4 ms·

TabFont – guitar tabs rendered as you type

95 points by ChrisArchitect 4mo ago

jakefleming 4mo ago
This is one of those things that should obviously exist and I'm mad I didn't think of it!
efilife 4mo ago
So awesome. Sad it isn't getting the attention it deserves
- roelmore 4mo ago
  [dead]
sunnyallan 4mo ago
[flagged]
djtriptych 4mo ago
OMG. This solves like 8 problems with me. Currently teaching my niece guitar basics and have always wanted this for my guitar videos.
tuvix 4mo ago
Extremely cool. This got me thinking that I would love to have a mermaid-like dsl for creating full tabs and apparently it exists![0] [0] https://github.com/0xfe/vextab https://github.com/0xfe/vextab
ken195 4mo ago
[dead]
SaberTail 4mo ago
The name is misleading. The glyphs are showing individual chord shapes. I can't write out a song using this. At best I can use this at the top of a tab to remind myself how the chords are meant to be shaped. But that doesn't appear to work much beyond the basic cowboy chords. For example, I tried 577655 which is an A major barre chord, and it didn't render. I realize a font can only do so much, but I wouldn't pay for this.
- djtriptych 4mo ago
  Hmm yeah I guess what I really want is a maekdown style mini-language that compiles to tab format.
  - Finnucane 4mo ago
    Isn't that what LilyPond does, more or less?
    - TylerE 4mo ago
      Not really. The lilypond format is extremely...complicated and obscure (and that's my polite take on it). Even simple stuff is quite complex. Very very far from Markdown's virtually WYSIWYG.
      - Finnucane 4mo ago
        Yes, but music notation is not simple text. Markdown was made for simple text. If you try to represent more complex text, it turns into Asciidoc or Rst.
  - TylerE 4mo ago
    There's no such thing as "Tab format". Tabs are just ascii text.
    - djtriptych 4mo ago
      lol markdown and html are also both ascii/unicode and by themselves disprove your point.
      - TylerE 4mo ago
        Um, how exactly does that even tangentially relate to my point?
        4mo ago
sshanky 4mo ago
Does anyone find the little "finger" shapes confusing? I would rather see circles, so my brain doesn't have to adapt to a new way of reading tabs. Also, the inverted "D" shape is hard to parse because it's not a symmetric shape. Cool idea, other than that! It reminds me of this new QR code font I read about just yesterday: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48703200 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48703200
- TylerE 4mo ago
  Yeah, as a guitarist this is hideously non-standard. Definition of change for the sake of change.
- ollysb 4mo ago
  If shows the direction your fingers would point on the guitar neck but it's not like there's much confusion around this point.
altmanaltman 4mo ago
Why does the number of chords in the library change as you scroll? It should remain static no?
deleted 4mo ago
[deleted]
tadfisher 4mo ago
I love tablature because it allowed me to learn the songs that I love and bring joy when I play. I hate tablature because it's like reading English as it's written out in IPA. I want finger positions and staff notation so I can learn the theory while actually playing the dang song correctly. I credit tablature and my lazy programmer mind for putting off the theory. Also (channeling Tantacrul here) staff notation is the worst notation, except for all the others.
- beezlebroxxxxxx 4mo ago
  Berklee Press has some excellent books with what you're looking for, one in 3 volumes by Will Leavitt. There's another that's more barebones but covers the basics well by Hal Leonard. The former, especially, essentially starts at notation first and then only later introduces tabs when it feels like it. Very challenging if you've been tabs-only, but very rewarding. It's an exaggeration, but working through them will make you learn the guitar as an instrument for personal expression rather than just a means for playing other peoples' songs.
  - tadfisher 4mo ago
    Is this the one from Leavitt? A Modern Method for Guitar [1] If so I will order it. Thank you for the suggestion. 1: https://berkleepress.com/guitar/a-modern-method-for-guitar-bookdvd-rom/ https://berkleepress.com/guitar/a-modern-method-for-guitar-b...
gjvc 4mo ago
shite
ingvay7 4mo ago
Dig the Picker which lets you click the chord name and shows its visual. I think in chord symbols and play a ton of shapes but cant remember their names for the life of me. The visual fingering solves this. To atleast be articulate about what i'm tryin to play. All the other stuff seems less useful.
nativeit 4mo ago
Anyone else here learn to play the guitar in the early-to-mid ‘90s using plain text tabs from OLGA?
kazinator 4mo ago
A version of this font with more chord shapes in it would be useful, like say CMaj7:{digit1-9} would yield different fingerings/voicings for each trailing digit value. You could put together a chord progression that has reasonable voice leading, and could be mostly played as written.

jakefleming 4mo ago

This is one of those things that should obviously exist and I'm mad I didn't think of it!

efilife 4mo ago

So awesome. Sad it isn't getting the attention it deserves

roelmore 4mo ago
[dead]

sunnyallan 4mo ago

[flagged]

djtriptych 4mo ago

OMG. This solves like 8 problems with me. Currently teaching my niece guitar basics and have always wanted this for my guitar videos.

tuvix 4mo ago

Extremely cool. This got me thinking that I would love to have a mermaid-like dsl for creating full tabs and apparently it exists![0] [0] https://github.com/0xfe/vextab https://github.com/0xfe/vextab

ken195 4mo ago

[dead]

SaberTail 4mo ago

The name is misleading. The glyphs are showing individual chord shapes. I can't write out a song using this. At best I can use this at the top of a tab to remind myself how the chords are meant to be shaped. But that doesn't appear to work much beyond the basic cowboy chords. For example, I tried 577655 which is an A major barre chord, and it didn't render. I realize a font can only do so much, but I wouldn't pay for this.

djtriptych 4mo ago
Hmm yeah I guess what I really want is a maekdown style mini-language that compiles to tab format.
- Finnucane 4mo ago
  Isn't that what LilyPond does, more or less?
  - TylerE 4mo ago
    Not really. The lilypond format is extremely...complicated and obscure (and that's my polite take on it). Even simple stuff is quite complex. Very very far from Markdown's virtually WYSIWYG.
    - Finnucane 4mo ago
      Yes, but music notation is not simple text. Markdown was made for simple text. If you try to represent more complex text, it turns into Asciidoc or Rst.
- TylerE 4mo ago
  There's no such thing as "Tab format". Tabs are just ascii text.
  - djtriptych 4mo ago
    lol markdown and html are also both ascii/unicode and by themselves disprove your point.
    - TylerE 4mo ago
      Um, how exactly does that even tangentially relate to my point?
      - 4mo ago

sshanky 4mo ago

Does anyone find the little "finger" shapes confusing? I would rather see circles, so my brain doesn't have to adapt to a new way of reading tabs. Also, the inverted "D" shape is hard to parse because it's not a symmetric shape. Cool idea, other than that! It reminds me of this new QR code font I read about just yesterday: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48703200 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48703200

TylerE 4mo ago
Yeah, as a guitarist this is hideously non-standard. Definition of change for the sake of change.
ollysb 4mo ago
If shows the direction your fingers would point on the guitar neck but it's not like there's much confusion around this point.

altmanaltman 4mo ago

Why does the number of chords in the library change as you scroll? It should remain static no?

deleted 4mo ago

[deleted]

tadfisher 4mo ago

I love tablature because it allowed me to learn the songs that I love and bring joy when I play. I hate tablature because it's like reading English as it's written out in IPA. I want finger positions and staff notation so I can learn the theory while actually playing the dang song correctly. I credit tablature and my lazy programmer mind for putting off the theory. Also (channeling Tantacrul here) staff notation is the worst notation, except for all the others.

beezlebroxxxxxx 4mo ago
Berklee Press has some excellent books with what you're looking for, one in 3 volumes by Will Leavitt. There's another that's more barebones but covers the basics well by Hal Leonard. The former, especially, essentially starts at notation first and then only later introduces tabs when it feels like it. Very challenging if you've been tabs-only, but very rewarding. It's an exaggeration, but working through them will make you learn the guitar as an instrument for personal expression rather than just a means for playing other peoples' songs.
- tadfisher 4mo ago
  Is this the one from Leavitt? A Modern Method for Guitar [1] If so I will order it. Thank you for the suggestion. 1: https://berkleepress.com/guitar/a-modern-method-for-guitar-bookdvd-rom/ https://berkleepress.com/guitar/a-modern-method-for-guitar-b...

gjvc 4mo ago

shite

ingvay7 4mo ago

Dig the Picker which lets you click the chord name and shows its visual. I think in chord symbols and play a ton of shapes but cant remember their names for the life of me. The visual fingering solves this. To atleast be articulate about what i'm tryin to play. All the other stuff seems less useful.

nativeit 4mo ago

Anyone else here learn to play the guitar in the early-to-mid ‘90s using plain text tabs from OLGA?

kazinator 4mo ago

A version of this font with more chord shapes in it would be useful, like say CMaj7:{digit1-9} would yield different fingerings/voicings for each trailing digit value. You could put together a chord progression that has reasonable voice leading, and could be mostly played as written.