I am looking for an app to put tabs into so I have them when I am away. Ideally an app that does not require internet for me to see the apps I have entered would be great. I see many advertised online but I wonder how useful they are and how much baggage comes with them. The goal is to be able to think “I have some time, how did that song go?” and then look it up and work on it. I would like to be able to type in my own tabs for songs that are hard to find or that I have modified so I can remember. I also would like to be able to enter tabs for the various scales to do warmups and remember the different scales and positions.
You can use any text editor (at least that’s how I do it). I mostly use the editor that is built into the cool file manager named Cx File Explorer.
There many others (such as Notepad Pro from PANAGOLA), so there is no need to hunt for a special “tabs app”. What advantage(s) can one get with such an app that you don’t get with a simple text editor?
Thanks slim, I was thinking of word but I did not think it would work on a phone. I am still kind of new to smartphones and the app operating systems with touch screens still frustrate me. I did not think there was a simple text system and a logical way to keep track of it. I keep finding lame emoji nonesense and programs that disappear behind other programs. The other challenge is being able to type it on an actual computer and then transfer it to a phone. I did not think it was possible.
Micro$oft Word on a smartphone? I cannot comment about that, but I think it would be a major overkill to do that. Until one gets accustomed to using a smartphone and its touch screen, things all seem rather difficult to do, but using Word will not make things any easier.
Since you are a “smartphone novice” I suggest turning to the file manager app I mentioned: Cx File Explorer. That way you have the simple text editor included in the nice little file manager app. You can create folders as well as text files (give them the file extension “txt” like BoogieBlues.txt) and then enter your tabs in that file. You can copy and move files from folder to folder with the file manager.
Cx File Explorer also permits connecting to your laptop or desktop computer (over your local WLAN) so that you can transfer files. However, there are simpler file transfer utilities that are more intuitive. Perhaps your easiest transfer method would be: email the files to be transferred (add them as attachments to the email) to another email account that you have. Then on the machine that is to get the files: open your email and simply download the attachment(s). The email method is quite easy and I use an extra email account just for this purpose.
I’ve used Google Keep and agree with @Slim, the simpler, the better.
My only problem with Google Keep is that when I copy it and paste it into another program, like a chat, I tend to lose the spacing of the notes, which often takes time and effort to get into the right places.
Another option I’ve used with some success is Google Sheets which helps to keep everything lined up where it needs to be.
More recently, I am just writing the songs I really like in long-hand and then putting the notes in “Intervals” rather than the actual blows and draws, since the intervals stay the same in the same scales across different instruments.
All the harp tab common notation characters are on basically any keyboard: + for blow (or no symbol for blow), - for draw, ’ for a single bend (such -1’, -4’ and -6’) or the first draw bend on holes with more than one bend (-2’ and -3’), then use " for the double bend (-2" and -3") and either ‘" or * for a triple bend (-3’" or -3*).
Blow bends (where they are possible) in the same way: +8’ or 8’, +9’ or 9’, +10’ and +10" or 10" and 10".
For overblows use, for example, +4o or 4o or +4° or 4°. And for those who can overdraw: use -7o or -7°, etc.
For things like the rapid -4 -5 -4 -5 sort of play you can try -4<>-5 or [-4<>-5]. Chords: (-1-2-3), and splits: [-1/-4] or whatever. I think everyone gets the ideas used here.
I was just using word as an example of a program I know I can type stuff into. When word processors first came out they were not 50 gb programs. I downloaded the file manager. It was only 6 mb. I am not sure why this is not standard. Even for just seeing what is on my phone I like it already. I will likely just type up some files and send them to my phone somehow so I can see them. And yes, I still do not like these tablet android app operating systems.
Hi
I agree no program required. Just a filing system.
If you don’t like touch screens get a stylis. Like a pen but with a rubbery end you tap the keyboard with. Any stationery shop will sell them. Some phones come with them. Samsung note models or similar. They work on any touch screen. Helpful if you’ve got the deets.
Saving and moving things with particular spacing and new line breaks is problematic from one app to another unless you copy your text and numbers as an image. Screen shot it, don’t copy it. Images are seen as a picture and will lock the letters and symbols in the places you’ve put them.
I also use digital options for other things as much as possible. But when taking notes for tabs, I use good old lined paper and an ink pen or pencil. Here I make changes as I need.
Why? I enjoy browsing through it months later to see what I have learned at that point. I then smile and am happy that I wouldn’t need notes for the same thing today because my brain has it saved.
Plus, the notes look like the sheet music of famous composers. Hieroglyphs for others…
