Tabs sources

[dave moffat]

Called in at the venue last night but the music had either ended or they hadn't turned up, we were a bit late getting there . Smallish  room, so acoustic is entirely feasible. Totally transformed from the sh!thole it was in my youth it's now quite nice with most folk seated. Supposed to be a rocknroll outfit playing tonight and Blues tomorrow so will try again.

Got my first pedals set up and working; Vox, Wah and Line 6, Tremelo. Banned from messing around with the Wah at the weekend until I've got the hang of it. Will be interested to see how the Uke bass sounds through them.

 

[Stub Mandrel]

I've learned loads of songs over the last six months.

I find Ultimate guitar easy because it allows you to quickly change between versions (some songs have eight or more tabs, they can't ALL be right).

There are several types, the best are pretty accurate and give an idea of the rhythm. Some just give you little more than a set of riffs and a few are people 'interpretation'. Many have minor mistakes, most have bad fingering choices, and a proportion are just totally wrong.

At the moment we are trying to build a setlist of about 40 songs, so lots of playing songs on YouTube and trying to sight read the tab (it can be done and makes me even more convinced I'm dyslexic when it come to the dots!) The worst songs are the really complex ones that don't have a clear bass-melody to stick in your head.

For complex ones I find Troy's bass covers on youtube are good: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQPqVw7y59QuPZdQ6QkuXKQ

You can slow down 50%  and play along to the sub-bass to learn hard bits 🙂

I find there are two separate things to learn, which rarely go at the same speed: learning the technical bits and learning the song, ideally you want to be good enough so that if dropped in at a random point you can join in quickly (i.e. if you get lost playing with others you can recover and make it seem like you put in a jazzy little fill...)

[dave moffat]

Finally making progress, almost got Peaceful Easy Feeling under my fingers, 'If' for final song. Other guy is happier on uke than guitar so looks like I'll be using the bass uke (probably plugged in), first joint practice next Tuesday and looking through some more numbers.

Downside is I need a scope down my throat to see what the problem round the larynx is so may have to give vocals a miss for now.

[Stub Mandrel]

1 hour ago, dave moffat said:

Downside is I need a scope down my throat to see what the problem round the larynx

Hope it's OK, I suffered for years with sore throats before being diagnosed with gastric reflux. Messed around with gaviscon for more years until someone told me to demand a proton pump inhibitor from the doctor, now on lansprazole, which works well for me.

[Taylor Bitch-blues]

On 10/09/2019 at 12:58, hiram.k.hackenbacker said:

Can’t find anything useful for PEF, but this guy has done If. It’s quite an old video. He shoots his stuff from the front now, but you should find it helpful. You won’t go far wrong with Constantine.

 

I like Constantine, big lad and easy to watch,  i also subscribe to songsterr and as has been mentioned, they are someone's own version of the tune, but very helpful.  Going to look at all the suggestions put forward in this thread,  thankyou.

[dave moffat]

Thanks, I ended up transcribing PEF from songster, seem to 3 or 4 bass tab versions going around mostly depends where you want to play it on the neck.

If I'm resorting to a mix of watching that guy and listening to the original track and tweaking it a bit 😜

Been on Lanzoprazole for a while, might have to up the dose. Lost a bit off the top and bottom of my vocal range but reckon if I can get my throat sorted and some exercises I should get it back

[Oopsdabassist]

On 10/09/2019 at 12:58, hiram.k.hackenbacker said:

You won’t go far wrong with Constantine.

 

Very much this, and if I recall correctly, a one time member here too.

[dave moffat]

Ho hum, list is morphing and evolving, very mixed though😜 Some I already knew, three I'd never heard of before

currently working on

Ride On - Christie Moore

If  - Bread

PEF - Eagles

Senor - Dylan

Secret Agent Man - Johnny Rivers

To learn sometime after the above

Caledonia - Dougie MacLean

Harvest Moon - Neil Young

Still learning to learn if that makes sense. Currently downloading onto a memory stick which goes everywhere with me to get the music/lyrics embedded in my head. Listening and singing along in the car, playing along in the house, playing along pausing to work on bits and pieces.

Is there anything else I could be doing to speed up the learning process?

 

[Nicko]

22 hours ago, dave moffat said:

Is there anything else I could be doing to speed up the learning process?

Yes, train your ears to recognise intervals.  Do this ny playing an interval and thinking about a song or piece of music that features the interval (eg a simple semitone is the Jaws theme, a whole tone is the first two notes of the James Bond theme, and so on).

I find tab extremely useful, but not only is it often incorrect, learning by tab alone will restrict your ability to play confidently.  Its kinda like reading a book in a foreign language - you can make the sounds of the words but have no idea what they mean.

[dave moffat]

Yeah, I'm finding while tabs mostly give the notes it takes me a while to get the feel of the song until I actually listen to it. Rhythm and tempo are as important as hitting the right notes, after all isn't the main purpose of a bass to be the link between the beat and the melody?

When I was trying to find a version of Senor (I'd never heard of it and tended to avoid Dylan) I found a Bluegrass version by Tim O'Brien which is nice but a bit quick for the song there's another version by the Bob Porter Project which to me is spot on, closer to the feel of the original AND the bass is played on a bass uke, which is reassuring as it's probably what I'll be using for this.

[Stub Mandrel]

On 20/10/2019 at 10:18, dave moffat said:

Harvest Moon - Neil Young

Just learning that. Get the basics down (dead simple) : the extra bits, little runs, harmonics are fairly random... that's how I'm going to do them anyway!

[dave moffat]

6 minutes ago, Stub Mandrel said:

Just learning that. Get the basics down (dead simple) : the extra bits, little runs, harmonics are fairly random... that's how I'm going to do them anyway!

Couple of lovely covers of this song my fave is Harvest Moon (Neil Young cover) posted by Reina del Cid, there's another nice version by Foxes and Fossils. Lovely song