Introducing the ULTIMATE Shamisen Notation Software

[JulzShred]

Hi all! I’m super exciting to announce the impending release of my new shamisen notation software, “ShamiTab”!

If you want to see it in action, I share mini tutorial video over on the Bachido Facebook group here:
https://www.facebook.com/share/v/18R88rXppf/

There’s still plenty more for me to add but I’ve made sure that to start, there is a really robust feature set, including:

• Shamisen-focused score editor built specifically for notation, tab, playback, and layout work
• Rhythmic slot-based note and rest entry for fast, precise score writing
• Duration editing with dotted rhythms, triplets, ties, slurs, chords, and grace notes
• Multi-track score editing with track rename, duplicate, color, visibility, mute, solo, volume, and pan controls
• Shamisen-specific technique support including uchi, oshi, suri, finger markers, and dynamic markings
• Lyrics support with multiple verses and placement-aware rendering
• Repeat and navigation playback support including Segno, D.S., Coda, and Fine-style score flow
• Built-in playback with transport controls, looping, count-in, metronome, and swing/playback feel options
• Track soundbank selection for different playback instrument colors
• Design Mode for adjusting systems, page flow, and score layout
• Per-track stave scaling controls for vertical system sizing
• Technique symbol alignment controls for per-track refinement
• Dynamic row visibility controls per track
• Custom tuning editing with real-time score updates
• Guitar Pro import with track selection options and imported tuning support
• Save and reopen projects with recent-tab workflows
• Print and PDF-ready output workflow
• Zoom controls plus page and continuous viewing modes
• Localization support for a multi-language editing experience
• Score presentation tools for cleaner rehearsal, teaching, and performance materials

Anyway, it’s mostly ready to go, I’m just tweaking a few more little features here’s and there and making sure the core expereince is solid. Expect an update in a week or so!

[JulzShred]

One of my favourite features is the dynamic “Flex” mode, that allows you to tweak the balance of your tab, move bars up or down lines and really, just dial it in so it looks super clean when you export.

[ShamiWorks]

Hello Julian

Congratulations on creating a shamisen notation software package. I released my free shamisen web based app, also named ShamiTab. This was on April 20th, 8 days ago. While I appreciate that you’ve put a lot of work into your software and just by the looks of it, it is definitely more complex than mine, it would be confusing to have two similar apps with the same name. Since I released mine first, I cordially ask if you would consider changing the name of your software.

Please contact me at shamiworks.dev@gmail.com.

Regards,

Greg

[JulzShred]

Hi Greg,

Thanks for the update. I have replied to your email already but for the sake of approaching this with full transparency, I will shared that email below too.

All the best.

Email:
"Thank you for your message, and likewise, congratulations on your release too.

I wasn’t aware of your app prior to your post on the Bachido forum. I hadn’t logged in there for around six years until the day I made my post, so I haven’t been following community projects during that time. It does seem like a surprising coincidence.

The name “ShamiTab” is a fairly natural combination of “shamisen” and “tablature,” and I arrived at it independently during development, which has been ongoing for some time.

While I understand your concern about potential confusion, simply sharing a project on a forum doesn’t establish ownership or exclusivity over a name, particularly one that is descriptive in nature.

I did briefly look into the possibility of trademarking the name; however, given its descriptive nature, it doesn’t appear to be a particularly strong or exclusive candidate in that regard.

I’ve also established the project under the shamitab.com domain as part of its public-facing identity.

From a practical standpoint, while there may be overlap in audience, I’m based in Japan and closely connected to the local shamisen community, and there appears to be plenty of room for both projects to coexist.

Given this, I won’t be changing the name of my software.
That said, I agree it’s important to minimise confusion where possible, and I’ll continue to focus on clearly differentiating the product through branding and positioning.

Wishing you the best with your project.

Kind Regards,
Julian"

[jonnyfive]

Assuming both of you have records of a development timeline, and project naming, on GitHub/GitLab/BitBucket/CodeBerg or similar public-facing software versioning, would you both share your git-something, with its establishment date as a tie-breaker on this matter?

[ShamiWorks]

Thanks. That’s an interesting idea. I have kept my development in my personal GitHub private facing. I created a new GitHub for my latest functioning version. This is the first repo I made for working on this software. I think the earliest upload is some time in 2024. It is very crude but you can see from the script that I had already worked on it previously but that was offline.

This repo shows when I started putting ShamiTab三味タブ into the code as the name for the software was March 2025.

I don’t particularly want my personal GitHub to remain public so I might shift it back to private later.

[jonnyfive]

Thank you for sharing, @ShamiWorks
Let’s see what @JulzShred shows.

[JulzShred]

Thanks Jonny, I appreciate you stepping in to mediate this and keep the discussion fair.

For clarity, I’m not going to share my private GitHub repo or codebase. I’ll be honest with you both though: my current working version of ShamiTab began development this year, and I’m happy to acknowledge that ShamiWorks’ app appears to have entered active development earlier.

That said, I don’t think Git history is a clean tie-breaker for naming rights. Someone may have had the idea years before writing code, worked locally or offline, kept work private, or only shared it publicly much later. In my case, the name “ShamiTab” was arrived at independently as a natural shorthand for shamisen tablature. When did I first have the idea? Perhaps five years ago, but I honestly don’t remember, and I don’t have proof to back that up.

Realistically, without a trademark or clear prior public brand recognition, I don’t think either of us has an exclusive claim to the name based on development timeline alone, especially since the name is fairly descriptive of what the app does.

I primarily built ShamiTab for myself, then decided to share it because others might find it useful. At this point, I’m also far enough into development, release, and branding that I’m not planning to change the name. The overlap appears to be an unfortunate coincidence, but I arrived at the name independently and intend to continue using it.

I’m not looking for conflict here, and I’m not accusing anyone of copying or acting in bad faith. I think both pieces of software can coexist; users are free to use whichever one they prefer.