Stub Mandrel

Hoist by my own petard! My problem is that tab is often not laid out with sensible fingerings in the sense that unfeasible stretches or pointless changes of position are given: I have seen an example of a program that can automatically move fingerings to different locations. That could perhaps be used/adapted to automatically detect and eliminate silliness like in the example.

An interesting idea. The bugbear is that not everyone uses the same fingerings.

The topic, as set out in my original post has barely been addressed. I wanted to start a discussion on Tab. It's been hijacked into a discussion of why standard notation is better. It's like telling a blind man who wants a better radio the advantages of colour television; but such is the way of the internet. It's almost as if there is a conspiracy to keep tab from improving in case it becomes better... 😁

But as I never intend putting myself out there for that sort of gig, I have no use for sight reading.

Missed point alert. I know how to do that I can recognise triads and sevenths. I just am pathologically incapable of working out the key (other than C/Am) or the root note other than by carefully working it out.

I did say that I have some theory, I also know how notation represents theory. My situation with notation is like someone with an understanding of English grammar faced with a coded message where all the letters have been substituted - able to see the structure of the message but having to manually decode most of the letters before they can get the sense of the message. So I can spot triads and sevenths, for example, but without working out the key and then identifying the root I can't say 'Ah yes that's Am7'. Yes I know, it's just learning perhaps 21 locations and linking each one with a note. If it was that easy for me, don't you think I would have done it?

Is that Disaster Area? Which one is Hotblack Desiato?

The potential for errors in parsing that sentence is not negligible. Possibly add a comma after 'parents'?

Bring back proper festival toilets, then no-one complains about the music.

That's a different class B. Also note my bolded 'and' just using pulses alone does not make it 'digital'.

I'm familiar with the symptoms and the cause, which is moving my wrist and lower forearm back and forth over an edge, whether of desk or bass it's the same effect. It's hard keeping the discipline to lift my wrist clear of the bass, especially with some of my instruments. Never an issue with the small body B2 or my acoustic (where my arm crosses nearer the elbow). If a brace or pad of some sort 'spreads the load' like the gel pad for the mouse I am pretty sure the symptoms will go. Just using a big green elbow support on it seems to have helped yesterday so I'll use it again at tonight rehearsal. If I don't get the 'nerve son edge' feeling then the answer is finding a brace I am comfy to wear and that doesn't make me look like Jane Fonda. 🙂 That's pretty much my playing style for 90% of the time, problem is it doesn't take much to set it off so 10% is probably too much 😞

There was probably a curtain of p***-filled plastic bottles between us....

As a user of professional GIS, that's kind of like me saying to an amateur naturalist 'bear in mind you won't be supplied data from google maps'. Perhaps that's exactly it. I can't read notation, so better tab would help me. Aside from my inability to even achieve reading at a sub-Grade 1 level, despite years of attempts, I already know that. Why, for the love of God, is it that raising the issue of improving tab generates such an outpouring of (effectively) demands that the questionner should learn notation? The fact is I don't, and never will, be in a position where I need to sight read unless I volunteer myself into it. In forty-plus years of playing with other people I have never needed to sight read (although i did bluff through singing lessons by being very quick at picking up a simple melody by ear). I use written music as a way to assist with learning (or very rarely composing or transposing) music and speed of reading is not the priority. I just need a guide , and I find tab works for me and notation doesn't. Also, sight-readers need to accept that for some people there is a dichotomy between theory and practice. I have bothered to learn some musical theory and it does help me a bit (but not much) when learning a song. I'm sure notation helps keyboard players and those who wish to understand the harmonic structure of a piece, but in practice most people just use notation to know what note to play next, just as with tab. No amount of protestation by sight-readers is going to change that, I'm afraid; they have to accept that for some people under some circumstances, tab is not just the better option, but the only option. The point of this thread is that some tablature is great and makes it really easy to learn a piece of music, some of it is abysmal. I was hoping to discuss what the features of good tab were and ways to promote them. But it seems that either other tab users don't want to or they fear the scorn of the sight-readers. As a result of this discussion and my attempts to learnt quite a lot of music over recent weeks, I have seen a lot more variation of approach. I honestly think that notation itself will get a lot of competition in the next twenty years as more expressive and accessible ways of presenting music that use dynamic display are developed - already a lot of keyboard players are getting started using 'waterfall' display, for example, which has huge potential to be developed further. There is also dynamic tab that replaces the heads of notes with fret numbers and uses very strict spacing rules for duration information, done well this gets close to classical notation for readability. With existing technology you can just share the music over bluetooth as midi file and each person can display it on their own device and switch it to their favourite 'reader' while keeping in synch with everyone else. So one person could be reading notation, another tab and another just getting chord symbols, all in real time while they play together. This is the sort of idea I was thinking of: I think bass could be presented as an image of a fretboard with markers for finger positions that behave to show when they are damping, pressing down and also highlighting the next ones coming. An arrow could fade in show a pending slide and the marker could actually make the movement when it is due. Combine this with lower level indicators to show the scale currently in use (and highlighting root etc.) you could probably convey more information than on a stave. Imagine being able to see not just the line you are playing on the fretboard but also all the opportunities for improving or adding fills while staying in key and yet changing dynamically through the piece. Might work better for Giant Steps than notation?

Alternatively... play Clash of Clans. I find winning three versus battles and two multiplayer battles takes about 15 minutes clears my head and leaves me ready to kip.

The rehearsals might be making you feel guilty about not doing all the other things instead. Plus the fear now that the insomnia will stop you coping on Tuesday, so it's a vicious circle. Perhaps something that helps you step outside all the day to day worries for a few hours is just what you need to 'depressurise' and face lifes's little challenges. Also it's likely that the relief of rehearsal is giving you a big buzz. My advice is no caffeine after 6-7pm, I go tea only before then. When I have had insomnia in the past, I found valerian works well, but if you take it too regularly it gives you (very) lucid dreams. Once a week after rehearsal might work for you.

The Midas touch..... Goooowldfiiiiingeeeerrrrrr.....

Or Glenn and the Millers...

Ha! I went to Glastonbury once. I remember Richard Thompson (possibly with Fairport), Hank Wangford and the Mutoid Waste Company. I also remember walking to Glasto to buy a cheap cagoule (I still have). I don't remember anything else* except we drank all the Tequila we brought intending to run a tequila sunrise stall... It appears to have been 85, as that wasa Mutoids first year there. I vaguely recall that I saw a bit of Dr and the Medics before Wangford. No sign of the Thompo kid on the bill, perhaps I saw John Martyn and someone told me it was RT? Maybe it was 84, because Fairport and Wangford went that year. Perhaps I went both years? Hmm. I can't think of any reason why I wouldn't have. *To be honest I am fairly confident I only saw a couple of bands. I was too busy with the whole Seventh Seal cum Monty Python and the Holy Grail renactment experience... Glastonbury was never about music in the days when they had good bands. I DO remember Reading '83 though, because I taped SRV when they played his set again on Radio 1.

Book me in 🙂 I wish I had tried one of my basses through some of the amps/speakers that were on display.

Interesting , I'll try and be more aware - I have actually tried keeping my arm in that position, though I like my thumb down in the strings. But I'm not convinced I could stick to it - I change my playing position all the time, from right by the bridge to over the fifteenth fret.

OK. More than one person has commented that my 'entirely unlike a Ric in every possible way' Hohner B2 can sound curiously like one, despite having humbuckers (or perhaps because of them) - quite aggressive on the bridge pickup with clear harmonics and good clarity if playing chords.

It's good to know I'm not alone - even if it isn't good that other folks have wrist problems! Thanks for the suggestions and links. I've order a 'wrist band' support because I think I want to avoid constraining my hand and will see how I get on.

If you wire the PUs out of phase when you do that the fundamental becomes very faint and the higher harmonics dominate.

I have my opinions but I won't go there as it's highly subjective and what one person might think sounds just like one might be noting like it to another!