Why don't musicians post their own tabs?

[Sigying]

Why don't musicians post their own tabs? It's friggin annoying, you never find the right one but instead you find 50,000 wrong tabs and in the end playing a complete different song.

Example; at the moment I'm learning Entirety by The Word Alive and we could only find one tab, and it was completely wrong so now my teacher has to try to work it out by himself because I still can't pick up the right notes. -_-

[lowfreq33]

Seriously?

[hdracer]

Let me get this right.

You have a teacher and he has you doing songs by tab and he can not figure out a song and tab it for you?

[Epitaph04]

Originally Posted by lowfreq33

Seriously?

This.

[obimark]

Who by what band? ?? Never, ever even heard that band name, not sure many have. The majority of people in cover bands play similar material. There have been 15 songs that have overlapped out of all my cover bands, and they sure aren't something that obscure. Thus you aren;t going to find many if any tabs, but don't feel bad, I love Oingo Boingo, but there are maybe two right oingo boingo bass tabs on the whole net, and even those are missing fills, and aren't 100%.

[jeffbonny]

Originally Posted by Sigying

Why don't musicians post their own tabs?

Because most musicians don't use tab.

[Journey55]

The human abstract and art by numbers posts their own tabs (with guitar pro)

[1958Bassman]

Originally Posted by Sigying

Why don't musicians post their own tabs? It's friggin annoying, you never find the right one but instead you find 50,000 wrong tabs and in the end playing a complete different song.

Example; at the moment I'm learning Entirety by The Word Alive and we could only find one tab, and it was completely wrong so now my teacher has to try to work it out by himself because I still can't pick up the right notes. -_-

Seriously, if a teacher has a hard time helping you learn these things, while it's useful for them to teach you to play the notes, it might be better for you to find a different one, or an additional one, who can teach you to learn by ear, read and learn on your own.

You're already on the way- if you hear a difference between the tab and original and can identify exactly what is different, you should be able to learn it on your own. Work on your ear- it will make EVERYTHING a lot easier. If you add reading to your skill set, you'll be even better-prepared for anything you may want to learn and play.

[eloann]

If anyone ever wanted the existing tabs of songs I wrote, they'd end up playing a "different song" too since many little (and not so little) things were changed along the way. Some successful musicians do make tabs/scores of what they actually play (or hire people to do so), but then they righteously expect people to pay for these.

While we occasionally do find accurate fan-made tabs (and it can be a welcomed timesaver), one should not rely on these too heavily.

[tjh]

...watch, listen, imitate, adapt, and improvise ...

... lather, rinse, repeat ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q340ZpYT1Ms

... then find a teacher that teaches ANYTHING other than tabs ... you dont need to be paying good money for something you can easily learn yourself if you can count 20 ...(JMHO)

Edit to add: ... and BTW, welcome to TalkBass ... lots of 'friggin' good info available here ... tell your 'teacher' about it ...

[RDUB]

What they've said above! I will always recommend learning to read music in the first place, but that won't help with most cover tunes. Your most valuable accessories are your ears, and you need to train them.

Start small. Pick a fairly straightforward tune and learn to play it, by ear. Keep doing it. When you hear a melody line, or a horn line, or a line from a TV commercial that sticks in your head, play it! Sit down with your bass and figure it out.

Before long, you'll be reaching for the next note without thinking about it. The intervals will start to be built in. This actually supports and helps with your reading, as well. You learn to see the space between the note you're playing and the next.

The whole point of all this is that eventually, what you hear in your head will come out of your fingers almost automatically. Learning theory will give your imagination and creativity a whole arsenal of possibilities.

Okay... done my rant!

[u84six]

Wait a minute, isn't this the tab forum? Why are all you morons chiming in with crap like "learn on your own", "learn how to read music", "your teacher sucks", "why do you want to learn THAT song"? How about this, why don't you all go to the "my ego is bloated" forum and have it out with each other? You don't belong here.

Anyhow, for the real answer. The reason you don't see accurate tab on the Internet is because the songs are copyrighted, and the people who own the songs can make money off the tablature books, etc. So even if you tab the songs yourself and put them on a website, they can have your site taken down or threaten you to a lawsuit if you don't take down the content. The reason you see bad tablature all over the Internet is because the owners don't bother with them. I remember a guy that had a Beatles tab site which was the most accurate I've ever seen, and it was taken down in just about 3 months after it was launched.

[tjh]

Originally Posted by u84six

Wait a minute, isn't this the tab forum? Why are all you morons chiming in with crap like "learn on your own", "learn how to read music", "your teacher sucks", "why do you want to learn THAT song"? How about this, why don't you all go to the "my ego is bloated" forum and have it out with each other? You don't belong here.

Anyhow, for the real answer. The reason you don't see accurate tab on the Internet is because the songs are copyrighted, and the people who own the songs can make money off the tablature books, etc. So even if you tab the songs yourself and put them on a website, they can have your site taken down or threaten you to a lawsuit if you don't take down the content. The reason you see bad tablature all over the Internet is because the owners don't bother with them. I remember a guy that had a Beatles tab site which was the most accurate I've ever seen, and it was taken down in just about 3 months after it was launched.

.. morons?? ... that was pleasant ...

... your paraphrasing lacks a bit of evolvement ... my part of your chastizment would probably be "learn it on your own" ...

I dont know why I wasted all the letters I did to say "you dont need to be paying good money for something you can easily learn yourself if you can count 20 ...(JMHO)" ... you said it so much more eloquently ...

...forget the fact that we have a new member making an inquiry that obviously infers that she is probably a relative newcomer in the bass world, and her learning curve could greatly be benefitted if the money she was paying to someone to tell her that 12 meant to count up 12 frets and put her finger there, then go to 'the next' string, and when you see a 14, count up 14 and put your finger there .. jeesh!

... BTW, if you check my history, I have posted several times on the tabs forum, both asking and answering specific tab questions, and always trying to be enlightening when doing so, and probably more importantly I appreciate when someone shares something with me that I find beneficial to my development ... tabs can certainly have a place in the entire musical spectrum, but to be the only source, it can be not only limiting, but as the OP expressed, very 'friggin' annoying, not to mention frustrating ... IMO, that is what the majority of responses were emphasizing, and meant as supportive ...

... its a good thing you were able to answer her question properly .. we, ok, I stand corrected ... I should have just let her wait for you to come with the right answer instead of sending her a link that would probably benefit her to develop her skills more than any tab would, by using her ears, as well as her eyes, AND with the timing ... but what do you expect, I am just egotistical moron, or so I have been told .. I guess we better quit putting notation transcriptions on here too ... after all, it is the tab forum

[obimark]

There is nothing wrong with using tab, provided YOU ALSO use your ears to make sure you are playing the song in tune. Yes many tabs are wrong on the internet, but good luck finding correct sheet music for typical rock bass or even pop. THERE is none, all that is available commerically is piano bass music.
My point was just don't expect to even find any tab for some obscure music like the OP posted.

[Johnny Roots]

you got tabz for taht?

Ask your teacher when the Ear Training portion of your classes start. See his response and find another teacher.

[Samsound]

The OP didn't say that was ALL he was being taught. It's not uncommon for a teacher, in addition to drills and exercises, to also say, "hey if there's a certain song you'd like to learn, bring it in, and we can work on that, too." Also, he didn't say his teacher couldn't figure out the song, just that due to OP's lack of success finding the TAB, his teacher would have to sit down and learn it himself before teaching it to him, precisely what yall are suggesting he ought to be able to do.

Your question has been answered, though. Additionally, a publishing company often owns the rights for the written transcription, with the artist getting a cut or royalties. In these situations, the artist couldn't offer it for free even if he wanted to.

[tjh]

... just an FYI, and certainly not that it matters other than for reference, but our OP in this case happens to be she, not a he ... I try to always check the profiles before I respond to try to keep the response a bit more directional ... unfortunately very few of the newcomers realize the importance of a completed profile .. so we are left to assume based on the question, and what little information we have .. and you know what happens when we assume

[SBassman]

Originally Posted by RDUB

...
Your most valuable accessories are your ears, and you need to train them.
...
Start small. Pick a fairly straightforward tune and learn to play it, by ear. Keep doing it. When you hear a melody line, or a horn line, or a line from a TV commercial that sticks in your head, play it! Sit down with your bass and figure it out.
...
Before long, you'll be reaching for the next note without thinking about it. The intervals will start to be built in.
...
The whole point of all this is that eventually, what you hear in your head will come out of your fingers almost automatically.

Great post.

[1958Bassman]

Originally Posted by u84six

Wait a minute, isn't this the tab forum? Why are all you morons chiming in with crap like "learn on your own", "learn how to read music", "your teacher sucks", "why do you want to learn THAT song"? How about this, why don't you all go to the "my ego is bloated" forum and have it out with each other? You don't belong here.

Anyhow, for the real answer. The reason you don't see accurate tab on the Internet is because the songs are copyrighted, and the people who own the songs can make money off the tablature books, etc. So even if you tab the songs yourself and put them on a website, they can have your site taken down or threaten you to a lawsuit if you don't take down the content. The reason you see bad tablature all over the Internet is because the owners don't bother with them. I remember a guy that had a Beatles tab site which was the most accurate I've ever seen, and it was taken down in just about 3 months after it was launched.

OK, I deflated my ego long enough to type this but I'll need to re-inflate it shortly.

Ask yourself how many people have heard of the song mentioned in the first post, then ask if a publisher will create tab for it, given the fact that it won't reach a wide audience.

That being the case, what will be easier- learning the song or waiting for the musicians to publish their tab version, assuming the musicians are even able to do this? You need to remember that a lot of pop stars and acts don't read or write music or tab.

[Bassmanbob]

Originally Posted by RDUB

What they've said above! I will always recommend learning to read music in the first place, but that won't help with most cover tunes. Your most valuable accessories are your ears, and you need to train them.

Start small. Pick a fairly straightforward tune and learn to play it, by ear. Keep doing it. When you hear a melody line, or a horn line, or a line from a TV commercial that sticks in your head, play it! Sit down with your bass and figure it out.

Before long, you'll be reaching for the next note without thinking about it. The intervals will start to be built in. This actually supports and helps with your reading, as well. You learn to see the space between the note you're playing and the next.

The whole point of all this is that eventually, what you hear in your head will come out of your fingers almost automatically. Learning theory will give your imagination and creativity a whole arsenal of possibilities.

Okay... done my rant!

Thank you for writing this so I didn't have to.