No, There is no accurate way to represent note timing with TAB. There clearly is with notes.
Since you don't read, you will just have to take my word for it.
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Missing out by not being able to read music?
- Thread starter Dieps17
- Start date
No, There is no accurate way to represent note timing with TAB. There clearly is with notes.
Since you don't read, you will just have to take my word for it.
Yes, it will improve your playing.
The Nanny Classical Bass Method improved my playing
100 % in one year by learning proper fingering.
Made my playing easier & much faster.
The Nanny Classical Bass Method improved my playing
100 % in one year by learning proper fingering.
Made my playing easier & much faster.
Good question.
The fact of the matter here is, that on this forum, we are all speaking the same language, and that is making the exchange of information much more efficient. Being an international forum, they are many members that are using English (not their native language) to communicate. Without their willingness to learn a second (or third) language, they would have a much harder time getting questions answered and expressing ideas. So it is with conventional musical nototation. Is it necessary for everyone? Maybe not. Does it help? Absolutely.
When very young, I studied piano for 5 years, voice for 4 and drums for 4 years. I settled on bass at age 17, as my father before me. At that time my reading was at a pretty good level, although over years of living, things changed. Irregardless of where ever you're at as a reader, it can always be improved. Being able to sit in somewhere where they are reading parts and being able to cut it first time through with very little or no mistakes is always an enhancing experience.
My attitude towards reading, as far back as I can remember, was that it was like reading a book. You have a chance to explore the ideas and experiences of others musically and culturally. No offense intended to those who think this way, but the idea of 'it depends' just has never made any sense to me. Its limiting. If you want to be a session/studio type or a 'hired gun' for touring groups, being a good reader will always be a positive skill to your musical career. Even weekend warriors, as I was for a few years, can benefit.
My final thought is don't ever sell yourself short.
Lloyd Howard
My attitude towards reading, as far back as I can remember, was that it was like reading a book. You have a chance to explore the ideas and experiences of others musically and culturally. No offense intended to those who think this way, but the idea of 'it depends' just has never made any sense to me. Its limiting. If you want to be a session/studio type or a 'hired gun' for touring groups, being a good reader will always be a positive skill to your musical career. Even weekend warriors, as I was for a few years, can benefit.
My final thought is don't ever sell yourself short.
Lloyd Howard
No, There is no accurate way to represent note timing with TAB. There clearly is with notes.
Since you don't read, you will just have to take my word for it.
So with musical notation, how would you notate this?
note 1 lasts 161 milliseconds
note 2 - 139 ms
note 3 - 161 ms
note 4 - 139 ms
note 5 - 150 ms
note 6 - 150 ms
note 7 - 150 ms
note 8 - 150 ms
If you are thinking that tempo should be variable and that we shouldn't be talking in exact time units, which is perhaps true to an extent, just think of the timings as relative proportions.
Yes, I does depend on your goals and genres of music you play.
But, after all this is said, I have to say that non-readers create a lot of unnecessary stress in a band environment. d.
This past year, I played in a band with a band leader who could not read. As a result, all his charts for the band were a total mess, and he did not have the skills to understand what to do to fix them. They were so bad, I barely knew where to start to help. He had great difficulty communicating to us what he wanted.
In another case, with another band leader, he was able to pull off charts, but his musical understanding was so limited, especially in his ability to communicate to others what he wanted. I was also playing with some band members who did not speak English. The language of music would have to be our common understanding.
Best to learn the language of music, unless you are just doing this for a hobby. Your fellow musicians will thank you.
But, after all this is said, I have to say that non-readers create a lot of unnecessary stress in a band environment. d.
This past year, I played in a band with a band leader who could not read. As a result, all his charts for the band were a total mess, and he did not have the skills to understand what to do to fix them. They were so bad, I barely knew where to start to help. He had great difficulty communicating to us what he wanted.
In another case, with another band leader, he was able to pull off charts, but his musical understanding was so limited, especially in his ability to communicate to others what he wanted. I was also playing with some band members who did not speak English. The language of music would have to be our common understanding.
Best to learn the language of music, unless you are just doing this for a hobby. Your fellow musicians will thank you.
What do you not understand? You said that music notation could accurately represent note timings. So I gave you some timings, and asked how you would represent them.
I think showing accurate pitch and timing is what does notation is intended to do and does well. Far better than tab. And it's not notation and tab assuming a linear grid of subdivisions, it's music that does that.
I've been struggling with this question and perhaps there are more bass players with the same concern. Am i missing too much out by not being able to read music fluently? I feel like i am, i feel like if i did id be able to grab anything in any style and "rock the world"
Any thoughts?
Yes, in my opinion you are indeed.
So are you trying to tell me you can sustain a note to the proper millisecond instead of playing in time and counting?
No disrespect, but giving me "timings" seems almost like a troll argument. Hopefully you are not serious.
If you set your tempo so that a whole note = 150 ms, then a sixteenth note would be 9.375 ms, so a whole note tied to sixteenth would be 159.375 ms. It's not quite exactly 161 ms, but considering that the difference of <2 ms is probably within the threshold of error of even the most skilled virtuoso performer, does it really matter?
In other words, your example really doesn't illustrate any problem with music notation as it is used and applied in real world performance scenarios.
Maybe I have got a wrong impression about some tab. When I look at tabs, they are always laid out as a grid, in a monospaced font. So in 4/4, four crotchets in tab could be
----------------
----------------
----------------
0---0---0---0---
with each '-' representing a semiquaver.
Not in an all-encompassing way though - swing, rubato, tempo changes, playing behind the beat, polyrhythms, drones....
Sounds like a personal problem.
It's like me, as an english speaker, saying that standard written english language is not a good way writing english. It's kind of an ignorant statement, considering the rich history of music that's been conveyed and played by the world's best composers and musicians over many hundreds of years.
I have been playing for 20 years and have never read for a gig. HOWEVER, I can read charts and staff music enough to tell you that it is worth it to get another point of view on theory.
Furthermore, how does one translate TAB to other non-grid based instruments?
This is beyond ludicrous! The very idea is micro-minded.
This is beyond ludicrous! The very idea is micro-minded.
I have zero interest in sitting in on other peoples gigs. I have zero interest in playing jingles or other corporate music. I have zero interest in playing trad jazz. I have zero interest in making a "living" playing music. I play because I love it - the sound and the feel.
Do I think I am missing out on some things because I can't read? I know I am but I just don't care.
Do I think I am missing out on some things because I can't read? I know I am but I just don't care.
Roy Vogt
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- Sep 20, 2000
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There are two ways to do this, you can find a common denominator Mathematically and use those variations (that would almost be unreadable) or you could write a series of 8th/16th/whatever notes and give verbal instructions (acc. and rit.) about how to do the adjustments in feel.
I was the transcriber for the Bass Extremes book and I had to do this from time to time. You will also see this in The Charlie Parker Omnibook and other solo transcriptions. Musicians don't play mathematically correct ratios (unless you're listening to a Pet Shop Boys song!
) so there is a lot of room for interpretation. If you listen to Yo Yo Ma playing the Bach Cello Suite Prelude #1 you will hear a lot of massaging the time of that series of 16th notes.
