Different Harmonica Tabs
I don't know if this is something which is a sensible question or not as I am not sure what the situation is so forgive me if I missed the obvious.
But as a beginner I have noticed several variations in the way tabs are written. Some draw notes have no symbol, some draw notes have an underline etc. Some effects can only be reproduced with a special symbol like slaps, draw bends or shakes which can't be done on a keyboard.
Given that most of the top players and teachers seem to cross paths on a regular basis, virtually or otherwise, has anyone ever thought of having a summit meeting and devising the Universal Typed Harmonica Tab so everyone is doing the same thing with typed tabs, even if they do it their own way first in their instructions, then include the UTHT underneath (or whatever you end up calling it)?
Just a thought.
Or does it exist already?
Tab wth arrows above the hole numbers (up for blow, down for draw) has been in existence for something like 80 years - Hohner was using it in the 1930s and maybe earlier. I use this and so do Joe Filisko, Steve Baker, Richard Hunter, and several others.
But until I designed a font to enable typing it on a keyboard, this was impractical for those typing on a computer.
For the user's manual and symbol set for Fletch diatonic (I also have a chromatic font), check out: http://www.angelfire.com/music2/harmonicainfo/products/Fletch_Manual.pdf
The method of putting a circle around the draw notes (not sure how that one got started, but Jon Gindick uses it) also required symbols beyond what available in most text fonts.
David Barrett has used a plus sign after the number for blow notes for quite awhile, and it has the virtue of being type-able. (I've also seen a dash after the number for draw notes, for instance at harptabs.com.)
Each of us has a large catalog of teaching materials and books in print using our particular methods. For that reason, each of us is kind of bound to remain consistent with out past work.
And each of us has worked out our own nomenclature to describe various techniques and effects, and can advance arguments for why ours is preferred.
These differences are inconvenient, but perhaps that's better than knuckling under to a central authority.