Chordie's song book feature is a search engine. The songs you see on Chordie are hosted (and posted) on other sites. Sometimes you'll see chord versions and tab versions of the same song. Sometimes you'll see multiple chord versions. Sometimes you'll see where someone has posted what he/she thinks is an accurate rendition of the original artist and sometimes you'll see a simplified arrangement for campfire picking. There are folks who are interested in each of these.
Me, personally, I'm not at all interested in doing 'accurate' covers of songs and even if I get an accurate chord chart, I'm going to arrange. My way of thinking is that if someone wants to hear the way it was done by the original artist, they can listen to their iPod. Also, I don't have a band, so it's going to be very difficult for me to play exactly the way people expect to hear it. So I like those simplified chord arrangments that hit the highlights. It's nice to see the tab for certain key phrases and riffs, though.
As far as tab, it's for folks who don't read music. It's not suitable for someone who doesn't already know the song to try and play because there is no indication of beat and rhythm with tab. Only full blown reading of standard music notation gives pitch, duration, and rhythm to allow someone to play a song "fresh."
- Zurf
Granted B chord amnesty by King of the Mutants (Long live the king).
If it comes from the heart and you add a few beers... it'll be awesome! - Mekidsmom
When in doubt ... hats. - B.G. Dude
