Using tabs instead of music score?

Home Ear Training Forums Tips, Tricks and Resources Tips and Tricks Using tabs instead of music score?

This topic contains 9 replies, has 10 voices, and was last updated by Profile photo of quintusvw quintusvw 9 years ago.

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  • #19776
    Profile photo of larsguitar
    larsguitar
    Participant

    I have become pretty good at reading tabs qand of course you need to listen to the song if you can’t read a score, but tabs are a great way to learn a song fast.

    #19780
    Profile photo of puncatrator
    puncatrator
    Participant

    I agree! tabs are great for solos riffs and basslines. most tab sites give you chord charts too for simpler songs.

    I can actually read sheet music but I am pretty slow at it except for singing so I normally just hit ultimate-guitar.com for guitar and bass.

    #19809
    Profile photo of kristin_r
    kristin_r
    Participant

    I am somewhat familiar at tabs but I am much more used to reading sheet music. I think that they can be pretty helpful though. I went to check out the site mentioned above (ultimate-guitar.com) and it looks pretty interesting so far. I will have to look into it further. In case anybody wants to learn more information on tabs and how they work – wikipedia has all kinds of good resources.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tablature#Guitar_tablature

    #19813
    Profile photo of chaulky
    chaulky
    Participant

    good tip Kristin. I am starting to read sheet music as a learner and tabs aren’t something i am picking up that easily as yet. More research will help me learn.

    #20614
    Profile photo of horn8287
    horn8287
    Participant

    Tabs are a great shortcut if you know the tune, it’s kind of like the jazz “fakebooks”. I will tell you though, there’s nothing more frustrating in a professional setting than a guitarist who can’t read music! If you want to go pro, definitely learn to read. :)

    #26820
    Profile photo of v3jimenez
    v3jimenez
    Participant

    Tabs are really useful for guitarists because most guitarists rely on shapes of scales as they move up and down the guitar neck and not really on the name of the notes. In my experience, I didn’t really know which notes are which on the fret board until a few years after I’ve learned playing the guitar chords.

    If you’re playing songs which have tabs readily available, then they would serve you great. If you’re in a setting where sheet music is more available than tabs (e.g. worship service, choir, classical concerts), then it would help if you can read sheet music and know where the so-fa syllables are on the fret board.

    Also, it would help if you’ve memorized a number of shapes of scales on the fret board because this may help you memorize your do-re-mi on the guitar. :)

    Music is Freedom

    #27043
    Profile photo of pomeroy
    pomeroy
    Participant

    Tabs are way easier, but perhaps it would be beneficial to use both tabs and sheet music? Maybe you could learn the song originally by tabs and then go through the same song with sheet music. Has anyone done this before, and if so, was it helpful?

    #27060
    Profile photo of britanica
    britanica
    Participant

    I am all for avoiding sheet music. haha I am absolutely clueless when it comes to reading music and playing it. I don’t recall ever hearing someone (I know) saying they use tabs over them, I will have to give this a try.

    #28082
    Profile photo of alexx
    alexx
    Participant

    I know tabs are different than chord sheets/fake books, but as a piano player they’re very useful. If it’s a song you know, you can always work in melody notes. Plus you have the key, so you can improv with passing notes between chords.

    If you sing & play it’s really easy, you can just sing or accompany & play the chords, don’t even need to add any extras if you don’t want to.

    #28099
    Profile photo of quintusvw
    quintusvw
    Participant

    Tablature is the entity that opened the door to my passion – guitar playing. I tried multiple times to learn guitar the ‘traditional’ or ‘conventional’ way (classic music notation), and it never quite stuck with me. One day a friend introduced me to tablature and I saw the world of music open up to me.

    I would not say that tablature is more effective than music notation, but for me the experience started because I could more easily be introduced to what music is using this method, and then approach music in a more formal method (if I so chose to).

    I see tablature, as well as traditional music notation, as methods to bring across theory of music. Its a vehicle with which to convey the concepts of music to the reader. What do you think?

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