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<head><title>Guide to the TAB Archives </title></head>
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<pre>From: rkh2@ukc.ac.uk (R.K.Harding)
###READ BEFORE POSTING REQUESTS### - Guide to the TAB archives (v3.7))
Last Update: 31st Oct (This (31st Oct) is the 1st posting since change)
** NEW IN THIS UPDATE v3.7: ChordPro-only archive's proper address is **
** "ftp.nada.kth.se" and related WorldWide Web link is detailed below **
** IN UPDATES v3.6 & v3.5: A mirror to Trinity College Dublin Archive **
** (ftp.maths.tcd.ie:/pub/music/guitar) at Munich FTP & W-W Web site ***
*** All Unix users should try tab-ftp (also known as AUTOTAB) by Bob ***
** Zawalski which makes using the Nevada archives very simple & quick.**
** Phish archive site now mentioned in "Special interest FTP archives"**
The ultimate FTP instructions
=============================
If you're thinking of posting a request on these newsgroups, PLEASE use these
instructions first to check the archives for the song you want. You could
also put "(not in archive)" at the end of the Subject line in your "REQ:"
article. (Some news software will take account of preferences, so those
people who are fed up with REQ: postings for Eric Clapton Unplugged may take
more kindly to "(not in archive)" requests.)
This guide contains (hopefully) comprehensive instructions for ANY of you to
access the archives by FTP or ftpmail. It also contains information about
guitar and music related WorldWide Web pages and where to find out about
music related mailing lists. If it isn't comprehensive, let me know and I'll
do something about it.
Sections in this guide:
=======================
- What is FTP?
- Where is this guitar archive?
- ALL UNIX USERS READ THIS! - THE USER-FRIENDLY SONG RETRIEVAL UTILITY
- How do I find my local mirror site? (mirrors of nevada)
- Alternatively look up one from the following lists:
Main ftp sites for general guitar tablature, chords and lyrics
Special interest FTP archives
Mirror sites to ftp.nevada.edu
Mirror sites to ftp.maths.tcd.ie (alternative/gothic/industrial)
Mirror sites to csclub.uwaterloo.ca (acoustic)
Mirror sites to ftp.acns.nwu.edu (acoustic-guitar)
Mirror sites to Guitar Lessons archive
Mirror sites to Lyrics archive
The Munich Music Archive
- How do I get files from the archive?
- Why can't I read songs with a ".Z" or ".gz" suffix?
- What's special about sites with "On-the-fly" facilities?
- Added notes on using FTP from MS-DOS
- What if I don't know the artist's name?
- How can I submit songs to the Nevada archive?
- How can I submit songs to the Trinity College Dublin archive?
- I don't have real-time internet connection or my system doesn't support ftp.
What can I do?
- Can I get files from the archive offline, while I do something else?
How to use 'getit' on UNIX
- World Wide Web (WWW) sites for music, artist and guitar-related stuff
- Mailing-lists: How to find out about them
- Acknowledgements
What is FTP?
============
FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol. This document is geared towards the
guitar archives but the information will be useful for other archives. The
document is also geared mainly towards UNIX hosts, but those using FTP from
other systems should be able to do most of the same things, and the section
on FTP from MS-DOS explains the ways round the main pitfalls in using a DOS
system.
Where is this guitar archive?
=============================
The main guitar archive is maintained at the University of Nevada by Jim
Carson & Cal Woods, though there are other different sites (usually smaller,
but most still have good stuff on them). Nevada has limited public access,
so you'll hardly ever be able to gain access directly. It is recommended
that you use a mirror site (the most local one you can find is likely to be
best as this should give you the fastest access --- Nevada is terribly slow
when calling Transatlantic). Use the section "How do I find my local mirror
site? (mirrors of nevada)" below to find out. There are a few smaller
archives as well catering mainly for niches, like acoustic guitar or
individual artists.
Anyone who posts new crds, tabs, lyrics or chopro should (PLEASE!!) send their
contributions to guitar@nevada.edu as described below in the section entitled
"How can I submit songs to the Nevada archive?", making sure that you include
both the artist's name and song title in the subject heading of your email (e.g.
`Subject: CRD: "Into The Mystic" by Van Morrison' would be ideal). This means
the newsgroups should have fewer REQuests posted.
Another archive specialising in Gothic/Alternative/Industrial TAB is the
Trinity College Dublin archive. It has one mirror site (Munich). Songs
can be submitted as described in "How can I submit songs to the Trinity
College Dublin archive?"
ALL UNIX USERS READ THIS! - THE USER-FRIENDLY SONG RETRIEVAL UTILITY
====================================================================
This section only applies to *NIX users so far. Robert Zawalski has
devised a utility called tab-ftp which does all the hard work of song
retrieval for you. Look out for it on newsgroups alt.guitar.tab and
rec.music.makers.guitar.tablature . It allows rapid interactive searching
of the Nevada archive (choosing the mirror sites with the best response
times automatically) and will get the song for you automatically and file
it away for you while you can be doing something else. What's more, it
even installs itself! If you only want to use the Nevada archives (which
is true for most of us unless we have an interest in the special interest
archives - see below) this is all you need. Bob is hoping to make this
utility available for the lyrics archive (ftp.uwp.edu and mirrors) and
many more.
How do I find my local mirror site? (mirrors of nevada)
=======================================================
The easy way: Look it up in the section lower down this article entitled:
"Mirror sites to ftp.nevada.edu"
Or:
If you'd like to know how to search for any file in any archive in the world
you might like to read the rest of this section. You can do such searches
either by email or directly providing you have an "active internet site".
On UNIX systems the best way I've found to obtain the location of the nearest
mirror site is to use a search program like "archie" to look for a file known
to be on the archive. The new maintainers have put an identification file in
the guitar archive, called Nevada.Guitar.Archive. To use "archie" to find
your nearest mirror site, type at the unix% prompt:
archie -m4 -N Nevada.Guitar.Archive
which will list up to 4 sites containing a file with the string
"Nevada.Guitar.Archive" in its name, for example:
Host unix.hensa.ac.uk
Location: /pub/uunet/doc/music/guitar
FILE -r--r--r-- 80 Jun 16 10:21 Nevada.Guitar.Archive
is the output from my local archie server. In the archie command the "-N"
option is used to keep you system administrator happy (see man page for archie)
"Archie" is also available by telnet and email (see below) and often via your
local gateway or a server such as "NISS" (the UK's National Information
Services & Systems server). The original archie server can be accessed by
telnet to quiche.cs.mcgill.ca [132.206.2.3 or 132.206.51.1], logging in as
user "archie". More information about archie can be obtained by ftp from
archie.mcgill.ca directory pub/Network/archie where you'll find an article
about it.
By email, you can send a message with the word "help" in the message body to:
archie@cs.mcgill.ca which will reply automatically.
Alternatively look up one from the following lists:
==================================================
Main ftp sites for general guitar tablature, chords and lyrics:
--------------------------------------------------------------
ftp.nevada.edu directory: /pub/guitar Huge archive - general
Local mirror can be found by searching for "Nevada.Guitar.Archive"
which should be under /?/guitar
ftp.maths.tcd.ie directory: /pub/music & /pub/music/guitar
See list for mirrors
csclub.uwaterloo.ca directory: /pub/u/dgaudet/guitar fingerpicking/acoustic
Local mirror may be found by searching for "crazy_on_you.tab" which
should be under /pub/guitar/h/heart. Mirrored at ftp.nevada.edu mirrors
ftp.acns.nwu.edu directory: /pub/acoustic-guitar/transcriptions
This is a very small archive. Search for mirror using "if.floyd" which
should be under /pub/acoustic-guitar/transcriptions.
ftp.uwp.edu directory: /pub/music/lyrics
This is a lyrics-only archive. Search for "README.delimiting.lyrics".
ftp.nada.kth.se directory: /home/f91-jsc/guitar
This is a chordpro-only archive containing most/all of the chopro songs
at Nevada and may get more. No mirror sites. See also World-Wide Web
These are the main root ftp sites that I know of: email me with details of any
more to be added to the list (the same for mirrors and special interest sites).
Special interest FTP archives:
------------------------------
ftp.vast.unsw.edu.au directory: /pub/guitar-lessons
For 29 different GUITAR LESSONS
ftp.maths.tcd.ie directory: pub/music & pub/music/guitar
For ALTERNATIVE/GOTHIC/INDUSTRIAL music
daacdev1.stx.com directory: /pub/slowhand/guitar
For ERIC CLAPTON songs (also /pub/slowhand for general stuff)
ftp.acns.nwu.edu directory: /pub/crowded-house/chords.and.tab
For CROWDED HOUSE songs (also /pub/crowded-house for general stuff)
ftp.acns.nwu.edu directory: /pub/gabriel/songbook
For PETER GABRIEL songs by album (also /pub/gabriel for general stuff)
ftp.phish.net directory /pub/phish/text_files
For PHISH songs look at the file chords which contains over 80 songs
ftp.informatik.uni-oldenburg.de directory: /pub/genesis/guitar.tabs
For GENESIS songs (also /pub/genesis for general stuff)
ftp.uwp.edu directory: /pub/music/lists/floyd/misc
For PINK FLOYD songs (also /pub/music/lists/floyd for general stuff)
syrinx.umd.edu directory: /rush/tab or /rush/transcriptions
For RUSH songs (also /rush for general stuff)
Mirror sites to ftp.nevada.edu:
-------------------------------
On-the-fly facilities will be explained later. Any site which has them should
tell you about it in the README file in the root directory.
Directory Anon. access On-the-fly
===================== ============ ==========
ftp.nevada.edu /pub/guitar 10-30 users No
ftp.uwp.edu /pub/music/guitar 50 users Yes
ftp.uu.net /doc/music/guitar ??? ?
unix.hensa.ac.uk /pub/uunet/doc/music/guitar ??? users Yes
ftp.uni-stuttgart.de /pub/misc/guitar 100 users Yes
ftp.diku.dk /pub/music/guitar 10 users Yes
ftp.uni-paderborn.de /doc/guitar 20 users Yes
ftp.informatik.tu-muenchen.de 10-20 usr(world) Yes
/pub/rec/music/guitar/songs/nevada 20-40 (*.de {in Germany})
ftp.cosy.sbg.ac.at /pub/mirror/guitar ??? users No
Mirror sites to ftp.maths.tcd.ie (alternative/gothic/industrial)
----------------------------------------------------------------
Directory
====================================
ftp.maths.tcd.ie /pub/music/guitar
ftp.informatik.tu-muenchen.de /pub/rec/music/guitar/songs/trinity/
Mirror sites to csclub.uwaterloo.ca (acoustic), formerly hobbes.linfield.edu:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Directory Anon. access On-the-fly
===================== ============ ==========
csclub.uwaterloo.ca /pub/u/dgaudet/guitar ??? Yes
ftp.nevada.edu /pub/guitar/acoustic 10-30 users No
AND all mirror sites to ftp.nevada.edu (see previous section) in directory
??/guitar/acoustic (see previous section to replace `??').
Mirror sites to ftp.acns.nwu.edu (acoustic-guitar):
---------------------------------------------------
Directory Anon. access On-the-fly
===================== ============ ==========
ftp.acns.nwu.edu /pub/acoustic-guitar/transcriptions ??? ?
ftp.diku.dk /pub/music/acoustic/transcriptions 10 users Yes
Mirror sites to Guitar Lessons archive:
---------------------------------------
Directory Anon. access On-the-fly
===================== ============ ==========
ftp.vast.unsw.edu.au /pub/guitar-lessons/ ??? users ?
ftp.maths.tcd.ie /pub/music/guitar/docs/lessons ??? Yes
ftp.diku.dk /pub/music/guitar-lessons 10 users Yes
Mirror sites to Lyrics archive:
-------------------------------
Directory Anon. access On-the-fly
===================== ============ ==========
ftp.uwp.edu /pub/music/lyrics 50 users Yes
ftp.luth.se /pub/misc/lyrics ??? ?
ftp.informatik.tu-muenchen.de 10-20 usr(world) Yes
/pub/rec/music/vocal/lyrics/uwp 20-40 (*.de {in Germany})
The Munich Music Archive:
------------------------
ftp.informatik.tu-muenchen.de /pub/rec/music (see also above)
provides many musical resources:
- a mirror of nevada.edu
- a mirror of ftp.uwp.edu's lyrics files
- a guitar department
- a vocal department
- The MUSIC Collection from all over the world
- Music programs
- Pictures (GIFs & JPEGs) and movies (MPEGs) of music artists
- all this is accessible via the WorldWide Web (Mosaic, lynx, etc. (see below))
How do I get files from the archive?
====================================
This assumes you have an "active internet host". To find out, run the "ftp"
program. On most systems (Mac's excepted) you just type "ftp" at the system
prompt. If you get a "ftp> " prompt then you should carry on reading this
sections. If not, and you get an error message "command not found" or similar
you should use ftpmail (see the section later entitled: "I don't have real-time
internet connection or my system doesn't support ftp. What can I do?" though
it's still a good idea to read this section, too)
First take a note of the address of the archive (eg. ftp.uwp.edu) and the
directory (eg. /pub/music/guitar) being careful with spelling and punctuation.
Use a ftp program to access the archive. The following example is based on
mirrors of the main archive, the idea is similar for the minor archives, too.
E.G. On unix, to get to unix.hensa.ac.uk type after the "unix%" prompt:
unix% ftp unix.hensa.ac.uk
The response will be something like:
Connected to unix.hensa.ac.uk.
220 nutmeg.ukc.ac.uk FTP server (Version wu-2.4(1) Tue May 3 10:14:15 BST 1994)
ready.
Name (unix.hensa.ac.uk:rkh2):
at which you should enter "anonymous" or "ftp" (don't type the quotes):
331 Guest login ok, send your complete e-mail address as password.
Password:
then the above appears (if there is anonymous access available at the time) so
you should type in your complete email address (such as jobloggs@funnyfarm.edu)
Then a screenful or two of information appears. Transfers are usually logged,
so if you don't like it type "quit".
You will be advised to read the file README. To do this type (at the "ftp>"
prompt) the following:
ftp> get README
The response will be of the form:
200 PORT command successful.
150 Opening BINARY mode data connection for README (1639 bytes).
226 Transfer complete.
1639 bytes received in 0.0021 seconds (7.7e+02 Kbytes/s)
ftp>
Then type "quit" at the "ftp>" prompt and read the file.
Once you've read it get back into the archive using the "ftp" command as before
and go to the required directory (e.g. /pub/uunet/doc/music/guitar) by typing:
ftp> cd /pub/uunet/doc/music/guitar
which responds:
250 CWD command successful.
ftp>
Now get the README file for this directory as before and read it offline.
It will SAVE you loads of TIME if you also get the file FLAT.INDEX from the
Nevada site or a mirror-site. You can then use the SEARCH facility in your
favourite EDITOR or WORD-PROCESSOR to search for songs using strings in the
title or artist's name.
////Extra note for UNIX users:
It also allows very effective searches using UNIX's "grep" command. To find
any files with the string "orbison" for example:
unix% grep orbison FLAT.INDEX
./h/john_wesley_harding/roy_orbison_knows.crd
./o/roy_orbison/cryin.crd
./o/roy_orbison/crying.tab
./o/roy_orbison/california_blue.tab
./o/roy_orbison/pretty_woman.tab
which finds songs with orbison in the artist or the title. Use "grep -i" if
you need it to ignore upper/lower case distinction. If you compress or gzip
the FLAT.INDEX you can use "zgrep" in the same way.
////End of extra note
Now, "ftp" back to the archive and the correct directory.
Music is filed under alphabetical directories, a-z by artist/band name, there
are also a few others (which cope with numerical names - I've no idea where
Prince's new material will be now he's become that symbol :-). Also there is
the new_this_week directory and other_stuff (which contains the Frequently
Asked Questions (FAQ), CHORD program and lots of other stuff - hence the name)
as well as acoustic, whose subdirectories follow a similar pattern. Also note
that in the "m" directory are various miscellaneous subdirectories: misc,
misc_childrens_songs, misc_christmas, misc_country, misc_irish, misc_musicals,
misc_showtunes, misc_soundtrack, misc_television and misc_traditional.
To view the directory you're in type "ls" at the prompt. To see subdirectories
too, type "ls *". Move to other directories using the "cd" command with the
full directory name. In the "ls" command's output, directories are indicated
by a "d" as the first character in a line. (You could also try "dir", "ls -C"
and "ls -l".). The best commands, in my opinion, for viewing directories are
"ls -l |more" and "ls . |more". They both prevent the list from scrolling
off the top of the screen. The former gives a long format listing, the latter
gives it in default format. These commands may be defined as macros using the
"macdef" command in ftp or similarly by placing it in your .netrc file (UNIX).
e.g. macdef l
ls . |more
allows a readable listing in default format by typing "$l" at the "ftp>"
prompt.
If you are looking for an ARTIST, look in the directory corresponding to the
first letter of their surname (eg. John Wesley Harding is under "h" in the
subdirectory "john_wesley_harding"). Some artists may have erroneously been
filed under their first name. Most of the Van Morrison material, for example,
was once filed under "v", so it's worth checking.
If you're looking for a BAND, look in the directory corresponding to the first
letter of the band's name ignoring "The" in the case of bands like The Who,
which should be under "w". Thus, Crowded House is under "c". Simple, eh?
SIMPLER still, you can get FLAT.INDEX and search it (see above for details) -
that way you don't miss erroneously filed songs/artists and you don't waste
time whilst logged into the FTP site and fill up the limited number of
anonymous FTP logins available.
To get files, use the "get" command as explained for getting the README file,
above. Also if you want to "get" a file but save it under a new name, you can
use the form:
ftp> get roy_orbison_knows.crd rorbison.crd
which gives you a file on your disk drive called rorbison.crd - important for
users of DOS with the 8-dot-3 naming restriction.
The "mget" command, e.g. "mget *" or "mget *.crd" is used to get multiple
files. You will usually be prompted for a yes or no before you get each one.
One more thing on FTP. If you're not transferring ASCII text, or are ftping
compressed files you MUST use BINARY mode (type 'bin' at the 'ftp>' prompt)
Why can't I read songs with a ".Z" or ".gz" suffix?
===================================================
These files are compressed.
The ".Z" files need unix's "uncompress" command to remove the ".Z" and make
them readable (this is also available for DOS from various ftp sites - try
an archive search for "comp430d.exe" or "comp430d.zip", the latter of which
needs the "pkunzip.exe" utility to uncompress it), and the ".gz" files need
"gunzip" to uncompress them (available from some ftp sites - search for
"gunzip.exe"). There are also Mac utilities compatible with these formats.
The DOS program comp430d.exe needs a little explanation. To uncompress a
file use the form:
comp430d <filename> -d
If you don't have "uncompress" or "gunzip" you can uncompress them "on the fly"
at most ftp sites by simply leaving off the ".Z" or ".gz" extension in the
"get filename" command. This does mean that the transfer takes longer,
however.
What's special about sites with "On-the-fly" facilities?
========================================================
At the lowest level, this allows compressed files (with a ".Z" extension) to
be uncompressed before they are transmitted to you simply by leaving off the
".Z" extension in the "get" command. This makes the transfer take longer, but
if you can't uncompress the file at your site, it's the only option.
It also allows you to compress files by adding a ".Z" extension where there
isn't one, thus reducing transfer time.
Some versions, can cope with "gzip" and "gunzip" compression and decompression
in the same way (compressed files denoted by ".gz" extensions). The version
is usually described in the introduction screen or main README file at the
site in question.
{WARNING: Fairly advanced features below - feel free to go to next section}
Some versions can also cope with "get"ting entire directories (using "tar")
by adding a ".tar" to the directory name, and can compress the "tar" files too
by adding ".tar.Z" etc. This must be done from the directory below the one
you wish to extract. E.G. To get the whole of the john_wesley_harding direc-
tory which is under /whatever/guitar/h/john_wesley_harding you should get into
directory /whatever/guitar/h then type:
ftp> get john_wesley_harding.tar
A file "john_wesley_harding.tar" will be sent to you. To extract it quit the
FTP program and (if you're using UNIX) type:
unix% tar xvf john_wesley_harding.tar
to get a response like:
x john_wesley_harding/long_dead_gone.crd.Z, 5641 bytes, 12 tape blocks
x john_wesley_harding/backing_out.crd.Z, 1989 bytes, 4 tape blocks
x john_wesley_harding/i_can_tell.crd.Z, 2789 bytes, 6 tape blocks
x john_wesley_harding/save_a_little_room_for_me.crd.Z, 3260 bytes, 7 tape blocks
x john_wesley_harding/the_peoples_drug.crd.Z, 2768 bytes, 6 tape blocks
x john_wesley_harding/the_person_you_are.tab.Z, 3878 bytes, 8 tape blocks
Then remove the tar file using:
unix% rm john_wesley_harding.tar
You now have a new directory called john_wesley_harding. The files in it are
in exactly the same form as they were on the archive. So if they were
compressed there, they are in your directory. Also the permission modes are
the same. If you want to be able to write to files you must change it using
a command such as "chmod 644 filename" where the filename could also be a
wildcard like "*". Again this applies to UNIX.
It's not usually worth compressing "tar"red directories on-the-fly using the
same compression type as that used for the files inside, since there's very
little saving in space, but if they are ".Z" type, then using the ".gz"
extension (where available) may achieve a useful compression, i.e. type:
ftp> get john_wesley_harding.tar.gz
Then use "unix% gunzip john_wesley_harding.tar.gz" before using the tar
command.
Unfortunately, if you want to change the compression type of the files inside
a directory on-the-fly, it won't work and you must extract them one-by-one or
or change the format after transfer.
Added notes on using FTP from MS-DOS
====================================
MS-DOS has a file-naming structure which is incompatible with the types used
on the guitar archives - namely the eight characters followed by a dot
followed by three characters convention. So a file which contains more than
one dot cannot be saved on the DOS file system under that name. To get around
this when using FTP from DOS the "get" command allows a new name to be
specified, thus:
ftp> get mr_jones.crd.Z jones.Z
will get the file called mr_jones.crd.Z on the archive and save it as JONES.Z
on your disk drive. Note that this is a compressed file (the .Z extension),
so to get it correctly you needed to be in BINary transfer mode and to read it
you'll need COMP430D.EXE (see above) to uncompress it using the command
"comp430d JONES.Z -d" at the DOS prompt, which should give you a file in
readable form. You may rename this as you wish. Note also that some DOS
utilities may require that files have extra line-feed characters added with
carriage-returns. Let me know if there's an easy way to do this and you'll
be made famous with an acknowledgement at the end (Wey hey!).
What if I don't know the artist's name?
=======================================
Two options I know of:
1) Use a searchable index. The only one I know of at the moment is in Munich
only available for WWW access (i.e Mosaic, lynx, etc.) at the URL below:
gopher://gopher.informatik.tu-muenchen.de/77/.wais-db/ftp-index and also
as a link from the Munich MUSIC archive WWW page (see end of document)
which searches their mirrors of Nevada, the lyrics archive and the bass
guitar archive.
2) "get" the FLAT.INDEX or INDEX files from Nevada or a mirror, maybe the
lyrics site and ftp.maths.tcd.ie and search them, perhaps with your
favourite text editor or word-processor.
How can I submit songs to the Nevada archive?
=============================================
Firstly, check the songs for accuracy, avoiding copyright infringements, then
simply email the songs to:
guitar@nevada.edu
Make sure you include the artist and title and your (the transcriber's) name
in the text, and please use a subject line of the form:
Subject: CRD: "I Can Tell" by John Wesley Harding
or Subject: /h/john_wesley_harding/i_can_tell.crd
using the suffix "crd" for lyrics and chords, "lyr" for lyrics only,
"tab" for tablature and "pro" for songs in CHORD/CHORDPRO format. Use your
discretion when naming files for songs with brackets and other unusable
characters in the title, like the above song which is actually called
"I Can Tell (When You're Telling Lies)" in which both the brackets and the
apostrophe are unusable. From Nevada's /pub/guitar/README file is a summary
of suffixes:
Suffix Conventions
*.lyr The file contains the lyrics to the song named.
*.crd The file contains chords for the named song.
*.tab The file contains (at least some) tab for the
named song.
*.pro The file contains chords for the named song
in 'Chord.Pro' format.
*.btab The file contains tab for the bass guitar
for the named song.
*.ps The file is a 'Postscript' file.
*.gif The file is a gif file (usually of tab.)
Chord files usually contain lyrics.
Tab files usually contain both chords and lyrics.
How can I submit songs to the Trinity College Dublin archive?
=============================================================
First ensure that the contributor's name and email address are included in the
file to be sent, and put the song title and artist in the filename, as well as
the type of file (e.g. crd, tab): see below:
//////included from README file for /pub/music/guitar at ftp.maths.tcd.ie//////
Small letters are used throughout. Many-worded titles are separated by
underscores.
*.lyr = Lyrics for a particular song.
*.crd = Chords for the guitar
*.pro = Chords in 'chordpro' format.
*.tab = Tab for the (lead) guitar.
*.btab = Bass tab
Chord and tab files usually contain lyrics; tab files often contain chords.
Files containing whole albums are denoted by *_album.*
Any file with a .Z extension should be transferred in binary mode.
Submissions
If you wish to contribute to ftp.maths.tcd.ie, the way to do
so is to use the 'put' command in ftp.
You _must_ place files in /pub/music/incoming.
You can only 'put' at ftp.maths.tcd.ie NOT at a mirror site.
Again, we promise swift filing in the main body of the archive.
Thanks!
Any comments to morpheus@maths.tcd.ie
Thank you for using this archive!
//////end included text//////
In summary:
Open an FTP session at ftp.maths.tcd.ie using the ftp command as described
above. Once logged in type:
ftp> cd /pub/music/incoming
Then if the file you want to submit is called "crazy_love.van_morrison.tab":
ftp> put crazy_love.van_morrison.tab
The file should transfer (use ls or dir to check) and the archive promises to
put all material on the archive swiftly (usually a few days).
I don't have real-time internet connection or my system doesn't support ftp.
============================================================================
What can I do?
==============
You can get access via ftpmail. This is basically an offline request version
of the interactive "ftp" command detailed earlier. I know of the following
ftpmail services:
ftpmail@sunsite.unc.edu
ftpmail@decwrl.dec.com
mailserver@informatik.tu-muenchen.de (only for Munich mirror & MUSIC archive)
[Note: these are internet addresses - if you use a non-internet email service
like FIDOnet, compuserve or bitnet you may need to modify the address. Email
me if you don't know how to do this. I'd like to add this to the guide so if
anyone on these services would like to help (5 minutes of your time) email me]
Of these the ftpmail@sunsite.unc.edu service looks most user-friendly.
There is another ftpmail server which I only recommend using if you have
access to "uudecode", "uud" or "xxencode". It does offer HELP in HOWTOFTP and
also for users of VMS. It's address is bitftp@pucc.bitnet.
The server at mailserver@informatik.tu-muenchen.de provides simple access to
the Munich archives only. It also requires that the user is able to "uudecode"
and "gunzip" the files which are returned in their email messages since it will
not decompress files "on-the-fly". It must therefore use the file names listed
at the Munich site (usually those from INDEX and FLAT.INDEX but with a ".gz"
extension added.) For more info ask for help as below.
To get further instructions, you should email the appropriate server with the
subject "HELP" and message body "help". For example, to get more info from
all these services send the message between the === lines below. If you
don't wish to use the mailserver@informatik.tu-muenchen.de service don't send
the carbon-copy to that address.
===
To: ftpmail@decwrl.dec.com,ftpmail@sunsite.unc.edu
Cc: mailserver@informatik.tu-muenchen.de
~Subject: HELP
help
quit
===
A reply will automatically be despatched to you usually within minutes of the
server receiving the email (not necessarily within minutes of you sending it!).
Use the instructions and PLEASE let me know of any pitfalls or ambiguities you
encounter and tell me which servers you prefer. To access the Nevada archive,
you should send a message of roughly the following form (this is in sunsite
syntax):
open ftp.uwp.edu
cd pub/music/guitar
get FLAT.INDEX
quit
This will obtain the index of the archive which should reach you in a day or so
if not a minute or less. (If the file FLAT.INDEX can't be found, it may be
currently saved under another name so try again with this or try the command
"cd pub/music/guitar" then "ls" to find out what it's called). You can search
FLAT.INDEX with an editor or word-processor or, in UNIX, the grep command. For
example, in UNIX, to find any songs with "mystic" in them, I type:
grep mystic FLAT.INDEX
and the response is:
./c/camel/mystic_queen
./m/bob_marley/natural_mystic.crd
./m/van_morrison/into_the_mystic.crd
At other sites without an index file you'll need to use the "ls" command to get
directories. If you move to the /pub/music/guitar or whatever the root
directory is using the "cd" command, you might find out the contents of all
subdirectories using a command like "ls -rf" then save the reply to a file.
To get a file such as into_the_mystic.crd, don't include any ".Z" extension
named in the index or listing unless you use BINARY mode and can "uncompress"
and "uudecode" files, just send the following sort of message body:
open ftp.uwp.edu
cd pub/music/guitar
get ./m/van_morrison/into_the_mystic.crd
quit
You'll be sent the file in a day or maybe a minute. To get more than one
file, send more "get" commands on different lines of the message. The "mget"
command is not available on most ftpmail servers.
Let me know how you get on, ftpmailers! (I don't mind the extra mail)
Can I get files from the archive offline, while I do something else?
====================================================================
There's a utility called 'getit' which is available at the Nevada archive in
binary and source-code form. Binaries are available for UNIX and DOS. (The
DOS version is getit.exe). The files are in the directory
?/guitar/other_stuff/GETIT for the UNIX version. Remember that the binaries
need 'ftp' to be used in binary mode (type 'bin' at the 'ftp>' prompt).
Hopefully, Bob Zawalski's excellent instructions for speeding up your archive
access using 'getit' will be placed there too.
Alternatively you can use ftpmail as described above. This also put a very
small load on the archive due to it's short access time, hopefully improving
access.
How to use 'getit' on UNIX:
--------------------------
Make sure the file permission lets you execute getit ('man chmod' for
details). The program 'getit' extracts files from an archive.
Either
getit host:path/file
-or-
getit path/file:host
-or-
getit ftp://host/path/file
For example, at the unix prompt:
unix% getit ftp.uwp.edu:pub/music/guitar/FLAT.INDEX &
The '&' makes it run in the background, letting you do other things. When
it's finished you'll have the file FLAT.INDEX in your directory (assuming ftp
access was available).
World Wide Web (WWW) sites for music, artist and guitar-related stuff
=====================================================================
These are the WWW sites I am aware of which are likely to be of interest to
the readers of this newsgroup. To use WWW you will need a program such as
Mosaic or lynx. The URL addresses of the sites are listed below with a brief
description of some of the contents:
"WWW Music Resources Index 1"
http://www.cecer.army.mil/~burnett/MDB/musicResources.html
Hyperlinks to loads of WWW Music resources including loads of artist-related
sites and some musical-style related "gig-lists" though mainly US oriented.
"WWW Music Resources Index 2"
http://www.dsv.su.se/matti-hu/music.html
Similar to above.
"Guitarland"
file://ftp.netcom.com/pub/jcarson/guitar/gl.html
Hyperlinks to all the major guitar archives (Nevada - general, Linfield -
acoustic, & Trinity College Dublin (classical & alternative/gothic/industrial))
Remote sites for the guitar newsgroups and the TAB groups FAQ.
Guitar Lessons on-line.
Guitarland is currently "under construction" so I guess it will grow.
"Munich MUSIC archive"
http://www.informatik.tu-muenchen.de/isar/archive/music/music_e.html
Also available in German (same address but omit "music_e.html")
Info about big events (like Woodstock '94)
Hyperlinks to a Nevada mirror, Trinity College Dublin mirror and a mirror of
the ftp.uwp.edu lyrics server.
Gopher searchable index for music documents on-site (very handy indeed)
Quite a lot of pictures (GIFs & JPEGs) and movies (MPEGs).
Links to other WWW band sites & WWW general music pages as well as various
FTP sites.
"ChordPro archive WWW-link"
http://www.nada.kth.se/~f91-jsc
Various wonderful things related to the ChrodPro guitar archive.
Mailing-lists: How to find out about them
=========================================
A List of Musical Mailing Lists (LoMML) is maintained by Myra Wong
<mkwong@ucsd.edu> and posted to rec.music.info. If you wish to obtain a copy
try one of the following methods:
- Use the "finger" command: "finger mkwong@sdcc13.ucsd.edu" or to save it as
a file, use "finger mkwong@sdcc13.ucsd.edu > listinfo.txt"
- Get it by FTP or ftpmail at location ftp.uwp.edu:/pub/incoming/faq/lomml
- Get it from the World Wide Web (WWW) using a browser such as lynx or Mosaic
from http://server.berkeley.edu/~ayukawa/lomml.html
- If none of these are possible, then request it by email to Myra Wong at
mkwong@sdcc13.ucsd.edu and be patient - Myra has to process requests
manually.
Acknowledgements
================
In the compilation of this article, I've made use of the contributions of the
following people whose articles have appeared on alt.guitar.tab, alt.guitar
and rec.music.makers.guitar.tablature or who've mailed new information to me:
Gavin Drohan <gpd10@ail.amdahl.com>
Pete Palmer <ppalmer@cray.com>
Steinar Roland <stero@aid.no>
Charles Scheffold <daredevil@dorsai.dorsai.org>
Steve Rhodes <srhodes@TrentU.CA>
Someone <iban0@cc.uab.es>
Uwe Woessner <bad address at uni-stuttgart.de>
Brian Davies <davies@ils.nwu.edu>
Nils Andreas Thommesen <nilsa@idt.unit.no>
Ralf Huebner <huebner@informatik.uni-stuttgart.de>
Cal Woods <rcwoods@unix1.tcd.ie>
Jim Carson <jcarson@netcom.com>
Bob Zawalski <bobz@crl.com>
Thomas E.T. Eisenbock <eisenboc@informatik.tu-muenchen.de>
Kim H|glund <shotokan@diku.dk>
Dean Gaudet <dgaudet@undergrad.math.uwaterloo.ca>
Richard J Brunton <Richard@richardb.demon.co.uk>
Benjamin L. Weiss <weis0010@gold.tc.umn.edu>
Bob "Scarecrow" Allison <boba@wwa.com>
Brian Moretta <brianm@cara.ma.hw.ac.uk>
Neil Berkman <berkman@titan.ucs.umass.edu>
Trond J. Stroem <t.j.strom@ub.uio.no>
Jan-Erik Schuch <f91-jsc@nada.kth.se>
- Thanks guys
Regards,
Ryan.
PS. If there's anything you think should be added to this posting, email me,
particularly with different archives and mirror sites or WWW pages and also
with any other ftpmail servers or your experiences with non-internet email
addresses. NOTE: If you reply directly to this article, PLEASE don't
forward the entire article to me with a couple of lines at the bottom. Be
selective and use your editor's "cut" facility. Kindest thanks.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ryan Harding, Appl. Optics, UKC. "Parallel lines DO meet but only incognito"
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Now no-one's sitting on the fence, whose garden will we end up sitting in?"
- John Wesley Harding, "The Person You Are" from "The Name Above The Title"
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
</pre>
<hr>
Prepared for the WWW by <i>cal woods</i>
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