Harmonica tablature

I now have compiled some 180 tabbed songs for chromatic harmonica which I have sourced substantially from two websites – harptabs and  harpinanawhinin .  My collection also include a few diatonic harmonica tabs which could become handy if and when I decide to try and learn to play the popular diatonic ten holers.

Harmonica tab.  Here is an example of a tab for the first verse of a popular Filipino love song, Ang Tangi Kong Pagibig (My One and  Only Love):

Key: Am (Chromatic)

 2        5         -4   -3        3* -4      -3   -3  -4    5      6   -5 

 Ang   ta-----ngi kong pag-i-----big ay minsan lamang

     -2 -5  5     -4      -3-3 3* -6    6  -4 -5   5  

 Ngunit ang 'yong akala   ay hindi tunay

    2  5     -4  -3  3* -4 -3    -3   -4    5  -5    6   -6  

  Hindi   ka  li--li--mutin magpakai--lan pa man

     -6  6      -5  5 6  -3 5-4 -5    3*  -4 -3

   Habang ako ay narito at may buhay.

In the above example, the number notation is supposed to be the  simulation of the hole position of the note in the harmonica.  In actuality it represents the note itself. The "2", for example, is an "E" in the lower octave for both diatonic and chromatic and is played as a blow note.  The rule is a positive number should be played as a blow note, while a negative number should be played as a draw note.  Number notations with an "asterisk", as in 3* above, (sometimes represented by '<" or "#"),  are to be played with the slider pushed in for chromatic harmonicas.

Tablature chart.  The complete tablature chart for a chromatic harmonica and the corresponding equivalent key of C in a diatonic harmonica is shown below:

Note	Diatonic	Chromatic
C	1	1
C#	1*	1*
D	-1	-1
D#	-1*	-1*
E	2	2
F	-2"	-2
F#	-2*	-2*
G	3-2	3
G#	3*	3
A	-3"	-3
A#	-3"*	-3*
B	-3	-4
C	4 3o	4 5
C#	4*	4*5*
D	-4	-5
D#	-4*	-5*
E	5	6
F	-5	-6
F#	-5*	-6*
G	6	7
G#	6*	7*
A	-6	-7
A#	-6*	-7*
B	-7	-8
C	7	8 9
C#	7*	8*9*
D	-8	-9
D#	-8*	-9*
E	8-8o	10
F	-9	-10
F#	-9*	-10*
G	9	11
G#	9*	11*
A	-10	-11
A#	-10*	-11*
B	10'	-12
C	10	12
C#	10*	12*

Legend:

+ =blow

- = draw

* = slider in

' = half step bend

“ = two half step (whole step) bend

“' = three halfstep bend

o = overblow

The diatonic chart was lifted from harptabs which shows a complete musical notation  for diatonic harmonica under the name of W. M. Molino, while the chromatic chart was taken from theCoast2Coast. The slider-in notation (*) applies only to chromatic harmonica, while the bends and overblows apply only to diatonics. Sometimes the slider-in position is notated with the sign "<", or "#",  before or after the number notation. I do not use the sophisticated convention presented in angelfire because  some of the recommended usage conflict with the conventions I have adopted for use in my compilations.

Tabbiing Tools.  At the onset, I did not know that the tablature for diatonics is different from chromatics.  In several instances, while attempting to play a tabbed song in my Hero I would sometimes sense that the tabs do not seem to jibe with the familiar melody.  I would then reconstruct the tab with the help of the piano and use notes name.  The whole piece is then converted back to numeric tabs using the find and replace facility of the word processor. I did not realize then that what I was actually doing was convert diatonic tabs to chromatics.  

Here are some tools I use to tab a song:

I would initially established the key of the song by listening to a performer in youtube.  With the virtual piano in my ipad, I would  play the song line by line and record the melody in note-names in my desktop computer.  After completing the piece in note names, I would run the find and replace tool of the word processor and produce the chromatic tab for the song.  Then, I would use myHero chromatic harmonica, or the Echo Celeste for songs without semitones,  to test the final tab.

Eventually, with the help of generous members of harmonicaclub, I discovered that  a separate tab system is used for diatonics, and this is differentiated with notations for half (or full) steps for bending notes, including overblows. And so, after having gone through the rigors of unnecessary reconstruction and conversions , I finally learned to select only from my sources the tabs for chromatics and shied away from diatonic tabs. And while selecting only chromatic tabs for my collection, I finally realized that most of the tabs I have previously gathered were actually not "incorrect" but were accurately tabbed for a diatonic harmonica.  Of course, it took some time for me to understand this.

Using Notes Names.  One good thing that happened to me during the times that I had to convert "incorrect" diatonic tabs, was the exposure to note-names. Here is the tab in note-names for the above song:

   
E    [C] B    A    G# B A  A   B   [C]    [E]  [D]
 Ang tangi kong pag-ibig ay minsan lamang

 F [D] [C]     B     A A G# [F]   [E] B [D][C]
Ngunit   ang 'yong akala    ay   hindi tunay

E [C] B A G#B A   A   B[C][D]    [E]  [F]
Hindi ka lilimutin magpakailan pa man

[F]  [E]    [D]C] [E]   A[C]B [D] G#  B    A
Habang ako    ay narito   at  may buhay.
(n.b. The notes in brackets are played in the higher octave)

In doing the reconstruction of diatonic tabs to chromatics I became very familiar with the note-names.  The thought of using the notations to further improve my piano playing came to my mind.  So, I made sure that the note-names notations are also made part of the file alongside with the numeric tabs, together with the guitar chords for the songs.  In my experience, I have come to take the note names tab in the same degree of usage and acceptance as the numeric tabs because the blow and draw notes are really confined to specific notes.  The blow notes are C, C#, E, G and G#, while the draw notes are D, D#, F, F#, A , A# and B. I do not use the notation for flat notes, e.g., Eb, because it tends to confuse the major note.  For instance, Eb might be mistakenly played as a blow note because the  E note, is a blow note,  or the mistake could be made vice-versa.  Instead of Eb, I use D#, which is a draw, and the notation is consistent with the major note D, which is also a draw.

However, the numeric tab is superior to the note-name notation because the numbers with negative signs immediately alerts the player  that the note is a draw.  On the other hand, the note-name notation has the advantage of bridging the gap between the instrument and the music piece because the note names can prepare the player for a shift to an actual use of music notes sheet, without the need of providing for a separate harmonica tablature. The drawback is, if and when the key is changed to another, the numeric tabs will stay, but the note-name notation will have to be converted to follow the new key.