Transposing Guitar (tabs) to Piano
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christian.anderson christian.anderson https://www.kvraudio.com/forum/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=218423
- KVRist
- 39 posts since 29 Oct, 2009
What I would like to know is how to play Guitar Tabs on the piano. If any of you could help then I'd appreciate it a lot,
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- KVRAF
- 1585 posts since 13 Nov, 2005 from St. Paul
There's no really simple way to do this because the keyboard and fretboard are totally different animals. There are multiple places on the standard fretboard from which you can hit a middle C, for example, but only one place on the keyboard that gets you that note. You have to figure out what the notes are on the guitar, then transpose those onto the piano using standard notation. Some software (e.g., sonar) can translate between tab and written music, but then you'd need to have the music in your sequencer already, pretty much meaning that you haven't saved any steps.
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- KVRAF
- 6376 posts since 8 Jun, 2009
It involves a lot of counting and you need to be aware of alternative tunings although I don't think there's a lot of guitar tab out there that isn't for a standard tuning (just be aware it could be in something like DADGAD).
(Sorry if you already know this but...) In a standard tuning (EADGBE), each successive string is tuned fourth above the last, except for the B string which is a major third above the G.
There is a Middle C (MIDI 60; C4) on the B string at fret position 1, which means the open E on the E string is E4, the open G is G3, the open D is D3, the open A is A2 and the low open E is E2 (MIDI 40). A bass is tuned much the same way but the low E is an octave lower.
So, your initial positions are the E that is just under two octaves below middle C, followed by the successive A, D, G, B and E. For each tab position simply count up the number of semitones needed to hit the note on each string. This will take a while but it's do-able. You may have to do some rearrangement to the chords to make them easily playable on a keyboard or to get them to sound more like piano chords.
(Sorry if you already know this but...) In a standard tuning (EADGBE), each successive string is tuned fourth above the last, except for the B string which is a major third above the G.
There is a Middle C (MIDI 60; C4) on the B string at fret position 1, which means the open E on the E string is E4, the open G is G3, the open D is D3, the open A is A2 and the low open E is E2 (MIDI 40). A bass is tuned much the same way but the low E is an octave lower.
So, your initial positions are the E that is just under two octaves below middle C, followed by the successive A, D, G, B and E. For each tab position simply count up the number of semitones needed to hit the note on each string. This will take a while but it's do-able. You may have to do some rearrangement to the chords to make them easily playable on a keyboard or to get them to sound more like piano chords.