Banjo TAB for blind players

Cory Doctorow 12:01 am Sun Feb 22, 2009

Patrick Costello, the travelling open-source banjo instructor, sez, "A visually impaired banjo player in the Netherlands contacted me the other day asking for help. He wanted a way to use banjo tab with his Braille display.

Tab, or tabulature, is different from music notation in that tab gives the user specific mechanical instructions — literally, 'put your fingers here'. With a folk banjo style like frailing students usually learn the mechanics of playing long before they dive into music theory so access to tab is a big deal for beginners.

With some input from Ruud I was able to come up with a simple system that he would make sense in Braille.

I posted information on the new tab system on my web site, and musicians from all over have started to transpose frailing banjo songs and exercises into this new format."

Braille-Friendly Banjo TAB

(Thanks, Patrick!)

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