Just curious... Can anyone here sight-read tab?

[nnnnnn]

Tab absolutely fails at presenting note duration, or rhythm.

No it doesn't.

It's true that old-school internet tabs as in plain text files where somebody has just "drawn" the lines by typing a bunch of hyphens or whatever generally don't attempt to indicate rhythm, and often get the pitches wrong, and are not useful unless you already know how the song sounds and can do the rhythms from memory.

However, "proper" modern tab notates rhythm (including note length and rests) using exactly the same conventions as standard notation, and I find it pretty easy to sight read, assuming the piece is within my technical capabilities.

Following is just one example of tab notation with all rhythm included. The first time I tried to play this I had never heard the song before, but was able to play about 95% of it with reasonable accuracy just by sight reading it - the remaining 5% being some of the fancier fills where I stumbled over fingering, but that would have happened to me with standard notation too.

 

[J_Bass]

No it doesn't.

It's true that old-school internet tabs as in plain text files where somebody has just "drawn" the lines by typing a bunch of hyphens or whatever generally don't attempt to indicate rhythm, and often get the pitches wrong, and are not useful unless you already know how the song sounds and can do the rhythms from memory.

However, "proper" modern tab notates rhythm (including note length and rests) using exactly the same conventions as standard notation, and I find it pretty easy to sight read, assuming the piece is within my technical capabilities.

Following is just one example of tab notation with all rhythm included. The first time I tried to play this I had never heard the song before, but was able to play about 95% of it with reasonable accuracy just by sight reading it - the remaining 5% being some of the fancier fills where I stumbled over fingering, but that would have happened to me with standard notation too.

Why not learn to read, then?
I would assume that if someone knows the rhythm figures, it's because they learned how to read music, no?

How else would someone know how to interpret the rhythm?

 

[Evilheim]

Dowland and other early lute composers would not agree. View attachment 4693615

I was just about to mention the same hahaha, tabs were used very often on the renaissance, specially for stringed instruments. It's fun to know that this type of notation is older than the current standard sheet notation.

Even most of the old tabs out there (I'm talking about full songs documents) used to have a small text at the beginning, kind of "in a riddle fashion", to tell the reader the actual instrument's string tunning, I remember when studying them, it was a real pain in the ass to decipher (musicologist here), but it was very important at that time, because the 12-tone equal temperament hasn't been invented yet, so it was easy to sound out of tune if you play a piece of music in another tone.

 

[comatosedragon]

Well, I have been using Rocksmith as my primary learning/practicing tool for about a decade now.
Rocksmith is pretty much just tablature moving to the music.

So I guess, yes, I can "sight read" tab. And that's not a good thing. The visual aspect of this is so ingrained, that I find myself at a loss of even what note to start on for songs that (I feel) I can play pretty well. As examples, I can play American Girl, Uncle John's Band, or even Hotel California (your own thoughts on whether these tunes are difficult or not is irrelevant) very, very well as long I as i am watching the tab on the screen. Without it, I am lost and stumbling all over myself. But maybe that's because I have never even attempted to play anything without the tab right in front of me?

Hmm. So now I don't know if I answered the OP's question or if I just went off on a rant....

 

[Geogio]

Tab has gotten me through some classical pieces I would have never figured out without paying somebody to show me.

Between written notation, tab, chord charts, YouTube, and repetative audio playbacks - the students/aficionado's of any instrument these days has a lot of resources.

 

[oomo]

I play the lute as well, and as has been posted a couple of times above, tablature is used almost exclusively for that (so I've learned to sight read it pretty well).

Since there was so much music written for it over hundreds of years, anyone that plays the lute (or related instruments) typically learns to read that form of tablature to get access to 1000s pieces of written music (since recordings from the 1500s are a bit lacking...).

To further complicate things, there are several types of tab to learn too:

with French and Italian being the most common (most players read both), with German tablature more commonly translated into one of the other two. Note that French/Italian tablature is read a different way up, with strings high -> low in one, and low -> high in the other.

The key point is that note durations are included, so it's possible to sight read rhythms, similar to modern tab. Without that information you'd be pretty stuck of course (and a lot of tab on the internet is terrible and lacks that).

 

[nnnnnn]

Why not learn to read, then?
I would assume that if someone knows the rhythm figures, it's because they learned how to read music, no?

I'm not saying people shouldn't learn to read standard notation. I think they should. I'm just trying to counter the persistent misinformation about how tab supposedly can't include rhythm information when it clearly can, and has done for a long time now.

In my case I'm generally fine with standard or tab for bass parts, having learnt to read standard notation for piano before I ever picked up a guitar or a bass. But for guitar parts I tend to prefer tab as an easy way to instantly clarify where on the neck a particular combination of notes will work best - not an issue on bass where there are fewer strings to choose from and standard tuning has consistent intervals between strings (unlike the guitar).

 

[Evilheim]

I play the lute as well, and as has been posted a couple of times above, tablature is used almost exclusively for that (so I've learned to sight read it pretty well).

Since there was so much music written for it over hundreds of years, anyone that plays the lute (or related instruments) typically learns to read that form of tablature to get access to 1000s pieces of written music (since recordings from the 1500s are a bit lacking...).

To further complicate things, there are several types of tab to learn too:

View attachment 4693745

with French and Italian being the most common (most players read both), with German tablature more commonly translated into one of the other two. Note that French/Italian tablature is read a different way up, with strings high -> low in one, and low -> high in the other.

The key point is that note durations are included, so it's possible to sight read rhythms, similar to modern tab. Without that information you'd be pretty stuck of course (and a lot of tab on the internet is terrible and lacks that).

Everything music-related stuff at that time was quite complex and a bit confusing at the beggining, since there were different tuning systems, writting systems, even all the different views of music theory behind, all this was before things were standardized and properly studied in order to synthetize music better (like we learn it today).

About tablatures, it was kind of the go-to option to learn music on lute at that time, and easy to learn and read, in deed, lute was a very popular instrument between noble people, being able to play it nicely, but not as good as a pure genious was some kind to "extra-value" for them at that time in courts.

Another interesting thing was Gregorian chant notations, the historical precursor of sheet music, it went from lines that imitated the hand movement of the chorus director (that was mimicking the pitch movement), to the tetragram and then the pentagram. Also the writting symbols were so very confusing, there was a name for every writting figure you can find on a tetagram (around 50!!).

 

[TreySonagras]

No. I mean look at a tab and play it up to tempo on sight. When I go to a rehearsal to play new music for the first time (concert band or symphony) it's up to tempo out of the gate. That's what I mean by sight reading. It's all refinement after. ONCE IN AWHILE we get music in advance to look over. before hand. Depends on the group.

Reading tab for me is pretty much one or two notes at a time, making sure I'm on the right string. If only on one string I like hammer ons, pull offs and slides I can do a few notes at a time. But moving from string to string on tab is a cerebral exercise all the way through. What makes me nuts is that from this player's perspective I orient from the low E to the G. Tab, while attempting to put the high note on the top of the tab staff is upside down from the strings' perceived orientation. So much mental gymnastics for a someone used to a different, tried and true system.

One thing about it, if it is the type gig where you would be sight reading a song it is likely to be standard notation. My background is similar to yours (except I play trombone rather than trumpet) and standard notation and chord charts are all I can use. I look at tab to maybe figure out fingerings but that’s it.

 

[JazznFunk]

No. Tab does not communicate note duration, dynamics, rhythm, etc. It's like using a map not drawn to scale, without any other landmarks indicated, and not taking account any topography. You might get where you're going, but you need to have a broad familiarity of where you're traveling already... i.e. knowing the song and having a recording, and using it to fill in the blanks here and there quickly. Using standard notation and being able to 'hear it without hearing it' is far more useful and helpful long term.

 

[Slevage]

I've been playing bass over 50 years. I've played in many different types of bands. 99% of the weekend warrior gigging bands required 0 reading of notes (lots of chord/lead sheets).

I have never been asked to read TAB for a paying gig. Good thing, because I would not be able to do it.

 

[2cooltoolz]

I am a self taught notation reader. I understand the tempo notation and can read well enough to learn songs from standard notation. Give me standard in a real time situation and I go "blind". I did not grow up in a reading ensemble situation or taking piano lessons. My few guitar lessons were from guys who couldn't read as well as I could.

I make my own TABs. I use standard notation, other people's TABs, and most importantly (and frequently ONLY), my ears to learn and transcribe the songs. I can read other, well done (e.g. Ultimate Guitar "official") TABs on the fly, if I'm familiar with the song, and have used it on stage, doing requests, often.

My tabs are done in MS Word, timing denoted by 16th duration dashes. Unless otherwise denoted, each note's default duration is 1/8th. Longer durations are denoted by ~~~ after the number. 16th notes are implied when there is no dash between numbers. I denote whole rests, but others are implied by the absence of notes. I have a system of letters for frets above 9, but I won't bore you with it.

Attached is an example most would be familiar with. Be kind, keep in mind these are for my personal use, not general publication. By the way, I have built a repertoire of well over 200 songs, TAB'd my way.

 

[mdogs]

As someone who can only barely work his way through standard notation, I find tab to be the worst. Too often, they are just wrong and the fingerings such that no competent player would ever use them. I do use tab periodically if I need a shortcut, but even then I find most times it would have been easier to figure out a passage by ear.

 

[groooooove]

learned on tabs. proficient/professional music reader.

i can barely figure tabs out anymore, never mind read them at sight.

 

[Bushrod Johnson]

Yes.
I started with a new (to me) band three weeks ago. Sight read their tabs first time.

 

[Lesfunk]

Impossible to truly sight read tab. There’s no rhythm markings to tell you where to put the notes or how long the duration

 

[MultiScaleMale]

As usual, it depends.For sight-reading, notation is absolutely superior. But I can sightread a well-written TAB although those are rare. Usually they omit any sense of rhythm. So you need to know the rhythm, they just tell you where to play the notes.

 

[RGerhart]

Like anything else, it just takes practice. While I'm fluent at sightreading standard notation, tab is another matter. Modern tablature does have note duration and rhythm, but it seems "bastardized" to me.

Typing this now I realize this may be one of the first steps toward "I'm old and stuck in the past."

 

[fishdreams]

Music notation can be descriptive (to present an analysis of someone's performance, for example) or prescriptive (information needed for a musician to play through a piece - with other people at the same time - without necessarily knowing it).

When I studied ethnomusicology, we had to often design our own notation tools to transcribe what we heard on field recordings, as traditional notation is not designed for that, and often not cutting it when the intention is to capture what people actually do when they make music, certainly not in non-western context.

Tab is IME descriptive category. It can be useful to demonstrate string-instrument specific phrasing - for example blues phrasing that is only going to sound right in the key of E, or in open tuning xyz using pull-offs into open strings etc. Traditional notation is what you use for prescriptive purposes (or a lead sheet, which is like a cooking recipe, basically)

For traditional prescriptive sight reading purposes as the OP intends it I'd just ignore tab altogether.

 

[InhumanResource]

I was born in the 50's was a teen in the 60's and grew up reading standard notation. Took formal guitar lessons until I went to college. Got a music degree, played semi-professionally (mostly trumpet) for a lot of years. I could read standard notation to the point where I could do a (not too complicated) legit gig with my trumpet and read it cold and play the concert without rehearsal (lovingly called a "show and blow"). I get hired on occasion to play bass (typically musical theater) because I can read standard notation. Other gigs come because I have enough theory and musical experience that I can do something with lead sheets.

Tab??? PAINFUL to try to read. When I need a bass chart I try to find ones that have standard notation while I do appreciate those that have tab attached for helpful position hints. With tab I see no relation between what's on the tab and what it's all supposed to sound like. Sometimes the tab notator tries to help with the rhythm and sometimes that complicates things further. Lately the charts I'm finding are tab only and take a ton of effort to decipher.

I have to imagine that some here. can sight read tab, but personally don't know anyone that can. If you're here raise your hand, and if you can give me any tips on how to "here" the music from tabs and learn to be more proficient with it, I'm listening.

I don’t think anyone can because there is no rhythmic notation. You don’t get enough info to sight read a piece this way.