What does the E lever do?

[Billy Henderson]

I see this on tab can;t figure what it is supposed to do,,,,, Help?

[Kevin Hatton]

Lowers 4&8 E strings 1/2 step. Very important change.

[Erv Niehaus]

The E lever will give you a minor and when used in conjunction with the B pedal, it gives you a nice 7th chord.

[Jerry Overstreet]

It depends on whose tab you have. Not all instruction used the same convention.

Jeff Newman called the lever that lowers the E's the "D" lever. His tab had the 2nd string lower labeled as the "E" lever.

[Dick Sexton]

Billy, as a writer of simple tab, I believe it is a trade off between what the writer is comfortable with writing and what the writer believes the reader will understand. That said, once a player is familiar with his instrument and its changes, it should be simple to apply tab written in any convention. I personally use E as the lever that lowers the E open notes to Eb note. I also use D as the lever that lowers the second string to a D note. This just makes sense to me. The more changes you have, the more confusing it can become. I have seen one writer of tab that uses + for a half step raise, ++ for a whole step raise, - for a half step lower and -- for a whole step lower. This too, makes perfect sense. But for me, that convention is a little confusing. I'm not sure exactly why. Once I learn what a change does, I could call it anything. Billy, Susie, Red, Blue, what ever. Right now there is little standardization. Just my 2 cents and opinion.

[Doug Beaumier]

Jeff Newman called the lever that lowers the E's the "D" lever. His tab had the 2nd string lower labeled as the "E" lever.

That's how I do my tab. D = lower strings 4 & 8. E = lower string 2.

Once I learn what a change does, I could call it anything. Billy, Susie, Red, Blue, what ever.

I agree. It's important to learn what the knee lever does musically, regardless of what we call the lever.

[Joey Ace]

The good thing about standards is there are so many of them.

In addition to the +s and -s that Dick mentions, I've seen up and down arrows and sharps and flats (# X b bb). All makes sense when you know your instrument.

It's important for the writer to specify what the letters mean. (Not really necessary with A, B, and C.)

If they don't specify, take a guess. You'll soon hear if you guessed wrong. Then take another guess.

It's really bad form to tab by stating RKL, LKR, etc.

[Larry Bell]

THAT'S WHY I DISLIKE USING LETTER DESIGNATIONS FOR KNEE LEVERS.

When I write tab (not often) I use a 'b' or '#' for a half step lower or raise, a 'bb' or 'X' for whole step lower or raise. We already have musical notation for a sharp/double sharp and flat/double flat. Why invent something new? In conversation, I'll refer to the 'Eb' lever or the 'F' lever or 'Bb' lever.

That system (which is part of Jimmie Crawford's MuSymTab system) forces you to connect moving a given string a given interval with a physical movement. You learn much more about your guitar than if all you are thinking is 'now where is the D lever?'

Just my opinion.

[Erv Niehaus]

Works for me:

[Larry Bell]

So, Erv, if you decide to add a lever that lowers G# to G what do you call that? How 'bout the Franklin lever F# to G# on 1 and 7 and D# to E on 2?

Would that be H and I??????? What if you use something other than B to Bb on LKV?

The system is inherently confusing, no matter how you slice it.

[Erv Niehaus]

Larry,
I'm not looking for a fight.
I said: IT WORKS FOR ME!!!
If you want to re-invent the wheel, that's up to you.

[Larry Bell]

It was just a simple question, dude, not a personal attack.

[Jerry Overstreet]

I see this on tab can;t figure what it is supposed to do,,,,, Help?

I merely pointed out that different instructors label levers in different ways. Arguing about which is the best method of writing tab is doing nothing to help answer Billy's question. There are dozens of different ideas.

Without knowing who wrote it, a link, or seeing a picture of the tab, it's impossible to know what the author of the tab had in mind, since the methods vary so widely.

Obviously, it's not clear to Billy what the lever is supposed to do on the tab he has or he wouldn't be asking the question.

Maybe if you could post a picture, diagram or explanation that you might have of the tab, we could give you a proper answer Billy.

[Jim Simon]

Larry, don"t take it personally. Erv has had his undies in a bundle ever since the "Emmons" thread. Some kind of hormone inbalance.

[Jim Lindsey (Louisiana)]

I see this on tab can;t figure what it is supposed to do,,,,, Help?

This takes me back to my first experiences with tab. When I first started playing in '76, I was able to stumble across a few pieces of tab, but there was no reference key on the tab sheet to explain the letter designations for the knee levers. As a result, I had to use a trial and error method like Joey described. And, I would definitely discover, "Ah, here it is: the "D" lever on here must be referring to my E to Eb knee lever" and so on.

In those early days I quickly became disenchanted with these tidbits of tab I was encountering because I'd get another piece of tab and the letter designations for the knee levers were nowhere near the first pieces I'd encountered. So, I decided to start writing my own tab without letter designations for the knee levers. I'd sometimes tab stuff for myself to use as a "refresher" in case I needed to go back and review or relearn something.

For the raises and lowers I used corresponding vertical up or down arrows with a small designator in red beside each one. A, B, or C for the pedals and for knee levers, a 1/2 or 1 indicating half tone or full tone, etc.



I kinda got into a habit of writing tab this way and when I eventually started giving lessons, I'd often tab out various things ... and always wrote it in this manner. Back when I first started writing tab, I did it with black and red pens, but now I do it all in Excel, like the little example above.

[Dick Sexton]

Question: "What does the E lever do?"

Answer: Anything you want it to!

I'd sometimes tab stuff for myself to use as a "refresher" in case I needed to go back and review or relearn something.

Great advice for someone starting out. Me thinks...

[b0b]

I see this on tab can;t figure what it is supposed to do,,,,, Help?

Which string is it on? That's the big clue.

[Kevin Hatton]

Why would you call a lever that lowers the E's a "D" lever and a lever that lowers the D an "E" lever? Doesn't seem to make sense.

[b0b]

It's historical. There used to be student guitars with 3 pedals and only one lever. The pedals were labeled ABC and the lever was labeled D. Many people learned tab from those courses, and the tradition was carried forward for many years by Jeff Newman.

I really doesn't matter. You can tell which lever is being used on tab by which string it's on. I prefer using flats and sharps (b, bb, #, ##), so that the student associates his levers with the string actions instead of with a letter name. The letters L for lower and R raise are another option.

[Kevin Hatton]

I agree. Makes more sense.

[Brint Hannay]

You can tell which lever is being used on tab by which string it's on.

Sometimes even that isn't so. I've seen tab where the pedals and levers used are just put at the top or bottom of the whole tab staff. If you just see "A,B,E" at the bottom it doesn't tell you which strings are affected. Not good.

I'm of the opinion that the sharps and flats method is best. I like the Musym Tab system.

[Terry Sneed]

I don't write tab, not because I wouldn't like to, I really would, I just don't know how.
But, I've used tab to learn a lot of songs, and I really prefer the # ## and the b bb. Then you don't have to worry about which letter means what.

terry

[Papa Joe Pollick]

This is the very reason that I don't even look at tabs anymore.Just when I think I've got one writer figured out I find another that's completly different.If I can't play it by ear it doesn't get played.

[Greg Cutshaw]

I usually put a line near the top of the tab to state what a knee lever does since I don't follow any certain convention. It's pretty easy to state that "E lowers strings 4 and 8 a half tone".

I have learned a lot from tab, YouTube, DVD lessons, one on ones, teaching seminars etc. They are all great ways to learn and I'd never pass up a cool lick just because it wasn't in tab or just because it was in tab!

Often it's pretty obvious what a knee lever does by what string it's on too or the context.

Greg

[Paul Sutherland]

Billy: Now that we've cleared the air regarding the naming of levers, why don't you follow Bob's suggestion and tell us what string or strings seem to be associated with the E lever in the tab you are working with. This could be a valuable discussion for newbies.