but can incorporate any fonts needed for any style desired, with extra set-up time, which can be easily transferred to additional scores. More specialized lute and other early music tablature support is provided by Fronimo by Francesco Tribioli and Django by Alain Veylit.

Guitar tablature[link]

Guitar tablature consists of a series of horizontal lines forming a staff (or stave) similar to standard notation. Each line represents one of the instrument's strings. Therefore standard guitar tablature has a six-line staff and bass guitar tablature has four lines. The top line of the tablature represents the highest-pitched string of the guitar. By writing tablature with the lowest pitched notes on the bottom line and highest pitched notes on the top, tablature follows the same basic structure and layout as Western Standard Notation.

The following examples are labelled with letters on the left denoting the string names, with a lowercase e for the high E string. Tab lines may be numbered 1 through 6 instead, representing standard string numbering, where "1" is the high E string, "2" is the B string, etc.

The numbers that are written on the lines represent the fret used to obtain the desired pitch. For example, the number 3 written on the top line of the staff indicates that the player should press down at the third fret on the high E (first string). Number 0 denotes the nut — that is, an open string.

For chords, a letter above or below the tablature staff denotes the root note of the chord.

Examples of guitar tablature notation:

The chords E, F, and G:

e|---0---1---3---
B|---0---1---0---
G|---1---2---0---
D|---2---3---0---
A|---2---3---2---
E|---0---1---3---
     E   F   G

Tablature can use various lines, arrows, and other symbols to denote bends, hammer-ons, trills, pull-offs, slides, and so on. These are the tablature symbols that represent various techniques, though these may vary:

Guitar tablature is not standardized and different sheet-music publishers adopt different conventions. Songbooks and guitar magazines usually include a legend setting out the convention in use.

The most common form of lute tablature uses the same concept but differs in the details (e.g., it uses letters rather than numbers for frets). See below.

When circles are used to indicate fingering, sounded notes are white, an assumed root is grey, and a sounded root is black.^[5][6]

Musette tablature[link]

Musette tablature from Borjon de Scellery

Borjon de Scellery's Traité de la musette includes pieces for musette de cour in both standard notation and tablature, plus a partial explanation of his system. The numbers refer to the keys on the instrument, and are shown on a five-line stave so that they also correspond with standard notation. Standard symbols for note lengths are written above each tablature staff.

The standard notation shown in the illustration is also taken from de Scellery; no explanation is given for the slur-like symbol; the comma , is explained as indicating a tremblement, starting on the note above. No explanation is given for the unusual beaming or the significance (if any) of where note-length symbols are repeated.

Harmonica tablature[link]

The harmonica tablature was basically a one-to-one mapping of the notes to the corresponding hole and, thus, is a type of numbered musical notation. For each note, it will indicate the number of the hole to play, direction of breathing (in or out), and even bending (usually for diatonic) or "slide-in" (usually for chromatic)

One method of indicating direction of breath is by using arrows; another is by using either a "+" or "-" sign, or "i" (for inhale) and "e" (for exhale). Bending is shown with a bent arrow with the direction of breath, or by a circle around the note, or even a simple line next to the breath indicator. Additional lines and/or circles may be used to indicate how much to bend.

For example, on a "C" diatonic instrument:

Unbent    Bent lv1    Bent lv2    Bent  lv3
3i (B)    3i|  (Bb)   3i|| (A)    3i||| (G#)

To indicate button-press on a chromatic instrument, a similar indication to first-level bending may be used.

The breath indicator may be placed right next to the hole number, or below the number. The same is true for bending or button-press indicators.

To indicate the beat, in the arrow system the length of the arrow may be varied. However, the more popular method is to use a slightly simplified rhythm-symbol notation, such as "o" for a semibreve, // for a minim, "/" for a crotchet, "." for quavers, and place them above the characters, while spacing them accordingly.

For chords, the numbers to play are shown, so, for example: a C major (CEG) chord (on a C diatonic instrument): 456e However, they may simplify it, especially when playing blues. For chords, it was common to just play three or two holes instead (sometimes even just one), especially when the instrument is not of the same key. For example, in the blues progression in G (G G G G7 C C G G D7 D7 G G) it is common to use a C diatonic instrument, and notate the following:

• G chord (G-B-D): 34i (BD)
• G7 chord (G-B–D-F): 45i (DF).
• D7 chord (D-F♯-A-C): 4i (D) or 4e (C)

There are many harmonica tablature systems in use. The easiest tablature system works like this.

Diatonic Harmonica tablature

 2  = blow the 2 hole
-2  = draw the 2 hole
-2' = draw the 2 hole with a half bend
-2" = draw the 2 hole with a full bend

chords are shown by grouping notes with parentheses

(2 3) = blow the 2 hole and the 3 hole at the same time

Chromatic Harmonica tablature

  2 = blow the 2 hole
 -2 = draw the 2 hole
 <2 = blow the 2 hole with the button in
<-2 = draw the 2 hole with the button in

Harmonica tablature is usually lined up with lyrics to show the tune and the timing and usually tells one the key of the harmonica for which the song is tabbed.

Here is an example of harmonica tablature:

"Mack the Knife" C Diatonic

5   6   -6   -6   5  6   -6     -6
Oh the shark has pretty teeth, dear
-4  -5  -6    -6  -4 -5   -6
And he shows them pearly white
 6  -7  -8    7   -7   -6  7     -4
Just a jack knife has MacHeath, dear
 5  -5   7   -4  7  -7  -6
And he keeps it out of sight

Legal issues[link]

There has been much controversy over the legal position of tablature available on the Internet, as many Internet tablature websites provide user-created tablature without properly acquiring a print license from, or paying royalties to, the original songwriter and, often, the music publisher that controls these licenses. Although many of the Internet tablature websites that offer user-created tablature do not charge consumers for these transcriptions, revenue generated from advertising on these websites is typically kept by the website owners as profit, or used to cover the website's maintenance costs, and no – or very limited – royalties are received by the original songwriter. Further, music publishers and artists have been wary to license content to certain user-generated tablature websites due to quality issues with the tablature created by amateur users.

Such free Internet tablature sites often attempt to defend themselves by claiming to be educational providers or non-profit organizations, even if not formally registered as such.^{[7][not in citation given]} This leads to considerable difficulty justifying the service as legal under the fair use doctrine of copyright law (see Fair use as a defense). The legality of free Internet tablature served by such websites is disputed, largely because websites have thus far only been threatened with legal action; the issue has yet^[when?] to be taken to court.

As of December 12, 2005, distributing free tablatures of copyrighted music using the Internet was considered illegal by the music industry in the United States.^{[citation needed]} By early 2006, an unprecedented legal move was taken by the Music Publishers' Association (MPA), initiating legal action against tablature websites that hosted interpretations of songs and music. The MPA had been pushing for websites offering free tablatures to be shut down. MPA president Lauren Keiser said that their goal is for owners of free tablature services to face fines and even imprisonment.^[8] Several websites that offered free tablature have taken their tablature off-line until a solution or compromise is found. One of the proposed solutions is an alternative compensation system, which allows the widespread reproduction of digital copyrighted works while still paying songwriters and copyright owners. In addition, there are now a number of "legal" services offering guitar tablature that have been licensed by music publishers.^[9]

One site, MetalTabs.com, contacts the bands themselves for permission to post tablature. Few bands have declined the request.^[10]

The tablature debate was featured on NPR's Morning Edition in a segment entitled "Music Industry Goes after Guitar Tablature Websites" on August 7, 2006.^[11]

On April 10, 2010, Ultimate Guitar (UG), a Russia-based, free on-line tablature site, entered a licensing agreement with Harry Fox Agency.^[12] The agreement included rights for lyrics display, title search and tablature display with download and print capabilities. HFA’s over 44,000 represented publishers have the opportunity to opt in to the licensing arrangement with UG.

Rise of legal guitar tablature sites[link]

In light of the legal questions surrounding user-created on-line guitar tablature, a number of companies have been formed that claim to offer consumers legal on-line tablature, which has been officially-licensed from songwriters and/or music publishers. These companies offering legal content generally fall into three categories:

1. Websites that offer "professionally-created" content: These websites typically hire professional musicians to transcribe songs into guitar tablature, and generally charge anywhere from $0.99 to $6.99 for the ability to purchase legal pieces of guitar tablature. These websites also claim to have acquired the proper licenses to display this tablature on-line. Several websites in this first category specifically cater to guitarists, including guitarinstructor.com^[13] and unitedwetab.com.^[14]
2. Websites that offer "user-created" tablature, but have obtained the proper legal clearances to post these transcriptions on-line. There are several websites that fall into this second category, including Guitar World Tabs,^[15] mxtabs.net,^[16] and ultimate-guitar.com^[17] which generally do not charge consumers for using these user-created tablature pieces, and share any advertising revenue with music publishers and/or songwriters.
3. Websites that index other tablature resources, and offer unique formatting options, such as cleantab^[18] and chordie.^[19]

Mxtabs.net[link]

Mxtabs.net had been closed down due to complaints from copyright holders. However, as of February 23, 2006, the owners of Mxtabs put the website back on-line with a letter explaining their position. In short, they believe that the purpose of Mxtabs is to "aid musicians in learning their instruments". They say that Mxtabs has accounted for as much as $3000 a month in sheet music sales, and offers many tablatures that do not have equivalent sheet music published, so Mxtabs and similar sites are the only place that musicians can find a way to play these songs (other than figuring the songs out for themselves). The letter concludes by pointing out that tablatures have never been proven to be illegal, then requesting that sheet-music companies contact Mxtabs in order to create a system of tablature licensing.

On February 29, 2008, MXTabs.net relaunched as the first legitimately licensed site designed to provide musicians with access to free tablatures, while also compensating music publishers and songwriters for their intellectual property. Similar to other user generated content sites, MXTabs.net users are encouraged to create, edit, rate, and review their own tablature interpretations of their favourite songs. However, unlike other user-generated content sites, only songs that have received explicit permission from participating copyright owners will be made available on-line.

Guitar Tab Universe[link]

On 17 July 2006, Guitar Tab Universe (GTU) posted a letter on its home page that its ISP had been jointly threatened with legal action by the National Music Publishers Association (NMPA) and the MPA "on the basis that sharing tablature constitutes copyright infringement".^[20]

In response, GTU's site owner(s) immediately created a website named Music Student and Teacher Organization (MuSATO) to attempt to reposition themselves from an illegal-copyrighted-materials provider to an "education provider". MuSATO's main objective is to use fair use as their rationale to publish tablature free of charge. By claiming to be an educational provider, they do not have to obtain publication rights nor pay royalties to the original composers. MuSATO claims to be educational by classifying users downloading tablatures as "music students" and transcribers as "music teachers".

Furthermore, MuSATO also argues that Internet guitar tablature does not infringe upon publishers' copyrights because the tablature it provides does not contain rhythmic information and therefore is not an entirely accurate representation of the song. However, it did not note that some lyrics provided are copyrighted. It has since removed lyrics from all tablature in an attempt to appease the NMPA.^{[citation needed]} Tablature is not directly provided to users unless it is through the forum, where members link to other websites hosting tablature.

GuitarTabs.com has been contacted by the NMPA and MPA with similar copyright infringement allegations. The NMPA and MPA have also threatened Guitar Tab Universe with similar legal action. A copy of the certified letter received by the site owner, along with a brief note similar to the one posted on Mxtabs, has been posted on their website.^[21]

OLGA.net[link]

OLGA.net is another tablature site that has been removed after receiving letters from lawyers representing the NMPA and the MPA.[1]

See also[link]

• ASCII tab
• Digital sheet music
• Drum tablature
• Fret
• Keyboard tablature
• Klavar notation
• Musical notation
• TabWiki
• Trumpet tablature

Notes[link]

External links[link]

Wikibooks has more on the topic of Tablature

• Guitar tablature category at the Open Directory Project
• Banjo tablature category at the Open Directory Project
• Bass guitar tablature category at the Open Directory Project

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Nino Ferrer (born Nino Agostino Arturo Maria Ferrari in Genoa, Italy, 15 August 1934, died in Quercy Blanc, Saint-Cyprien Lot, Montcuq, 13 August 1998) was a famous French – Italian singer, actor and jazz musician.

Biography[link]

From prehistory to jazz[link]

The son of bourgeois parents, an Italian father and a French mother, Nino declared having had a pleasant childhood in a cultivated art-loving family. He spent the first five years of his life in New Caledonia where his father, an engineer, worked in a nickel mine. On holiday in France in 1939, Nino and his mother were unable to leave Europe because of the World War II. While his father carried on working in New Caledonia, they spent difficult years stuck and penniless in Italy, where Nino’s mother was considered the wife of an enemy.

In 1947, the family, re-united and moved to France. Nino was sent to the best colleges in Paris and earned a degree in ethnology and prehistoric archaeology. As a student, much of his free time was spent on archaeological digs and his first job was at the Musée de l'Homme with André Leroi-Gourhan.

Alongside his passion for history, he developed numerous other interests. He became a keen painter, and remained so until his death. Above all, he learned to play several instruments (piano, guitar, clarinet, trombone and trumpet) and composed, wrote lyrics and became a fervent jazz lover.

When he finished his studies, his grandmother offered him a trip to New Caledonia, a gift he took advantage of by going round the world on a cargo ship and taking part in archaeological work on the Isle des Pins in Melanesia. On his return to Paris, he tried several jobs, but everything was uninteresting and poorly paid. Already thinking about a career in music, he finally took the plunge and began accompanying jazz musicians, first of all Richard Bennett and the Dixiecats, then Bill Coleman.

From jazz to rhythm ’n’ blues[link]

At the beginning of the 1960s, he worked for several years with American singer Nancy Holloway as her guitarist, continuing at the same time to write gospel-inspired songs which received only refusals from most of the record companies. Hearing Otis Redding, Sam Cooke and Sam and Dave for the first time was a musical revelation and transformed his writing style.

Although already spotted by the Barclay record label, he had to wait until 1963 to record his first release, "Pour oublier qu’on s’est aimé". He was 29, whereas most of the young stars of the time were hardly 20. It was a four-track EP, written in a fairly classical vein, and did not sell well in France. However, one of the tracks, "C'est Irréparable", was a hit in some European countries, in Japan and even in the Middle East, where he did a week of concerts in Beirut. The song was picked up by Italian Mina as "Un anno d'amore", hitting #1 of the Italian singles chart.^[1]

Having left Barclay for a small label, Bel Air, Nino was still unknown in France. In 1964, he started a gospel group, Reverend Nino and the Jubilees, but it broke up before recording anything worth being released. Nino went on to bring out several solo singles without success.

From "Mirza" to "Je veux être noir"[link]

After so many lean years, the big break came unexpectedly in 1965 when Nino returned to Barclay, who gave him the chance to record his new material. After a few unsuccessful trials, a new artistic director, Richard Bennett, gave Nino free rein to record his compositions as he wanted.

And so Nino Ferrer recorded "Mirza", an effective cocktail of rhythm ‘n’ blues and caustic lyrics. The song was immediately a huge hit. His record company called for more songs in the same vein. His records sold very well and overnight the young singer became an idol. Now the zany singer in vogue, he followed "Mirza" up with "Les Cornichons" and "Oh! Hé! Hein! Bon". Although he was now very popular, his success was founded on material with which he never felt really comfortable. Nevertheless, hit followed hit and he lived his new life as a star at breakneck rhythm. In 1966, he gave 195 live performances and made nearly thirty TV appearances. He soon grew tired of his deliberately blasé and provocative seducer image of which people compared to Jacques Dutronc.

In 1966 he released "le Téléfon", another hit which people are still dancing to years later. However, despite his success, Ferrer, a straightforward, uncomplicated with show business. Little disposed to compromise, he left Paris for Italy where, at the same time, his song "Je veux être noir", was a success of an entirely different kind.

A change of direction[link]

Smothered by his own success, Nino stayed about three years in Italy, from 1967 to 1970. In France, his releases continued to sell well. His lyrics became increasingly iconoclastic, even politicised, while remaining just as sarcastic or even cynical. In 1967, he brought out "Mao et Moa" and "Mon copain Bismarck" and in 1968, "le Roi d’Angleterre", with biting lyrics echoing his irritation with show business and society in general. Around this time, Nino hired a young organist from Cameroon, Manu Dibango, later to become famous as a saxophonist.

In Italy, Nino became notorious in 1969 as the presenter of the satirical TV variety show, "Io, Agata e tu" with Nino Taranto and Raffaella Carrà. Then, after a brief love affair with Brigitte Bardot, he decided to return to France in 1970.

Determined now to conduct his career as he alone saw fit, he took up residence in the Quercy region in the South West of France and began breeding horses. But music remained his first love and his meeting with Englishman Mickey Finn, a guitarist who had played with T.Rex, Eric Clapton and the Rolling Stones, changed his attitude towards his work. With Finn, Nino launched into rock music and began to write darker, more personal lyrics.

Albums and hits[link]

1972 saw the release of the "Métronomie" album, considered by Ferrer to be his first ‘real’ album. Very much in the style of the time, the album was conceived as an ‘experience’, with the music accompanied by sound effects, but included a new version of his very first release, "Pour oublier qu’on s’est aimé". However, it was not the album which sold but one of its tracks, "la Maison près de la fontaine". Very different from the rest of the album, the single sold more than 500,000 copies. Yet again, the red carpet was unrolled for Nino which only redoubled his contempt for show business.

Ferrer continued to bring out almost an album per year. One hit track was enough to enable him to carry on doing more or less what he wanted, even if commercially the albums were seldom successful. In 1973, Nino started a part-time group with Mickey Finn and other musicians. Together, they recorded "Nino and Leggs", an entirely rock and roll album. The disc did not sell and Nino left the Barclay label for CBS. The following year, he released an album entirely in English, "Nino and Radiah". Radiah Frye is the young American singer on the album sleeve. Only one track was in French: "le Sud", one of Ferrer’s biggest hits. Now a standard of the French repertoire, "le Sud" is in fact only one version of a song originally written in English. When it was released, it was a huge hit, selling over a million copies. But Nino was not satisfied. Once again, the success of one track had overshadowed all the hard work on the rest of the album.

The following year, Nino Ferrer brought out a new album, "Suite en œuf", a commercial flop. The same was true of "Véritables vérités verdâtres, released in 1977 and which marked his departure from CBS.

Return and retirement[link]

The success of "le Sud" nevertheless enabled Ferrer to buy a house in the Quercy region. In 1976, he moved into a 15th century fortress at Lataillade, where he installed a recording studio and continued raising horses and painting. In 1978, he married Jacqueline Monestier, known as Kinou.

Now without a record company, Ferrer released each new album on a different label. In 1979, he brought out "Blanat" on a small independent label, Free Bird. A very gospel inspired, even jazz orientated, the album had both English and French lyrics, as often before. The same year, Ferrer met Jacques Higelin, and went on tour with him. The rock singer’s crazy imagination and powerful personality seduced Ferrer and encouraged him to perform live again, a practice he had abandoned a long time before. Following this tour, he played in Paris at the Bataclan with Paul Personne’s backing group.

The 1981 album, on the WEA label, "la Carmencita", was mostly made up of old material. In contrast, the following release, "Ex-Libris", was entirely new and written as a tribute to his father. 1981 was a year both of return and departure. Ferrer brought out another rock and roll album in the Leggs vein, "Rock ‘n’ roll cowboy", and sang at l’Olympia, the most prestigious of the Paris music venues. Yet, that same year, Ferrer slammed the door on show business definitively.

Nevertheless, he appeared the following year in a stage musical for children, "L’Arche de Noé", at the Théâtre de l’Unité in Paris. Composer of the music, he also played God in this moderately successful show. From the end of 1984 until 1986, Ferrer totally disappeared from the music scene. He retired to his castle where he painted, had several exhibitions and brought up his two sons, Pierre and Arthur. Nevertheless, he recorded an album in 1986, soberly entitled, "13ème album", and whose release went almost unnoticed.

Final chapter[link]

It was on the new FNAC label that Ferrer made his come-back in 1993. That year, he released an album of entirely original material, recorded for the most part at Lataillade and mixed in Toulouse. The sleeve and the lyrics were illustrated by the singer’s own paintings. Co-written with Mickey Finn, the album, as its title "La Désabusion" (a play on the words désabuser and illusion) suggests, marked only a half-hearted, morose return.

For around two years after "La Désabusion", Ferrer popped up in the news here and there. In 1994, he had an exhibition in Paris, published a collection of his writings and continued to promote the album. Then, from April to June 1995, he went on tour for the first time in years, with his faithful group, the Leggs. He was a guest at the Francofolies festival in la Rochelle in July. Also that year, he released a small ten-track album of original material recorded at home. A genuine family effort, recorded between 1987 and 1992, it includes versions of old hits such as "Mirza" and "le Sud", traditional folk songs ("Il pleut bergère", "Besame Mucho"), all of them sung by his wife Kinou, his son Arthur, Mickey Finn and numerous other musicians.

But after this media interlude, Ferrer was glad to return to his house, his animals, his family and his mother, Mounette, who had moved in with them. There followed another period of silence spent in the company of family and friends and helping Arthur, now a student like his brother, to prepare a début album. In July 1998, Mounette’s death left a vacuum in his life. A month later, on 13 August, Ferrer shot himself in the heart in the middle of a cornfield a few kilometres from his home, two days before his 64th birthday.

An unpredictable, moody character, Ferrer refused artistic compromise and therefore compromised his career. Nevertheless, with songs as different as "les Cornichons" and "le Sud", he left behind several indelible traces in French musical heritage, not forgetting numerous songs now hardly known.

Discography[link]

Album[link]

• 1970:Rats and rolls
• 1971:Métronomie
• 1972:Nino Ferrer and Leggs
• 1974:Nino and Radiah
• 1976:Suite en oeuf
• 1977:Véritables Variétés Verdâtres
• 1979:Blanat
• 1980:La Carmencita
• 1982:Ex-libris
• 1983:Rock'n'roll cow-boy
• 1986:13eme album
• 1989:Che fine ha fatto Nino Ferrer? – in Italy
• 1993:La dèsabusion
• 1996:Concert chez Harry – live

Great Italian success[link]

• 1967:La pelle nera
• 1967:Se mi vuoi sempre bene
• 1968:Il re d'Inghilterra
• 1968:Al telefono
• 1968:Agata
• 1968:La rua maduriera
• 1969:La mia vita per te
• 1969:Chiamatemi don Giovanni
• 1969:Donna Rosa
• 1969:Mr. Machin
• 1969:Viva la campagna
• 1970:Io, tu e il mare
• 1970:Re di cuori
• 1970:Palla di pelle di pollo
• 1970:Un giorno come un altro

References[link]

1. ^ ""Un anno d'amore"". hitparadeitalia.it. http://www.hitparadeitalia.it/schede/a/anno_damore.htm. Retrieved 22 November 2007. 

External links[link]

• Official site, in french language
• 82 Nino Ferrer french songs text
• Nino Ferrer at the Internet Movie Database

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (April 2012)

Richard Marx
Richard Marx in Germany (2005)
Background information
Birth name	Richard Noel Marx [1]
Born	(1963-09-16) September 16, 1963 (age 48)[1] Chicago, IL, United States[1]
Genres	Pop, soft rock, rock, adult contemporary
Occupations	Singer-songwriter, musician, record producer
Instruments	Vocals, keyboards, organ, piano, guitar
Years active	1982 - present
Labels	Capitol Records, EMI, Manhattan Records, Signal 21 Records, Zanzibar Records, Frontiers Records, Xenon Records
Associated acts	Dick Marx, Matt Scannell, Luther Vandross, Keith Urban
Website	Official website

Richard Noel Marx (born September 16, 1963 in Chicago, Illinois) is an American adult contemporary and pop/rock singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer. He had a string of hit singles in the late 1980s and 1990s, including "Endless Summer Nights", "Right Here Waiting", "Now and Forever", and "Hazard". Although most of his major hit songs were slow ballads, many of his songs had a classic rock style, such as "Don't Mean Nothing", "Should've Known Better," "Satisfied," and "Too Late To Say Goodbye". Marx placed himself in the record books by being the first solo artist to have his first seven singles hit the Top 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart (3, 3, 2, 1, 1, 1, 4). His record sales worldwide exceed 30 million.^[2] Aside from songs that he's written and recorded for himself, he has written, co-written, and produced successful tracks for other artists such as "This I Promise You" by NSYNC and "Dance With My Father" by Luther Vandross. The latter song won several Grammy Awards.^[3] His 14th and latest chart topper, "Long Hot Summer," performed by Keith Urban, gave Marx the distinction of having a song he wrote or co-write top the charts in four different decades.^[4]

Early life[link]

Marx is the only child of Ruth, a former singer, and Dick Marx, a jazz musician and founder of a successful jingle company in the early 1960s. He has three half-siblings from his father's previous marriage.^[5]

Early career[link]

Marx began his career in music at the age of 5, singing commercial jingles written by his father, Dick Marx's list of adverstising hits includes Arm & Hammer. Ken-L Ration^[6] and Nestlé Crunch.

Marx was 17 and living in Highland Park, Illinois when a tape of his songs ended up in the hands of Lionel Richie. Richie said he thought Marx had the talent to make it big, saying "I can't promise you anything, but you should come to L.A." ^[7] So after graduating from North Shore Country Day School, Marx moved to Los Angeles and visited Richie. "He was recording his first solo album (Lionel Richie) and having trouble with the background vocal," Marx recalls. "He tells me, ‘Come try this part.’ It worked and I ended up singing on his album." Marx contributed backing vocals to Richie’s hit "You Are", as well as "Running with the Night" and "All Night Long (All Night)", both on Richie's follow-up album Can't Slow Down.

In those early years, Marx would find any excuse possible to work within the recording industry. His enthusiasm and presence in the studio landed him several jobs as a background singer for artists such as Madonna, Whitney Houston and Luther Vandross, and, eventually, as a songwriter. Marx also had a minor acting role in the television movie Coach Of The Year, which starred Robert Conrad. He was singing for Kenny Rogers in 1984 when he overheard Rogers say he needed a new song. Within days, Marx gave him the demo of "Crazy." Rogers recorded it, along with another of Marx’s songs, "What About Me?", which also featured James Ingram and Kim Carnes. The trio recording hit #1 Adult Contemporary and #15 on the Billboard Hot 100 (while just scraping onto the Country and R&B charts) in late 1984 while "Crazy" hit #1 Country and #5 AC the following year. Soon after, Marx began working with producer David Foster and writing songs for the group Chicago and R&B singer Freddie Jackson.

While working as a songwriter and doing background vocals, Marx continued to pursue his own record deal. His demo tape was rejected by every label in Hollywood until, finally, four years after moving to Los Angeles, the president of EMI/Manhattan Records, Bruce Lundvall, heard Marx's demo and knew he had a star on his hands. He gave Marx a recording contract with the opportunity to write and record whatever he wanted. Marx contacted his good friend Fee Waybill, frontman of The Tubes, and some very talented musicians, including Joe Walsh, and Randy Meisner of the Eagles, and created a ten-track album that led to a very successful career.

Music career[link]

Debut album[link]

Marx's self-titled debut album, released in June 1987, yielded four hit singles and sold nearly four million copies in the US. The debut single, "Don't Mean Nothing", had been released the previous month and climbed to #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 as well as #1 on Billboard's Album Rock charts.^{[citation needed]} Marx became the first new artist played on 117 radio stations nationwide during his initial week on the charts. The next two singles, "Should’ve Known Better" and "Endless Summer Nights" reached #3 and #2, respectively.^{[citation needed]} The fourth single release, "Hold on to the Nights", earned Marx his first #1 Pop single.

With the success of his self-titled album, Marx became the first male artist to reach the Top 3 with four singles from a debut album. He embarked on his first world tour, initially opening for REO Speedwagon, but quickly began headlining his own shows. Marx's first tour kept him on the road for 14 months while the album remained on the charts for more than a year and a half.

In 1988, Marx was nominated for a Grammy Award for 'Best Rock Vocal Performance - Male' for "Don’t Mean Nothing" ^[8]

[edit] Repeat Offender

Repeat Offender, Marx’s second release (May 1989), hit pole position and pushed Prince out of the #1 spot on Billboard's Album chart. It went triple platinum within a few months and eventually sold over 5 million US copies. Repeat Offender was the result of the energy generated from over a year and a half on the road and was written or co-written entirely by Marx. "Some people might think that it would be easier this time around, that I could just kick back." Marx said at the time, "but the truth is, it’s harder, I’ve got more to prove."

The first two singles, "Satisfied" and the platinum-selling "Right Here Waiting," both reached #1, completing a string of three consecutive No. 1 singles. When the third single from Repeat Offender, "Angelia" climbed to #4, Marx became the first solo artist to reach the Top 5 with his first seven singles. Since then, "Right Here Waiting" has been covered numerous times, most notably by Monica and 112 in a 1998 duet.

Another song from the album, "Children of the Night", was written in support of the suburban Los Angeles (Van Nuys)-based organization for runaways. It became the fifth single from Repeat Offender, and all royalties were donated to the charity.

Marx's second world tour began in the spring of 1989 and took him to Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, Japan, Europe, Canada, and the United States, lasting through August 1990. Highlights of that tour included a performance in the prestigious Royal Albert Hall in London and an invitation from Tina Turner to tour Germany.

Marx also had the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to perform the Beatles’ "Help" at the Berlin Wall in late 1989. Marx also received his second Grammy nomination in 1990 for "Best Pop Vocal Performance - Male" for "Right Here Waiting".^[9]

[edit] Rush Street

Marx went on to release a number of other albums. In 1991 he released his third consecutive multi-platinum album Rush Street. This album saw artists such as Luther Vandross and Billy Joel appear as backing vocalists and guest pianists. The disc's first single, "Keep Coming Back", went to #12 pop as well as #1 on Billboard's Adult Contemporary charts for 4 weeks running. "Hazard", which depicted a man being wrongfully accused of murder in a fictional version of Hazard, Nebraska, went #1 in charts around the world. Two more Top 10 singles were culled from Rush Street with "Take This Heart" (AC #4, Hot 100 #20) and "Chains Around My Heart" (AC #9, Hot 100 #44).^{[citation needed]} In August 2001 Marx admitted that the track "Superstar," from the Rush Street album was about pop star Madonna.^[10]

[edit] Paid Vacation

In early 1994, as Marx and his family permanently left Los Angeles behind and returned to Chicago, Marx released Paid Vacation, and scored his fourth consecutive platinum album. The acoustic ballad "Now and Forever" peaked at #7 on the Hot 100 and spent 11 weeks in the Top 10 (also #12 in the UK) and also held the #1 position on Billboard's Adult Contemporary charts for 11 weeks - at the time just one week short of the all-time record. The follow-up single, "The Way She Loves Me," climbed to #3 on the US AC chart and #20 on the Pop charts.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Flesh and Bone

1997 saw the release of Flesh and Bone - Marx's final studio album on the Capitol imprint. This album sold 250,000 copies in the United States. "Until I Find You Again" hit #1 in several countries and #3 in the US.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Greatest Hits

Marx's Greatest Hits compilation was released in November 1997. The 16-track album includes a variety of hit singles from his first five albums plus "Angel’s Lullaby," a song written about his children originally appearing on For Our Children, Too, a compilation CD released in 1996 to benefit the Pediatric AIDS Foundation. Greatest Hits was released in Asia in November 1998 and included two new songs, "Slipping Away" and "Thanks To You," a touching tribute to his mother. Marx’s dedication and support of numerous charities has continued throughout his career.

[edit] Days in Avalon

In 2000, Marx debuted his sixth studio album Days in Avalon. This disc was released on the Signal 21 Records label founded by Marx and former Blood, Sweat & Tears drummer and record producer Bobby Colomby. Its title track, "Days in Avalon", was picked up by Adult Contemporary radio and spent 12 weeks in the chart's Top 30.^{[citation needed]} The album was also quite successful in other parts of the world, particularly Asia and Australia. The label became the vehicle for the release of this disc, and folded shortly thereafter.

[edit] My Own Best Enemy