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I can read music.
My 15 year old daughter just started taking guitar lessons. She is trying to learn all her favorite bands songs. I showed her how to read tab. Reason? She is having fun learning the songs now. If/when she is ready, she will learn to read music. Is she missing out on the wider world of music... maybe. But she wants to play Green Day at an obnoxious volume today. There is plenty of music in this house. She will learn it when shes ready.
Further, no to troll anyone in anyway... but the continued pilfering of money from music education in schools is partly to blame for our communities low music literacy. I think every kid should learn the rudiments of music in school.
My 15 year old daughter just started taking guitar lessons. She is trying to learn all her favorite bands songs. I showed her how to read tab. Reason? She is having fun learning the songs now. If/when she is ready, she will learn to read music. Is she missing out on the wider world of music... maybe. But she wants to play Green Day at an obnoxious volume today. There is plenty of music in this house. She will learn it when shes ready.
Further, no to troll anyone in anyway... but the continued pilfering of money from music education in schools is partly to blame for our communities low music literacy. I think every kid should learn the rudiments of music in school.
Space hogs tab scores are. No argument there. But they're mostly what I'd consider to be learning aids anyway, which is what you seem to be saying as well. Because tab notation is really not practical to sight read - or use under stage lights.
I suppose it's the type of music you do and the group you're in. I've seldom played in performance with a score in front of me. I mainly encounter or use scores in a recording situation. So there's also that to take into consideration.
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This is the ONLY music forum I frequent in which it's somehow "elitist" to be actually be a MUSICIAN. Lots of defensiveness ... just sayin'
That's kind of funny. I was in a band that morphed into a bar band before I left it, but I couldn't play a nights worth of music from memory. My primary income came from playing in Symphony orchestras - where I could play an entire concert from memory, and did on several occasions due to attempted humor on the parts of certain former musicians...
I found the bar band stuff so repetitive that I lost focus and zoned out and had a heck of a time keeping up with mumbled lyrics and random guitar solos. So I wrote out everything to standard notation so I could follow something.
I have shared parts with friends who teach so they can use them with their students, so there was something gained anyway.
Tab requires zero effort to learn. It's basically connect-the-dots for guitar and bass.
Ok, not enough time to read through the 200+ posts, but here is my $.02:
as a bass teacher, I think tabs have their uses, and are definitely not inherently "bad"; However, tabs do have a fundamental limitation: Tabs convey how to play something on a guitar (bass or otherwise) whereas traditional notation is notating the actual pitches. That may seem like a bit of a esoteric distinction, but it does have practical consequences; for example I can take a piece written in traditional notation and instantly translate it to a piano, saxophone, or even sing it. It's probably true that if all you want to do is play guitar/bass in a rock band, tabs work fine. But if one ever wants to venture outside of that and play classical, jazz, or a number of other styles, or write music for anything besides fretted instruments, tabs are severely limiting.
Also, I do have a bit of a philosophical problem with tabs, even for those who only play fretted instruments: While they are a bit more intuitive, They emphasize the button-pushing element of music ("put your finger here, then here, then here"). Music should be about sound first, technique 2nd. they While in the beginning, reading tab and reading traditional notation don't feel that different, as one gets more comfortable with Traditional notation one becomes able to hear the music in ones head before you even play it. Again, Trad Notation is really notating pitch and rhythm, not instrumental instructions. That may be a bit overly esoteric, but I do think it matters.
as a bass teacher, I think tabs have their uses, and are definitely not inherently "bad"; However, tabs do have a fundamental limitation: Tabs convey how to play something on a guitar (bass or otherwise) whereas traditional notation is notating the actual pitches. That may seem like a bit of a esoteric distinction, but it does have practical consequences; for example I can take a piece written in traditional notation and instantly translate it to a piano, saxophone, or even sing it. It's probably true that if all you want to do is play guitar/bass in a rock band, tabs work fine. But if one ever wants to venture outside of that and play classical, jazz, or a number of other styles, or write music for anything besides fretted instruments, tabs are severely limiting.
Also, I do have a bit of a philosophical problem with tabs, even for those who only play fretted instruments: While they are a bit more intuitive, They emphasize the button-pushing element of music ("put your finger here, then here, then here"). Music should be about sound first, technique 2nd. they While in the beginning, reading tab and reading traditional notation don't feel that different, as one gets more comfortable with Traditional notation one becomes able to hear the music in ones head before you even play it. Again, Trad Notation is really notating pitch and rhythm, not instrumental instructions. That may be a bit overly esoteric, but I do think it matters.
Seriously.How hard is this?
Try telling a sax player to play E8 sometime.
StaffTab is great, especially as a pedagogical tool, but I find it a lot more fussy to sight read it compared to regular notation. It can be a lot of information to absorb in real time. But there's no denying its facility in conveying how something was specifically played by a particular person, which is a great help with an instrument as (relatively) new as the Stick.
I realize I am probably about to walk a fine line, and hope this comment doesn't come off as an insult to your 15 year old daughter. Please take this as a general philosophical comment as opposed to singling her out for criticism.
Deep breath, here goes: Why not encourage your daughter to learn Green Day songs by ear? It seems to me like a "teachable moment" of: this is what a power chord sounds like, and this is what I-V-vi-IV sounds like, now you can play 1,000,000 songs (and even write some of your own)!
Is TAB how the members of Green Day compose new songs and learn songs by others? (Honest question, I don't know the answer.)
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There are some songs that are easy to ear out while others aren't. I typically like tabs for getting me in the right neighborhood of the song. From there I can make corrections I hear if need be. It's a heck of a lot easier than tracking down sheet music for the song (if it exists) and then having to purchase an entire book of it.
I think it's all in one's presentation and the limitations of text dialog.
Most people here are nowhere near as harsh or as elitist as they can sometimes come across. I'm guilty of coming on a little too strong myself at times. I've gotten better at avoiding creating that impression now that I'm aware of it. But I still slip up every so often and end up clarifying or apologizing to someone.
So it goes. I'll keep working on it.
Not necessarily a bad thing as long as you don't stop there. Because after "connect the dots" (tab) there's "paint by numbers" (standard notation) to master. If you get beyond that, you can then say you're really painting your own masterpieces. (How's that for mixing metaphors!
)
If learning how to do something that's fairly easy and you can learn for free or for very little money is "elitist," then I'm elitist and proud of it. Methinks these folks crying "elitist" haven't a clue what they're talking about, which is usually the case when you operate from ignorance instead of experience.
This is the best point in my opinion.
When you're looking at tablature you are thinking about the instrument. IMO one of the goals of musicianship should be to remove as little resistance between yourself and the music, and that includes the instrument itself. If you're thinking about where to put your fingers then your concentration is divided between that and the music itself.
So tablature is fine if figuring out where to put your fingers is the goal, but to me the overarching goal should be to master the instrument to the point that you barely need to think about where you're putting your hands so you can focus on the music. You can do this when playing from notation, but with tablature you're always thinking about the logistics and I think that can be a hinderance to the pursuit of complete musicianship.
if you have the sheet music then what do you need the tab for other than an unnecessary distraction?
Many of the arguments I hear in this thread come to one point - being too cheap. Won't spend the time learning how to do it or won't spend the money or time writing things out. Most of the stuff I've played on BG wasn't written out - so I wrote it out. At times when I didn't have the time to write something out I paid to have someone else write things out.
Don't complain it doesn't exist, get off your duff and write it out or crack open your wallet and pay someone who can do it to do it for you.
(Elitist? Realist!)
Don't complain it doesn't exist, get off your duff and write it out or crack open your wallet and pay someone who can do it to do it for you.
(Elitist? Realist!)
I get what you're saying. I just get a little bent about some of the elitism that goes on around here. I have my opinions about a lot of what is considered "normal" on TB too. Fine, people can do whatever they want. But when one of these guys knocks other musicians for using a "crutch" because it doesn't fit their personal worldview, it bugs me.
Musicians that are a far sight more famous than them didn't need the "crutch" of musical notation, or playing playing covers for a living for that matter.
I'm just as much of a "professional" musician as any of them, and I've pretty good without having to sight read. I have learned how to read western notation, but it isn't of use to me, so I don't use it. I learned how to do quadratic equations at one point too, that doesn't mean I can do it now, or need to.
Sorry for barking at you.
I agree 100%. For my beginner 15 year old, tab is just fine. If she sticks with the instrument and wants to open up the entire music world... the traditional notation is required. Tab is great for the hobbyist. Notation is required for those who want to take music beyond a hobby. No judgement in that statement. I don't look down hobby musicians.
