TAB addict, Listening skills...

FireArm · #1 09-07-2007, 03:36 AM

"im 20 years old, and i have a problem.. with tabs"

I only started playing when i was 18 or so... so i pretty much self taught and have used lots of internet tabs. As ive evolved as a player and got better I to try and stop using tabs

1) because i feel that when i use them im more or less just playing parrot fashion

2) because i know sooner or later it may get the the point where i can only learn from tabs.

I really envy those who can pick stuff up by ear I'd love to be able to do this as i feel it would make me a better "musician"

Does anyone have any advice for me? Ive tried jamming along to songs without using tabs but i think this maybe a little too much too soon.

wdinc01 · #2 09-07-2007, 03:44 AM

I don't think it's really blasphemy if you use tabs. I use tabs a lot just because I'm not as good at telling pitch by ear. I'm slowly working on it, though.

I say start off easy. Maybe find songs that have a single bass line you want to figure out, then figure it out. Don't worry if you don't get it right away and have to hit a couple of wrong notes. It's not like you're playing live. And if you need to, check a tab to confirm that you're right.

magnusdeus123 · #3 09-07-2007, 03:50 AM

I started 3 months ago from now , and I never used tab's , even for the most complex stuff I've tried to play . The thing you really need to understand is how to make out pitch differences . The way to do this is to figure out the section you want to play , and try humming the entire segment , until you are right that your humming is coming out perfect . After that you take the bass and ear-play the bass from the memory , and using the stream of hum's you have now . It'll be difficult for the start of it , not that much for me because I play Industrial Rock mostly , and thats quite simple to figure out . But depending on the type of music your playing it might be super complex and impossible , or easy enough to figure out in about an hour . Just keep at it .

Eublet · #4 09-07-2007, 04:27 AM

First, you should learn to read music. Worth every bit of pain it might cost you. Tabs are a dead-end street. You'll learn more about relationships between the notes if you can read music, and it will help your ear all by itself.

You should also spend some time trying to play by ear. Just pick easy stuff and play along as best you can. Simple radio tunes.

Above all, find a good teacher, one that doesn't want to show you "licks", but provides musical direction. If the teacher doesn't start out by teaching you to read music, get a new teacher ASAP.

Deacon_Blues · #5 09-07-2007, 07:59 AM

Play along to and transcribe (write down the chords to) really simple songs at first and move on to more advanced veeeeery slowly. 2- or 3-chord country songs and simple blues songs are good to start with, even though you would hate the music. Avoid riff-based music as you need to learn to identify chord progressions. Having a lot of riffs in the way might make it harder to recognize the chords behind. You will start recognizing chord patterns and learn how they sound by ear over time. That's guaranteed if you start doing this.

Alexander · #6 09-07-2007, 08:00 AM

Learning to hear intervals really helped me out a lot - there are many resources on the web to help you do this. Even learning to hear your way through a simple I-IV-V progression is huge since those chords make up much of modern music. Many times there are some pretty easy and common transitions between chords that you will pick up along the way. Another thing that helped me move away from tabs was to start using chord charts instead, making up my own basslines using the interval stuff I was working on.

tswd · #7 09-07-2007, 04:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FireArm

I really envy those who can pick stuff up by ear I'd love to be able to do this as i feel it would make me a better "musician"

I don't really agree with it making you a better musician. Music is a form of art, it's about expressing yourself. Being able to play things by ear will help you a) learn cover songs b) play what's in your head.

a) We've all heard covers that were spot-on covers, but lacked the feel and heart of the original. Being able to play a cover song doesn't necessarily make you a better musician. If you don't have the heart, you just don't have it. Classical pianists are a good example. You can listen to a great pianist and a mediocre pianist play the same song, hitting the exact same notes, as written. One of them will sound head and shoulders above the other.

b) Being able to pick up other people's stuff by ear won't make you more creative. It will give you ideas and techniques you can use, but it doesn't affect your ability to do something with them.

So, logically, it doesn't really follow that learning by ear makes you a better musician. Don't get me wrong, it's a good tool to have in your toolbox. But the tools aren't what makes the craftsman good at what he does.

Eublet · #8 09-07-2007, 09:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tswd

I don't really agree with it making you a better musician. Music is a form of art, it's about expressing yourself. Being able to play things by ear will help you a) learn cover songs b) play what's in your head.

a) We've all heard covers that were spot-on covers, but lacked the feel and heart of the original. Being able to play a cover song doesn't necessarily make you a better musician. If you don't have the heart, you just don't have it. Classical pianists are a good example. You can listen to a great pianist and a mediocre pianist play the same song, hitting the exact same notes, as written. One of them will sound head and shoulders above the other.

b) Being able to pick up other people's stuff by ear won't make you more creative. It will give you ideas and techniques you can use, but it doesn't affect your ability to do something with them.

So, logically, it doesn't really follow that learning by ear makes you a better musician. Don't get me wrong, it's a good tool to have in your toolbox. But the tools aren't what makes the craftsman good at what he does.

Hooey. It's all about ears. The best musicians always have the best ears. Creativity comes from having well developed and trained ears. I'm not sure what your point is.

jsbass · #9 09-07-2007, 09:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eublet

Hooey. It's all about ears. The best musicians always have the best ears. Creativity comes from having well developed and trained ears. I'm not sure what your point is.

Agreed. Sheet music can be the same way as tabs. Some people start out just reading off of sheet music and sure enough they get to the point that when they don't have it infront of them they freak out because they don't know what to play without it.

Transcribing is a good idea to keep the songs for your own records, and you can transcribe it in any way that works for you. Thats how I do it.

Deacon_Blues · #10 09-08-2007, 01:54 AM

I think what tswd means is that a naturally good ear is not absolutely necessary to play good music. I have a guitarist friend who's never had a very good ear although it's way better now than say 10 years ago. However, it takes him quite a while to find out riffs and new chord progressions by ear, but on the other hand he has developed a really good timing and sense for feel and groove.

Anyway, I think transcribing is the best key to a better ear. It's also a good idea to use chord charts for difficult songs you have a hard time playing along to. The chord charts will help you learn new progressions easier, instead of always trying to find out everything by ear. But you should make sure you learn to recognize the new progressions also by ear. What's learned is learned, no matter if you originally found out it by ear or not.