Tablature

the x's are dead notes
i.e on the E string you would hold you hand against the strings without making a actual note sound.
more of a clicking noise.

a pull off, say you have your first finger on the third fret on the G string and your third finger on the fifth fret of the G string. pluck the note, a D, and release the third finger letting the note held by the first finger sound.

that is kind of a loose explaination but it should get you started until others reply.

if you are into a band like say Korn, you will see the bass player play a ton of those x's

almost to the point that you might think its the drummer instead of the bass player.

good luck and welcome.

 

They are also called "ghost notes" I believe.As Gpuppy stated,they are more percussive than tonal.I am only now getting into them and still don`t have it licked but they sound kewl(in moderation).

Takes some getting used to not sounding the note....just appling enough pressure to the string to get the noise but no tone.Hope this helps.

 

Well, looking at your user name, the tuning, and the bass(?)line, I'll take a wild guess that it's from something by Korn.

Just smack your bass anywhere when you see those XXX's, you'll sound just like Fieldy.


To play a pulloff, fret the higher note and lower note at the same time, lets say at the 5th and 7th frets on one of your detuned strings, pluck the string and then lift off the 7th fret and the note will change pitch to the 5th fret note after you pull off.

I know I gave you some crap about Korn, Fieldy etc. but I just hate to see you miss out on the fun of actually playing your bass instead of just whacking it, but hey, its your trip dude, play however you like.

 

Dont do pulloffs when people are watching!

 

Damn! All this time I thought that meant to play an 'X' ...

 

You're obviously not very bright Stingray. EVERYONE knows that with the lower tuning you want to play X#. Geesh!

 

Ah, no...to get the true heavy Korn sound, even though you are tuned down several steps, the X must be played as X flat.

jo

 

Are you guys sure? depending on the key signature, it could actually be a Yb...

 

I was playing it as Vmin, first inversion (X# - Z - V)!

Oops! No wonder the singer keeps looking at me funny.

 

lol


(I think I'll just play an 'O' on beat 5 of the measure...)

 

Don't mock!! It must be hard playing 11 beats in the bar - well that's what it looks like anyway!

I suspect this is a joke perpetrated by someone who is anti-tab, to show up how useless it is!

I saw an article in the paper today saying that tabs make you lose your memory... or was that to do with ecstacy?

 

Any one ever notice how badly done the tab on the net is? I tried to find a dave mathews tab once to see if i was playing it right? The guy that made it must be the biggist dumb asss in the world? He couldnt have made it more difficult if i had to play it upside down!

 

I guess it depends on who you're tabbing. Stephan Lessard is probably a more technically diverse bassist than say, Stu Cook. Of course, I have noticed a lot of Flea's lines tabbed.

I think the reason that tabs are innaccurate (not the fact that they are) proves why they shouldn't be used. If we assume that people who regulary use tabs are the ones that create new tabs, and that most created tabs have huge innaccuracies, possibly it reasons to state that habitual use of tabs stifles musical ability in hearing and learning passages, understanding rhythm, and hearing pitch.

 

Ya i agree! I generally dont use tab! The only reason i did is there is one dave song that i had a hell of a time figuring out what he was doing! It was like a 2 second fill that he did that just flipped my lid! I think i couldnt figure it out because he plays so strange to me! Iam more a funk bass player and he is more jazz! But i figured it out on my own because the tab didnt even try to figure that part out!

 

Internet tabs are incomprehensible to me. They make no sense and one cannot read the rythmns at all.

That said, professionally done tablature that is joined to standard notation is different. First, you can see the timing in the standard notation above. Secondly, someone who can do a transcription in both tablature and standard notation is probably a professional musician who has developed the "ear" required to do accurate transcriptions.

The type of tablature I am describing can be found in sheet music and in magazines like Guitar World.

One big disadvantage of the professionally done tablature I am discussing is that they are very limited in the songs that have been done. If Guitar World hasn't done them or an expensive sheet music book hasn't been published of an album, the musician who is dependent on tab is left to the far inferior versions found on the Internet. And I have to say, such tabs often are WORSE than nothing.

Jo

 

i always though a pulloff was where you play the note and just pull you finger off the string down to an open string or a lower fret
do you get what im getting at