Can't learn to love tabs

CottonPickin · #1 01-31-2010, 01:21 PM

I read standard notation fluently and really dislike tabs. Tabs to me seem purely mechanical, whereas standard notation has so much more beauty and flavor. I can't convince myself to devote any time to learning tabs, it just really irritates me.

Tabs are like paint-by-number watercolor paintings---just numbers, no color or tone or flavor. When I look at standard notation I can hear the music in my head and I even have an emotional response to it. Not so with tabs.

Standard notation communicates so much more information. I just can't understand how learning tabs can enhance playing for someone who already knows standard notation.

paul84 · #2 01-31-2010, 01:56 PM

Each to their own, I guess. I can read standard notation, slowly - I'm much quicker with tab. It means I can play in altered tunings or with a capo without having to think too much. It also tends to ensure that fingering has been thought through (although not always!!).
Tabs can be simple, or can augment with so much more - purcussion, right hand technique etc (Eric Roche used green text for right hand taps and so so) - actually on occasion tab can provide much more infomation than standard notation might.
Its been around since at least the 16th Century, so its got to be doing something right...
Paul.

HHP · #3 01-31-2010, 02:18 PM

Curious as to what can be represented in standard notation that cannot be represented in tablature. Neither is exact in reproducing music and either can serve as a guide to get the basic tune into your fingers. Just as when you read this post, you can't tell if I have a Southern or Midwestern acccent. You get the basic meaning but not the full content of the spoken word.

Losov · #4 01-31-2010, 02:21 PM

I disagree.

The only thing that has "beauty and flavor" is the music itself. The representation of what notes you need to make that music is just that - a representation, whether it be dots on lines, numbers on lines, or (my favorite) your memory.

The music doesn't have life until YOU give it life.

min7b5 · #5 01-31-2010, 02:22 PM

I read both fluently, and teach with both. I guess I tend to somewhat agree with the romance of reading standard notation, and it certainly has the rhythmic information, but in the end both forms of notations are just a means to an end. However you prefer you get the information into yourself, it’s the actual music making that is the important thing.

I’d also add the third possibility, which is to learn something by ear. I've studied music in school, has literarily filing cabinets (and now a terabyte drive) full of both tablature and standard notation... but as of late I’m now very convinced that things learned by ear are learned much more deeply and thoroughly, and they last seemingly forever. Can’t tell you how many “advanced” jazz students I get that have read through all kinds of books (tab or standard) of harmony and improvisation. I have them, by ear, find Twinkle Twinkle in five positions and then create variations on the spot. They almost always struggle just to find the melody for a while... but in the end have the mother of all epiphanies about improvising and being able to play what they hear inside in real time.

TBman · #6 01-31-2010, 02:27 PM

Tab, without notation, is useless to me. Even though I "move my lips" when reading notation, it is clearer to read for timing than those tabs with timing stems. I like having both together because it saves me alot of time in figuring out where on the neck is the easiest approach to playing the piece.

JoeCharter · #7 01-31-2010, 02:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by paul84

Each to their own, I guess. I can read standard notation, slowly - I'm much quicker with tab. It means I can play in altered tunings or with a capo without having to think too much. It also tends to ensure that fingering has been thought through (although not always!!).
Tabs can be simple, or can augment with so much more - purcussion, right hand technique etc (Eric Roche used green text for right hand taps and so so) - actually on occasion tab can provide much more infomation than standard notation might.
Its been around since at least the 16th Century, so its got to be doing something right...
Paul.

Quote:

Originally Posted by HHP

Curious as to what can be represented in standard notation that cannot be represented in tablature. Neither is exact in reproducing music and either can serve as a guide to get the basic tune into your fingers. Just as when you read this post, you can't tell if I have a Southern or Midwestern acccent. You get the basic meaning but not the full content of the spoken word.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Losov

I disagree.

The only thing that has "beauty and flavor" is the music itself. The representation of what notes you need to make that music is just that - a representation, whether it be dots on lines, numbers on lines, or (my favorite) your memory.

The music doesn't have life until YOU give it life.

I wholeheartedly agree with the above.

I can read both and I like to have both. Unlike on the piano, a note can be played at several locations on the guitar, each with their own flavour.

Tabs also provide a unique visual representation and is a great complement to standard notation.

SteeleString · #8 01-31-2010, 04:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by min7b5

I’d also add the third possibility, which is to learn something by ear. I've studied music in school, has literarily filing cabinets (and now a terabyte drive) full of both tablature and standard notation... but as of late I’m now very convinced that things learned by ear are learned much more deeply and thoroughly, and they last seemingly forever. Can’t tell you how many “advanced” jazz students I get that have read through all kinds of books (tab or standard) of harmony and improvisation. I have them, by ear, find Twinkle Twinkle in five positions and then create variations on the spot. They almost always struggle just to find the melody for a while... but in the end have the mother of all epiphanies about improvising and being able to play what they hear inside in real time.

I agree. In fact, I remember the first time I realized the truth of your post. It was with a friend who was traditionally trained to play piano. She was simply unable to improvise or play effectively without a sheet of music--whereas I would struggle trying to follow the music notation and would usually follow my ear.

I remember her remarking how she was surprised how I was able to play by ear. I felt the same way about her being able to play so beautifully with a sheet of music as her guide.

Hack Amatuer · #9 01-31-2010, 04:58 PM

Tablature is the oldest form of written music for a stringed instrument. It was around in the days of the lute before the guitar was invented. Some people think that the old ways are better, some think there were good reasons for evolving to notation. Each has their good and bad and I always figure that if I can learn more that one way to skin a cat then the better off I'ld be. I don't read the notation (or tab either for that matter) well enough to paly a tune I don't know from sheet music but I can figure out what and how to play something either way, although it may take a while to get the thing memorized before I can play it.

Minotaur · #10 01-31-2010, 06:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by paul84

Each to their own, I guess. I can read standard notation, slowly - I'm much quicker with tab. It means I can play in altered tunings or with a capo without having to think too much. ...

Its been around since at least the 16th Century, so its got to be doing something right...
Paul.

Same here. I can read standard, but it takes me forever. I can form a chord a lot quicker from a tab than I can from a staff, though I can do both. At this point in my life I prefer the tab.

Quote:

Originally Posted by HHP

Curious as to what can be represented in standard notation that cannot be represented in tablature.

What standard notation can give that tab can't is the timing and tempo and duration of a note. It's pretty hard to get the rhythm of a song from tab if you haven't heard it. That's a drawback.

HHP · #11 01-31-2010, 06:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Minotaur

What standard notation can give that tab can't is the timing and tempo and duration of a note. It's pretty hard to get the rhythm of a song from tab if you haven't heard it. That's a drawback.

Don't know what tab you use but what I use or write has the same rhythmic and timing indications as any notation I have used.

ljguitar · #12 01-31-2010, 06:57 PM

Hi CP…
I can read TAB, but don't.

Don't teach with it, or recommend it...a lot of times it's inaccurate, and it's not thorough.

DupleMeter · #13 01-31-2010, 07:56 PM

I can read TAB - prefer not to. It's clunky & cumbersome. It lacks many of the nuances of standard notation. It's harder to represent phrasing, articulation (staccato, tenuto, et al). And rhythms are just exponentially easier to read in standard notation because the rhythm, note and any dynamics/articulations/phrasing are all right there in a more compact representation. Plus, TAB is doing something I would prefer it didn't, instead of telling me what note to play it's telling me where to play that note. And in most of the TAB I've seen, it is rarely in the best position for what is happening musically.

I'm sorry - but in my opinion TAB is a lazy excuse for not learning to read music properly. Every other musician learns standard notation. The fact that most guitarists don't read has given the lot of us a bad reputation in most musical circles. I mean, how many authors do you know that are illiterate or only read some form of shorthand?

And, yes...Lute TAB pre-dates the standardization of music notation, but so does chant notation and a few other abandoned attempts (e.g. tone shape notation). They were stepping stones to a more complete system that can be reused regardless of instrument.

No offense meant to anyone...I've studied music since I was 8 (trumpet was my first instrument) and attended music school (as a guitar principal). I don't teach my students TAB. I make them learn to read standard notation. It's a philosophy thing: there's always an easy way or shortcut - but in the end you usually end up short changed. When I get through with a student they can walk into a pit band or a studio session and read the chart. I've given them the tools to communicate with other musicians the way other musicians expect to communicate.

If you're comfortable just reading TAB that's fine. It's a personal thing. Not everyone seeks to make a living (or part of a living) playing guitar. But if you do want to make money playing...the money is in pit bands, studio work & pickup gigs (like church gigs). But, if you don't read you lose out to the guy that can.

I guess that's why the old joke still gets told:

Q: How do you get a guitarist to turn down?
A: Put sheet music in front of him.

And really...I mean no offense. It's just a hot button issue for me as a professional musician who plays guitar. I hate the expectation that I can't read...but love when the music director (or whomever) realizes I can, and I'm that 1 out of 100 that they've heard about.

min7b5 · #14 01-31-2010, 08:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DupleMeter

....but in my opinion TAB is a lazy excuse for not learning to read music properly...

I don’t think that is always the case

I was a music major, I can site read pretty much anything. For what it’s worth, I’ve worked as a session musician where I’ve had to read some pretty hairy stuff on the spot many times. I love reading standard notation, but tablature is just fine too. There are pluses for tab -in my opinion. I greatly prefer to arrange for solo jazz guitar with tab for one thing -especially when there is a lot of four note chords up the neck.... If I have a student interested open-tuned contemporary fingerstyle guitar I find tab is often easier. And if I have a young student that is learning a rock guitar solo that is between say frets 17 and 22, and has a lot of slurs standard notation can be hellish... To each his own. But there’s definitely plenty of strong players that do both well and see them as two sides of the same coin.

James1971 · #15 01-31-2010, 09:10 PM

I note the typical snobbery that always rears its ugly head when this discussion invariably comes up.

Personally, I can read dots, but not in real time. Maybe if I spent lots of time working on that I would be able to, but to what end? I can take the sheets and work it out, or I can get the tab free off the net, or I can work it out by ear. No biggie either way, and after playing semi-professionally for the last 20 years or so Im not likely to slave over reading notation in real time.

The important thing about Tab is that it has made the guitar accessible to people that have neither the time nor the inclination to wade through learning notation.

Lets face it, regardless of your uppity elitism there are people out there who want to strum a few chords around a camp fire, pluck a few notes to impress a chick or just play a song that they have always wanted to play. I have used tab to instruct my basically non-musician friends in this vein, and it has worked perfectly.

Some people dont aspire to any more, and there is nothing wrong with that. The beauty of the guitar is that it can be as much or as little as you want it to be.