When looking through a collection of files of transcribed music, it can be very helpful if the filename itself gives you a good idea what the file contains. The filename standard presented in this appendix has many attractive features; the song name, whether it's tablature or chording, and optionally whether it's the complete song or only part of the song are all apparent from the filename. Also, they basically follow the filenames used on ftp.nevada.edu. One down-side, however, is that it assumes the system can handle long filenames.
Filenames consist of the name of the song, each word being capitalized and with no spaces or underscores, optionally followed by the instrument type, followed by the type of transcription.
------------------- Instrument --- --------------- .b bass guitar .g guitar --- ---------------
Note: when no instrument is given, the transcription is for the guitar
---------------------------------------------------------------- Transcription Type ------- -------------------------------------------------------- .tab tablature - may or may not be the full song .crd chording - may or may not be the full song .ptab partial tablature - only part of the song .ftab full tablature - the full song .pcrd partial chording - only part of the song .fcrd full chording - the full song .chopro chording - for use with the Chord.pro utility ------- --------------------------------------------------------
Therefore, a filename has the following format:
{SongName}{Instrument Type}{Transcription Type}
To complicate things further, the transcription may not be in ASCII format. It may be encoded in another format, such as PostScript, Unix compressed, or gif (graphics) format. In these cases the above filename will have the additional extension used to identify the format. Hopefully, the following examples will help clarify:
HeartOfGold.fcrd
- a full chording to "Heart Of Gold"
DayTripper.tab
- a (possibly partial) tablature of "Day Tripper"
StairwayToHeaven.g.ptab
- a partial tablature of "Stairway To Hevean"
KnockinOnHeavensDoor.ptab.ps
- a partial tablature of "Knockin' On Heaven's Door", in PostScript format
TomSawyer.b.ptab.Z
- a partial tablature of "Tom Sawyer" for the bass guitar, compressed
using the Unix 'compress' utility
If an archive of music files are being maintained it is suggested that the files be organized by placing them in directories corresponding to the artist's name. The directory names should follow the paradigm set out above...each word is capitalized, no spaces or underscores.
If anyone is setting up an archive site, or BBS (or whatever) which does not support long filenames, please get in touch so that we can devise a standard naming.
