Editing Tutorial

Note: To define the title of the song that will appear above the blue bar you can use DokuWiki's markup for the first level headline.
Example: ====== Red ======

This section introduces the TaCo markup used on this site. For a reference of DokuWiki's markup see the syntax page.

If unsure about anything shown here, you can try it yourself on the playground.

Let's start with a simple example from Love to a Monster

||:
[D]Lover, and now that you've [F#m]left me I'm glad you're un[Bm]lovely.
Because if you could [G]take all the heat in your [D]heart and just hang it from [A]you
I [D]wouldn't be able to [F#m]bear the way you can not love [Bm]me
It's much easier [G]of me to make a [A]monster out of [D]you
:||

which will result in

This already shows us the basic concepts:

• All tabs and chords are enclosed in ||: ... :||
• All chords stand exactly where they are played and are enclosed in [ ... ] (like in chordpro)
• Every tab has an Options Box containing
  • a capo option specifying the song's capo
  • a display option

Let's take a closer look.

As already said chords are enclosed in square brackets. What you put inside is pretty much up to you as long as it doesn't conflict with any of the other keywords (e.g. something like [N.C.] for “no chord” or the name of a riff is perfectly fine).

It's also possible to define how a chord should be played. Some Examples:

  ||: [comment=some chords:] [C] [D/A] [F#m7/E=x x 4 4 4 4] [C(add F)] :||

E A D G B e

x x 4 4 4 4

However, to make all chords compatible to the capo option, i.e. to make them transposable there are two types of chords that require a specific syntax.

For chords with a particular note in the bass you should use the form [Chord/BassNote]. This ensures, that the bass note can be transposed as well.
Examples: [D/A], [F#m7/E]

For chords with additional notes that don't map to a common chord name, you should use the [Chord(add Note)] tag. Obviously that doesn't apply to additional notes specified as an interval as in [Aadd9].
Example: [C(add F)]

Using the command [capo=Number] you can specify the song to be played with a capo on the 'Numberth' fret. For it to work correctly you should put the capo command at the top of the tab and before the first chord.
Examples: [capo=0] – no capo, [capo=3] – third fret

Putting a ? in front of a line will set all chords in it to optional. This means they won't be visible if the Display option is set to chords (short). This is useful for recurring parts such as the chorus. The best way to use this is in combination with indentation, i.e. indent all parts with the same chords equally and set all but the first to optional. Important: The question mark must be the first symbol in the line.

Putting one (or more) > in front of will indent it. This is useful for distinguishing different parts of a song such as the verses and the chorus.

For an extended example of optional chords and indentation usage see A Hand to Take Hold of the Scene.

Tabs are created using the tags [tab=Name] ... [/tab] where Name is the optional title of the tab. Everything inside a tab will be rendered using a monospace font i.e. it will look exactly like in the editor window. You can use some formatting and chord tags inside but chords won't be transposed. In fact, since tablatures cannot be transposed, they will only be visible when the capo is set to the same value that's defined in the document.
Note: Hyphens in tabs are replaced by longer dashes to make the strings appear as a continuous line.

Here's an example from Love to a Monster

  ||: [tab=Intro]
      [D]     [F#m]   [Bm]              [G]     [D]    [A]
  e |-2---0---2---0---2---0---3---3-2-0-3---3---2---2---0---0---0---0---
  B |-3---3---2---0---3---3---3---3-3-3-3---3---3---3---2---0---3---2---
  G |-2---2---2---2---4---4---4---4-4-4-4---4---2---2---2---2---2---2---
  D |-0---0---4---4---4---4---4---4-4-4-5---5---0---0---2---2---2---2---
  [/tab] :||

Intro:
    D       F♯m     Bm                G       D      A  
e |—2———0———2———0———2———0———3———3—2—0—3———3———2———2———0———0———0———0———
B |—3———3———2———0———3———3———3———3—3—3—3———3———3———3———2———0———3———2———
G |—2———2———2———2———4———4———4———4—4—4—4———4———2———2———2———2———2———2———
D |—0———0———4———4———4———4———4———4—4—4—5———5———0———0———2———2———2———2———

You can label a paragraph by enclosing it with [label=Name] ... [/label] tags where Name will appear as the title of the paragraph. There are two ways to utilize this. The first is to – guess what – label a part of the song (e.g. chorus). The second is to copy it to a different part of the song using the [repeat=Name] tag. With the Display option set to chords (short) this will simply create the text “repeat Name” and with a different setting copy the whole paragraph.
Similar to lines labels can be indented. This will indent the label too and is done by adding one (or more) > right after the opening bracket.
Here's an example from A Girl In Port:

  ||:
  [>label=Chorus]
  Let fall your [A]soft and swaying [E]skirt.
  Let fall your [B]shoes. Let fall your [F#m]shirt.
  I'm not the [A]ladykilling [E]sort
  enough to [B]hurt [A] a girl in [E]port
  [/label]
  ...
  [repeat=Chorus]
  :||

The [comment=Comment] tag allows to differentiate between the text of the song and comments on how to play or the song in general. If a line contains nothing but chords and comments, the comment will stay in place and not create a new line. If you want a comment to appear above the text in a line with chords and text, put a ''^'' after the opening bracket
Note: Comments may only contain chords and text.
Here are examples from Our Life Is Not a Movie or Maybe and Black Sheep Boy #4.

  ||:
  [G] [D] [G] [Bm] [A] [comment=x4]

  [Em]turn the rece[^comment=(walk-up-to)]iver, [G]trace the police station
  :||

If you want to add information somewhere a comment would takes up to much space (e.g. in the middle of a line) you can use the [footnote=Footnote] tag.

You can add a link to an alternative version of a song. The markup for this is [altlink=Key|Capo] … [/altlink]. Key is the key of the alternative version relative to the original. Capo is the fix position of the capo in the alternative version. For instance, if the current version has a key of C and you want to create a link to a version with a capo at the second fret in key A (-3 since A is three halftones lower than C), you would have to write [altlink=-3|2] some text [/altlink]. If Key or Capo are zero, you can leave them out.

• ||: … :|| – TaCo markup block
• [Chord] – chord Chord
• [capo=Nr] – sets capo to fret Nr
• [tab=Name] … [/tab] – tab Name (name is optional)
• [label=Name] … [/label] – labeled block Name
• [repeat=Name] – reference/copy labeled block Name
• [comment=Text] – comment
• [footnote=Text] – footnote
• [altlink=Key|Capo] … [/altlink] – link to an alternative version of a song with changed Key or/and changed Capo.

• ? – chords are optional
• > – indent line (repeat to increase indentation)

• > – indent paragraph (repeat to increase indentation)

• ^ – put comment above the lyrics

If you need anything apart from what TaCo provides (e.g. a link), you'll have to close the current TaCo block and open another afterwards.

If there is more than one voice in a song, you might want to add another lyrics line. This is done by seperating the lines by putting \\ between the lines.
Here's an example featuring Will Robinson Sheff and Jordan Geiger.

||:
Do you [G]wa-\\see into me, [D]\\see into me, [Am]nt to knew me\\see into me [C]\\see into me,           
want to [G]ge- \\want to knew me, [D]t inside me \\want to knew me, [Am]\\want to knew me, [C]\\want to knew me
:||