Guitar tab googling

June 7, 2004 9:50 PM

What is your preferred method for googling or otherwise searching for guitar tabs?

(I will be buying some as well, but not everything I want is officially published).

Related question: I am 37 years old, and I have never seen someone pick up a guitar at a party and actually entertain the group. Is this just an urban myth, or has anyone actually carried a room before (as opposed to sitting in the corner trying to pick out stairway to heaven).

posted by mecran01 to computers & internet (18 comments total)

When I wanted lyrics to songs, I usually ignored the song title and songwriter and typed in the chorus or a some phrase from the lyrics. From typing in "guitar tabs" in google and looking around, it looks like a lot of the guitar tabs have lyrics in them, so...
posted by sleslie at 10:09 PM on June 7, 2004

I pick 'otherwise searching', as in offline. So much online tab is crap that wading through it to find a gem isn't worth it.

As for your second question: How many people do you know who can sing even the first verse of "Blowing In The Wind" or "Mr. Tambourine Man"? (Update song examples in accordance with your particular generation.)
posted by mischief at 10:11 PM on June 7, 2004

I am 37 years old, and I have never seen someone pick up a guitar at a party and actually entertain the group. Is this just an urban myth, or has anyone actually carried a room before (as opposed to sitting in the corner trying to pick out stairway to heaven).

I've seen it happen plenty of times in person, and I've always wanted to be that guy, except for I can't play guitar. I think the key is to actually be good and not be "picking out" anything.
posted by lnicole at 10:20 PM on June 7, 2004

Have you tried usenet? If you used the google groups advanced search for guitar tabs, I bet you could find a lot of good stuff. Even search the particular groups.

If you limit the search to before 2000 or so, it's pretty close to spam free.
posted by malphigian at 10:21 PM on June 7, 2004

I like OLGA, but mischief's observation about wading through crap still applies.
posted by mmcg at 10:47 PM on June 7, 2004

I generally use tabs just for those few bars that I can't work out from the CD. A google for "song name" + tab generally gets a few sources. It's worth getting more than one tab of the same song - I'll third the caveat regarding bad transcriptions.
posted by nomis at 11:03 PM on June 7, 2004

I am 37 years old, and I have never seen someone pick up a guitar at a party and actually entertain the group.

Once my buddy and I were jamming on the porch at a party, and were invited to come inside and play, and the stereo was turned off for us. Another time, people were dancing to our music. Ah, the proud memories!

That's two positive responses in my guitar-playing lifetime, and we jam at almost every party we go to. The ratio isn't that good.
posted by nomis at 11:11 PM on June 7, 2004

I usually type in "song name" "artist" +tab into google.

And the answer to your question is yes. I've been involved, many times, but it has to be the right type of party. Campfires are particularly good.
posted by sauril at 1:38 AM on June 8, 2004

Previous tab search thread here.

I do what sauril does, except that I search for both "tab" and "tabs". Google works better than any of the tab sites out there.

On the party question, I think it depends on the intention of the guitarist. Some of them want to perform. They demand everyone's attention and insist that everyone sing along. That immediately kills any other dynamic the party had going. It's no different than the guy telling jokes in a loud voice.

On the other hand, I've seen musicians who can play well start playing for a circle of people who are interested, and others are free to join the circle or keep talking about something else. Flamenco guitarists do this really well; the ones I've seen show up at parties play for the joy of it rather than to entertain everyone, and they wind up entertaining people more because they don't insist on being the center of attention.
posted by fuzz at 4:21 AM on June 8, 2004

There is a very nice community of quality tabs coming along over at powertabs.net. The file format is based upon the freeware Power Tab Editor which has primariliy replaced chordpro for me and many others. Members there are quickly building up an archive of tabs that are of Olga quality (circa 1995). There are some dud tabs but, the member rating/review system makes it pretty easy sort them out. There are a lot more gems than duds there. And the Power Tab Editor is just plain cool.
posted by Dean_Paxton at 7:09 AM on June 8, 2004

I've found the best way to get tab is to check out fan sites. also!

Is this just an urban myth, or has anyone actually carried a room before (as opposed to sitting in the corner trying to pick out stairway to heaven).

yep! I can smoke a fret board, y'all.
posted by mcsweetie at 8:20 AM on June 8, 2004

There are a shitload of GuitarPro tabs out there, most much better quality than text-based tabs, and you can search from within the program, and it'll play the tab for you, transpose it, etc. etc. etc.
posted by signal at 8:54 AM on June 8, 2004

I am 37 years old, and I have never seen someone pick up a guitar at a party and actually entertain the group.

When I lived in Seattle (1992 - 1999) and this happened at house parties as a matter of routine, though I have yet to see it happen at a cocktail party in Manhattan. Like mcsweetie I shred much gargantuan ass, and am available for birthdays and bat mitzvahs.
posted by psmealey at 9:36 AM on June 8, 2004

as far as the original question is concerned, I usually google //band name// //song name// "guitar tab", which usually does it. Since there are so many resources out there, you usually have to hunt for a good one among the result sets that it returns. There are hundreds of resources out there (OLGA, tabcrawler, etc.), but no one resource has a monopoly on quality tabs.
posted by psmealey at 10:01 AM on June 8, 2004

So you want to entertain a room, eh?

First off, learn songs everyone knows. Classic rock songs are good starters like the Beatles, Stones, Pink Floyd. You can fake your way through lots of popular tunes.

Secondly, no one cares if you play the wrong chord, dont play/know the lead, or play a minor instead of a major. The real instrument is your voice, the guitar is really secondary.

Make sure there is alcohol involved. Sing alongs don't happen to sober people.
posted by skallas at 10:24 PM on June 8, 2004

Ummm...what's a 'tab'?

I'm interested in learning to play guitar, maybe start this summer. I want to start with basic chords so I can play songs like Uncle John's Band or Take it Easy or Greeneyes. Should I buy a book to start with, or take a lesson as a rank beginner?
posted by aacheson at 10:38 PM on June 8, 2004

Damn! Previous comment was actually me, msacheson. I didn't notice the wife was still logged in.
posted by msacheson at 10:40 PM on June 8, 2004

tab is short for tablature (don't know where that comes from). It's basically fretboard notation for guitar players that don't want to or can't read standard musical notation.

I basically would recommend anyone learning to play to learn how to read music, but I understand why this can be frustrating. aacheson, I would recommend you start with a few lessons and take it from there. Like anything, a new discipline or skill is easier to pick up if you have to be somewhere at a certain time every week.
posted by psmealey at 1:30 PM on June 9, 2004