Guitar Tablatures Discussion

[J.R.M.30!]

It's about time I toss around the subject of guitar tablatures and their short comings. It's a pathetic truth that most sites on the internet have dismal tabs but even if you shop for the true, "official studio recording" tabs you can bet that you will be marginally dismayed. So is the case with the Beatles Number 1booklet which contains the song "Help". Further listening of the song, indicates that the verse parts have a more sophisticated guitar part, rather than the block chord strums found on the tab. I'll just take it as laziness by the book maker or maybe ASCAP comes into play. Anyway it's interesting to find out different ways to play a song, whether they be right or wrong as long as it helps the person playing the guitar to become a better player of the guitar.

 

P.S. Any hints of more "official" guitar tabs are welcome.

[milod]

JRM....

 

Tab has been around for ages for guitar and guitar-like instruments but...

 

I guess I've never expected it to be any better than regular music script at reproducing actual performance information on material that functionally is improvisation.

 

Way back "when," I picked up a Flamenco book all in tab. That "worked" because of the assumption that it was a basis for performance rather than exactly what a performance would/should be.

 

I guess I kinda see the pop music tabs about the same way - something functional for a player at a certain stage of technical development but not really what may be found on this or that recording.

 

As you mentioned, ASCAP/BMI might have something to do with concerns about a more exact transcription of a given recording... Still, who is looking for the tabs to help learn given material? Even if "accurate," is there really an expectation that tabs will reflect performance as opposed to a recording?

 

m

[rct]

Tab is not notation of music, it is used to show fingering on stringed instruments and has been around since like, forever. Whether that fingering is the one used by the original player or not is up to the tab buyer to decide, as you have in this instance. Three tabs of the same song could be fingered three different ways and none of them would be "wrong" so long as the notes were "right".

 

rct

[Rabs]

:) Tablature on Trial (and theres a cool jam at the end)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cIdJFmFkag

[Rabs]

On a more serious note.. I find tab just a useful guide sometimes.. Nothing more than that really.. you still have to work alot of stuff out yourslef.. And by looking at maybe two or three versions you get a good idea..

 

But isnt that part of the fun? Working stuff out :)

[rocketman]

I guess I'm old fashioned but I learned most of the tunes by slowing down a record and listening it until I got it. I have looked at tabs and actually own a Rush tab book. It's awful. Tom Sawyer isn't even close.

 

I think tabs are useful but only after you've attempted learning it on your own first. The ears are more important than the eyes when playing. Train your ears first before your eyes.

[milod]

Seriously, I think the fact that tabs date back forever when it comes to lute tabs, at least, that they were best designed to give a concept of the music. I think it does that quite well.

 

But figure also that during the pre-baroque and baroque era, we're also talking about musicians who did a lot of improvisation... a lot more than some current folks do when working to play "covers" as close to a given recording as possible.

 

They didn't have recordings back then. So... tab was a way around that while music notation as we know it now was just getting going and, in ways... a copy????? of lute notation? <grin>

 

m

[zigzag]

IMO, rocketman's way is the best way. Learning by listening to a recording seems to stick better.

 

With tab, you get what you pay for. m's point about learning an essentially improvised piece of music means that it is probably best to learn the essence of each part of the piece, then make it your own.

[milod]

Yup. That was the way I saw it with that old flamenco tab book. For what it was, it was worth ten times the price. As a "you gotta play this way," somewhat less.

 

M

[Sgt.]

It's about time I toss around the subject of guitar tablatures and their short comings. It's a pathetic truth that most sites on the internet have dismal tabs but even if you shop for the true, "official studio recording" tabs you can bet that you will be marginally dismayed. So is the case with the Beatles Number 1booklet which contains the song "Help". Further listening of the song, indicates that the verse parts have a more sophisticated guitar part, rather than the block chord strums found on the tab. I'll just take it as laziness by the book maker or maybe ASCAP comes into play. Anyway it's interesting to find out different ways to play a song, whether they be right or wrong as long as it helps the person playing the guitar to become a better player of the guitar.

 

P.S. Any hints of more "official" guitar tabs are welcome.

 

yeah, tab has almost replaced traditional music scores in rock n' roll anyway, hasn't it? The way people learn rock music is by listening, ear training, and the technical stuff is usually relegated to tablature. I don't bother to learn to read traditional music because it's just not practical most of the time. Oh of course I can deconstruct a piece or a passage that I don't understand using the sheet music, but practical skills tend to outweigh 'theoretical' skills for the road musician. I think because blues, rock and such to reproduce, has to be felt and merely reading a score is often going to miss that and sound stiff and dare I say boring. Who hasn't yawned at the thought of a student piano recital of beatles music. lol The teaching books that are out there, I agree do not take the average learner to the next level when they want to clone the guitar works of Hendrix and such. Thankfully there are people who bother to slave and sweat over the details and offer us tablature, but much of tab is also crap.

Like playstation games, I could never imagine not using 'cheats' and 'cheats' are even encouraged by the game makers. It helps me to get through the game as it was intended and makes so I don't get frustrated and give up the game entirely. I'd still be wondering if Mario ever really rescues the princess (he does)! The story is so much better when you know the ending. :)

Things that bug me nowdays are the quality of tabs on the web, but they're there for free and as long as I am using that information for scholarly research and only mocking up a personal copy there's nothing wrong with that. The bands that get copied a lot should appreciate that there is a demand for their work, to be reproduced by musicians ... but them getting their due is another argument all together. Oh yeah, the thing that bugs me is trying to find tabs to new and recent pieces of music by popular bands. New works just haven't been around long enough, or studied to the extent that 'classics' have been, and not been picked apart and disected as much by avid fans. I find with reproducing a piece by a band that's pretty much had it's run, like Led Zeppelin, there's p-l-e-n-t-y of avid fans working on the tabs and it helps to get the piece accurate. yeah the material may be dated now, but i think there's a market, covering material by bands that can no longer be heard live. it helps to keep the spirit alive.

For learners, the published books, whether traditional sheet music or tab tends not to scratch that advanced skill level of the piece being studied. you get the basic chord structure to a beatles song and eventually when you want to take it further those books aren't enough.

I don't recommend however ignoring theory. you need it to be able to play with others in the band and understand what is going on. On my journey practical skills tend to be kept and committed to memory, in other words, stuff i can use. Bits of technical theory that might only be of use to academics, that i don't use, get left behind, forgoten or only reviewed when i wish to progress or tackle something more advanced. it's the 'i don't have time for this' argument that i've been saying to myself for years ... but i would eventually tackle sight reading to make my learning process more comprehensive. I am not a classically trained guitar player, but I am competent in the field I practice. i've combed through my university library's music section and found some reading on essential topics that cannot be ignored when considering composing a piece of your own, harmony, melody, and counterpoint. the university books tend to lean on the technical side but some of the information was usefull. i've also done the same through the public library, where you have a lot of 'Mel Bay' and 'Hal Leonard' stuff. The book I found to be the most intuitive to my skill level was Play Guitar in 10 Easy Lessons by Jon Buck (Octopus 2006). I would teach from this book. It is almost a complete reference of basic theory. All said I do use tabs. All the time. When I want to learn the guitar solo to Back in Black. Tab (and my ears on the track). Keep at it! Keep the oral tradition (of learning through observing and listening to other players) alive!

[Izzy]

I have several tab books and I am grateful for them. I listen to the music and the tabs tell me where to put my fingers. It is up to me to decide the timing and all that. I do think it is the lazy way to "read music." Oh well...whatever helps me learn a song.

[FirstMeasure]

Accurate Tabs on free tab sites are immediately taken down by the company that sells a book with accurate tab in them. Unfortunate byproduct of the Napster legislation.

 

Lots' of great Tab books out there, some with note properties incorporated into the tab which helps bridge the gap between notation an tab (like stems and flags), and if used right, could lead someone to understanding notation.