Songsterr

Drum Tab Notation

2010-02-11T09:49:00.000-08:00

Drum tab notation - one of the most requested features from our feedback forum - has made it's way to Songsterr Player. Guitar, bass and now drums... The missing piece is finally here! Enjoy and get ready for other awesome new features coming soon.

Several Enhancements: Better Printing, Correct Bass Volume

2010-02-02T07:46:00.000-08:00

We have some great news! We've just enhanced our printing tool. Now, instead of just screen snapshots, you'll have beautiful b&w tablature, formatted specifically for printing. This means:

Practically no grey colors in printed tab. Everything is just black and white, and therefore - very readable.
Chord diagrams that are better suited for black and white printers.

And that's not all. We've also fixed a long-time bug with bass tracks volume. All bass tracks should sound correct from now on.

Thanks for using Songsterr!

New Feature: Hide songs without bass track

2009-12-16T10:29:00.000-08:00

We've just launched a new feature allowing you to filter out songs without bass lines. No more loading the song just to find out that there is no bass track in it.

The link to hide songs without bass tracks is shown on artist and search results pages. Your selection will be remembered. Hope this saves you some time and effort.

Songsterr Plus - perfect Christmas gift

2009-12-16T10:25:00.000-08:00

We've just added an option for you to buy a Plus account for someone as a gift. After purchase we'll give you a gift code that you can either email or print out in a post card. The recipient of your gift then goes to the gift activation page and types in the code. Easy!

Gifts are available in three variants: 3, 6 or 12 months of Plus account. Prices start with as low as $29. The more months you buy - the less you pay per month!

Buy Gift of Plus now!

Songsterr Goes Green: Partial Printing

2009-12-12T00:21:00.000-08:00

We've just introduced small yet very useful feature - Partial Printing. Now, when you click on the print buton, you'll see a small dialog window that will allow you to:

Print the whole tab of the current track (this was the only option before).
Print only the selected measures of the current track.

So no more wasting tons of paper to print just these freaking hard 4 measures! Print less - save trees - stop global warming!;)

Write review - get FREE Songsterr Plus account

2009-11-24T08:07:00.000-08:00

We will present a free 3-month Songsterr Plus account to you if you write a review of Songsterr on your own website, blog, magazine or column! Don't hesitate! Write immediately!

What are the requirements?

Just share your experience and write in your own words:

why do you use Songsterr
what features do you like/miss
how did Songsterr help you to improve your guitar skills

When can I get the FREE Songsterr Plus account?

Once you write a review, please post a link to it along with your Songsterr Account nick as a comment to this post. And you'll get a FREE Songsterr Plus account right away!

P.S. We already have first participant. You can read his review here.

New Feature: Zoom

2009-11-18T03:31:00.000-08:00

We've just introduced new zoom feature which is now immediately available to all Songsterr Plus subscribers.

Just look at the dropdown menu in the left bottom corner of the player. This list allows you to select current zoom mode. You can choose from values of 50%, 75%, 100%, 125%, 150% and 200%. Each of these zoom levels can be useful in certain cases. You can work in 50% zoom mode when you know the part well and just need to see certain visual "anchors" while playing. And 200% can be used when you're standing far away from the display.

New Feature: Tags Navigation

2009-10-07T10:18:00.001-07:00

Tags are not exactly new on Songsterr. We've been showing them on artist pages for several months already, but today we've added two new tag features - a navigation bar with most used tags and a tags list page.

Tags in list are shown sorted by popularity. We have more than 2100 tags including some interesting ones like:

Browsing Songsterr tabs now gets a whole new dimension and we really hope you find it useful. As always, feedback is welcome!

New Feature: Keyboard Shortcuts

2009-07-31T08:21:00.000-07:00

The latest update of Songsterr Player introduced a really useful feature: Keyboard Shortcuts. While this feature is probably not a major one, it can be really handy sometimes. By using the shortcuts, you'll be able to use Songsterr in much faster and convenient way. Here is the list of available shortcuts:

Space - starts/stops playback
Shift+Space - starts playback from the beginning
Backspace - rewinds to the beginning
Left Arrow - move cursor one measure backward
Right Arrow - move cursor one measure forward
Up Arrow - move cursor one line up
Down Arrow - move cursor one line down
"L" - turn looping mode on/off

You can also use shortcuts to adjust the selection in the looping mode:

Shift+Left - move border of the selection one measure backward
Shift+Right - move border of the selection one measure forward
Shift+Up - move border of the selection one line up
Shift+Down - move border of the selection one line down
Left/Right/Up/Down Arrow - reset the selection to the size of one measure and move it in the given direction

These are all keyboard shortcuts to date. But we have a lot more in the plans - one for each new feature! Stay tuned!

New Feature: Looping Mode

2009-07-31T07:58:00.000-07:00

We've just updated Songsterr Player with a major new feature (that will be available to all Songsterr Plus users) - the Looping Mode. Looping can be very helpful for training when you're learning particular part of the song.

To use looping on Songsterr just click on the "Loop" button and select the area to loop using your mouse. Note, that you can either drag the selection by holding the left mouse button down, or you can adjust the selection borders by clicking within the tablature with keyboard's shift key pressed.

When you're in the looping mode, only the selected area will play - over and over again, until the power runs out (or you press the pause button). If you have the count-in mode turned on, then player will count in using the metronome before each iteration.

Well, hope you like the looping mode and... stay tuned!

New Feature: 100% Width Fullscreen Mode

2009-07-01T06:42:00.000-07:00

We've just updated Songsterr's tablature player - and we have a great new feature to announce: 100% width fullscreen mode.

Now, when you click fullscreen button, the tablature will stretch across the whole screen. In some cases you will even be able to see the whole tab at once! This feature is especially handy when you're learning particular song with the guitar in front of your computer.

This release also contains tons of small improvements and bugfixes. Some highlights among them:

Player was optimized for better performance. It will load faster and will produce smoother sound.
Toolbar was redesigned and "forward" button was removed.

Stay tuned!

New Feature: Support of Guitar Pro 3 and 5 Formats

2009-06-23T02:31:00.000-07:00

Till now the only supported format of submitted tabs was Guitar Pro 4. This was really a show stopper if you wanted to submit a tab in Guitar Pro 3 or 5 format from the net (e.g. from 911tabs.com) but didn't have a Guitar Pro software to convert it to Guitar Pro 4 format.

Starting last week this problem is solved. Songsterr now supports all the major Guitar Pro formats, so you can submit tabs without worrying about their versions.

Limiting Flash 9 Support: No Audio

2009-04-14T16:57:00.000-07:00

Sad news for Flash Player 9 users - we won't play audio in ninth Flash Player anymore. Everything else will still work, though.

This is another reason not to postpone the upgrade to the Flash Player 10.

New Feature: Favorites

2009-04-10T05:53:00.001-07:00

One of the most requested features of our Feedback Forum - Favorites - has just went live.

Click on the heart icon near the top right corner of the player and current song will be instantly added to your personal list of favorites. This list is accessible from the menu in the top right corner of every page.

You will have to sign up for a Songsterr Account to use this feature. Sign up is absolutely free and almost instant.

You can use favorites for quick access to songs you like, songs you currently learn or would like to learn some time later. Hope, you'll find this feature useful.

Follow Songsterr on Twitter

2009-04-09T04:52:00.001-07:00

You can now follow us on Twitter. We'll be posting quick daily updates on project status, news, tips, etc.

New Features: Metronome, Count In Toggle, Tuning Helper, 'How To Read Tab' Manual and more...

2009-04-02T07:41:00.000-07:00

We've been working on several new features in Songsterr and it just happened that they all became production-ready in approximately the same moment. That's why this Songsterr Player update contains not one or two but six new features:

Metronome
Metronome can be an essential tool for learning particular songs. Most beginners use it on different stages of their guitar training. Now it's available on Songsterr for Songsterr Plus users. You can turn metronome on and off and tune its volume - metronome will adjust itself automatically to the current song's time signature and tempo.

Count In Toggle
During previous Songsterr Player update we've added the Count In feature. While it can be very helpful sometimes, sometimes it's just not needed. That's why there is a special toggle button now in the Mixer. By the way, this toggle will remember its last state each time you open a new song.

Tuning Helper
This feature was requested on our Feedback Forum. Now to hear the particular note in the current instrument's tuning, just click on it. This is not an ideal solution for tuning a guitar, but it should be convenient enough for those who can tune by ear.

Extended 'How To Read Tab' Manual
At the moment most of the guitar playing techniques that are present on Songsterr are covered in this manual. Besides, you will notice the "watch video" link near many titles. We hope that in its current condition How To Read Tab page will be really helpful for those who are currently learning to play guitar using tablatures.

Playing Track Indicators
You'll probably notice small jumping bars in the Mixer. Simply speaking, they indicate the amount of sound in the output of a particular track. In multi-track songs with several guitars these indicators will greatly help to determine which tracks produce the sound at the moment.

Lyrics Indicator
Small 'L' letter to the left of the track's title in the Mixer will indicate the presence of lyrics in this track. Small, but helpful indicator.

New Features: Count In and Recommendations

2009-03-16T08:32:00.000-07:00

Today we have two exciting new features to announce.

Count in
Now when you click "Play" the player will count in for a length of one measure and then start playing. With this feature you will be able to sit comfortably with your guitar and prepare yourself for playing after hitting the "Play" button. The count in is based on the time signature so it also should give you some impression of what rhythm is used in the song.

Recommendations
Now on every song's page there is a "See Also" section. There Songsterr will display titles of the songs that are relevant to the one that you're currently viewing. We hope that this will ease the process of browsing the Songsterr catalogue's contents - that is about 22500 tabs at the moment.

New Feature: Lyrics Support

2009-03-05T02:51:00.000-08:00

We're glad to announce that we've added lyrics support to the vocals tracks of the songs. Unfortunately only about 10% of tabs on Songsterr have lyrics embedded, but we're working on increasing this number. Use mixer to switch to the vocals track where available. Check out some of the examples:

Free Fallin' by Tom Petty
Sweet Child Of Mine by Guns N' Roses
Motorcycle Emptiness by Manic Street Preachers
Paranoid by Black Sabbath

Another small bonus addition is that from now on player allows viewing not only guitar tracks but all kinds of tracks except drums and percussion. They all will have standard tablature look - even if piano is used. By the way, support for standard note notation is planned - but it will arrive some time later.

New Features: Palm Muting and Let Ring

2009-02-20T02:10:00.000-08:00

We're glad to announce that we've added support for the palm muting effect to Songsterr. Right now we're updating audio data for all songs with palm muting so that you can hear it as well as see it. If you don't know what palm muting is you can read about it here.

Palm muting is indicated with "P.M." in tablatures. What's interesting is that you will see this abbreviation in 25% of Songsterr's tabs. To hear how palm muting sounds on Songsterr, you can check Basket Case by Green Day.

And another small addition - "let ring" effect indication. While all songs on Songsterr actually supported "let ring" effect for a very long time, you could only hear it - as there was no visual indication.

From now on, if you see the "let ring" label in tablature you will know that it's really there. You can check Wanted Dead Or Alive by Bon Jovi as it uses "let ring" heavily in the intro.

New Features: Tags and Sorting by Popularity

2009-02-13T04:59:00.000-08:00

As of now Songsterr library contains 21718 tabs and is growing rapidly thanks to submissions by our users. Navigating that many songs and artists using search and A-Z links became more and more cumbersome. We've made two important improvements to solve this issue: Tags and Sorting by Popularity.

Tags are shown on artist's page and can be used to discover new artists similar to the current one.

Clicking on the tag opens a list of artists by this tag. Artists are sorted by popularity - most popular artists go first:

Artists by letter are now also sorted by popularity, so you can easily find new tabs to learn.

New Features: Rhythm Notation, Ties and How To Read Tab

2009-01-12T07:45:00.000-08:00

We are glad to announce that we've added several new features to Songsterr:

1. The rhythm notation. Rhythm notation is a set of special symbols that describe the lengths of the notes. With these symbols you can determine the length of particular notes not only by listening to the track segment, but also by looking at the rhythm notation. While users of GuitarPro are probably well aware of such notation, it can be a bit confusing for novices. But don't worry - we'll add the detailed description soon.

2. In order to make rhythm notation look right, we had to add ties to tablatures. From wikipedia: "In music notation, a tie is a curved line connecting the heads of two notes of the same pitch, indicating that they are to be played as a single note with a duration equal to the sum of the individual notes' note values".

3. How to read tab - you will notice this link on a small bookmark under the player. The "how to read tab" page is currently quite small, and we'll update it to become much more helpful soon. Stay tuned!

New Feature: Search API

2008-12-10T07:07:00.000-08:00

We've just added support of an open Application Programming Interface (API for short) to Songsterr. The first supported method is Search. You can use it to write your own program to present public Songsterr data in new and different ways. Click here for usage examples and brief documentation.

One of Songsterr users is already working on an Songbird plug-in!

Have an idea of API usage? Need support of other API methods? Please let us know by email or via our support forum.

Flash 10 Support

2008-12-05T04:33:00.001-08:00

As you may know Adobe has released Flash Player 10 recently. What really distinguishes this version of Flash Player from all previous releases is the new audio subsystem. It allows developers to have total control over audio playback. While not digging deep into the details, we'll just say that the Flash Player 10 allowed us to solve several technical problems (tracks synchronization problem, for example) that were impossible to solve with Flash Player 9. That's why right now the tenth version is the preferred one for Songsterr.

We encourage you to upgrade your Flash Player - because we will support the ninth version for a limited time only.

New Features: Swing (Triplet) Feel and Natural Harmonics support

2008-12-01T01:47:00.000-08:00

Recently we've added two cool features to Songsterr. First one is the "swing feel" support. In songs that should be played with swing feel, each pair of 8th notes should be treated specially. The first note in the pair should be exactly twice the duration of the second note. This kind of playing gives the special groove feel to the music. More on this on wikipedia: Swung Note. To indicate that the song should be played with the swing feel, the special symbol is used in the beginning of the tablature.

The second feature is natural harmonics support. This technique is a bit advanced and it's used by a huge number of famous guitarists (Steve Vai is probably one of the most characteristic harmonic-lovers). You can find good tutorials on how to play natural harmonics on YouTube. Here is one of such tutorials: Natural Harmonics. In tablatures notes that should be played using natural harmonics are indicated by little diamond and the word "Harm." at the top of the staff.

We hope that you'll enjoy these new features. You can listen to the great example, where both of them are used: Pink Panther Theme.

New Features: Repeats, Vibrato, Hammer Ons/Pull Offs and Up/Down Strokes

2008-11-23T12:09:00.000-08:00

We're glad to announce that we've just finished updating our rendering engine. Now Songsterr has support for several new exciting features:

Repeats and Alternate Endings. This is a very helpful feature used in a lot of songs that are uploaded to Songsterr It helps both the author and the user of the tablature. The author doesn't have to copy/paste the same segment of the tab several times. And the user can explicitly see the repeating part.

Vibrato. This popular effect can be achieved both by specially using the player's left hand or by the electric guitar's tremolo bar. More on this on wikipedia: vibrato, finger vibrato.

Hammer On/Pull Off is a ubiquitous technique - it's used by guitarists in almost every song. More information about it on wikipedia: hammer on, pull off. Songsterr now has both audio and visual support for this effect.

Up/Down strokes. Sometimes it can be really helpful to know the direction of the stroke. Tablatures' authors can specify this information in their tabs - now we can display it.

You can check out several songs that demonstrate these new features:

Stay tuned!