I have recently begun to study theory. I can now read music although quits slowly. My reading of tab is much quicker and I find it quite easy.
For those of you who read music well I would like to know if you were given the choice to learn a song you liked would you prefer to be given the info in tab or sheet music? Assuming you knew the song.
Thanks
Cheers,
Max
I prefer sheet music for a bunch of reasons:
1. With sheet music, I don't need to know the song to give a fair rendition
2. With sheet music, you see the contours of the melody graphically - with TAB you don't
3. Sheet music usually gives you performance cues (dynamics, tempo, phrasing etc.) that aren't usually included in TAB
4. One glance at sheet music and you know what key it's in
5. Odd rhythmic figures (like quintuplets) are easily understandable in sheet music, but extremely difficult to figure out in TAB
6. Although in either one you need to 'read ahead' to figure out the best position for a passage, you can do it at a glance in sheet music... not true with TAB
7. It's actually faster to read once you get used to it.
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Not to mention that sheet music is probably going to be written by an experienced musician where as much tab (on the internet anyway) seems to be full of errors!
Of course, I am not proficient at sheet music! :oops:
But I hate bad tab!
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I like having both.
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-- John Lennon
Well thanks for the input, and very convincing arguments.
I am going to continue to practice reading music. I have a long way to go yet thought. Luckily I am stuborn and persistent.
Thanks.
Cheers,
Max
Tab has my vote. Sure, notation is much more accurate, but I myself don't really care about playing the exact same song. A few pointers are usually enough to allow you be on your way yourself.
I prefer sheet music for a bunch of reasons:
1. With sheet music, I don't need to know the song to give a fair rendition
2. With sheet music, you see the contours of the melody graphically - with TAB you don't
3. Sheet music usually gives you performance cues (dynamics, tempo, phrasing etc.) that aren't usually included in TAB
4. One glance at sheet music and you know what key it's in
5. Odd rhythmic figures (like quintuplets) are easily understandable in sheet music, but extremely difficult to figure out in TAB
6. Although in either one you need to 'read ahead' to figure out the best position for a passage, you can do it at a glance in sheet music... not true with TAB
7. It's actually faster to read once you get used to it.
Amen. Especially to #1.
Tab's great, but sheet music gets my vote.
I always teach my students the basics of reading sheet music - Tab gives you no idea of timing, so if you don't know the song you're stuffed.
Best,
A :-)
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I have a friend who's learning how to read sheet music right now, and it drives him nuts trying to figure out where on the neck you should be playing, or when to hold a chord. He uses tab in conjunciton to help him learn, but I find sheet music alone to be perfect since I've practiced with it, and many things just come naturally, since you can see ahead like NOte BOat mentioned
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Did you see that!
sheet music is definitely better, or should I say way better! :lol:
but again, who am I to make such a comment, I myself don't feel comfortable without consulting TABs myself... :?
trying to get used to reading sheet music alone right now... not going too good though... :oops:
Actually, they both feel soft and smooth against my buttocks! :lol:
Please don't squeeze the sheet music! :lol: :lol: :lol:
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I think both would be ideal, but if I had to choose one, it would be sheet music.
1:becuase im not very masterful at sight reading, reading from sheet music gives a tremendous sense of accomplishment that tab does not fullfill. Reading tab well means you undcerstand shapes well, reading sheet music means you understand music well. well, atleast one aspect of it.
2: sheet music shows rythm as well as melody and harmony.
3: with tab, you just see numbers and do not nessacarily recognize harmony. With sheet music, it is much easier to see "oh that is a perfect fourth to a minor second" etc.
the one advantage to (good) tab would be that most times, you can find the most effecient way of playing something very quickly, becuase someone ahs already figured it out. With sheet music, it is hard to sight read becuase on guitar there are many ways of playing a note, not just one or two like on a saxaphone.
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Sheetmusic gets a my vote! I used to use tabs all the time but I noticed that all I could do was play OTHER people's songs. With sheetmusic, you can play other people's music and YOUR own music. All in all, you get much more out of sheetmusic than with tabs.
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You will get more from sheet music, I was never satisfied with tabs, fun to start out with but if you want to play any song you need theory.
:D
theory doesnt really have anything to do with sheetmusic though, if you can read the notes from sheet music then theory wont really matter (before anyone quotes me, i mean if you can read sheet music, you wont need to know it to understand what you have to play.
