Chromatic tab source?

[Judy K]

Does anyone know of a source of chromatic tab? I've downloaded some of the tab the Yahoo bowed dulcimer group has. The tab isn't for me but for a nephew who has taken over the Hambas BD. Most of the chromatic tab I've found is totally unfamiliar to him. I can create tab, if necessary, but thought to take the lazy man's way first and ask for any links.

He hasn't mentioned any particular song he'd like but has tried to play "Danny Boy".

[southernmiss]

Does he know standard notation? It's not that difficult to learn, and I recommend it for the BD. That would open the door to playing anything and everything.

Cheers!

Lee

[Judy K]

Lee, he prefers tab, but can slowly read SMN. He has a history of dyslexia and I think the tab is just much easier to comprehend quickly. He is playing by ear more than anything but had asked me about chromatic tab. After searching last night, I've come to the conclusion that it is not to be found other than on the Yahoo BD group. With Finale Allegro I can create chromatic tab for any piece he wants ... finding the time is the snag. This may be a project for a Christmas gift.

Thanks for the suggestion, though. I was feeling abandoned here.

[southernmiss]

Wish I could have been more help, Judy. We definitely need more BD tab, maybe even a spot for it here on everythingdulcimer. I don't know how to use Finale, or I'd give it a try for you. I know Ruth Randle uses Tabledit, and I've tried to use that, but my learning curve has been slow. How does your nephew like the BD so far? I think it's a wonderful instrument and have another one on order from Ken Bloom (a pocket cello). Finding even standard notation for the bass clef is going to be a challenge for me. I need to learn more about transposing music I guess.

I wish you luck in your search. More tab would be a really nice Christmas gift for you nephew.

Lee

[Judy K]

Lee, I think he is going to love the bowed dulcimer ... and (darn it!) will probably be much better than I ever will. He has very large hands and has no trouble reaching anything on the fretboard. The first day he messed around with it he was picking out a tune using only the melody string. (His mom plays noter/drone on a diatonic [no 6+] MD.) I pointed out that he could start on the bass string and work across. He liked that idea better but had no problem using the one string, covering over an octave of notes.

Finale Allegro is very user-friendly and makes a nice looking score. The only downside is you can only set it for a diatonic dulcimer or chromatic, no other fret configurations can be used automatically. For MD tab I just add plus signs where needed to get it to print out right, but the midi won't match. BD chromatic tab is easy.

Maybe I should change this thread to "Why isn't Chromatic tab more available and how can we fix it?"

BTW Lee, if you have any particular piece of music you need converted from treble clef to bass, I would be willing to try it and email you the PDF.

[southernmiss]

Thank you so much, Judy. I appreciate the offer.

Since your nephew is doing so well playing up and down one string, I'm wondering if he might try to play the same notes across the strings instead of up and down. Perhaps start with a few scales. Just a thought. Since he can play already by ear, I think he's a step ahead.

Happy Thanksgiving,

Lee

[Ken Bloom]

Hi Judy,

If you join the Yahoo Discussion group at boweddulcimer.com there is a lot of music you can downloard there in both diatonic and chromatic tab. We will take up the tab discussion again at the Pilot Mountain event in April. I would like to do all of it in chromatic tab and let Ruth post the diatonic for those that want it. We'll see how it goes this year. Your nephew sounds like a very talented lad.

Ken Bloom
http://www.boweddulcimer.com

[Judy K]

Hi Ken! I do belong to the Yahoo BD group, just under a totally unfamiliar name and haven't ever posted there. I've printed out some of the tab from there. The only problem is that most of the songs/tunes are unknown to my nephew. He can slowly read music but tends to ignore time & rhythm on unfamiliar pieces. If I keep him to tunes he knows, the timing comes out much better ... and I keep my thin grasp on sanity.

Wish the Pilot Mountain event was possible to attend. I'd bring the nephew along, too.

[Ken Bloom]

Hi Judy,

I have a high tech solution. Find the tune on Youtube and listen to someone play it. All th etunes that there is chromatic tab for are pretty standard ones and you should be able to locate Youtube perfomrances of them. Then your nephew could listent to them and get some idea of what it is suppose to sound like.

Ken Bloom
http://www.boweddulcimer.com

[Robin T]

Hey, Judy!
Being proficient at reading neither tablature nor standard notation, I second Ken's suggestion to point your nephew toward YouTube to listen to tunes to get an idea of how they're supposed to sound. (Hope your nephew's not on dial-up!)

Your postings are further proof that playing bowed dulcimers is addictive.

Robin T

[Judy K]

Hey Robin ... yep, the bowed dulcimer is addictive! And, unfortunately, both my nephew(in-law) and I are still using dial-up. Some of the satellite internet services are available now, but our neighbors using them have had some lousy experiences. We're on a "wait until the bugs are worked out here" frame of mind.

I'm trying to convert some Christmas music to chromatic tab. My niece (wife of the aspiring BD player) & I have Larry Conger's Christmas Duets book. He wants to play the BD while we play MD. Should be fun ... if we ever get it right.

[Robin T]

Christmas music on BD with MD's sounds lovely, Judy! It's so neat when people get together to share music.

We're on satellite and it costs a lot (just shy of $80 a month )! And it's not always reliable. We can watch videos (let them load first, usually) and get downloads quite a bit faster than when we were on dial-up.

Robin T