How to learn tabs

[isteen]

One of the many things I've never learned is how to read tabs.
Anyone know a good place to start, as I think that's the way to go - since I don't read notes either!
A good place for newbies to tabs.

Cheers

[louisthebass]

Tab is a pretty "Marmite" kind of subject here... I can (sort of) understand it being helpful to completely new players as they need all the help they can get initially.

However, as a long term thing, it's a pretty redundant tool on more "professional" type gigs - you won't see it on a session, in a theatre pit, or even on a jazz gig. It'll either be chord charts or dots on telegraph poles.

Best thing to do, is either get a teacher, or get some really good bass books, & start to learn to read both chord charts and dots, as well as getting a basic grounding in music theory.

[Musky]

I just typed 'how to read' into google and the first result it suggested was this - http://guitar.about.com/od/tabchordslyrics/ss/read_guitar_tab.htm

Seems a lot of people have the same question as you.

Just ignore the top two strings as they're talking about guitars, but the principle is exactly the same. Now just get ready for the suggestions that you learn proper notation instead...

[Bilbo]

Learn to read dots.

It's called defferred gratification.

[Happy Jack]

Yes, but I want my deferred gratification RIGHT NOW!

[MoJoKe]

I agree with "learn to read music", but it takes time and commitment as implied by Bilbo , and I'm still on my journey!

I found using and playing with an app like TuxGuitar (open source, Win/Mac/linux) really useful as it helps you to see relationship between Tab/chords sheet/Dots. If you take some of your fave basslines and use it to create your own music, it'll really help you progress... Well, it did me anyway!

[chris_b]

Tab is very limited. It doesn’t, and can't, give you all the information you need, so what is the point?

Also, if you look at the tab sites mostly what has been tabbed out is wrong or incomplete. Why do people put up wrong tab? Unless they can't work out that what they have heard and written out is different! So don't trust any tab.

If you are going to read, learn to read the dots.

But, more than anything learn to use your ear.

[JakeBrownBass]

Your in the perfect situation to learn to read music.

Its not hard, it's just practicing and keeping up on it.

If you don't know how to read tab, don't learn. Your playing music so learn to read it.

Reedingtabizlyketryingtoreedthissentense.

Where as reading music is like reading this one.

You get me?

[MrTaff]

I'm not saying don't learn to read music but if you're playing in a typical sunday rock/metal/punk band don't expect to see many dots, being able to play by ear is much more important.

[quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1335962368' post='1638641']
Tab is very limited. It doesn’t, and can't, give you all the information you need, so what is the point?[/quote]

What's missing from tabs that you get with dots?

I find tabs are generally a good starting point, some are right, some a wrong but learning by ear doesn't guarantee you'll get it right either.

[JakeBrownBass]

[quote name='MrTaff' timestamp='1335963276' post='1638664']
I'm not saying don't learn to read music but if you're playing in a typical sunday rock/metal/punk band don't expect to see many dots, being able to play by ear is much more important.



What's missing from tabs that you get with dots?

I find tabs are generally a good starting point, some are right, some a wrong but learning by ear doesn't guarantee you'll get it right either.
[/quote]

Note length, timing, articulation. All tab shows you is a number on the fret board, notation shows you music.

[chris_b]

[quote name='MrTaff' timestamp='1335963276' post='1638664']
....What's missing from tabs that you get with dots?....
[/quote]

You really have to ask?

[quote name='MrTaff' timestamp='1335963276' post='1638664']
....but learning by ear doesn't guarantee you'll get it right either....
[/quote]


If you can't play what you hear then listen harder and learn.

How do you think the people writing the tab are doing it? If they can write what they hear you can play what you hear.

As I say, the accuracy of tab put up on sites is so flaky I wouldn't trust any of it.

Edited May 2, 2012 by chris_b

[MrTaff]

[quote name='JakeBrownBass' timestamp='1335963856' post='1638682']
Note length, timing, articulation. All tab shows you is a number on the fret board, notation shows you music.
[/quote]

Only if the person tabbing it was lazy

[url="http://tabs.ultimate-guitar.com/a/anthrax/caught_in_a_mosh_ver3_btab.htm"]http://tabs.ultimate...h_ver3_btab.htm[/url]

Shows timing and note length.


[quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1335964539' post='1638695']
Can't play what you hear then listen harder and learn.

How do you think the people writing the tab are doing it? If they can write what they hear you can play what you hear.

As I say, the accuracy of tab put up on sites is so flaky I wouldn't trust any of it.

[/quote]

I play by ear most of the time, but the point was, who says my or your ear is any better than anybody elses?

I find most popular tabs aren't completly wrong, you could play them without it sounding like crap but they're missing fills or parts where the original player threw in a quick octave.

Edited May 2, 2012 by MrTaff

[ras52]

One of the problems with tab is that it's tied to a particular instrument, whereas standard music notation isn't. Say there's a line to be doubled by keyboard and bass: your bass tab means nothing to the keyboard player, and if you don't read music his score means nothing to you.

[TKenrick]

[quote name='Bilbo' timestamp='1335960491' post='1638588']
Learn to read dots.

It's called defferred gratification.
[/quote]

+1 for dots. I spent 5 years using TAB before being forced to make the switch to dots. I found it really difficult at first, but I now wouldn't go back to TAB for anything - I find TAB [b]much[/b] more effort to read than notation.

My main gripe with TAB is that it allows you to get away with knowing nothing about the instrument that you play and how music relates to it. Generally bass players (and particularly guitarists) don't know where to find notes on the fretboard across the entire range of the instrument and therefore struggle with reading. It also massively restricts your ability to communicate with other musicians.

[JakeBrownBass]

[quote name='MrTaff' timestamp='1335964582' post='1638696']
Only if the person tabbing it was lazy

[url="http://tabs.ultimate-guitar.com/a/anthrax/caught_in_a_mosh_ver3_btab.htm"]http://tabs.ultimate...h_ver3_btab.htm[/url]

Shows timing and note length.

[/quote]

Your barking up the wrong tree mate.

That is still just showing numbers that could mean absolutely anything.

Written music is a way to communicate things that have been said between other musicians. Just as writing is communication between 2 people.

That is the entire idea of it. Saying "5 on the bottom line to 3 on the 2nd line then the chorus starts on 1 on the first line' means absolutely NOTHING to anyone but you.

Music is a language, not maths.


Tab has absolutely no advantage over notation.

Edited May 2, 2012 by JakeBrownBass

[MrTaff]

[quote name='JakeBrownBass' timestamp='1335966189' post='1638741']
Tab has absolutely no advantage over notation.
[/quote]

If that was true nobody would use it, it has the advantage of being much easier to read for new players and much more easily available than sheet music.

As I said above, I'm not saying don't learn to read dots but for a typical sunday band there's more important things to learn, like playing by ear.

I wonder how many new guitar and bass players would have started playing without tabs, there certainly seems to be more new players now than 10+ years ago when the only way to learn was to keep rewinding your cassette until you learnt the part.

Edited May 2, 2012 by MrTaff

[peteb]

This old chestnut again!

If someone asks me to do a dep with songs that I don’t know, the first thing I do is pull up the tabs and then check them against the originals on YouTube, just because it saves time and tabs will give you a starter for ten!

Many tabs on the net are not very good, but surely it doesn’t matter if a poorly transcribed piece is tab or dots? As far as I understand, tab for stringed instruments actually pre dates notation, which I always think of as tab for instruments where you can only play a note in one position (such as a keyboard). Both have their limitations; mainly that it is more difficult to show note length in tab, whereas notation can get very messy once you go too far off the stave. If a guitar player wants to learn ‘Eruption’ by Eddie Van Halen, then a standard notation transcription will be worse than useless but a decent tab could be very helpful……

In over 30 years of playing in bands I have [b]never[/b] been presented with a piece of written music (or tab for that matter but I have played dep gigs with chord sheets). I should point out that I have played with plenty of guys who play music for a living and have done tours, played on sessions (records, TV themes, adverts, etc.). I assume that most of them can read, but the subject has never come up when I have played with them in a band situation.

If you want to play pit gigs then reading dots is obviously a necessity……

Edited May 2, 2012 by peteb

[MoJoKe]

So, lesson to isteen; if you want to stir up a firestorm ask about TAB!!!

+1 to MrTaff above, we all want to get better, and some, me included, would say TAB is a part of that process....

This is why I think tuxguitar is so good. Leave the score visible and it [i]absolutely[/i] shows you what you're missing if you only use TAB!

Edited May 2, 2012 by MoJoKe

[JakeBrownBass]

[quote name='MrTaff' timestamp='1335966899' post='1638754']
If that was true nobody would use it, it has the advantage of being much easier to read for new players and much more easily available than sheet music.

As I said above, I'm not saying don't learn to read dots but for a typical sunday band there's more important things to learn, like playing by ear.

I wonder how many new guitar and bass players would have started playing without tabs, there certainly seems to be more new players now than 10+ years ago when the only way to learn was to keep rewinding your cassette until you learnt the part.
[/quote]

TAB is only easier to read because that's what you've learnt.

[MrTaff]

[quote name='JakeBrownBass' timestamp='1335968588' post='1638795']
TAB is only easier to read because that's what you've learnt.
[/quote]

I actually learnt to read music in school before the internet & tabs, I still think tabs are easier for new players, but anyway, pretend you've just picked up a bass for the first time, with no idea of where the notes are on the bass or staff, I don't see how anybody couldn't find tabs easier in that situation.

Edited May 2, 2012 by MrTaff

[Bilbo]

[quote name='peteb' timestamp='1335967612' post='1638770']
I should point out that I have played with plenty of guys who play music for a living and have done tours, played on sessions (records, TV themes, adverts, etc.). [/quote]

You have played with these guys but they are the ones who play music for a living and have done tours, played on sessions (records, TV themes, adverts, etc.)

I just want to stress that reading music is not just about reading music on gigs/sessions. Its a great way of learning about the mechanics of music. Learning parts by rote has its place but understanding notation is a massively useful skill when you are working with lots of different people. Writing ideas down becomes easier, studying other pieces of music like solos by other players, understanding theory and harmony, explaining intervals etc. Of course you can get by without it and millions do. You can also undo a screw with a butter knife at a pinch but why would you want to?

[MoJoKe]

[quote name='Bilbo' timestamp='1336035455' post='1639683']
You can also undo a screw with a butter knife at a pinch but why would you want to?
[/quote]

Smaller toolbox? ....though they don't do philips/posidrive very well, and you wouldn't stand a chance with allen or hex



(I'm now trying to think of an analogy to bring back to the subject, but failing miserably! I think you've made the point well!)

Edited May 3, 2012 by MoJoKe

[Bilbo]

I actually thing that reading dots is a particularly great way of understanding rhythm, something that tab doesn't even begin to address. Ironically, rhythm is the bit that most people think they understand the most but, when it comes to more complex concepts, it is often the area where 'ear' players fall down. Its ok when its 4:4 but a lot of ear players can only deal with complex rhythms by playing the 'one' on each bar. That's why a lot of music in odd time signatures sounds so clunky (early prog rock was guilty of this a lot).

[ras52]

And another thing... (this could go on for a while...)

When tab tells a beginner to play "fret 2 on the 1st string" it might not even occur to them that there are other places whence this note can be produced, and it certainly won't encourage to find out. But everyone's hands (and strings) are different, so playing the note elsewhere may sit more comfortably under the player's hands, result in better tone, etc. It also won't encourage them to even think about what the note is and how it relates to other notes.

[Bilbo]

Playing notes in different places on the neck also impacts significantly on phrasing and sometimes the 'right note' being played in the 'wrong place' can undermine a piece. Al DiMeola is a great example of this when his arpeggios are made up of open strings and long stretches above the seventh fret. If you try and play it without understanding the shapes, its impossible. So the accuracy of a tab is potentially compromised. It can work the other way around but anyone who knows anything about notation will know that you can indicate the fingerings on an arpeggio by placing numbers above the notes. Staff notation wins again!!