• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Reading music and elitism

#321
I sometimes find it interesting/educational to look at tab that accompanies standard notation in a transcription for the purpose of illustrating where on the neck/what position to play something. Kind of the way fingerings are sometimes written in. If the person who did the transcription had the advantage of watching an bassist play something to see where on the neck it was played, etc. In no way would I support reading tabs as a crutch to avoid learning standard notation.

Throw me in with the other readers with working class parents. ;)
 
#325
Tab was helpful when I started learning how to play the bass. There were so many things to learn at once then, that tab had its place. I may have become overwhelmed without it and given up.

I'm mainly into jazz now and a lot of the original music I'm learning would be extremely difficult to learn with tab, especially because many of the songs use odd time signatures like 5/4, 6/4 and 7/4. My reading skills are improving fast because they have to. Tab would be indecipherable.

Also, having the standard notation makes it really easy to discuss and make quick changes to the music with the songwriter/guitarist. You can get by with chord charts, but the precision of standard notation lets you immediately zero in on the songwriter's intent. No need to "hear it played a few times" first. It's already right there in front of you, and everyone is on the "same page."

I wish I had learned to read earlier in my musical experience. Now that I'm getting into it, the dividends are paying off WAY faster than I would have ever predicted. Suddenly that shelf of dusty music books is lookin' mighty useful!
 
#326
Roy Vogt said:
smeet said:
Pino Palladino. So reading is obviously useless.
Click to expand...
And yet...Pino has taken lessons with American expat bassist Joe Hubbard. I'm not sure they worked on reading, but given that Joe is a student of Charlie Banacos and Jeff Berlin I bet they did.
Click to expand...

I hope it was understood that I was joking... Pino's awesomeness notwithstanding, I think reading is fun-damental. :D
 
#327
Scot said:
I sometimes find it interesting/educational to look at tab that accompanies standard notation in a transcription for the purpose of illustrating where on the neck/what position to play something. Kind of the way fingerings are sometimes written in. If the person who did the transcription had the advantage of watching an bassist play something to see where on the neck it was played, etc. In no way would I support reading tabs as a crutch to avoid learning standard notation.

Throw me in with the other readers with working class parents. ;)
Click to expand...

You need someone else to tell you where to put your finger on the neck ??? If you can read the note you can figure out the best way for you to play it
 
#329
You can write a poem without being able to read. But if you can read you have more to draw from in terms of influence. Imagine this statement, "Learning to read is a waste of time. It takes away the magic of poetry. Poetry should come from the heart and reading just gets in the way of that. Reading is so elitist."
 
#330
I find it very wierd that we have a debate on TAB ... musician don't speak TAB and never write in TAB either. All of that just tell me that bass player and guitar player are really weak on academics.

Seriously ... standart notation exist for more than 500 years, many people learned it, why suddently bass player and guitar player whine about it and create a new code ( and very weak one ).

If you need TAB, just use your ear until you can decepher standart notation.

Yesterday I looked into a guitar magazin (it shall stay anonymous ) ... no standart notation ... NO WHERE !!! all TAB with rythm... I was like ..." Man ! this is so weak, no wonder music is so empty and people don't have any creativity anymore ... they all duplicate the TAB they learn like brainwashed ..."
 
#332
Clef_de_fa said:
I find it very wierd that we have a debate on TAB ... musician don't speak TAB and never write in TAB either. All of that just tell me that bass player and guitar player are really weak on academics.

Seriously ... standart notation exist for more than 500 years, many people learned it, why suddently bass player and guitar player whine about it and create a new code ( and very weak one ).

If you need TAB, just use your ear until you can decepher standart notation.

Yesterday I looked into a guitar magazin (it shall stay anonymous ) ... no standart notation ... NO WHERE !!! all TAB with rythm... I was like ..." Man ! this is so weak, no wonder music is so empty and people don't have any creativity anymore ... they all duplicate the TAB they learn like brainwashed ..."
Click to expand...

Holy blanket statements batman
 
#335
Roy Vogt said:
And yet...Pino has taken lessons with American expat bassist Joe Hubbard. I'm not sure they worked on reading, but given that Joe is a student of Charlie Banacos and Jeff Berlin I bet they did.
Just re-read the BP in question. They are asking about doing away with the TAB to add another lesson or column. Not a bad idea, but if it puts the non-readers off of learning an Esperanza Spalding line or a piece of bass history like "Melissa" it's creating a problem via unintended consequence. So....I would weigh in on the side of keeping notation and TAB for BP.
Click to expand...


Umm...how did someone learn "Melissa" prior to TAB??????
Oh yeah, by ear or something like that.....
No disrespect meant Roy, but if it went away I think it would be a GOOD thing.
If someone isn't interested enough because there isn't a bastard child like TAB, then really, they're not really interested.

When is the last time you had a student Roy who didn't read so you wrote something out in TAB they wanted to learn?????

And just for the record......my reading chops kinda suck. But I still haven't used TAB.
 
#336
JimmyM said:
Honestly, the gigs I get sheet music on really aren't all that difficult, except for a very small handful of acts who have more complex arrangements.
Click to expand...

Good point. Sometimes I think the hardest part about reading is deciphering poorly written charts and in general, paying attention and getting the info you need during rehearsals. Is that repeat that has been erased and penciled in sixteen thousand times actually good?
 
#338
troy mcclure said:
My guitarist teaches at School of Rock (the franchise based on the place in Philly) he told me the whole program is tab based. I was shocked.
Click to expand...

Yep, this is true. Every "semester" I have several students attending School of Rock here in Denver. It is performance-centered, and at the end of each semester the students gather into bands and play a full concert through a very large P.A. with full backline FOH and lights. They use TAB because either (1) a portion of their students can not read, or (2) most if not all of their young students have not reached a point in sight reading standard notation where they can play the selections, which can be kind of complex for young beginner to intermediate players.
 
#339
Alright, you talked me into it. I found my old Mel Bay's Electric Bass Method and hit the first 11 pages. I got to skip the first 9 because I still remember a little bit. Open string whole notes, half notes and quarter notes and then whole, half and quarters with E, F and G on the E string. I'm on my way to those high paying reading gigs.:D:bassist::hyper:
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back