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Tabs or music
- Thread starter oldscarrow
- Start date
Standard Notation
You will understand music and how it is composed and formulated. You will learn to sight read. I can choose a song written in standard notation and sit and read/play it. maybe not perfest the first time but eventually i will- and a whole lot faster than if I did it on tab. Learning Tab is just memorizing numbers- sometimes tab is not written correctly- it often does not take into considerstion positions on the bass- where to play the passages correctly and with the best tones.
I remember early on learning bass I got the tabs for Rush's YYZ, I plodded through it ok but when I learned my bass and notation a few years later I found that I could read it faster (less time) and that I was playing it in the wrong Key before.
You will understand music and how it is composed and formulated. You will learn to sight read. I can choose a song written in standard notation and sit and read/play it. maybe not perfest the first time but eventually i will- and a whole lot faster than if I did it on tab. Learning Tab is just memorizing numbers- sometimes tab is not written correctly- it often does not take into considerstion positions on the bass- where to play the passages correctly and with the best tones.
I remember early on learning bass I got the tabs for Rush's YYZ, I plodded through it ok but when I learned my bass and notation a few years later I found that I could read it faster (less time) and that I was playing it in the wrong Key before.
Tab is only used as a tool to help explain one persons take on the piece he has tab notated. Reading music leaves it to you to interprete what is put in front of you, much in the same way an actor is giving a script. The two should be used to compliment each other where neccesary.
Think of this, that reading music is like reading a book. Books have letters, music has notes, books have words, music has phrasing, books have a story, music has melody, books has sub plots, music has harmony, books has key characters, music has key themes and so on and so on.
The best lesson i got in reading was to identify groups of notes like words, when you see for example a group of notes in 6/8 that has been grouped in a mixed semi-quaver, and quaver phrase see and hear that grouping as a word, learn to play that phrase, how it sounds is not that important at this point, but hows its played is. Then when you see it again in a 6/8 piece you already know how it should play so all you have to do is pitch the notes. Apply that to as may groups and phrases you can find on different time sigs. and you will find out that just as common everday words you read in a newspaper or magazine are made up of letters, the same applies in music. imeanifiwritealotofsentencesandphrasesjustaslettersitishardtounderstandatfirstwhatiamwriting butifiuse phrasing it becomes a lot clearer does it not, now you can see the letters grouped to understand what i am saying.
Think of this, that reading music is like reading a book. Books have letters, music has notes, books have words, music has phrasing, books have a story, music has melody, books has sub plots, music has harmony, books has key characters, music has key themes and so on and so on.
The best lesson i got in reading was to identify groups of notes like words, when you see for example a group of notes in 6/8 that has been grouped in a mixed semi-quaver, and quaver phrase see and hear that grouping as a word, learn to play that phrase, how it sounds is not that important at this point, but hows its played is. Then when you see it again in a 6/8 piece you already know how it should play so all you have to do is pitch the notes. Apply that to as may groups and phrases you can find on different time sigs. and you will find out that just as common everday words you read in a newspaper or magazine are made up of letters, the same applies in music. imeanifiwritealotofsentencesandphrasesjustaslettersitishardtounderstandatfirstwhatiamwriting butifiuse phrasing it becomes a lot clearer does it not, now you can see the letters grouped to understand what i am saying.
Yes they do, and yes you can.
A lot of people have issues with tabs, but I think the real issue lies with those who write them. They can be perfectly legitimate sources of notation if done properly.
The problem with tab is that it's usually only applicable to stringed instruments and some percussion. Standard notation is infinitely more universal in that regard.
So which should you learn? In the real world, as a bass player I think you need to know both.
Tab can certainly be done better, and more elegantly and usefully, than it usually is. I'm well aware that they used it for lutes in the Renaissance. But it still has a major defect, in that it assumes a single fingering and a single tuning on a single instrument. The notes to be played are not independent of the particular physical means used to play them. This is a bad thing for instruments that allow notes to be fingered in different ways, as basses and other stringed instruments do, or that may use different and optional tunings. With standard notation, you may follow an indicated fingering, if present, or finger a passage your own way. Tab can be read only one way and must be played on an instrument tuned a certain way. This IMHO hinders the understanding of music in general, as opposed to mere fingering. That is, tab is not portable across instruments, whereas standard notation is. IMO these are probably the reasons why classical music doesn't use tab any more.
I can think of few if any instances in the real world where you really "need" to know tab. I have never in my 52 years been handed a tab to read in a gigging or recording or educational situation, and I've never met or even heard of anyone else who has either. (Which isn't to say that it NEVER has happened to anyone... never say never, you know.) However, I can think of many where you really need to know standard notation. Of course, I can also think of many where you really need to know neither.
This isn't to say that at some point, to some players, at some stage of their development, tab couldn't conceivably be of some use. But to me the idea that tab is in any way an important part of what a bassist "needs" to know is mistaken.
I'd just like to point out that it takes like 30 seconds to learn how to read tab. There's nothing to it. A string and a fret number. Reading takes a hell of a lot of practice. Which is why tab is so popular. Because even the most green of players can get something close to resembling some song they want to learn fairly quickly.
I think working off bad tabs when I started helped me to improve my ear. Because they were so bad I'd usually have to figure out all the mistakes. At the same time they would usually get me in the ball park and provided some sort of general starting point.
If it was all laid out for me in notation I wouldn't of put that much effort in to that aspect of my development.
Now of course I just work out a piece by ear.
To answer the OP's question being able to read doesn't make you a better bass player. Your the same bass player with the ability to read music. Whether it makes you more employable or whatever well that depends on the situation. If your going to spend you career working in your average bar cover band then probably not. If your going to spend it in the pit of broadway musicals or in studios it'll probably help a lot.
I think working off bad tabs when I started helped me to improve my ear. Because they were so bad I'd usually have to figure out all the mistakes. At the same time they would usually get me in the ball park and provided some sort of general starting point.
If it was all laid out for me in notation I wouldn't of put that much effort in to that aspect of my development.
Now of course I just work out a piece by ear.
To answer the OP's question being able to read doesn't make you a better bass player. Your the same bass player with the ability to read music. Whether it makes you more employable or whatever well that depends on the situation. If your going to spend you career working in your average bar cover band then probably not. If your going to spend it in the pit of broadway musicals or in studios it'll probably help a lot.
- Feb 27, 2005
- 3,218
- 125
- Disclosures
- Full disclosure, I'm a certified Fender technician working in a music store that carries Fender, Yamaha, and Ibanez products among others.
I learned to play reading standard notation, treble and bass clef. One of these days I'll learn alto for bass, as well.
I'm a better player because I practiced, not because of what I read, but I've had a LOT of paying work over the years simply because I've been able to read standard notation. Music directors like bassists who read. No one ever payed me to read tabs.
At the very least, learn to read chord charts. As has been stated, it doesn't take long to learn to read tabs. They're a great tool for learning songs quickly in a cover band, as well, but reading notes will get you places that tabs won't, both musically and professionally.
I'm a better player because I practiced, not because of what I read, but I've had a LOT of paying work over the years simply because I've been able to read standard notation. Music directors like bassists who read. No one ever payed me to read tabs.
At the very least, learn to read chord charts. As has been stated, it doesn't take long to learn to read tabs. They're a great tool for learning songs quickly in a cover band, as well, but reading notes will get you places that tabs won't, both musically and professionally.
No I didn't, I was talking about tab it doesn't have rhythm component. That's why it takes 30 seconds to learn. You've missed my point entirely. [Edit] it's not an either or situation. It's not like if you know tab you can't know music or vice versa. There's no harm in looking at it because it requires less effort than changing the channel on a remote control to learn. Notation is obviously the best way to communicate pieces of music. But because tabs lack so much they also force you to think more when learning a song. Rubbish tabs forced me to work out which key a song was in which scale was being used. To listen to the bass parts more because it doesn't communicate anything about rhythm because they are not always accurate. It's not all neatly laid out for you. I definitely found not knowing music beneficial from that stand point. However as I sit here I have a copy of simandl open beside me. There's no tabs in that. Knowing the basics of notation means I can run through the exercises that are contained with in it. I'm not anti notation far from it. I'm just not going to deny the benefits that tab has brought to me either.
As for the second half. I would find the guy that wrote the tab or I would create a new line based on the tab or disregard it entirely either way I would have a working bass line quicker than if someone handed me a sheet of notation and I had to sit down and try and work it out. Also I don't ever see a situation like that arising in my time as a player.
Even lessons that I got from a local bass player who's sole living comes from music said that working from charts is more important than standard notation. All the work he's done has involved people handing him charts not notation.
I agree, however
Why set limits?
Notation, tab, rote, nashville numbering, chord charts, ear training, visual communication
I use all of them in different situations depending on what is the most practical for the task at hand. It's all means to an end anyway.
I have NEVER had a real world situation in over 40 years where tab reading was needed. Is it worthwhile to learn? I guess each person will have answer that for themselves. I know I get calls over other players because I can read notation. For me, that says it all.
Because the point was not about what one might or might not choose to use but about what one NEEDS to know. There are no limits on what you might want to learn, for whatever reasons matter to you (including "just because I feel like it"--a perfectly valid reason), but that's not the same as what you need to learn, which necessarily comprises a smaller set of things.
In the real world you don't need to know tab, and if you wanted to learn it, you could get the basics down in minutes. There's nothing wrong with knowing something you don't use, but when you say bassists need to know tab, you're implying that there's a real-world situation when they'd be hindered or embarrassed or inconvenienced or screwed or whatever by not having spent time studying it. And there really isn't.
I mean, if you know tab adequately, there's no point trying to unlearn or forget it or anything, but IMO beyond at most about 15 minutes to get the principles down (if that), time spent studying tab is time that could be better spent doing something else. Just my $0.02.
I forgot to say that if you look at this list, all but one of them are things you might be expected to use in real world situations with other musicians. Tab is the only one for which that isn't the case, at least IME and that of many others here.
30 years for me. In fact I started on bass because I could already read, so the school jazz band teacher put me on bass.
I am not a full time pro, but I work as a side man. Reading is vital for being on the call list for these gigs, most of which are unrehearsed. Tab is simply not used, or useful, in these situations.
I agree 100% and have had the same experience over 30 years.
But if you (as in one) think about this logically, you can see that it must be the case!
So as we have agreed, bass tab is not portable across instruments and so the only person likely to write bass tab is another bassist.
if you are being asked to play with a group of musicians then that is because they don't have a bassist and the music/charts etc will have been written by another instrumentalist in the band.
Yes because beginner bassist wants to learn song isn't a real world situation at all.
I think you missed the "expected" and "with other musicians" parts. I'm not talking about sitting at home with Internet tabs.
This is still in the context of what a bassist might "need" to know. Is tab a skill that you need to know or you won't be able to do what you need to do? No, not AFAICS. Is it something you (generic you, not you personally) might want to do so you can play stuff in the back of a gear magazine? Yeah, maybe. But a skill you'll need in even a semi-serious situation out there in the musical world? Not so much.
I'll take door #3 - both!
Tab has its place. It makes playing bass accessible to those who don't know how to read notation, or have the time/money to learn (at first).
Notation has it's place too. In order to be a good musician, your realm of understanding must not just include your own instrument, you need to understand the way your instrument fits into the whole equation and be able to collaborate in the same musical terms everyone else in the band uses. Therefore, reading notation is necessary.
Cheers!
D.
Tab has its place. It makes playing bass accessible to those who don't know how to read notation, or have the time/money to learn (at first).
Notation has it's place too. In order to be a good musician, your realm of understanding must not just include your own instrument, you need to understand the way your instrument fits into the whole equation and be able to collaborate in the same musical terms everyone else in the band uses. Therefore, reading notation is necessary.
Cheers!
D.
