banjo_brad - Posted - 08/02/2008:  15:47:41

As many of you know, Old Woodchuck is preparing to put RSB on the web. I am assisting in developing the site, and we would like your input on what you would like to see in the way of presentation.

Currently, I am hosting some tabs on my Prickly Pear Music site, but hope to make the new page a bit more dedicated to RSB and maybe easier to use.

Please try to direct your comments here to how you would like the material presented, i.e., downloadable pdfs, midis and tabs; the text presented in html format on the site with the midis and tabs needed to be downloaded, or what.

Thanks for your input.

Brad
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www.PricklyPearMusic.net
http://ezfolk.com/audio/bands/5/ My ezFolk page
http://ezfolk.com/audio/bands/3371/ Tucson Old Time Music Circle page on ezFolk
http://www.totmc.org Tucson Old Time Music Circle Homepage

KE - Posted - 08/02/2008:  15:57:43

On other sites I have tended to prefer have the choice of pdf for a quick look and printout, and .tef for modifying the display format and listening.

Indeed, now that I look at your website, that's it!

RedZinger - Posted - 08/02/2008:  16:02:47

I'd prefer pdf format. You can either look at it online, save it and/or print out sections. My $.02
Rob

banjo_brad - Posted - 08/02/2008:  20:15:29

Remember, there's more to RSB than just tab. There is also a lot of written instruction, plus OWC will be providing midi files, and there will be links to the YouTube videos if I can't figure out how to put them on the page, too.

Thanks, this is the kind of input we are looking for.

Brad
------------------
www.PricklyPearMusic.net
http://ezfolk.com/audio/bands/5/ My ezFolk page
http://ezfolk.com/audio/bands/3371/ Tucson Old Time Music Circle page on ezFolk
http://www.totmc.org Tucson Old Time Music Circle Homepage

janolov - Posted - 08/03/2008:  01:16:41

I prefer .tef because there you have the midi file included already and it is possible to adjust your own printing format. I belong to the minority that sometimes prefer reading notation.

The midi files are essential. OldWoodChuck has made a lot of efforts to really catch the music into tablature and midi. The midi files often sounds terrible and you have to have a lot of imagination to recogize it is a banjo you hear. But once you have got the imagination the midi files can give you a lot of information of the sounds.

You should think of that US and Europe have different paper size standards. We have A4 format (210 x 297 mm or 8.3 x 11.7 ") and you have letter format (216 x 279 mm or 8.5 x 11 ") and they can in certain cases cause problems. If all pages (.pdf and .tef and .doc) has enough of margins there is usually no problems. I have had no problems with the RSB material so far.

The written material should be presented chapter by chapter, or section by section, so it is easy to identify a special topic, find the approprate text, and make a printout of the text. The full RSB (pdf-format) is rather comprehensive with its 228 pages and is difficult to handle as study material. I have put it in a folder as reference material but it is difficult to have in front of you when playing. It is better to have smaller printouts with only a few pages.

I never have my computer when I play so I always take printouts. I would prefer to have the text in separate pdf files, instead of directly on the web-page in html code. The html make it look good on the screen, but often it is difficult to make printouts that can be read. Especially if there are graphics on the pages the printout can look strange.

That were some of my thought. Good luck with the project.

Jan-Olov

LyleK - Posted - 08/03/2008:  05:36:21

Hi BB,
For the tabs I'm partial to both *.pdf and *.tef as they serve different functions. *.pdf for a quick read/print and *.tef for playing midis or making corrections to the tab. For the "*.doc" files *.html probably wouldn't work well because of printing issues. There maybe *.pdf and *.doc would be the best of both worlds.

The really hard part is probably going to be keeping track of version issues, but I'm looking forward to whatever you guys come up with. Great resource already!

LyleK
tabs at: http://lylewk.home.comcast.net

Kitt - Posted - 08/03/2008:  19:46:52

I hope tabs could be made available on pdf. I don't know if it's practical or not to make them available on both, but I find pdf simple to work with so I'm partial to it for tabs.

oldwoodchuckb - Posted - 08/06/2008:  15:04:42

Sorry I haven't come in sooner, but I'm having eye problems - and have been struggling to read anythig on a computer screen.
I can tell you that there will always be tefs involved in RSB - for the simple reason that RSB is about those tefs. Simple, free, quick access to teh MIDI is the reason I chose Tabledit over some considerably more professional tab writing programs. I wanted people to be able to read the tabs and listen to the MIDI together because this is really going to be a revolution in music learning. Give it a try.
I haev gotten emails about how inconvieient it is to practice banjo at the computer, but even if you just use the MIDI to listen to the tunes before getting out the banjo you have got a "leg up" on recordings where a banjo player, For eamp[le, me, is simply not going to play the tune through exactly the same way twice. Never happens - never will happen - that's not my style.
As I spend more time at the computer with a banjo in my hand - I used to make paper tabs and tehn transfer to the comoputer but now I work directly from teh banjo to the tab program) I find that the MIDI is an absolutely great practice partner - everyone knows I hate metronomes, but the MIDI is a metronome that plays teh melody instead of some annoying beeps and boops, ticks and fleas, bings and bobs. It may not be a great musician, or even a good musician but the MIDI never stops because of a mistake and never wavers in it's rhythm. IT is like playing with a very well done record that never ends. I've been doing some fun duets with MIDI recently.

If you are interested in what I say and would like to know more, it ony cost the price of an email. Write me at:
oldwoodchuckb@yahoo.com
and I will send you a copy of the entire Rocket Science Banjo with all the text now in PDF, plus all the exercise tabs and jpgs as well as "25 tunes" (which is now up to about 38) in banjo tab, playable with the MIDI built into your computer, so you can play along at whatever speed you choose to set.
put RSB in the subject line.
I neither keep nor re-use your email

You can watch the videos for some Rocket Science Banjo subjects starting here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdRuf4X0X7g
Banjo Brad is hosting How To Mold A Mighty Pinky adn other material at
http://home.thegrid.net/~fjbrad/id20.html

oldwoodchuckb - Posted - 08/09/2008:  13:29:31

I should also point out that the latest version of RSB has all the exercises and tabs that are part of the book included in the PDF file.

Thanks to Frank Scholle I also have PDF versions of the 38 tabs of the "25 EZ Tunes" and if I get enough call for them I'll bundle them up and send them out. I think there is too much stuff there to bundle into either of the other emails but I'll find a way if people indicate they want them.


If you are interested in what I say and would like to know more, it ony cost the price of an email. Write me at:
oldwoodchuckb@yahoo.com
and I will send you a copy of the entire Rocket Science Banjo with all the text now in PDF, plus all the exercise tabs and jpgs as well as "25 tunes" (which is now up to about 38) in banjo tab, playable with the MIDI built into your computer, so you can play along at whatever speed you choose to set.
put RSB in the subject line.
I neither keep nor re-use your email

You can watch the videos for some Rocket Science Banjo subjects starting here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdRuf4X0X7g
Banjo Brad is hosting How To Mold A Mighty Pinky adn other material at
http://home.thegrid.net/~fjbrad/id20.html