Culturally, the guitar tab community is similar to, but somewhat more interesting than, the mp3 community. (Guitar tab, short for tabulature, is a way of notating songs specifying where to put your fingers on the guitar. The OLGA database is the closest equivilent to Napster’s servers). It takes a lot of work to learn the music by ear and then notate it. Some people do this meticulously, including guitar solos and putting comments in to explain particular techniques.
Through this effort the transcriber’s personality comes through, they’re more than just someone who has ripped an mp3 off their CD. An Incubus guy inserts an elaborate ASCII sig, Beck transcribers go by handles like Maxxdaddy and D-rex.
For example, at the end of a transcription of “Parallel Universe” by the Red Hot Chili Peppers there’s this:
…As far as I’m concerned, this is the whole song.There is a kind of half-arsed guitar solo for the outro, but it isn’t special.
It’s hard to duplicate that, it’s hard to tab – because, basically, if you
get a metal zone pedal (the ones that heavy metal bands use) and turn
distortion up full, then you can just about not even touch the strings,
and that’s what your guitar will do *laughing* :)