Brand New Easy Song Database

Glad to hear you are the one working on this.

My first suggestion is to not restrict the database to "Easy". Just use easy, intermediate and advanced as selection keys. Even if it starts off with just the easy it will be able to grow.

Second is to enhance the chord search process that does not always work in the old version. This is a good feature for beginners to select songs based on chords they already know. I also like the "if you learn one more chord you can play this song" feature.

See if it can be made user update able so anyone can add a song but the admin must have editorial rights. Probably best to do it with a form that asks all the right questions like
1 - is it easy, intermediate etc.,
2 - names of the chords in it and their basic sequence,
3 - since the most common beginner question is "What is the strumming pattern" it would be good if a recommended pattern is included,
4 - tempo or just the metronome speed would be nice.
5 - genre (for possible search key)
6 - plectrum or finger pick

I just don't think we want this to turn into "just another TAB data base".

By the way, if you need help let me know...

Nils,

As a Newbie, you just covered all the areas that I"m usually looking for. Man, I love this Site.

Thanks to all,
Jim

Strumming patterns and Tempos would definately be a bonus!!

My first suggestion is to not restrict the database to "Easy". Just use easy, intermediate and advanced as selection keys. Even if it starts off with just the easy it will be able to grow.

Excellent thought! I DID notice while going through the posts that there were quite a few that had a comment similar to "this may be more for intermediates.........")
Second is to enhance the chord search process that does not always work in the old version.

I had thought about that, too. One quick question, though. Would y'all want it searchable by the number of chords in a song or by the actual chords in the song (i.e. "this song contains the chords D,A,G" while "this song contains the chords F#min, G, E7, Am6, C, D7" ) or both?
See if it can be made user update able so anyone can add a song but the admin must have editorial rights. Probably best to do it with a form that asks all the right questions like
1 - is it easy, intermediate etc.,
2 - names of the chords in it and their basic sequence,
3 - since the most common beginner question is "What is the strumming pattern" it would be good if a recommended pattern is included,
4 - tempo or just the metronome speed would be nice.
5 - genre (for possible search key)
6 - plectrum or finger pick

I just don't think we want this to turn into "just another TAB data base".

Another excellent suggestion! Having a user submission form would be great and it's something I hadn't thought of! Thanks!

And, I agree... if people want just tabs, well, there's a million tab sites out there already! I would like to make this database special and unique (since GN is such a special and unique site full of special and unique people!)

Thanks for your great input, Nils!

I just had another thought that I want to run by y'all re: strumming patterns & tempos...........

While going through the older posts of songs I'm noticing that most of the people who are posting aren't posting strumming patterns/tempos and I figure that's possibly because they don't know how to write the strumming patterns (or know the tempos), but, occasionally, someone will come along behind them and post the patterns they use for those songs. What I would like to ask is if there are any slightly more advanced people out there who would be willing to work out patterns to post along with the songs? I thought that if we could get several volunteers willing to put in just a little bit of time each on patterns we could turn this into a beginner's (and even intermediate's) paradise! :D I'm willing to do my share of patterning, but I'm going to have my hands full for a little while, just getting this database up and functional. Any volunteers? :D TIA!

I agree with all comments so far. To me, if we / you / the site is calling it "Easy" then the songs within it should be just that.

Quite a few of the songs on the database at present, I wouldn't call easy. But its subjective, one person's difficult song is another's piece of cake I suppose!

Maybe you could split it songs containing just open chords / songs containing barre chords??

Regards

Matt

Maybe you could split it songs containing just open chords / songs containing barre chords?

Another excellent idea!

If you set up a riffs section and request posts for the same it would be nice to have links to a sound byte (MP3) for each riff this could be done by the posting member.
Its all very well seeing and being able to read tab but it doesnt give you any real sense of timing and if youre getting original riffs which I hope we will an MP3 would be a great addition and act as a good teaching aid.

Easy is a subjective term, although there is a general notion of what fits in easy, intermediate, etc...
I think being able to specify what chords you know, and get a list of songs back that use only those chords, would be helpful to beginners.
All the other suggestions are very good, I think the more options we have, the more useful it will be, provided you're able to incorporate them without cluttering up the interface.
I'd like to second Nils' offer to help out if you need it.

I just had another thought. Last night I created a snippet in answer to a post on recording and created this mp3 Simple test

My thought was we could add mp3's for the strumming patterns if we choose to include the patterns. Obviously we could get someone better than me and with better recording capabilities to do it.

Just a thought.

I think that those short snippets would be ideal. I was wondering how to come up with enough space to accomodate full mp3's and I think you may have solved the problem! If necessary, we could do a couple of snippets per song if the pattern changes between verses and chorus/bridge.... maybe do an intro or an outro. Thank you, Nils! Partials had not entered my mind!

What I'm doing right now, and y'all tell me if I'm leaving anything important out...... As I'm collecting the songs and entering them I'm also gathering the info about each song, i.e., chords used, # of chords in that song, whether it's standard or alternate tuning, whether it's fingerpickable or flatpickable, whether or not a strumming pattern is included, whether or not barres are used, the genre, and, of course, artist and title (Oh! And the submitter's name). And, since Nils came up with such a brilliant idea, I will also add whether or not an mp3 snippet is available.

Have I covered most of the bases? If I've left something out, please let me know!

And, I also want to publicly thank Nils, PappaJohn and Scratchmonkey for volunteering their expertise! You guys ROCK! :D

And, I also want to publicly thank ... PappaJohn ... for volunteering their expertise! You guys ROCK! :D
I, for one, am happy to. :D

Tis my pleasure Elecktrablue. Just let me know what you need me to do.