Petition to save Guitar Tablature Sites

Save Guitar Tab Sites.

Web sites that host user-created guitar tablature are the next target of the MPA (Music Publishers Association). Many guitar tab web sites have already been forced to shut down by the MPA, and with legal threats pending against the biggest tab sites it is quite likely that the rest of them will shut down rather than face an expensive legal appeal.

With legal action against these web sites the MPA will only hurt one person: The Fan!

-- What is "guitar tab"? --
It is the symbolic representation of a musical arrangement for guitars, very much like piano sheet music but with a totally different way of notation; instead of using the traditional "notes on a staff" like piano music, most guitar tab is representation of the six strings of the guitar, with indicators on each string that show where the string should be fretted.

Here is a simple example of guitar tab for an E chord, an A chord and a G chord:

E A G
-0---------2----
-0----2----2----
-1----2----0----
-2----2----0----
-2----0----2----
-0----x----3----

Since this is NOT traditional musical notation the only people who can benefit from it are other guitarists.

-- Who makes these tabs? --
Guitar tablature is created by fans who sit for hours in their living room, listening to their favorite songs literally hundreds of times while trying to figure out which chords are used and how the song is played.

-- Who uses these tabs? --
The fans! The ones who buy CDs, goes to concerts, create fan support groups, and convince all their friends to buy a CD or concert ticket too! The ones who love to play their favorite songs on their guitar, alone or in the company of friends.

-- Are these tablatures "stolen"? --
No, as long as they are not copied from a songbook or other commercial source. These files are only as good or bad as the person who makes them.

-- Are tablatures bad for a band? --
No, because only real fans make or use tabs. As mentioned, these are the ones who buy the CDs, go to the concerts, and spread the word about their favorite band.

-- Are tabs bad for songbook sales? --
No, because very often there are no songbooks available even from "major and popular" bands!

-- Why do guitar tab sites exist? --
Very often a music publisher will not take the time and expense to create accurate and professional sheet music transcriptions of ALL the music in their catalog, and will only do so for the highest-selling artists and albums of the moment, at the expense of older or less popular music. Ironically, a LOT of "professional" music transcription is highly inaccurate and usually does not contain all the details necessary to play a song properly (such as a lack of guitar solos or musical accents). So, in most cases, a fan-created guitar tab is not only far more accurate than most commercial songbooks but quite possibly the only source for a transcription of the music.

-- If anyone can sit down and listen to music and write it down, why do we need guitar tab sites? --
Because most people are not as proficient as the musicians who played on a given song, and lacking a lot of experience it is not difficult or even impossible for most guitarists to "figure out" what it is they are hearing in the song. When you consider that there are literally dozens (if not hundreds) of ways of playing an "E chord" it is not surprising that most amateur guitarists want some help in figuring out how a song is played.

-- How does this hurt the artist? --
It doesn't! Unlike typical music piracy, where sharing a copy of a song or album with a friend might cause the music industry to lose a sale, there is almost never any legitimate guitar transcriptions available for any given artist so the artist cannot be said to "lose a sale".

The MPA is doing their clients (the musicians) a great disservice because they are only harming the fans. We hope that this petition will let the MPA see that we care about these sites and the free tabs!