Ornamentation symbols

Whistle
1

Hey,

I’m a relatively new player, and I’m trying to decipher the ornamentation symbols that sometimes accompany notes.

Below is a version of Blind Mary. I assume this symbol > is a slide. And the upper case letters are lower octave, while lower are upper (which seems kind of counter intuitive.)

But what do the numbers mean? Cuts and rolls? And how about the parenthesis? And the brackets? And these ones: || |?

Thanks for the help.

Best,

Joe

A|d2 d>c|{c}B2 A(F/G/)|A>B AF|E3 (FG)|
(Af) (f>e)|(dB) A(D/E/)|(F>G) ({F}E>D)|D3||
(d/e/)|f>g fB|e>c (AB/c/)|d>D D(E/F/)|E3 (A/G/)|
(F>G) Ad|f>e d(D/E/)|(F>G) ({F}E>D)|D3||

2

Look at abcnotation.com for the full explanation of the basics of abc notation.

3

Yes, what Mr. Gumby said. I’m just a newbie-ish learner with reading notation of any kind, but, what I have found that helps the most is having both systems of notation, staff and ABCs, where I can visually see what is going on. One of my absolute favorite examples is here:

And a mighty thank you again MTGuru! Love this piece. :thumbsup:

In the new year I’m focusing on ear learning, ear learning, ear learning.

4

My apologies for the short-ish reply by the way. I posting from a different device after my windows files got corrupted this morning. I have no access to my usual links, files etc. and the log in to make the post was a bit problematic as well.

5

If you can read standard notation you may want to try using the Tune-a-tron to translate for you: http://www.concertina.net/tunes_convert.html. It didn’t work for me on your particular ABC file, so perhaps there is some non-standard ABC being used. It has worked very well for me in the past.

6

Joe, where ever you found this notation see if there is a complete ABC file and copy entirely to the concertina.net link. ABC file has to include beginning X:1, title, and key. Try that.

http://www.concertina.net/tunes_convert.html

7

Ran it through my Barfly app in the key of D with a 2/4 time signature.

X:1
L:1/8
M:2/4
K:D
A|d2 d>c|{c}B2 A(F/G/)|A>B AF|E3 (FG)|
(Af) (f>e)|(dB) A(D/E/)|(F>G) ({F}E>D)|D3||
(d/e/)|f>g fB|e>c (AB/c/)|d>D D(E/F/)|E3 (A/G/)|
(F>G) Ad|f>e d(D/E/)|(F>G) ({F}E>D)|D3||

8

Thanks all. That’s very helpful. Best, Joe