Okay. After taking a look at our options, I think the way Elvis posted the Last Kiss should be the way we do it.
The pros for ASCII files:
1. Portable
2. Flexible
3. Easy to use
The cons:
1. Hard to represent melodies and such (unless you use tabbing, which still leaves a lot of rhytmic info out)
2. No cool MIDI confirmation of the chords
3. Hard to show how rhythm and lyrics go together
Alternatives:
ProTab: I would suggest waiting until the version with lyric support
Word: don't like the idea of proprietary format, but gives better format control.
PDF: I personally don't have the ability to easily create these. So creation would be an issue.
HTML: This is also harder to create than plain text. But could give format control. Using tables, we might be able to devise a fairly easy way to coordinate rhythm to lyrics.
Anything else???
So, in the ASCII format I propose we use, the format would be as follows:
1. Title of Song
2. Artist(s)
3. Rhythm pattern
4. Lyrics with bracketed chord name in-line. (i.e. the way Elvis and Bull have presented it)
5. Optional chord fingering. Recommended if slightly bizarre chords used.
6. Source info on where recording of song can be had, for listening.
7. Optional info on alternate versions (I don't know this version of Last Kiss, but as soon as I started reading the lyrics, I realized that I am very familiar with the Spanish version of this tune).
8. Mandatory disclaimer that tab is for educational purposes, blah, blah, blah.
What am I missing?
Ahh! Where to put the files? I would appreciate it if folks can host their own tab files, to keep my throughput down as much as possible. It's not an issue right now, but if this takes off, it could be an issue that will need to be dealt with (where would I move to, etc). If you host it, I just need the URL to include in the database.
What other stuff would y'all like to add? I would like to firm this up to get the database filled up a bit so it is actually good for something and not just a load of vaporware.
The Easy Song Database: http://www2.shore.net/~maryesme/bin/easy.cgi
Take part in its creation: https://www.guitarnoise.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=7
Remember. Even if we decide to use the ASCII file format, we can always add other versions later, should we want. I think most people just want some consistency and reliabilty, which is why I would like to firm up a little what the format should be.
The Easy Song Database: http://www2.shore.net/~maryesme/bin/easy.cgi
Take part in its creation: https://www.guitarnoise.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=7
This might be a stupid question, but what is ASCII?
It is a standard format for simple text in computing (source code editing etc). Stands for "American Standard Code for Information Interchange".
If you want more, it is an 8-bit character set, originally used in the days of CPM and DOS.
32 and 64 bit computers use sets based around such standards as ISO 8859, which offers a theoretical 65534 characters.
I started with nothing - and I've still got most of it left.
Did you know that the word "gullible" is not in any dictionary?
Greybeard's Pages
My Articles & Reviews on GN
Mark, i agree with your suggestions as well. PDF is too hard for most to create, and I'd really like to steer you away from using Word. There are lots of linux & Mac users who are also beginner guitar players! ;) ASCII would probably be best for now. So should elvis & re-post our songs? (i had followed his format when posting 'Stand By Me' of putting the chords bracketed in the text. I also listed the strum pattern).
One last thing -> once everything settles and if you need a hand with running things, feel free to let us know. I'm sure you'll get help from some of us here (i'm more than willing to do what i can).
Thanks.
How about .txt files, note pad will output this kind of file. Can a Mac user open these files?
-Bull
.txt is a plain text file, which is what I am referring to as ASCII.
But the discussion does bring up an issue that may or may not be worth considering.... ASCII does pretty much limit us to English or German (if you use double s for esszet and vowel + e combos for the umlauted vowels). And I can do Spanish with the extended characters, but it is not as purty.
We can deem this a non-issue, though, since we are probably really only concerned with learning English-language tunes (although, I have tons of easy Spanish-language tunes).
Whatch'all think? (Yeah. That's English... at least where I'm from)
The Easy Song Database: http://www2.shore.net/~maryesme/bin/easy.cgi
Take part in its creation: https://www.guitarnoise.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=7
probably at least 99% of the songs will be in english, so i see no problem there
but why do you know so many spanish songs?
My interests have been heavily focused on Latin music since about 1990 or so. I speak fluent Spanish, lived in South America for a while, and am married to a Colombian.
The Easy Song Database: http://www2.shore.net/~maryesme/bin/easy.cgi
Take part in its creation: https://www.guitarnoise.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=7
Oh, for the record, I don't "know" all of them. I have access to them. I am familiar with a bunch of songs, can sing about 20 to 50 of those and can play only about a dozen or so. I could probably play more if I sat down and worked on them, but I don't suffer from a lack of material, since I have GuitarNoise, my guitar teacher, requests from family and friends, and now the cool stuff I am getting from this little project. I suffer from a lack of time and often times ability (you know, except for the one chord or that really tricky chord change, I could play that whole song through... you've been there, you know you have :)
The Easy Song Database: http://www2.shore.net/~maryesme/bin/easy.cgi
Take part in its creation: https://www.guitarnoise.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=7
Go with ASCII - everyboy has an OS text editor (like Notepad) and they all use ASCII. They also use Courier as standard font, which is monospaced, making tab diagrams much easier.
If you want something a little bit more sophisticated than notepad, find a text editor on the internet, they are usually together with programming utilities. They give you loads of features that notepad doesn't offer, like block copy. Normal copy starts at a given position in a line and, when it reaches the end, starts at position 1 of the next line. Block copy allows me to start at say column 35, the next line starting also at position 35 (NOT 1). Fantastic for copying blocks of tab.
There are plenty that are freeware
I started with nothing - and I've still got most of it left.
Did you know that the word "gullible" is not in any dictionary?
Greybeard's Pages
My Articles & Reviews on GN
Like Greybeard said-
Everybody can read a .txt file.
And you can import it into almost any text editor.
And you can cut and paste a .txt file into almost all software programs.
I also like the Courier font.
-Bull
Hi,
I just joined your forums and saw that you are trying to find a format for your standard. The format should always be ASCII. E.g. I am currently developing a program (called Guitar Songbook Wizard) which converts a given ASCII definition into Standard ASCII, PDF and HTML. Here's an example:
http://www.subjectmusic.com/download/nirvana-lakeoffire.txt
can be converted to the following PDF:
http://www.subjectmusic.com/download/nirvana-lakeoffire.pdf
Originally I developed this tool 2001 but never released it... now I am planning to release it somewhen within the next weeks... I hope that you find it interesting.
Ronald
ps. did I mention the tool will be free of course? ;)
EasyChord - Free Chord Dictonary - http://www.subjectmusic.com/easychord/
ScaleTool - Free Scale Generator - http://www.scaletool.com
Sweet! Make sure you keep us up to date on the development of this application.
The Easy Song Database: http://www2.shore.net/~maryesme/bin/easy.cgi
Take part in its creation: https://www.guitarnoise.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=7
