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Tabs vs Chords YouTube Videos
- Thread starter Soonlobo
- Start date
Having been born and raised in the Standard Notation era, I prefer it when learning unfamiliar songs . It’s very efficient, but probably has the longest learning curve over methods you posted.
While playing octaves and the 5th is cool, you need some stuff to put in between those slices of bread to come up with a sandwich to make a song flow logically. those are called scales. Learning scales while help up you with get to other notes besides the root and octave.
Hope this helps.
I have the major and minor scales down pretty well, and try to play arpeggios in those scales (usually 1st, 3rd, 5th, 7th, and octave) every other day. I’ll continue doing that.
Probably the most difficult practice for me is reading musical notes and playing songs. I’ll continue that, I can read the notes well, play etudes well, but still not very good playing songs. Definitely a work in progress.
What music do you want to play? Rock, jazz, blues?
Most crucial thing I learned was that if a song is a diatonic one, means all chords are built on notes of one main chord, called key of a song, you can play close to any note of the key and it will be fine. Fifths are easiest (as well fourths lower), thirds define major from minor, seconds, sixths and sevens are good to move quickly over them, not to stay longer on them, unless in high register in a solo
I like to improvise to YouTube backing tracks.
I'll jump in and not DISAGREE with the "Standard Notation needs to be learned argument", but offer a tangent point and leave the rest up to you for how it should be prioritized.
First you need to ask yourself why you are playing bass or an instrument in general. You answered in a prior post that you'd like to play with others eventually, but for now that's not an option. I would also recommend nailing down what TYPE of people you want to play with (and the genre). The answer will be different if you want to do studio work, play with people doing jazz gigs, or some hobbyist local folks looking to jam or do a few covers at bar gigs.
Again, I'm not saying do NOT learn Standard Notation or pursue it, but you need to ask yourself what motivates you to practice, learn new tunes, and keep at it in the long run. Which brings me to the point I'm trying to make...
^ THAT should be the end goal or priority focus of anything you're doing with bass guitar. If tabs get you there, then great. If standard notation does, fantastic. If jamming along to Spotify or Youtube videos gets you there, keep doing it until your fingers bleed.
Admittedly, I haven't played high-profile gigs with a Tolkien novel-length worth of sheet music, but that was never my goal to begin with. However, I've shown up to numerous auditions and jams where they didn't even have chord sheets or tabs...but I was still able to hang with the band and came out with a very favorable "batting average" for getting called back. Why? I jammed for hours along with CDs or MP3s (showing my age here) of bands I liked or genres I wanted to play in. I showed up on time, had good rhythm, and I also listened to music that was highly-regarded for that genre. Learning to think on your feet comes from experience, but jamming along by ear with recordings really got me prepared for going in blind.
Sure, if it was difficult or bass was really buried in the mix, I didn't have much of an option outside of tabs. Didn't have spare cash for sheet music books (if I could even find the songs I was looking for) and most tabs could get you in the ballpark. My bass guitar cost what two lessons with a teacher would have, so ya know...priorities lol. You do the best you can with what you've got, but it also helps to go with what motivates you to keep playing. For some folks that's learning to play songs they like quickly, or buying a bass they saw as a teenager and thought was cool, buying an all-tube monster rig, or being able to sight read a 10-minute song...that's where the common phrase "YMMV (Your Mileage May Vary)" comes in.
I realize I will probably get some flak for this post...but all I'm trying to say is that I have never shown up to a band audition, jam session, or cover band gig and been handed 100% accurate sheet music for every song we'll play. Chord sheets and tabs have been pretty common, but a lot of them want to see how I play when I've never heard the song before or don't have that material in front of me. In the originals bands I've been in, they want to see how well you can write and come up with your own basslines. So what may seem inconsiderate to some folks, is really a litmus test to see if you're what the band is looking for.
Develop your ear and solid timing? No sheet, no tabs, no charts....no problem. Just giving my point of view and what worked for me....YMMV.
First you need to ask yourself why you are playing bass or an instrument in general. You answered in a prior post that you'd like to play with others eventually, but for now that's not an option. I would also recommend nailing down what TYPE of people you want to play with (and the genre). The answer will be different if you want to do studio work, play with people doing jazz gigs, or some hobbyist local folks looking to jam or do a few covers at bar gigs.
Again, I'm not saying do NOT learn Standard Notation or pursue it, but you need to ask yourself what motivates you to practice, learn new tunes, and keep at it in the long run. Which brings me to the point I'm trying to make...
^ THAT should be the end goal or priority focus of anything you're doing with bass guitar. If tabs get you there, then great. If standard notation does, fantastic. If jamming along to Spotify or Youtube videos gets you there, keep doing it until your fingers bleed.
Admittedly, I haven't played high-profile gigs with a Tolkien novel-length worth of sheet music, but that was never my goal to begin with. However, I've shown up to numerous auditions and jams where they didn't even have chord sheets or tabs...but I was still able to hang with the band and came out with a very favorable "batting average" for getting called back. Why? I jammed for hours along with CDs or MP3s (showing my age here) of bands I liked or genres I wanted to play in. I showed up on time, had good rhythm, and I also listened to music that was highly-regarded for that genre. Learning to think on your feet comes from experience, but jamming along by ear with recordings really got me prepared for going in blind.
Sure, if it was difficult or bass was really buried in the mix, I didn't have much of an option outside of tabs. Didn't have spare cash for sheet music books (if I could even find the songs I was looking for) and most tabs could get you in the ballpark. My bass guitar cost what two lessons with a teacher would have, so ya know...priorities lol. You do the best you can with what you've got, but it also helps to go with what motivates you to keep playing. For some folks that's learning to play songs they like quickly, or buying a bass they saw as a teenager and thought was cool, buying an all-tube monster rig, or being able to sight read a 10-minute song...that's where the common phrase "YMMV (Your Mileage May Vary)" comes in.
I realize I will probably get some flak for this post...but all I'm trying to say is that I have never shown up to a band audition, jam session, or cover band gig and been handed 100% accurate sheet music for every song we'll play. Chord sheets and tabs have been pretty common, but a lot of them want to see how I play when I've never heard the song before or don't have that material in front of me. In the originals bands I've been in, they want to see how well you can write and come up with your own basslines. So what may seem inconsiderate to some folks, is really a litmus test to see if you're what the band is looking for.
Develop your ear and solid timing? No sheet, no tabs, no charts....no problem. Just giving my point of view and what worked for me....YMMV.
I find this extremely impressive in and of itself. Even more impressive is your desire to maximize the return on your time investment by increasing the efficiency of your practice. Impressive AND inspiring.
For 90% of rock, country, folk, blues, etc. just knowing the major and minor scales and the major and minor pentatonic scales gives you all you need to start picking up bass parts by ear. Since the pentatonics just leave out two notes (for 5 notes in the scale rather than 7…the 4th and 7th are left out) it’s not very hard to learn those four scales. The only other thing is understanding about the use of chromatic passing tones (the notes NOT in the given scale).
I’m sure someone will come in here talking about the modes, mixolydian (a major mode) and dorian (a minor mode) have been all I’ve ever needed to use because I do not play jazz, prog rock, classical or non-western music built on modes.
Reading standard notation is important because when you're learning on your own from books, that’s what you find in books teaching music, not tab. Music is music regardless of what instrument you play. Bass tab isn't going to help you learn songs on the saxophone
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There's a bigger-picture question here other than tab vs standard notation.
By asking about learning tab vs playing over YouTube with chord charts, the real question is do you learn the songs exactly or continue to make up something that fits.
IME, learning songs exactly by playing along with them and referencing either tab or standard notation, helps develop an ear that will prove invaluable when playing with others.
The ability to add your own riffs, passing notes and even improvise will come later, and with more substance than simply by pushing your own limits without adequate input.
Side benefit: When you start playing with others, you'll have a much stronger ability to play over called-audibles, songs you haven't played before but you've had rattling around in the back of your head for years.
I like mostly rock and roll but find the older I get good songs are good songs, regardless of style.
1. Congrats on starting playing an instrument ! Its good for your soul!
2. Bass is root 1st.
3. Playing music with others is the best lesson/learning ever. Try to find open mic. You will learn more playing 30 minutes with others than 3 months of lessons.
4. making up parts is fun, but if you start playing for others, they may want the bass part close to the original.
5. Look at this video. Good tips here. Pay attention to tip #2,3,4
I've put together ~2,000 charts with standard notation. Tabs go back to BBS / newsgroup days when you only had ASCII characters to convey and they were okay then. Technically, TABS go back to old lute music, but that's long before most of us. I just don't like that TABS rarely convey any kind of timing, so you have to know the song and are just picking up the fingering positions. Chord charts are fine, but they rarely convey if a chord is 4 beats, 1 1/2, 8, you have to know the song. That's why I like standard notation because you can sight read and know the right notes and what rhythm to play them in. If you're just playing songs you know, chord charts will get you there and then look up the TABS to learn some of the fills or patterns. But that takes prep work.
This sounds like a good idea.
Your post also brings me to this question: I find writing out the notes in pencil beforehand works much better for me when reading music while playing. Some music books have small notation, and my nearly 60 year old eyes have seen better days. So I have done this on some songs and for whatever reason I play better. It takes prep work, and I know it’s not ideal, but is this something worth continuing?
diatonic chord usually means all chords built off of one main scale or key,
which in a twisted explanation could also arguably be one main chord
but that's not how "diatonic chord" used in common communication
details on diatonic chord theory are well explained in the BASIC THEORY PDF link in my sig
The question of goals has been raised and it is essential to have a goal in order to attain it.
Congrats on the passion to work on your craft but you likely to not spend your time wisely if you are self-directing your music education. Music is a language and to be fluent, you must read and write if you to really learn and communicate in that language. Vocabulary means the same in music as it does in any language.
If you want to make up parts to songs on your own, nothing wrong with that except that will not make you fluent in the language of music. Plenty of guys are self taught, and some of the best players fit that description, but usually that takes a longer time and your knowledge is siloed by what you were able to figure out on your own.
If you are devoted enough to practice as you do, my suggestion is get a teacher, cut the learning curve and elevate your sophistication to allow you to really communicate your musicality. FWIW.
Congrats on the passion to work on your craft but you likely to not spend your time wisely if you are self-directing your music education. Music is a language and to be fluent, you must read and write if you to really learn and communicate in that language. Vocabulary means the same in music as it does in any language.
If you want to make up parts to songs on your own, nothing wrong with that except that will not make you fluent in the language of music. Plenty of guys are self taught, and some of the best players fit that description, but usually that takes a longer time and your knowledge is siloed by what you were able to figure out on your own.
If you are devoted enough to practice as you do, my suggestion is get a teacher, cut the learning curve and elevate your sophistication to allow you to really communicate your musicality. FWIW.
I use ultimate-guitar and either download the ultimate version, which is usually pretty good or download the guitar pro version, which varies from dead wrong to really good and print them to PDF, use ForScore to organize everything and have a 13" iPad so I can read them easily. Transcribing myself would be more beneficial, but I really don't have the time. I should do at least a few to not get rusty.
Tip - If you have a Mac, get Garage Band, if PC, install reaper. Drop in your favorite tune, and record yourself playing along. Listen to your self - is the part clean, free of fret buzzes, etc.? How about your time? When you play a note, does it line up with the kick drum or existing bass line? Do you play ahead or way behind the beat? Do you rush your fills? Did you play all the right notes?
Also, drop in a drum loop, or, like in Garage Band, Load in a drummer, and play along to make sure your sense of time is steady and solid. A simple bass player that can lay down a rock solid bass part, will get hired way quicker than a hot shot with wobbly time..
Even if you have to start very basic, like a simply blues shuffle, hearing what you are playing then making corrections, is an excellent way to start. When you get good on one song, then do another, then another, until you have maybe 20 or so songs you can play through cleanly.
I read both clefs, and reading is essential, but not necessary for most band work. Being a solid bass player is.
Also, drop in a drum loop, or, like in Garage Band, Load in a drummer, and play along to make sure your sense of time is steady and solid. A simple bass player that can lay down a rock solid bass part, will get hired way quicker than a hot shot with wobbly time..
Even if you have to start very basic, like a simply blues shuffle, hearing what you are playing then making corrections, is an excellent way to start. When you get good on one song, then do another, then another, until you have maybe 20 or so songs you can play through cleanly.
I read both clefs, and reading is essential, but not necessary for most band work. Being a solid bass player is.
Recording yourself is a valuable tool in continued skill development.
And when you start playing with others, record that too. I ran a recorder on probably 50 dates last year with my main band just to clean up what I was doing for that band.
Even at local blues jams, I listen to people's phone-recordings after the fact. I stopped in on this jam on my way home from an afternoon gig a few days ago and snagged someone's recording of one of our tunes off Facebook where I was tagged.
On first listen, it's a simple blues rhumba. However, I could've done a much better job simplifying & hanging with the rhythm guitar's accents during the vocal verses. Next time he and I play this one, I'll do a better job.
