The cursed blessing of tabulature

Yeah i just started working with a new teacher and he was pretty pissed when i came in and only knew a lot of patterns. It made me feel like a beginner again so needless to say i was pretty embarassed. So now i'm determined to learn all the notes on the fretboard, scales, keys, chord, everything.

Play tabs if you like. Learn notes if you can - and use them.
Good post, Lars. I agree that learning the notes on the fretboard, and how they come together within scales and chords, is a good idea.

I didn't realize how much of a crutch tab had become for me, until I started playing bass for which there is very little! On the other hand, I'm getting to a point where I can look at tab and see notes. In other words, I think "A" when I look at a tab which says to play the 7th fret of the D-string, etc. At the same time, I'm learning to read standard notation. Both use "notes" but express them differently. Also, tab can incorporate rhythmic notation, just as standard notation can incorporate finger positioning, so the differences become smaller. I know your post isn't necessarily about tab vs. notation, but it's all sorta related.

Here's an interesting perspective from Tony Oppenheim, as posted on the TalkBass forum. Oppenheim wrote a bass book in the early 1980s and has since been forced to re-write it to include tablature, at the demand of the stores who carry the book:
Last spring and summer we had to totally recreate the manuscript for Slap It! in order to update the book and add TAB. ...

In the process I discovered that TAB could be very useful in conveying more exactly how I intended a passage to lay on the bass (i.e. do I play that E on the D string, A String or E String?). Fingerings in standard notation take care of much of the same info, but not as precisely. The combination of Standard Notation and TAB provided more information than either by itself. I was pleasantly surprised when I came to this realization.

Of course this is only true if the student learns how to understand both forms of notation.

...

One reader sent me a great suggestion for those who do not want to "lean" on the TAB. He used the easy release Painter's tape (it's that blue masking tape that painters use) to cover the TAB in his copy of the new book. He can pick the tape up and peek if he wants to, but it prevents him from scanning the TAB when he's trying to read the standard notation, and he says it doesn't damage the book. I haven't tried this myself, so if you're going to try it, test it out in a small section first.

Of course there are great musicians that never learned to read music, and many who read standard notation that have never used TAB. My feeling is that in an artistic and business endeavor as competitive as being a musician you should take every possible advantage. Anything that helps you grow as a player is good.

That said, in all my years as a professional bass player I was never handed a chart with TAB on it, so even though I've added TAB to Slap It! everyone should understand that I see it only as a teaching aid. Standard Notation (and I'll add Fake Book Notation, ala the Real Book) is still what a working player needs to be able to read with confidence.

For me, looking at a tab and looking at standard notation is the same thing. If I see a 3 on the 4th string, I think it's F. I don't go: "That's 3 on the 4th string, which is a dot on the first space in standard notation, which is F." But software such as guitar pro and power tab makes it easy to associate frets on the fret board. At least for me anyway.

i really tried hard :twisted: to learn music , even went to evening class at college .BUT!! i have still gone back to tab its quicker for me..........i do envy those who understand music i feel they must have the edge. when i write my own songs i use chords and scales and it works ? so do i need music? and now you,ve told me about paul McCartney i am really cumfooooooosed :roll: still think music must be best. smoke

i really tried hard :twisted: to learn music , even went to evening class at college .BUT!! i have still gone back to tab its quicker for me..........i do envy those who understand music i feel they must have the edge. when i write my own songs i use chords and scales and it works ? so do i need music? and now you,ve told me about paul McCartney i am really cumfooooooosed :roll: still think music must be best. smoke

I look at understanding standard notation as another tool in my box...I can't sight read very well yet, but I can work out the notes on a fretboard after some work. When you put TAB and standard notation together....well, it works good.

There are many very noted guitarists who don't read music....Steve Howe of Yes and Tommy Emmanual are a couple who come to mind.....so, don't feel to confused... :)

i've used tab for popular music, and sheet music for classical and jazz and old irish tunes... basically academic pieces. they take up different parts of my brain, it seems. using tab for classical music often leaves me with no feel for the piece, and using standard notation for rock is almost impossible. they always add in all the slurs and slides in such an awkward manner, and chords are 5 or 6 notes tall. it's impossible to understand.
anyway, that's my point of view on the subject.

double post

On the other hand, I'm getting to a point where I can look at tab and see notes. In other words, I think "A" when I look at a tab which says to play the 7th fret of the D-string, etc.

Ah! But that is a good alternative. My point, if there is one, is that it seems kind of akward to learn to play "without knowing what one plays". With tabulature it is possible to shirk from understanding and still get a decent sound. With standard notation (thanks - that was the term I was looking for earlier today) there is no easy way out
Here's an interesting perspective from Tony Oppenheim, as posted on the TalkBass forum.
Interesting yes!

LaRS

For me, looking at a tab and looking at standard notation is the same thing. If I see a 3 on the 4th string, I think it's F. I don't go: "That's 3 on the 4th string, which is a dot on the first space in standard notation, which is F." But software such as guitar pro and power tab makes it easy to associate frets on the fret board. At least for me anyway.

that's very good. I think I have it more or less the same way for the five lowest frets and somewaht higher on the 1st 5th and 6th string - but in between there is a huge white spot.

The interesting difference between the two approaches is that a 3 on the 4th string is a F, but a F is not necessarily 3 on the 4 th string it could be 13 on the 6th string as well.
LaRS

i really tried hard :twisted: to learn music , even went to evening class at college .BUT!! i have still gone back to tab its quicker for me.........

Excactly! It is quicker and we tend to take the low-resistance path don't we? And therefore we end up memorizing the fretboard and scale patterns...
.i do envy those who understand music i feel they must have the edge. when i write my own songs i use chords and scales and it works ? so do i need music? and now you,ve told me about paul McCartney i am really cumfooooooosed :roll: still think music must be best. smoke

Don't worry - I read sheet music but I'm unable to write anything myself.... *I* envy those who write music - and I definitely don't care if they've used tabs, standard notation or nothing when making it. - anecdote - there is this girl I knew, she didn't play any instrument, she didn't have a clue about notation, I don't even think that she listened to a lot of music - suddenly she had songs in her head and she had to tape them before they left. I had no reason to doubt her even though I was only allowed to hear once - amazing </anecdote>.

LaRS

I agree that notation is truely the "Language of Music" and I tell my students who are in band to keep learning notation. It's a tool they will forever cherish having. However, think back when you first started (for those who had NO prior musical/notational knowledge)...think about the first "cool" song you learned. If tab didn't exist amd you HAD to learn it by reading notation, would you have HONESTLY stuck to playing the guitar or would you have gotten frustrated and quit? Think hard and be honest! :wink:

I know for me when I tried playing 15 years ago...even with tab I didn't stick with it (I didn't have the internet so the tab I got was in books or from friends who played guitar). Reading music is an art as far as I am concerned. I too envy those that can read/write in notation.

What I try to do is when I look for tab I look for PwerTab or Guitar Pro versions of the tab. That way I can see how the tab translate to the notation and vice versa. Learning the notes on the fretboard is a MUST whether you play by tab or sight reading as far as I am concerned. It will still broaden your playing and make improving MUCH easier and fluid.

Great subject.

All I know is this, I wish I could sight-read guitar music. Tab for me is a help, I usually just look at what chords are used or the tuning, but then I use my ear to play.

About 10 years ago we owned a piano. I went down to the music store and got some good books to teach oneself. I made myself read music, I never looked at the keyboard. And in about one year I could play about 70 songs (they were pretty easy songs). What was really funny is that I found I could not play piano by ear. :shock: Really, I had to rely upon reading, and this was the only way I could play piano.

But guitar it is just natural for me to play by ear. This is the way I have always played it.

So in a way, reading can be a crutch as well.

I ended up getting divorced and the piano was sold. Now I can barely remember anything. But my daughter has taken up piano and we purchased a good, but used one for her. I have been thinking about taking it up again. Great instrument.

The two biggest things about standard notation that always bugged me are. How do I go from this:

To fretting those chords on a fret board.

The second thing is, if I go through that process, exactly how am I ahead?

The two biggest things about standard notation that always bugged me are. How do I go from this:

To fretting those chords on a fret board.

I'm gonna take a wild, inexperienced* stab at that, risking great personal embarasment if I get it wrong.

I think the first chord is an open strum of a guitar tuned DADGAD.

If my guess at the tuning is right, then the second chord should be 002002 , and the last one would be 001001.
Don't ask me what the chord names are, though. That's still a dark art to me.

*I am still trying to learn standard notation, and I've never attempted alt tunings. I started learning to play about 8 months ago. I still don't know how much I don't know :?

As for why, I think slejhamer said it better than I can.