This topic arises quite often in emails I get from site users, so I thought it would be worth including a few notes on the subject.
I try to lay out my transcriptions in the most easy to read way possible. All new sections (verse, chorus etc...) always start on a new line, and each line usually starts and ends in a logical place within the songs phrasing (i.e.: the start of a line should tie in with the start of a guitar riff or vocal part). You will notice that at some points lines finish half way across the page. This is to keep with the idea of starting a new line with a new phrase. More often than not phrases are grouped in blocks of 4 or 8 bars but this can change, and when it changes I add more or less bars in the line. By cutting the line short, it shows more strongly that the phrase ends in an odd place.
The only things in notation that tell you what speed notes are to be played are the note values and tempo markings. The distance between notes will change depending on how many bars are in a line and how much music is fit into each bar. If, for example, two crotchet notes are spaced very close together on one line but then really far apart on another, they will still be played at the same speed (unless of course the tempo has changed).
My notation method is based very heavily on the percussive arts standard notation guide. However, I very quickly learned that this didn't have enough different parts to it to encompass all the sounds you can make with a drum kit. So I have added several new note heads into my scores. This are all out line in the Notation Guide section.
