Why are Notation and Tab always together?!

[Tazziedevil]

Because sometimes Tab is useful alongside standard notation.

 

[brianrost]

The reason for tab alongside the notation is to show not only the recommended fingering (the REAL purpose of tab) but what the actual notes and rhythmic values are.

Publishers do this because it's cheaper than printing up two versions of the book.

 

[dramatwist]

...IMHO, notation of any kind is a crutch... use your ears... YMMV...

 

[James Collins]

Because I can figure out where to put my hands myself. I don't need to be told.

You learn to read music. One of my issues with tab is I might not want to play everything in the same position as notated.

Okay. Sounds good. I think you are all too serious.

 

[40Hz]

What am I supposed to say to that?

I try to initiate a conversation on something, and a Staff Member shoots me down. Sweet.

I think what was being said (if maybe a little too bluntly) is that pairing the two on the same page doesn’t pose an existential issue for most people like it seems to present for you. Most players (such as myself) just ignore the tab and read the standard notation (or vice versa) and ignore the other.

Whiting out the tab just seems a little over the top. So perhaps the first reply was a little over the top as well.

Question: why do you find having both so annoying? I’m asking because my SO has a vision issue that makes it difficult at times for her to reliably skip lines when reading from a score with multiple parts on the same page. For example, she sometimes has trouble jumping to her line if it’s every fourth one down.

 

[SmokinJoe992]

I have the exact same problem, but in reverse. I find standard notation distracting when I am trying to follow the tabs.

 

[TreySonagras]

It is similar to watching a movie with subtitles. If you don't need them you just have to learn to ignore them. But it would be nice to be able to turn them off.

 

[Febs]

...IMHO, notation of any kind is a crutch... use your ears... YMMV...

I'll keep that in mind next time I'm making hundreds of dollars on a gig that requires me to sight-read a book of written charts.

 

[nonohmic]

Tab can be a useful reference for explaining tricky fingerings. Here's an example of an arrangement I did where both are useful.

Thanks! I'm going to use this to get better at using both together - looks great. This is the reason you start these kinds of threads.

I feel your pain. If you’re trying to learn to read notation having the tab right under is extremely distracting because if that’s what you’re used to it’s so much easier.

I remember wishing for the books I wanted without tabs. It would also make everything more condensed.

I think as you get better at reading music it gets easier to ignore the tab because the notation is giving you more information. Until then, tape is the way to go.

Tape, or yeah that post-it tape. Will try.

When I started playing in the early 80's (violin, then french horn, and finally bass in the late 80's) TABs where not a subject at all. I learned to play notation, and working around chords. this is still my favoured method, making my own lines. However i have never experienced tabs "getting in my way of reading the notation". i think one explanation for this is that I have also been siinging in a choir for the last 30 years. When you are accustomed to look at 4, 8, or even 12 lines of notes, wit a piano score at the bottom, you get quite good at holding on to the one that's yours. Even if the number of voices vary during a song. A small pencil-mark, or a yellow marker dot at the beginning of each line of music is of course good to have every once in a while.
Here is a cuick snap of a typical choir part. nothing complicated.
View attachment 3612140

Right. Def puts in perspective how easy it should be to ignore one line of tab.

I think what was being said (if maybe a little too bluntly) is that pairing the two on the same page doesn’t pose an existential issue for most people like it seems to present for you. Most players (such as myself) just ignore the tab and read the standard notation (or vice versa) and ignore the other.

Whiting out the tab just seems a little over the top. So perhaps the first reply was a little over the top as well.

Question: why do you find having both so annoying? I’m asking because my SO has a vision issue that makes it difficult at times for her to reliably skip lines when reading from a score with multiple parts on the same page. For example, she sometimes has trouble jumping to her line if it’s every fourth one down.

No OCD. A general inability to focus though (I've been called sub-clinical ADD by a psych) - so that could be my issue. That's my issue with practice in general really.

It is similar to watching a movie with subtitles. If you don't need them you just have to learn to ignore them. But it would be nice to be able to turn them off.

Yes!

 

[Pirate Captain]

 

[LeeNunn]

The combination of standard notation and tab reaches the broadest audience. ChrisDev (in the Tab and Notation forum) provides them sequentially. That’s my preference. Use one or the other. I can’t relate to using them simultaneously. I thought that was the issue in the OP.

 

[nonohmic]

View attachment 3612213

Humble bragging about what? Needing to practice my sight reading. Ok homie.

 

[mambo4]

I think another reason that I don't find tab a distraction is that I never invested in learning tab to begin with, and notation quickly became easier for me to make sense of.

 

[funkymonk13]

Don’t see where the hate is coming from. If you don’t read music and are trying to learn having the tab there is makes it very difficult not to use. In general I think reliance on tab as opposed to notation or using your ears is detrimental to your development as a musician.

I love how so many are upset at this question yet Theres another thread with some guy saying he needs a new bass because it has too much sustain and a ton of people agree. You crack me up TB.

...IMHO, notation of any kind is a crutch... use your ears... YMMV...

Notation can be if you become the type of musician who can only play if you have sheet music in front of you. If you actually know how to use it, it’s essentially hearing the music in your head just by looking at the sheet music, even without an instrument in hand.

Tabs imo are more of a crutch that should be weaned off pretty early or not used in the first place.

 

[buldog5151bass]

...IMHO, notation of any kind is a crutch... use your ears... YMMV...

That's like saying learning to read is a crutch, because you should memorize everything you hear. Certainly ear training is important, but it's only one tool in your bag of tricks. Never mind learning to sight read is a great skill for many kinds of playing.

 

[Plectrum72]

See an awful lot of, "my method is best and if you don't do as I do, you are a lesser musician," in this thread. We bass players tend to be snobby at times.

 

[Spectrum]

Why do folks write books and put Notation and Tab above each other? Forcing me to go through with white-out or a marker to delete the tab. Is it to teach people how to read?

Why can't there be separate volumes; one notation only and the other tab only.

Frustrating.

I've used blue painter's masking tape, the weakest stuff I can find. Block out the tabs and then remove it without damaging the page. Someone suggested post-it notes, which would work even better if they come in tape form.

 

[Slevage]

It’s part of the dumbing down process.

I don’t purchase any tab because I learned to read standard notation.

 

[gln1955]

See an awful lot of, "my method is best and if you don't do as I do, you are a lesser musician," in this thread. We bass players tend to be snobby at times.

This is nothing. Check out the current note-for-note covers thread.

 

[kopio]

I used to think the same way, but over the years, and moreso recently, I've started to put my prejudices aside, for the following reasons.

1: Tablature for stringed instruments has been in use since long before standard notation as we know it;
2: Whilst standard notation does have conventions for indicating string and position, it is a little clumsy, IMO. Compared to TAB, which is wholly unambiguous and has all the information presented in one place, those little italic roman numerals and numbers in circles here, there and everywhere can soon clutter a score;
3: A book or score with TAB alongside standard notation will reach a larger user-base, which means ongoing publication of new material at a reasonable price remains viable.

I much prefer standard notation as I can hear it in my head as I read it, but TAB has a legitimate place for all string players going back to medieval times, and there is little in standard notation that full TAB, as opposed to the simplified TAB we see more commonly, can't represent.

YMMV, but like others have said, if I decided I didn't want TAB and that I wanted to redact it, that would be my decision, not something I did under duress.

Wait...are you seriously saying TAB came before standard notation? I’m pretty sure Vivaldi didn’t write his violin parts in TAB! Please correct me if I’m wrong.