I'm hopeless with tabs ....

axisus

Always struggled. At age 52 I have only ever learned 2 songs from tab! A long time ago I thought I'd have a go at the slightly cheesy film ballad 'Top Gun', partly because the wife hates everything I ever play but she likes that one. Anyway, being hopeless I have been struggling when it ups the stakes on the flash front. I was using tabs and a BT that was in Guitarist many years ago, and one phrase I could not get at all. Anyway, revisiting, I watched someone else play the bit that my fingers refused to accept and he played it a much easier way! Why do some published tabs try to play things in a difficult way? If it sounds the same then why not make it easier! I couldn't find a video of Steve Stevens plying it, so I have no idea how he does it, but most other videos I have looked at people play it the easier way.

Likewise, I have an official Thomas Blug transcription book, endorsed by him and with his notes through it. I checked a particularly awkward phrase on Youtube and even HE plays it an easier way! I can understand amateur TABS being off, but I think it's a bit poor when pro ones are not as good as they could be.

Jack_

You might find that that the book is based on a album, and is correct for the album version, but that the artist uses a different version when playing live.

You could always alter it yourself to make it easier though, if you ever encounter this problem again; if you know where the notes are on the fretboard, then you can try playing the notes in different places on the fretboard and see if somewhere else suits you better, as long as you don't end up off by octaves either up or down.

ElectroDan

Before Youtube and Internet, tab's were vastly more important. I learned loads from tab books and mags like Guitarist. Some were way off too despite costing a lot of money.

These days tab sites enable anyone who's been playing 5 minutes to upload their "version". It has made finding an accurate transcription almost impossible, I certainly don't bother anymore.

DiscoStu

I've been playing for over 25 years and still don't know what the notes are what on the fretboard! I used to read music at primary school when I played violin but that's all gone.

I mostly learned guitar using tab. Then I started using my ear and I've been doing that ever since. I do look up some tabs if I'm in a muddle but they are usually only a starting point.

thomasross20

I've found learning the notes to be really helpful - not sure about sight reading, though!! 

Phil_aka_Pip

Tab = playing by numbers. Can't read it.

Danny1969

Cue the music form a Hovis advert ............. when I was a lad there was no tab ...  we had to work down the Pit all day and walk 35 miles home to have supper. But we was happy. No seriously the lack of tab meant every guitarist had to learn where all the notes were on the fretboard as then we could use the badly transcribed piano notation that filled every Shadows and Beatles book and play it on the guitar. 

You gotta learn where the notes are ....... it's the basic language of music, you can't communicate with a keys or horn  player by telling him the run starts on the 10th fret B string..... it's a fucking A note for gods sake. If nothing else learn where the notes are

sweepy

Tab always seems upside down to me, just the way my brain processes it

EricTheWeary

I play in a band with two music teachers so you have to know the names of the notes. "That's a G# just before the bridge." Say I " Oh no," say the people who studied music at University "that's Ab in this key." FFS... (

Danny1969

EricTheWeary said:

I play in a band with two music teachers so you have to know the names of the notes. "That's a G# just before the bridge." Say I " Oh no," say the people who studied music at University "that's Ab in this key." FFS... (

lol yeah I get that ..... it's the same fucking note so why won't they let  it go ... 

MatthewShreddery

I used to be a proficient reader of tab. Back when all I used to do was play in my room. Eventually it became necessary to learn the dots for some gigs I was getting and now I'm a better reader of dots than numbers. I find tab useful if a very specific fingering is required to facilitate a technique, eg a trademark lick by a guitarist you admire.

Teetonetal

The issue with TAB books is that they are worked out by ear. The guitar is a difficult instrument to transcribe because it has multiple ways of playing the exact same thing, with only subtle differences in sound. 

The best transcribers will go an extra mile to ensure the TAB plays nicely. Others are content just to get there or there about. Others rigidly stick to what the artist did, even if it's just plain bonkers.

The worst ones for me though are the ones who over transcribe, getting every little nuance and overdub down on paper, which makes the tab virtually unreadable or impossible to interpret, or transcribing poor technique... (adding string noise, pick scrapes etc) there is a particularly bad book on Dark side of the moon where it's almost impossible to follow the tab as everything is transcribed in parallel.

In my youth I had two Tab books, Keep the faith and Big ones. the difference between them is marked. Keep the faith was extremely well tabbed and playable. Big ones was extremely hard to follow and "over done" iirc.

I always thought mid 90's total guitar and guitar techniques were very good at transcribing, the TG Stairway to heaven tab I had is one of the best, easy to read and play and close enough, I still use it to teach from some 20 years later.

axisus

@Teetonetal I totally get the overdone thing. I just want your basic note on a string, I'm happy to work out the rest. I can't follow tab at all when it has weird scribbles all over it.

MatthewShreddery

Ears definitely trump tabs imho

Phil_aka_Pip

Danny1969 said:

EricTheWeary said:

I play in a band with two music teachers so you have to know the names of the notes. "That's a G# just before the bridge." Say I " Oh no," say the people who studied music at University "that's Ab in this key." FFS... (

lol yeah I get that ..... it's the same fucking note so why won't they let  it go ... 

Because it's incorrect. Same as using apostrophe's when you dont need them and not using them when you do.

Grunfeld

axisus said:

Why do some published tabs try to play things in a difficult way? If it sounds the same then why not make it easier!

I reckon one reason could simply be that "easier" is so subjective.  E.g. take the "Mr Brightside" intro -- some people prefer the wide stretch version; others, the cramped squash version -- it's exactly the same notes whichever version you play and just depends on subjective preference.

There are so many places on a guitar's neck to play the same thing that your particular notion "easier" is inevitably going to reflect the very way you learnt guitar in the first place.

And the other reason I can think of is simply that the "easier" way didn't occur to the transcriber at the time.  E.g.  I've been playing the solo in "Baggy Trousers" perfectly well but the other week it occurred to me that a couple of phrases are simply arpeggios of minor chords so my transcription from a month ago would look totally different to the way I play it now.

bingefeller

If I was learning again I would concentrate on standard notation more.  I can read music but my reading is slow and it will take me another month or two to get it up to a decent standard.  

Danny1969

Phil_aka_Pip said:

Danny1969 said:

EricTheWeary said:

I play in a band with two music teachers so you have to know the names of the notes. "That's a G# just before the bridge." Say I " Oh no," say the people who studied music at University "that's Ab in this key." FFS... (

lol yeah I get that ..... it's the same fucking note so why won't they let  it go ... 

Because it's incorrect. Same as using apostrophe's when you dont need them and not using them when you do.

Lol, that thread about major thirds we both commented in ..... I was careful to look up the D major scale before I wrote those sharps and no flats ..... I knew you would be on to me  

@Grunfeld : There is more than one way to play Brightside but if you want to keep the right voicing with the open E sounding against a fretted equal E note than your forced into the original way it's played. 

thomasross20

I can read music but VERY slowly and honestly rarely do so. 

I prefer to first figure it out by ear and if it's something lightning fast or very chordal I will check out YouTube videos or tab.

I've been doing this cool "fretboard notes" game where a dot appears on a fretboard (on the computer!) and yuo have to guess in a specified time. Finding it very useful - fun and addictive!

Grunfeld

Danny1969 said:

@Grunfeld : There is more than one way to play Brightside but if you want to keep the right voicing with the open E sounding against a fretted equal E note than your forced into the original way it's played. 

  Yep, @Danny1969 -- 100% agree that the open E and a fretted E are essential.

But the other notes can be played exactly in the "cramped" way (skipping the G string) as an alternative to the "stretchy" way.

I'll see if I can do a video this weekend!

EDIT: Ah, I get what you're saying now I've seen your vid -- it's about the open E, the D, and the fretted E all ringing simultaneously throughout, and that sounds more exact than the way I play it which has those notes but only two of them at any one time.  Basically your way uses the top three strings; mine, the top two only.

DLM

bingefeller said:

I can read music but my reading is slow and it will take me another month or two to get it up to a decent standard.  

@bingefeller Holy crap! You reckon? Are you planning on using hypnotism? Accelerated learning? NPL? Scientology? Tom Hess? 

Whatever it is, if it works I want to know how to do it!