Most of the free TABs on this site say “Level 1” at the top. So what, exactly, does that mean?
Complexity, not Difficulty
When I write a Level 1 TAB, I’m not usually thinking about making a piece either easy or hard. My main concern is making the arrangement simple. The difficulty of the arrangement is going to be dependent on the difficulty of the actual song.
If the song I’m working on happens to be “easy,” like “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star,” then the Level 1 TAB will also be easy.
If the song I’m working on happens to be “hard,” like “In the Hall of the Mountain King,” then the Level 1 TAB will also be hard.
However, a Level 1 TAB will always focus on the melody of the piece and avoid unnecessary embellishment as much as possible. In general, there won’t be any required chords, and I will do my best to avoid tricky fingerings and timings unless they are essential to the piece.
What is a “Simplified” arrangement?
For folk songs, I will often present two Level 1 arrangements – both a standard and a “simplified” version. Many folk songs, even in their core, un-embellished forms, are still pretty complex. To make these pieces more accessible to beginners, I present simplified versions.
To make a simplified version, I usually just subtract notes, making certain difficult passages a bit easier by creating empty space. Beginners then don’t need to learn a whole new arrangement to play the original version of the song; they just need to insert a few extra notes into a tune they already know.
I provide both the standard and simplified versions for free because these are all traditional, public domain tunes. They belong to everyone. All I’m doing it transcribing them for ukulele. I don’t claim to own them. I just make sure they sound good on a uke.
Are there any higher Level arrangements?
Not yet (or at least not many, depending on when you’re reading this) but I’m working on it. My long-term plan for this site is to build a good-size collection of Level 1 tunes that are freely available and to then begin work on Level 2 and Level 3 arrangements for as many songs as possible.
These arrangements will include various embellishments, chords, arpeggios, and other advanced techniques. I’ll collect these Level 2 and 3 arrangements together and offer them for sale, along with audio practice materials, as print and digital collections.
I hope to have the first of these advanced collections out later this year, so stay tuned!