Does Tab make me a dweeb...

[aebell]

OK, I admit it. I learn songs either by ear or by tab, or a combination of....

So does this make me less the musician? I think I can play most pieces with enough time. Of course, I wont be getting much work as a studio musician but that was never my goal. But, when I listen to Roy or other "real" musicians. I always feel like I am in a foreign land and I don't speak the language...

Thoughts?

AB

[Ditto]

I am the same, I have so much going on in my life that when I get a chance to play I spend it learning songs not how to READ music. I am just a hobbyist not a pro.

My wife is learning how play piano and sight read. She has more time than me.

[bassischill]

I posted an analogy in a different thread but will expound on it a little bit here.

There are some people who love to paint. A blank canvas to them is a gem that they can do whatever they want with. Mix custom colors, have the painting flow in whichever way they are feeling that particular day. Once the painting is dry, they can hang it on the wall and enjoy it forever. They can change course halfway through the work and go in a compeltely different direction with no stop signs along the way.

Then there are those that love to paint just as much but have no time or real interest in creating something from scratch. They just wanna paint because it's relaxing and the need to take many elements into account before they pick up the brush negates the relaxation aspect of the activity. So they buy a paint by number set. The physical moving of the brush on the surface is relaxing and great fun and they don't have to worry about choosing a wrong color because they just need to follow along and use the assigned colors. Eventually, they have a lovely picture that they are proud of and they move onto the next one. Once the painting is on the wall, it doesn't matter that it was by the numbers or original. If you are proud of your work and the hobby brings you joy, you're all set.

I think the above applies to musicians that use tab. I am using tab at this point and once I get comfortable playing and moving around, I will venture into the whys but at this point, it's much more important to me to know how to get the fingers moving comfortably around and the idea that I have to be thinking of a dozen other things at the same time takes away from the enjoyment of learning. Your mileage may vary but that's where I am. I cannot want to get home to practice every day and doing finger exercises over and over is not boring to me because I feel like I am getting more and more comfortable every day so that's working. I'll incorporate additional practice tools as I get comfortable with each one rather than overdoing it with too much at one time.

So no, you're not a dweeb. You just wanna play! Maybe at some point, your brain will say "You know what, learning songs is cool, but I'd love to improvise a bit or write something of my own...." and you'll wade slowly into the whole theory/construction thing. Maybe you won't. Whichever way it winds up, if you are happy learning songs via tab and enjoying playing them then that's all that counts.

[aebell]

Now that is an excellent response.

[slejhamer]

We don't get tabs. We don't get music written for bass. We rarely play in the same key as the original. We generally get a chord chart and a vocal melody line. If you can read, you can use passages from the melody to enhance your bass lines, but otherwise it's play by feel. Gotta know the key you are in, the intervals, the chord tones. Tabs? We don't need no stinkin' tabs.

[Bassix]

...if you are happy learning songs via tab and enjoying playing them then that's all that counts.

+1

In my view, tabs and standard notation are both "paint by number" systems, except standard notation gives you more information - you're told what to do, when, how, etc. If you're the blank canvas type, chord charts and the method outlined by Slej are the way to go, imo.

That said, I practice reading music because it is a personal goal to someday be able to pick up a sheet of music for a song I've never heard before, look it over for a few minutes and play the song like I know it. Again, that's just a personal goal.

[JustJazz]

We often forget that music is a performance art. Reading music allows us to perform music both quicker when the composer is there, and also when the composer is not. the most important thing to keep in mind is performance should be fun. Practice is where we work on being a better performer, whether you got your notes from TABS or MUSIC Manuscript or by ear, the most important thing is to communicate the emotion that you, the director, or composer intended.

Have fun, remember4 to groove!

[DONNIE B]

no it dose NOT make you dweebi use both to learn i have some music books that have songs i want to learn so i will do the tab thing . but then i will take some time to transfer the tab to notes. some times i will but the notes under the tab spot. so if the tab showed as a c note i would put c under that tab. and so on. so that way you are still learning the notes on the neck. so think of tab as a tool. THERE ARE NO DWEEBS ON THE ROW. This is a dweeb free zone

[Elmeaux]

I posted an analogy in a different thread but will expound on it a little bit here.

This is the discussion we were having. http://www.thunderrow.com/content.ph...Or-Not-To-Read

[DaveB]

If using tab makes a person a dweeb, then all I can say is:

Hi, I'm Dave, and I'm a dweeb.

Seriously though, I've used tab from the internet, video tutorials (Paul Wolfe on www.how-to-play-bass.com), and bass books (that have both the tab and standard notation) to learn songs. What I have not done, so far, is to learn a song from only standard notation. I want to be able to do that someday, but for right now, learning the fret board is enough of a challenge.