my name is nathan banta.
i'll get straight to the point.
guitar tablature cannot be made illegal since it is the author's own interpretaion of how the song is played. and the author, under the laws of free enterprise, has the right to sell and/or distribute any tablature that s/he sees fit based on the fact that it is there own interpretation and work.
based on that fact, sheet music must then also be made illegal since the original manuscripts by the orginal composers no longer exist and can be found nowhere.
guitar tablature is just another way of scoring a song so that it can be played by other musicians.
on your website there was a statement about making sure that music and musicians remain creative and viable by getting rid of "illegal guitar tablature". to get rid of free guitar tablature would mean that many musicians who can't read sheet music would have to learn to do so in order to learn enough about the music they were trying to create. making it harder for new musicians to become creative since they can't learn how to pick up ideas and techniques from other songs that could make them become much better guitar players, and in turn, much better musicians.
in my personal and professional opinions (yes i am a professional guitar player) i believe that guitar tablature should replace sheet music for guitar since sheet music is an older form of scoring and like all Good old things, must eventually step aside for newer, better, more efficient things.
it is not illegal to learn how to play a song for free. it is not illegal to write, distribute, or sell guitar tablature. authorized guitar tablature is jsut an excuse for record companies to make more money and every musician knows this.
i can guarantee you that if "unauthorized" guitar tablature is made illegal then guitar tablature sales will drop immensely and newer bands will not sell as many albums since the newer bands will most likely have no skill other than classical and/or jazz training. and not many people wanna hear that style of music anymore since society has evolved into a plethora of anti-social misfits that tried to find their niche with music that is different from the so-called "norm" of guitar teaching and theory.
and if this issue is pressed any further and brought to a high enough court you can guarantee that i will be a one man army standing tall and coming out victorious.
test me. when it's for the well being of music and guitar players everywhere, you don't stand a chance.
Good day.
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that's the e-mail i just sent to the administrator of the mpa.
let those bitches test my legal skillz. they'll cry when they no longer exist after they've been in business for so fuckin' long.