I have tried to play some of my favorite songs using tablature from the internet but I notice that sometimes Im not sounding anything like the song Im playing.
Is tab somebody's interpretation of the song or is it what the actual artist used to write down the song? Also is tab meant to cover all the sounds of the song or just the guitar part, Im wondering because in many songs the most interesting part is the drums or base and I sometimes wonder if tabs are written out to emulate the most important sounds of a song and not just the guitar.
Very few people compose in tab. Most of what you see on the internet is somebody's interpretation of how the song goes... it's only as good as the transcriber (which means most of it isn't very good).
The use of tab has spread to other instruments, so you can get bass tabs, and even drum tabs. In most cases, the tab tries to represent just a single instrument.
Guitar teacher offering lessons in Plainfield IL
Tab is definitly not the actual artist and is quite often wrong I've been told. You can look at 4 tabs by different people and they will all be different. Some of the sites that you go on have ratings for each tab, that way you have an idea of how good it is.
I can look back with a smile, knowing that my ambition far exceeded my talent.
in addition to what the others have said, i think it is worth mentioning another possible issue, that presented itself to me
i am gonna show my true 'newbie' colors now...
i have been playing for a bout 1 year and i am piggybacking off of a buddies lessons, so i therefore have no formal instruction for guidance and support, though my new years resolution is to remedy that
anyway, when i first looked at tab i came across the same problem, 'this doesnt sound like the song i am trying to play!'... then it was brought to my attention, and something that i needed to quickly grasp, that when looking at tab, the string depicted on top is actually the high e string and when i held my guitar the high e string is on the bottom... some tab does not come with a key or legend so it was for me a bit confusing at first
so when looking at tab, the strings are written, from top to bottom, E, B, G, D, A, E… as opposed to the guitar where the strings are, from top to bottom, E, A, D, G, B, E
Good point tonedeaf. High E is at the top of TABs.
I have a question though.
I know TABs on the net are quite often not accurate but what aout TABs in store bought music books and sheet music?Are they mostly more accurate?
I know TABs on the net are quite often not accurate but what aout TABs in store bought music books and sheet music?Are they mostly more accurate?
TAB's in books tend to be equal to or maybe a little better than the ones with high ratings on tab sites. However they are not necessarily much better than those downloaded. Also, the ones is books tend to be edited a little more which helps.
One benefit with the books is you tend to get more information since they may include suggested strumming patterns.
The nature of tabs is that they are more of a guide and you need to work things out anyway so no matter where you get them you still have work to do.
