Here is one of my quick scribbles for a song called Moon and Snow. I haven't recorded this one yet, it will go on my next acoustic cd. This one is in TAB with general rhythm notated above. I prefer standard notation except in songs like this with drastically altered tuning. Too confusing in standard notation. I bend all kinds of notation rules depending on the techniques I use in the song. Sometimes I use standard notation. Sometimes I use a grand staff (like piano music) for right and left hand parts. Notation is a language and I think there's nothing wrong with creating new ways to communicate. As long as I know what I mean, that's all that matters.
I wish I had a written code that I could come back to later and understand what I meant. I can't tell you how many pieces I've had in my head that have been lost because I'm such a horrible transcriptionist. Being classically trained, I rely solely on the grand staff or ensemble score for writing down my ideas, and my internal ear doesn't translate to paper at all. If I don't have a piano in front of me, it doesn't get written down. Someday I'll have a piano in my bedroom so when I wake with an idea (that's when they usually come to me), I can get it on paper before it's gone.
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