Is there such a thing as good UX for tab editors?

[gloom]

I want to start by saying that I ask this in the context of guitar tab editors, specifically. I don't know music notation, so I can't speak to that kind of editing at all.

Way back, I used TabIt. I loved it. I would write songs deep into the night. I could enter almost a flow state with the app. But, I would be the first to admit that trying to write drums was a huge pain in the ass, right? You have to remember certain things, like the kick is 35. (I don't remember if it's exactly that, but you get the idea.) So, I'm sitting there hitting right arrow -> 35 -> right arrow -> 35. It's pretty painful.

Guitar was actually kind of worse. You are navigating this space with arrows. You make a mistake and type a 3 instead of a 13. So you have to delete the space and start over. Or, you back up and want to replace a 3 with a 5, but then it makes it 35. So you actually have to delete the space and make it 35.

Then, what if you want to change the tempo? Let's say you've written the whole thing out at 120, but realize you need some faster notes. You had to change the tempo, then go back and add space between all of the notes to make the slow parts slow again.

I've tried Guitar Pro and Muse Score and just haven't found a smooth tab editor interface...

Has anyone come across any advancements on editing techniques in this regard? Something closer to MIDI piano roll editing, while retaining the simple 6-string layout? I've seen a few with drag 'n drop, but I don't think I would be able to tab at the speed I'd like to using the mouse.

Anyway, just fishing for alternate takes / ideas. Otherwise, I guess I suck it up and "get good" with Guitar Pro.

[krosancolossus]

Honestly, I think all the ones I've used, have the same issues. In my view it's about just really learning a workflow and getting it really under your fingers. I use Tux Guitar myself, which isn't any less fiddly than Guitar Pro but crashes WAY less in my experience

[Largos]

You could try Frescobaldi, a front end for lilypond.

Section on editing tab https://lilypond.org/doc/v2.23/Document ... tablatures

[gloom]

Frescobaldi looks very interesting. The issue is mainly that I don't know music theory or what fret 5 on a E string is. I learned guitar by jamming to the radio back in high school and just kinda fumbled my way through it over the years. It is appealing, though, because I'm a programmer and I love text tools like this. (Mermaid for diagramming, for instance, is amazing.)

I'll try it out and see what happens. Will also pop TuxGuitar open.

Thanks for the advice ya'll!

[Largos]

Here you go https://www.lessonface.com/sites/defaul ... oard_0.jpg

Notes go from A to G and back round again. In between the notes, there are other notes called the flat of note after it or the sharp of the one before it. This is with the exception of B to C and E to F where there is no note. Ab (flat) and G# (sharp) is the same note so it wouldn't matter which you call it for the purposes of programming that for guitar tab. It would matter if you are doing staff notation because what it's called is dependent on which scale is being used.

That's about all, maybe a bit more, than you need to know. That said, you should learn some music theory because it'll make what you're doing easier. It should be straight forward for a programmer as it's mostly math based.