StrumStick Song Table Notation System

This is a test page to show off a new way of teaching people with print impairments to play chords on their StrumStick. This is an experiment that Bob and Chris have started in order to find a way that blind people, like Chris, can enjoy all of the materials that come with this terrific instrument.

Introduction

You probably bought your StrumStick because you want to make some music with it. The StrumStick is very easy to learn to play easy songs, jamming riffs and accompanying a singer or people playing other instruments or singing. But, as you’ve already found this page, you probably already know all of that and have started strumming away already.

The Table Notation System

For people with vision impairment, people who are blind, have dyslexia or another cognitive disorder that prevents one from reading or just prefer nicely organized tables of information, the Table Notation System (TNS) is right for you.

A Song on the StrumStick

Taken from the StrumStick web site “Song of the Week” page, here’s a table notation version of Billy Joel’s popular song, “Piano Man.” It’s an easy song to play as most of the cells in the table below contain a “0” which means that you needn’t fret on that string to make the chords sound nice. I chose this example as it was nicely notated using Bob’s NUM system which is similar to TNS but we believe that the table notation system will be easier for people with print impairments to use.

Line 1

Lyric: It’s nine o’clock on a Saturday

	Frets	Beat 1	Beat 2	Beat 3	Beat 4	Beat 5	Beat 6	Beat 7	Beat 8	Beat 9
Chord	D	D	D	D	C	B	C	B	G
Frets	4.0.0	4.0.0	4.0.0	4.0.0	3.0.0	2.0.0	3.0.0	2.0.0	0.0.0

Line 2

Lyric: The regular crowd shuffles in

	Frets	Beat 1	Beat 2	Beat 3	Beat 4	Beat 5	Beat 6	Beat 7	Beat 8	Beat 9
Chord	G	G	G	G	G	G	A	A	X
Frets	0.0.0	0.0.0	0.0.0	0.0.0	0.0.0	0.0.0	1.0.0	1.0.0	X.X.X