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how to transpose open tunings

#21
I find this kind of thing easier to do when I am actually in the room with the guitarist and his collection of weirdly tuned guitars, and I can pick up where the root notes are in the hand shapes by ear/sight. And, yeah, it hard to find straight chord charts for open tuning songs, and there is a reason for that.

Listening to the recording and transcribing is the most straightforward solution. Also, if you got an acoustic guitar lying around (which I'm sure you do) you can tune it to the open tunings and find the root notes in the tab, transpose them to your bass - I've done that before, probably with a Black Crowes tune.
 
#22
Lobster11 said:
Right. When I'm trying to learn a new song I start (after listening to the song, of course) by Googling "nameofsong chords," which usually turns up several different versions. Once I figure out which version seems most accurate/useful I can usually figure out the bass part by ear based on that, but if I need a little help I'll Google "nameofsong bass tab." I rarely follow the tab note-for-note -- often they're not accurate, or they use different fingerings than I would prefer -- but usually it gives me some ideas about how to figure out a tricky part.
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That's my approach. I'll also watch Youtube's of bass covers. I often find these more helpful than tabs. Most popular songs will have a few of these and there are several people doing bass cover videos who I know are usually spot on.
 
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#23
Of all the 'Gee, I Can't Read Standard Notation' shortcut ways to write music down, tabs are just useless for me.

If it were me, I'd print that out, fold to the appropriate size and put it in the bottom of the Mynah bird's cage, and then write out my own little number charts. I like the Crows a lot, but it's pretty simple stuff. Write down a basic set of the changes and play along with a recording till you get it under your hands. That the guitars are in an open tuning has nothing to do with you. It's not like you're having to chart out a Weather Report or Miles Davis tune or other fiendishly different stuff here. The Crows are a lot like the Stones: Get the chords right and the order of the arrangement, then it's always a little messy getting to the end . . . . .

(And my standard warning: Kill yourself to nail it note for note with the recording, show up to rehearsal, and voila', you're the ONLY ONE who did and the rest of them are all over the place . . . . .)
 
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#24
Looks like this one's in open D. That same sight should have a chord chart available and possible a bass part.

I've worked with guitarists who play in open and dropped tunings. You will probably find yourself wanting to be able to get to a low D, either by detuning or playing a 5, though may not be necessary for an audition.
 
#26
drewphishesp said:
I mostly just wanted the chords in lead sheet form so I could follow and go from there
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The guitar tabs website/app that posted the link to almost always has regular chord charts for all of their songs. If you use the web-based version, the "pro-tabs/official" version of the song typically will allow you to transpose the chord chart to whatever key you want as well - a little easier than doing it on the fly.
 
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#28
drewphishesp said:
this for example is one of the tabs
The Black Crowes - Stare It Cold (Tab)

I dont know how to make sense of this
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TAB is notorious for being error-laden and badly formatted. It isn't intrinsically bad, but the way that people write and format it is terrible, when they don't have music experience.

If you can, learn it by ear. It's the only source of truth.

If you can't (and I understand that some of the answers here may be frustrating), you may consider downloading a program like Guitar Pro. People make tabs in the .gpp file format; you'll get full MIDI playback and standard notation in addition to the TAB for the guitar part and possibly the bass part depending on who made it.

You can change the tuning in Guitar Pro and it should automatically update the TAB for you. There are other programs that are similar to Guitar Pro (and there are some that are better), but Guitar Pro is well-known in the guitar community and you will probably be able to find a wide selection of songs that people have notated. (You will probably still need to use your ear, as there's still a lot of human error here.)
 
#29
I was not familiar with the song so I pulled it up on YouTube, grabbed my bass (4 string in standard tuning), and by mid song was playing along. Leaving out the walkups and runs there are 4 root notes in the song. I'm very mediocre learning songs by ear but this was pretty easy. It's more of a vibe song than a note for note song. Root notes are G, C, Bb, and D. Now go have fun!
 
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#31
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#34
Tab is useful for guitar because you can be reading huge chord blocks with lots of quick changes. Bass you aren't making those stave jumps as quickly, but it does still include a bunch of extra guitar specific information like slurs and techniques. It's not useful for either instrument without the dots above it for rhythmic notation though - I spent way too long bashing my head against inaccurate ASCII tabs with no notation as a starter.
 
#38
BobDeRosa said:
When the music is this simple, you should really avoid paper altogether and let your ear be your guide.
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I was not blessed with this talent. IMO most that are asking questions like this have not develop their ear and do need another way.

Those of you that can rely upon your ears, go for it, but, most of us mortals do not have that ability.

With a little theory and years of playing we can get close, but, note for note, good luck.
 
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#39
I think the use of TAB is defensible in this case, because of the alternate tuning.

Imagine you are an intermediate guitarist. You have a good ear, and you know how to read standard notation. But you've only ever played in standard EADGBE tuning. This TAB shows you exactly where to put your fingers, so you can quickly get up and running with the unfamiliar tuning.

In my opinion this is a perfect "use case" where TAB is the right tool for the job.
 
#40
Malcolm35 said:
I was not blessed with this talent. IMO most that are asking questions like this have not develop their ear and do need another way.

Those of you that can rely upon your ears, go for it, but, most of us mortals do not have that ability.

With a little theory and years of playing we can get close, but, note for note, good luck.
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Don't sell yourself short. Have you tried singing it, one bar at a time, and then finding these notes on your bass? I'm guessing you can do it.
 

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