The UG IQ is a point system which represents two things at once – how knowledgeable you are and how much the Ultimate Guitar community trusts you and your work (tabs, chords, articles and comments). Basic use of the site, including posting tabs, comments, replying, and suggesting edits to tabs, does not require any UG IQ. But the more reputation you earn, the more privileges you gain.
The UG IQ’s main goal is to reward users for catalog improvements. By this we mean both quality and quantity improvements. In addition to this, the system also rewards users who make contributions to the rest of the site and community, such as useful (or fun) comments (though those improve your IQ to a lesser degree).
Every time you submit tablature, a chord sheet or an article to the site you receive points. This is the basis of the entire system. When you submit tablature for a song that was requested by others, you'll get more points. When you add tablature that takes more time to transcribe (in most cases, a Guitar Pro tab is way harder to make than a chord sheet) – you get more points. Read our guide to make sure your tab meets UG standards.
| Reviews, news articles and lessons | IQ |
|---|---|
| News article (community feed) | +5 |
| News article (feature, interview, music news) | +15 |
| Review | +15 |
| Lesson | +20 |
| UG wiki | IQ |
| Wiki article | +20 |
| Wiki revision | +2 |
| Chords approved | IQ |
| Chords (intro) | Not accepted |
| Chords (solo) | Not accepted |
| Chords (whole song) | +10 |
| Chords (album) | +20 |
| Text tab approved | IQ |
| Tab (intro) | +5 |
| Tab (solo) | +5 |
| Tab (whole song) | +20 |
| Tab (album) | +30 |
| Guitar Pro / Power tab tab approved | IQ |
| Guitar Pro / Power tab (intro) | +5 |
| Guitar Pro / Power tab (solo) | +5 |
| Guitar Pro / Power tab (whole song) | +30 |
| Guitar Pro / Power tab (album) | Not accepted |
| Tab quality and request queue bonuses | IQ |
| Song from the request queue (also depends on the number of upvotes for the request, one upvote – +1 IQ) |
+5 |
| Chords include strumming pattern | +5 |
| Includes meta data (genre, capo, difficulty & description) | +1 |
Except tabs for Misc Traditional, Misc Praise Songs, Misc Christmas, Misc Children, Lessons - Guitar, Misc Mashups and Misc Originals.
| Pending Approval queue | IQ |
|---|---|
| New comment | +1 |
| New tab vote | +1 |
| Tab correction vote | +1 |
| My tab correction was approved | +2 |
| Added meta information | +1 |
| Meta information correction for someone else's song (for mods and level V tab authors) | +1 |
There is a special collection of trophies you can collect over time for these achievements.
Each collected trophy adds extra +10 to your UG IQ!
Some of the trophies can be collected multiple times too.
| Tab trophies | Descriptions | x2 Multiple? |
|---|---|---|
| I'm helpful | My tab added to favorites 100 times | No |
| Life saver | My tab added to favorites 1,000 times | No |
| HQ tabs club | My tab rated 10 times (3, 4, 5 stars) | No |
| D.M.A.* | My tab rated 100 times (3, 4, 5 stars) | No |
| Epic | My tab rated 1,000 times (3, 4, 5 stars) | No |
| Strike | I have submitted 10 tabs in a week (starting Sunday) | No |
| Hurricane | I have submitted 30 tabs in a week (starting Sunday) | No |
| Tab expert | I have commented and voted 50 times in Pending Approval queue in a week (starting Sunday) | No |
| Commenting trophies | Action | x2 Multiple? |
| No-life | Posted comment selected as the best one | Yes |
| Shitgood | Posted comment selected as a crappy one | Yes |
| Misc trophies | Action | x2 Multiple? |
| Registered | Registered user | No |
| Avatar | Uploaded avatar | No |
| Numero Uno | #1 contributor of a week | Yes |
| Forum trophies | Action | x2 Multiple? |
| Mayor | I got "mayor of a thread" status | Yes |
| Socialifarian | My forum thread got 30 replies or 1,000 views (except for The Pit) | Yes |
| Forum expert | My forum thread got 1,000 replies or 100,000 views (except for The Pit) | Yes |
* D.M.A. - Doctor of musical arts
Generally, this is the way UG IQ system works – the more actively you add HQ content, the more points you earn. Be active in the community, listen to what other people suggest as a way to improve your work. Talk with other authors and help new members. Here is a list of things that may help you get more IQ: