Tabs..yay or nay?

[trion12]

Originally Posted by MICHAEL MYERS

An over reliance on notation can sometimes lead to lazy ears syndrome however.

Huhhhhhhhhhh?????????????????????

Geeez back when I was transcribing music by ear without the instrument in my hand and writing it down in standard notation my ears only got better . . .

Aaron

[Paikon]

Standard notation can have all the information as to where on fingerboard a piece or phrase must be played.I say this because many tab users think otherwise.

[kirkham13]

Tab is great for learning flat picking lines.... Working through the bluegrass solo parking lot pickers book now.

[MICHAEL MYERS]

Originally Posted by trion12

Huhhhhhhhhhh?????????????????????

Geeez back when I was transcribing music by ear without the instrument in my hand and writing it down in standard notation my ears only got better . . .

Aaron

Huhhhhhh??????

Geeez back when you were transcribing music by ear without your instrument, weren't you relying on your ear to do so?

Transcribing music by ear has nothing to do with an over reliance on notation.

If that was the first time you worked out music by ear then, congratulations!! You are breaking free from an over reliance on notation.

[Bern]

I don't think there isn't much to argue...you learn what you need. It's a personal choice.

[Fruitloop]

I think some people are thinking of the ASCII tabs on the net which are usually terrible. I agree that one should stay away from them.

When I think of tabs I think of guitar pro (which I have been using for the past 7 years or so). The midi function combined with the standard notation makes for a powerful tool. There are passages in songs I don't think I would have been able to learn without the looping and slowdown function.

Transcribing on it helps tremendously with understanding the note values. It has actually helped me with practicing sight reading. It can be extremely frustrating trying to convert the theoretical info to a rhytm when you're starting out, at least for me that's almost harder than reading the notes themselves. Seeing and hearing them at the same time is very useful.

It is also a huge help when arranging songs.

I guess it comes down to how you use it. If you have it only for reading tabs it's probably not as useful as when you have it as a tool.

[blue]

Originally Posted by mr. beaumont

so sightreading tab can be daunting.

Mind... Blown... It never occured to me that someone could truly sight read tab... Is that even possible? I sight read, but really only with guitars tuned in Open G. I've been playing around trying to add standard. I'm okay at the 5th fret and above, because of Uke, but lower than that it's very unnatural. I don't know if it's worth my time to really pursue it.

But there's plenty of Tab around the house because of my Son. I use it all the time. But like I said. Sight reading it? Yikes!

[Doug Young]

Originally Posted by blue

Mind... Blown... It never occured to me that someone could truly sight read tab... Is that even possible?

I'm not sure what's hard about this. Tab basically tells you where to put your fingers, so it's potentially easier to "sight read" tab than standard notation. With good transcriptions (not poorly laid out ascii tab) you have both tab and standard notation, so you can pretty much read both at once. I'd say I usually focus on the tab line, with an eye on the timing info in the std notation line. I'm fine reading std notation alone, if that's all I have, but complex tunes can be tricky to truly sight-read in std notation because of the many possible places to play any given note (tho you can certain get better at it with practice). Tab removes that issue, and all you have to do is follow the numbers of know where to place your fingers. Pretty straight-forward, give it a try!

[JoeCharter]

Originally Posted by Paikon

Standard notation can have all the information as to where on fingerboard a piece or phrase must be played.I say this because many tab users think otherwise.

I agree with your statement entirely -- standard notation can have all the information as to where to place your fingers on the board.

However, most of the time, standard notation does not have all the information. That is why tablature is so hugely popular.

If standard notation did routinely provide all the information, no one would've thought about inventing tablature as it would've been redundant.

[BluesBelly]

Originally Posted by rick-slo

Tabs are great, sounds recordings are great, videos are great, standard notation is great, help from friends is great, whatever you can find is great.

I'm with Rick. Many different ways of doing things. Not to use all tools available is limiting oneself.

Blues

[Paikon]

Originally Posted by JoeCharter

I agree with your statement entirely -- standard notation can have all the information as to where to place your fingers on the board.

However, most of the time, standard notation does not have all the information. That is why tablature is so hugely popular.

If standard notation did routinely provide all the information, no one would've thought about inventing tablature as it would've been redundant.

Hmm There is another way to think of this. Its a great lesson for a student to put his own fingerings on a piece.
Seriously when you put your own fingerings you learn the piece in a "personal" way and of course you can always change them.

I remember stadying a lute suite of J.S.Bach in 1995 following the fingerings of the editor.After ten years i was stadying the same suite with another teacher for exams and his aproach was to play as many open strings that i could so i changed the fingerings.

[JoeCharter]

Originally Posted by Paikon

Hmm There is another way to think of this. Its a great lesson for a student to put his own fingerings on a piece.
Seriously when you put your own fingerings you learn the piece in a "personal" way and of course you can always change them.

I remember stadying a lute suite of J.S.Bach in 1995 following the fingerings of the editor.After ten years i was stadying the same suite with another teacher for exams and his aproach was to play as many open strings that i could so i changed the fingerings.

You keep switching things around just to keep this (non) debate going. One moment you say standard notation is complete because all the fingerings can be included, and the next moment you say standard notation is better because fingerings are not included. Talk about a circular discussion.

I am not trying to convince you to change your mind. You like what you like and it's fine. Merely describing why some people might enjoy tablature.

One could argue that before you learn your own fingerings you should learn other people's. At least that's my point of view.

I've played with tablature for 25 years now. Never felt trapped or limited. I can't play classical guitar -- but that's not part of my priorities at all.

YMMV.

[Paikon]

Originally Posted by JoeCharter

You keep switching things around just to keep this (non) debate going. One moment you say standard notation is complete because all the fingerings can be included, and the next moment you say standard notation is better because fingerings are not included. Talk about a circular discussion.

I am not trying to convince you to change your mind. You like what you like and it's fine. Merely describing why some people might enjoy tablature.



YMMV.

i said that standard notation CAN have all the information about fingerings ,i didnt say that it always have that.
edit i also said that is a good lesson for students is to put their own fingerings...

[JoeCharter]

Originally Posted by Paikon

i said that standard notation CAN have all the information about fingerings ,i didnt say that it always have that.
edit i also said that is a good lesson for students is to put their own fingerings...

I don't think you understand my point but that's ok, we've been down this road before. Things get lost in translation and the conversation is going nowhere.

I understand your arguments. Doesn't make it right or useful for everyone.

[Paikon]

Originally Posted by JoeCharter

Doesn't make it right or useful for everyone.

i hope it is usefull for someone to understand that standard notation can provide all the information about fingerings....as i said earlier