古琴记谱法 Guqin Tablature Introduction
Just like most of you, I fell in love with the Guqin upon hearing its first sound, inspiring me to embark on the journey of learning to play it. However, many beginners, espespecially those who don’t speak chinese, encounter a significant hurdle when it comes to reading the traditional Guqin notation, known as JianZiPu (减字谱). This notation system is written in Chinese characters, which can pose a challenge for learners.This is the reason why I create this new notation system. It is called Guqin Tablature.
The basic structure of Guqin Tablature is seven horizontal lines, which represent the 7 strings of the Guqin. When you look at the GTAB, its just like you are looking at the seven strings of the Guqin in front of you. The top line is the 1st string which is the thickest, and the bottom line is the 7th string, which is thinnest. The middle lines represent the 6th, 5th, 4th, 3rd, 2nd, strings as showing in the picture below. Both hands fingers technique instructions are written on this seven lines. If you’re a guitar player, you may find that you’ve encountered something similar. Yes, That is the Tab! It is a very simple and straightforward notation system. In order to distinguish the Tablature from the Guqin Tablature, I will write GTAB instead of TAB at the beginning of these seven lines.
I only introduce the symbol and definitions of all the techniques in this section, for the sake of simplicity, I will explain how excalty to pluck the string in other section.
Let’s see how to read the Guqin Tablature.
Right Hand
We pluck the string with four fingers of right hand: Thumb, Forefinger, Middle finger, Ring finger.
The direction toward our body while plucking the string is “inward”
The direction toward the “Hui” while plucking the string is “outward”.
Right Hand Basic
| Technique | GTAB Symbol | Read as | JZP | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thumb inward | ti | / θʌm in / | 劈 pi | plucking string inward with nail of thumb |
| Thumb outward | to | / θʌm aʊt / | 托 tuo | plucking string outward with face of thumb |
| Forefinger inward | fi | / fɔr in / | 抹 mo | plucking string inward with face of forefinger |
| Forefinger outward | fo | / fɔr aʊt / | 挑 tiao | plucking string outward with nail of forefinger |
| Middle finger inward | mi | / ˈmɪd l in / | 勾 gou | plucking string inward with face of middle finger |
| Middle finger outward | mo | / ˈmɪd l aʊt / | 剔 ti | plucking string outward with nail of middle finger |
| Ring finger inward | ri | / ring in / | 打 da | plucking string inward with face of ring finger |
| Ring finger outward | ro | / ring aʊt / | 摘 zhai | plucking string outward with nail of ring finger |
| Triple inward | tri | / ˈtrɪp əl in / | 剌 la | plucking string inward with face of fore, middle and ring finger together |
| Triple outward | tro | / ˈtrɪp əl aʊt / | 泼 po | plucking string outward with nail of fore, middle and ring finger together |
Left Hand
We press the string also with four fingers of left hand: Thumb, Forefinger, Middle finger, Ring finger.
Left Hand Basic
| Technique | GTAB Symbol | Read as | JZP | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thumb | t | / θʌm / | 大 da | press string with thumb |
| Forefinger | f | / fɔr / | 食 shi | press string with forefinger |
| Middle finger | m | / ˈmɪd l / | 中 zhong | press string with middle finger |
| Ring finger | r | / ring / | 名 ming | press string with ring finger |
| Knell | k | / nɛl / | 跪 gui | kneel down the ring finger to press the string with finger knuckle |
Left Hand Techniques
| Technique | GTAB Symbol | Read as | JZP | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Left in | \ | / lɛftin/ | 绰 chuo | slide in from left to the target note |
| Right in | / | / raɪtin/ | 注 zhu | slide in from right to the target note |
| Lightly Vibrato |
∼ | / ˈlaɪˈbrɑ/ | 吟 yin | vibrato lightly around the target note ∼ is 1 to 2 cycles ~~ is 3 to 4 cycles |
| Heavily Vibrato |
≈ | / ˈhaɪˈbrɑ/ | 猱 nao | vibrato heavily around the target note ≈ is 1 to 2 cycles ≈≈ is 3 to 4 cycles |
| Quick | > | / kwɪk / | 急 ji | use together with vibrato, ex. >∼, means quick lightly vibrato |
| Slow | < | / sloʊ / | 缓 huan | use together with vibrato, ex. <≈, means slow heavily vibrato |
| Fix | = | / ˈfix / | 定 ding | use together with vibrato, ex. =∼, =≈，means vibrato fixing at the target note |
| Slide to | st | / ˈslaɪd tu / | 上shang 下xia | slide to target note |
Notes:
Vibrato is the most important part of Guqin playing, Just like violin. But in modern staff nontaion syste, the vibrato is not marked on the score.
We could distinguish the vibrato by the following three factors:
amplitude of vibarato, speed of vibarato. number of vibrato cycles.