Some confusion on Symphony X tablature

[Yngvai_Malmsteve]

I know that Romeo tunes his guitar down a whole step to D. I have the Symphony X "Best of" Band Score by Shinko Music which has guitar tablature. However, what I don't understand is that, in the tablature, even though it says to tune down a whole step, the musical notes are written as if the guitar was normally tuned to E. For example, a note fretted at the 12th fret on the E string is shown as an E note in the actual music, and the chord is shown as E minor. However, if the guitar is tuned down a whole step, Romeo would actually be playing a D and the chord would be D minor.

I notice the same thing in my Yngwie tab books. Yngwie tunes down a half step, but a note fretted at the 12th fret on the E string is still shown as an E rather than E flat.

Why are the notes written differently from what is actuallly being played?

 

[RED OCTOBER]

i think this might have to do when transcribing things , sometimes you dont get the notes you need if you tune down alot or change instrumets. I think Romeo never wrote this songs in music notation for himself to remmeber. -In music notation the low E is pretty low on the staff, so i guess the low D is too low to be written in Treble cleff, also most people who read symph X would not wanna look at the music notation, Tab is easier for that fast stuff.

 

[Dado-x]

Can't say...
I suppose someone who was doing musical notes wasn't aware of guitar's tuning. He was probably just reading the tablature and going like '13th fret on E string- that's F note' and similar.

 

[1by4by9]

IMO it's very sensible to write tabs/notes in that way... They show how the artists really play them (right fingerings). And I bet it's easier to keyboardist to learn a song in key like Am than G#m. All the keyboardist has to do is tune his keyboard one half-step down.

I hope I got it right...

 

[1by4by9]

"Why are the notes written differently from what is actuallly being played?"

Actually they are written like they're played, the tuning just make it different. When Romeo plays E5-chord, it is E5 though it sounds 1 whole step lower...

 

[Hellholming]

Originally posted by 1by4by9
"Why are the notes written differently from what is actuallly being played?"

Actually they are written like they're played, the tuning just make it different. When Romeo plays E5-chord, it is E5 though it sounds 1 whole step lower...

exactly.

 

[Yngvai X]

just to tell you, the "best of" tab book is horribly wrong.