tabs or sheet?

[Chipsonfire]

I'm a new bassist (actually, my first bass is on its way here now lol) and I was wondering if I should learn to play tabs or sheet music. I can already read sheet music to some degree as I played sax once upon a time and have more than once studied music formally. I'm not great, but with a little practice it could quickly become second nature. I've NEVER used, or even seen, tabs before but I hear they are great. What would you all suggest I go with? Both maybe? Thanks

[CrashClint]

I would develop my sight reading skills with sheet music first. There isn't really anything hard to reading a tab, I prefer sheet music. If you do not have any old Bass Player mags, see if you can find some old ones. They are a good source of bass sheet music.

Don't get me wrong, I will use a tab, but I would take sheet music over a tab anyday.

[jady]

Sheet music all the way, tabs are an incomplete representation of the fingerings. There is no practical way to illustrate rhythm, phrasing, dynamics, etc. Plus there is no real way to sightread tab.

[Chipsonfire]

Alright, sounds like a plan. Also, I'm VERY iffy on 7th chords, I've never really gone over those. I'll have to break out the old textbook and read up on some stuff while my bass ships. Thanks for the responses, they are greatly appreciated Oh, one more thing: how hard would it be to get bass sheet music online?

[DeanT]

What, you looking to start a war here?

Actually, it's a good idea to learn to read sheet music if you have the time and inclination.

Tabs are useful, for sure. But 98% of the time they are incorrect, even the ones published in the "learn to play bass" books. And as mentioned above, you can't really get the rhythms and phrasings from tabs. But, they are a useful shortcut for those of us who don't want to learn to read music.

Let's put it this way. If you can read music, you're better off. You can always use tabs if you like as well. But if you don't read music, reading tabs will not teach you how. You're stuck with the tabs. The other way at least you have a choice.

[HollowLlama]

I had Jazz classes and all a few years ago in school. It was great. I recently started practicing reading sheet music again and I must say, after a year or so of playing with tabs, sheet music seems to have made my concentration better and I seem to be able to play more efficiently. I have no clue why. For the past few weeks I have been practicing to read sheet music everyday or whenever I can before starting to play. (Kinda like a warm up) Its up to you just remember that you'll be playing bass clef which is not the same as treble clef when you were playing the sax. I know your probably aware of that but I just wanted to point it out nonetheless.

[Infern0]

Dont corrupt yourself with tabs. It may seem easy, and it is, but not practical. You should start off with sheet as soon as possible. This is from experience.

[Chipsonfire]

I never understood those dern tabs anyway o_O I'm re-picking up sheet music again quickly, most likely cause I just had a semester of music fundamentals recently in college lol. I really need to work on my music theory though; I never really had a strong grasp of that