Songbook / official tablature / Joy Division?

Community Hub đź—¨ Just Chatting
1

So recently i was watching Invasion. A series about an alien race, invading earth, etc… you get the picture. I like it.

But… in season one, in one of the episodes (when the kids are on the bus) there’s this short soundbite of (i had to look it up) Joy Division’s “Twenty Four Hours”.
That blew my mind… Really… Never heard it before. Whoa, what a song, what a sound…
Very relatable…

I want to be able to play the guitar part, and here’s my question:
are there any songbooks around that have official tabs for the songs?

There’s lots to be found on the net, but are they accurate? I like to buy official tabs,that way, i’m sure of what i’m playing is correct.

I haven’t found one yet, so maybe there’s someone in the community who knows where i can buy one?

2

That’s one of my favourite songs of theirs.

You probably found the several tabs of it on Ultimate Guitar. As for accuracy, I think if it sounds right, it’s good enough, particularly as bands often have multiple versions of their material, and play variations whenever they perform.

1 Like
3

You need to under stand how studio record are made. Songs come in in rough form usually written on a piano, the musicians learn the basics of the song then there are rewrites and multiple takes until the producer is happy with the end result.

Very few songs are recorded as written and even less are written as recorded. So in reality there are no official song books and no official versions

1 Like
4

Yep, i found tabs on Ultimate Guitar but wasn’t sure if they were correct.

5

But i bought the doors guitar tablature anthology recently, and that has tabs for a lot of songs, just like Kruger played them.

6

My experience with songbooks are they are close enough. The chords are nearly always correct. Sometimes there is more than one way to play the same piece of music which can lead to discrepancies. I had one case where the tab was playing an A5 power chord in open position but I’ve seen the live version played on the 5th fret.

7

I would expect most of the artist official tab books are done by a professional transcriber and then signed off by the publishing company. As for the doors have you checked out Robby’s guitar lessons on youtu.be?

1 Like
8

Hey @GrytPipe
Here’s some ideas I’ve been collecting about songs and software.
Having a song doesn’t make one a good player, I know, but I’ve found it motivational to be able to dream (and friends who are accomplished players can play from/with my collection when we gather)

Cheers,
Bruce

Some online sources I’ve found for songs
Format of the song varies {TABS, chords, standard music notation}
Format of the content varies {text, ChordPro format, PDFs, MS Word format}

These are the ones I’ve used:

And, of course

Others I’ve found just in searching on the web, but not personally used

Software to Store/Display/Create songs
(just for a more complete picture for noobs on how to work with the above files)

There’s a bunch of software to store/display these files.
They come in a bunch of business models: freeware, one time purchase, subscription. Some give away hobbled versions, and also sell more functional ones.

I use this one because it’s very functional and an independent developer, is a one time purchase, and doesn’t keep data about me, and is in active development

Justin talks about and has some links to Justin on GuitarPro

Other software alternatives about which I know nothing:
Googling yields a bunch of hits, including

For any software, it might be wise to check out forums for user reviews.
Sometimes they talk about an annoyance that has no bearing on how you might use the software, or support, sometimes it could be fundamental to your use.
[ Beware of proprietary file formats that cannot be exported to another software should you decide to migrate ]

5 Likes
9

What a great list. Thanks for taking the time to consolidate all these for us mundeli. Really, a great list.

I know a number of them and like you said very good, but there are some I have never seen as well and I am really excited and cant wait to look into for some hard to find stuff. Its always a battle finding sheets and tabs. Very cool.

Thanks again.
:sign_of_the_horns:t2::sign_of_the_horns:t2:

1 Like
10

@Mundeli : what a nice list you are providing! (edit because of a typo)

Regarding software, as a beginner I find that TuxGuitar, free, to be able to play a good bunch of guitarpro files, and lower the tempo… all what I need for the moment… :face_with_diagonal_mouth:

@GrytPipe : really a good song. Do you know “The Eternal”?

Regarding tabs and how to play, I just finished Grade 1 Module 5, where Justin shows that the strumming pattern can change a lot the song, or how we perceive it. And same with chords, they can be simplified, too. Or complexified. This makes me think a lot, but this is another story.
But as I have the same question about the accuracy of books… I’m following the conversation.

And… I gonna rush to try that serie. I’m into Resident Alien, finishing season 4 and Alien Earth, beginning season 1. This last one is so slow that I’m practicing my chords watching it :face_with_hand_over_mouth:

11

@GrytPipe, you could do a kind of check with apps like Moises or Chord ai. They let you import a song and will give you the chords (amongst other things). They’re not always correct, but could give you some lead when checking out tabs from other sources.

Quite a few singers/players use a different key when playing live as compared to the studio version. On Ultimate Guitar e.g. you will sometimes see a reference to which version the songsheet is for.

1 Like
12

Hal Leonard was the first publisher that specialised in songbooks, established in the 1950’s. Still around today, the “official sheet music” for an artist is usually on their website or their subscription service Download Sheet Music | Piano, Choral & More | Sheet Music Direct

Of course if you can transcribe you don’t need any sites. I can’t transcribe at all but I can usually tell if a tab I find online is somewhere close to the mark.

1 Like
13

I haven’t yet, there’s so much to do. But i’ll have a look. Thank you!

14

Whoa!! Talk about a list… That is some great work you’ve done there. Thank you very much, good sir. This is awesome.

I know what i’ll be doing the next couple of days… :laughing:

15

I didn’t know “The Eternal”, but i do know. And again, what a great song. Listening material for this week: on number one = Closer. (Joy Division).
Off topic; you like Resident Alien? I finished watching the latest season recently… “This is some b**lsh*t”… :rofl:
I’m now going to start with Alien Earth. Pretty curious to find out how it will be.
Have you ever seen “Lady Parts”? (i can recommend that one. Only 2 seasons, but great ones!)

1 Like
16

Thank you very much for that piece of information.
I did not know that was possible, but i’m going to check it out.

@chris_m there are indeed several ways to play a song.
Yesterday i saw a band play a cover of “To love me or die”, C.W. Stoneking. They made it into a blues song. Much longer than the original, but great to listen to.
I prefer to learn a song as closely to the original as possible. I find that a good base to start from.