"Hey man, can you send me the tabs of this?"

[MiltyG565]

[quote name='xgsjx' timestamp='1363643348' post='2015314']
In fairness to some (and by some, I mean a select very few), the "tab" sites are quite often guff & often the one guy does a bad transcription & then folk share it on other sites. Some folk can't transcribe by ear. Doesn't necessarily make them a poor bassist though.
Try finding the bass tab for Jamiroquai's Planet Home. I worked it out by ear & thought I'd check it against some "tabs", but there's sod all that's correct!
I think if you really want to know a song, buy the actual transcription from a publisher.
[/quote]

I agree, and you aren't wrong, but so many of the songs i see are well tabbed if you take the time to find the right version. Loads of crap, but there are good ones. Sometimes you have to forgive the lack of timing in tabs. Most tabs i use, i just get the general idea, then fit it in to the song, but i know some people would play it like it was written on the tab.

[discreet]

[quote name='xgsjx' timestamp='1363643348' post='2015314']Some folk can't transcribe by ear. Doesn't necessarily make them a poor bassist though.[/quote]

True, and I wasn't implying that - just in case anyone thought so. I can't imagine doing it any other way, is all.

[RockfordStone]

i tend to work out by ear mainly, and glance at tab to give me an idea of where to go at times, but i have never asked anyone to tab something for me... thats just plan lazy

[discreet]

[quote name='RockfordStone' timestamp='1363643871' post='2015329']
...thats just plan lazy
[/quote]

Like those posts you get requesting 'information' - basically you're doing someone's thesis for them!

[xgsjx]

[quote name='MiltyG565' timestamp='1363643549' post='2015318']
I agree, and you aren't wrong, but so many of the songs i see are well tabbed if you take the time to find the right version. Loads of crap, but there are good ones. Sometimes you have to forgive the lack of timing in tabs. Most tabs i use, i just get the general idea, then fit it in to the song, but i know some people would play it like it was written on the tab.
[/quote]

Songsterr is often quite good, but sometimes it can throw back some stinkers.

[xgsjx]

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1363643624' post='2015323']
True, and I wasn't implying that - just in case anyone thought so. I can't imagine doing it any other way, is all.
[/quote]

Oh yes you was! You was saying "If you can't play by ear, then you're a poor excuse of a bassist!"





Only messin

[Beer of the Bass]

The whole culture around tabs reminds me of this old French & Saunders sketch. "But it hasn't got those little dots, for your fingers"....
[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FroICbwvJII"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FroICbwvJII[/url]

[BigRedX]

IMO the ability to work out an existing song by ear is the musical skill you should learn immediately after you've mastered fretting and plucking notes.

[gapiro]

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1363645673' post='2015368']
IMO the ability to work out an existing song by ear is the musical skill you should learn immediately after you've mastered fretting and plucking notes.
[/quote]
And in my opinion it's more important to learn how to fit in with a band. ( as a bassist )

[SpaceChick]

And in my opinion, the ability to work out a song by ear, and the ability to fit into a band go hand in hand.

[KingBollock]

I am terribly guilty I am afraid. Though not of actually asking anyone for tab.

I remember in music class at school, I had been playing about 6 months and had only just switched from Art to Music. The teacher hit a note on the piano and asked me to play it. I said I couldn't, so he told me it was an F, and I looked at him blankly. He asked "How the bloody hell do you play all the stuff you do if you don't know the notes?" and I honestly couldn't tell him.

Even now I struggle with working things out by ear. I usually start out with a tab and I know when a tab is wrong, but even then, if some of it is close, I can still get it. And while noodling about if I accidentally play something I recognise I can usually work the rest of the tune out without even having to listen to it. But if I sit down to work a tune out just by listening to it I really struggle, even after all these years.

As for playing in bands. Throughout the time I did play with bands, I played a lot of songs that I had never even heard [i]of[/i], let alone taken the time to listen to them. The first proper band I was in the lead guitarist came to my house and spent an evening showing me the tunes they played, we went through about 15, including originals. I can still play most of them, 24 years later, even though I never even knew what some of them were called or who they were by. Fortunately most of the bands I played in subsequently played the same covers and wrote their own originals, so I managed to blag it.

Edited March 19, 2013 by KingBollock

[steve-bbb]

[quote name='SpaceChick' timestamp='1363643226' post='2015308']
I certainly find if I can work the song out by ear, I feel more confident... I'll often go to a reputable tab site to "check my workings out" or to figure out harder bits that are eluding me, but certainly I favour learning by ear, it also gets you to appreciate the bass in amongst the song as a whole.... Which if you are going to play with a band is invaluable.

I do sometimes when I get REALLY stuck, go to my guru bass teacher for some gentle nudges in the right direction
[/quote]

hi spacechick thought you were going to show us your vid of you gigging 'i'm a believer'

[SpaceChick]

[quote name='steve-bbb' timestamp='1363684939' post='2015625']
hi spacechick thought you were going to show us your vid of you gigging 'i'm a believer'
[/quote]

Not me Steve!

[discreet]

[quote name='xgsjx' timestamp='1363644727' post='2015350']
Oh yes you was! You was saying "If you can't play by ear, then you're a poor excuse of a bassist!"
[/quote]

OK, yes, it's true. I just didn't want to argue about it. OK then, to be quite clear:

[b]IF YOU CAN'T PLAY BY EAR, THEN YOU'RE A POOR EXCUSE FOR A BASS-PLAYER!![/b]

There, I've said it. Now I'm going to spend the rest of the day in the shed. *spends rest of day in shed*

Edited March 19, 2013 by discreet

[Simon.]

I suppose I'm one of those on here guilty of asking if people have transcriptions of various songs. In the main I'm looking for transcriptions, rather than tabs, as I want to work on my reading skills, and any time I do ask for on BC, it's because I can't find a transcription elsewhere on the web.

As for working things out by ear... well, yes I do it sometimes, but if I'm being honest, it's not a skill I'm great at. The vast majority of my 25+ years of bass playing has been in originals bands, working on songs right from scratch, rather than trying to learn what someone has done before. Covers is something I've very rarely attempted until the last couple of years when I've developed an love of Stax/Motown soul. However, I find that the bass is often difficult to pick out accurately on some of the older recordings, especially if you want to get the lines as close to the original as possible. Transcriptions come in very handy in those cases, but the problem is there are more tabs around for songs than proper transcriptions.

[BigRedX]

I'll go a step further and say that being able to play by ear is more useful than being able to read (either notation or tab), because if all you can do is read then you are limited to being able to play only those pieces that have been already written out. If you can play by ear you can play any piece of music you can hear.

[SpaceChick]

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1363690203' post='2015783']
OK, yes, it's true. I just didn't want to argue about it. OK then, to be quite clear:

[b]IF YOU CAN'T PLAY BY EAR, THEN YOU'RE A POOR EXCUSE FOR A BASS-PLAYER!![/b]

There, I've said it. Now I'm going to spend the rest of the day in the shed. *spends rest of day in shed*
[/quote]

+1 and joins Discreet in the shed.... move over matey, I've brought my own camping chair and some tunes we can transcribe by ear

[LiamPodmore]

I used to use tabs all the time, as that's what i was shown when i started and i began to rely on them. Nowadays i end up either figuring stuff out when i'm just sat messing around with it, watching stuff on youtube or watching what our rhythm guy is playing at a rehearsal and going off that. I will occasionally use a tab as a last resort, but i try not to anymore.

Liam

[discreet]

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1363691410' post='2015815']
I'll go a step further and say that being able to play by ear is more useful than being able to read (either notation or tab), because if all you can do is read then you are limited to being able to play only those pieces that have been already written out. If you can play by ear you can play any piece of music you can hear.
[/quote]

Nice to be able to agree with you 100% for a change.

[xgsjx]

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1363690203' post='2015783']
OK, yes, it's true. I just didn't want to argue about it. OK then, to be quite clear:

[b]IF YOU CAN'T PLAY BY EAR, THEN YOU'RE A POOR EXCUSE FOR A BASS-PLAYER!![/b]

There, I've said it. Now I'm going to spend the rest of the day in the shed. *spends rest of day in shed*
[/quote]

Come to think of it now, I actually agree with you!

*wants to spend rest of day in shed, but stuck at work*

[discreet]

[quote name='SpaceChick' timestamp='1363691556' post='2015823']
+1 and joins Discreet in the shed.... move over matey, I've brought my own camping chair and some tunes we can transcribe by ear
[/quote]

Ooh, lovely... er... hang on, just let me put away these magazines and wash this tea-towel... *flustered*
OK, let's get the kettle on and 'listen to Radio 4' for a bit... heh, heh.

[MiltyG565]

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1363692493' post='2015845']
Ooh, lovely... er... hang on, just let me put away these magazines and wash this tea-towel... *flustered*
OK, let's get the kettle on and 'listen to Radio 4' for a bit... heh, heh.
[/quote]

NSFW.

[Dave Vader]

I agree with discreet

However I want Bilbo and Doddy to come in here and tell you all to stop looking at Tabs.


If you cannot hear that what you are playing is wrong, then you need to put down the instrument and find a nice safe hobby like knitting. Thus those muppets that write the abysmal tabs on the internet are either the original artists ensuring nobody covers their music properly, or actual muppets.

[MiltyG565]

[quote name='Dave Vader' timestamp='1363696747' post='2015939']
I agree with discreet

However I want Bilbo and Doddy to come in here and tell you all to stop looking at Tabs.


If you cannot hear that what you are playing is wrong, then you need to put down the instrument and find a nice safe hobby like knitting. Thus those muppets that write the abysmal tabs on the internet are either the original artists ensuring nobody covers their music properly, or actual muppets.

[/quote]

They can tell me to stop looking at tabs, and i'll tell them to suck a lemon. Will either of us do it? no.

Ok- tabs. Quite often wrong, and never good for learning about music theory or technical ability. They are the simplest form of transcription, and that's the beauty of them. That's the beauty of rock. You don't need to know the scales, or the notes, you just need to know what to play, and how to pay it. Is it the pinnacle of musicality? No, of course not, and why would it be? It's not trying to be that.

Tabs aren't completely bad. Yes, terrible "musicians" will never learn any theory beyond tabs, and that is why they remain terrible musicians, but i wouldn't be a musician of any kind or level today if it wasn't for tabs. They are the starting point, and a quick reference for learning new songs. I'm not going to sit and work out a song that has 100 tabs up on the internet. I'll go on the internet, get the rough idea from the tabs, and then make it right while playing to the track.

Don't look at tabs? Don't tell me what to do, bros

[MiltyG565]

Just to add that i do learn some theory too, and i don't always use tabs. Sometimes i know the chords of a song, work out the key signature then work out the notes the bass is playing. But tabs aren't this hateful thing that some people seem to think they are.