The Three Stooges of Tab

Bo Legg · Posted 4 Apr 2011 12:58 am

It seems my enthusiasm regarding TablEdit didn’t sit well with more notable players.
It surprisingly was not because it criticized their method of tab but rather the fact that I was promoting tab at all.

The emails, facebook, phone calls and face to face all seemed to be agreeing with Paul Franklin who within the topic referred to tab as “painting by numbers”.
Of course when Paul spoke the train stopped, backed up and went in the opposite direction.

I’m not offended by the “paint by numbers” comment but rather enlightened.
You see I too am a great fan of Paul and I even try to pick block like him (I emphasis the word try) and when he speaks I too realize that it carries a lot of weight.
Based on that and messages and calls I’ve received regarding this topic over the past few days agreeing with Paul I don’t see how I could ever get you to try to turn back.

The consensus of the messages I received seemed to verify that tab was only something the big boys sell to folks who would never become a serious player or in more common terms the clueless, the tone deaf , the no talents and dummies like Stuart and I who didn’t realize it was all a joke.

Well Stuart and I (Stooges) have bought tab from almost everyone who writes tab.
At one time we had almost everything that Emmons put out in the way of tab.
Nearly all the tab of Rick Kornacker, Jeff Newman, Paul Franklin, Mike Smith, Frenchy, Scotty, Herby and others too numerous to remember of hand. We even got ”Wonderful Tonight” from a person here on the forum I gather is not too fond of us.

I told Stuart if we could find another person who has purchase as much tab as we have we could get together and be the “Three Stooges”
.
Here I thought all this time we were helping out by buying tab so that it would encourage them enough financially to continue to write tab.

I joined the Local Steel Guitar Association and they sent out tab from time to time and I thought by sending my money I was helping even though I knew I would never have time to take part in the meetings or jams.
It’s good to know now that they were just sending out tab as a joke that would just go right over the heads of us Stooges and the Folks we bought tab from were just laughing all the way to the bank.

You may think of us as dummies for having all this tab but by the same token you would also have to concede that Stuart and I would likewise be more knowledgeable than most regarding tab.

Shown here is just One of the many collections that Stuart happens to be studying right now. This is 43 tapes and tab from Rick Kornacker.

steve takacs · From: beijing, china via pittsburgh (deceased)

I know that a lot of guys are anti-tab, Paul Franklin included. Here MY reality. If I use tab and try to understand how it fits into the song and chord progression, it helps me learn more quickly than listening to a record and trying to find out the information on my own.

It is also a time saver. If you are like Paul, and have spent a the bulk of your life playing steel as a professional, searching on your own might work well. Having been immersed all my life in the non-musical work world, I appreciate the time that has been freed up for me by having tab as a learning tool. I do not merely unthinkingly copy what the tab says but try to understand the WHY of it and change the tab around for other possibilities.

I am a big fan of Paul Franklin, and even share the same birthday, but I am nowhere remotely near Paul when it comes to chops. Even if I had devoted my life to steel playing, I could never touch him. Tab has allowed me to, at least, approach, inch by inch, the creativity and understanding that Paul and the other steel giants have come up with.

If tab works for you, I say, use it. We all learn things differently. steve t

Larry Behm · From: Mt Angel, Or 97362

I buy tab and encourage other to also to see on paper how others might play a lick or passage or what string groupings to use etc.

I bought David Hartley's OBS tab and CD and got about 3 things from the 3 songs I really liked and will use. It was worth the money to me.

Many times a lick or passage can be played in more than one position, it helps sometime to see where the writer used it to see it connects to another lick or passage.

What I do not like about tab is players tend to want to learn the whole song, cannot think for themselves and crash and burn when the band changes keys on them and they sit with their hands in their laps because they do not have a clue on what to do.

Since I do not have a handle on the C neck it is always good for me to see some tab it opens a lot of doors.

I purchased a PF tape in Dallas, and although I would not use these licks as written I came up with several alternative licks I would use. One always needs to be looking for a shot in the arm to get them thinking outside the box.

Larry Behm
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Ernie Renn · From: Brainerd, Minnesota USA

I like tab. For me it's a time saver. I haven't learned an entire tune from tab since the late 70's. I extract licks I think I might use on the job. I could spend hours trying to find the right string, the right location and what pedals are being used to get that lick, but I don't have the time required to do it. With tab I can learn a few licks in a short amount of time, rather than spend hours carving out a lick or two. Not that I don't like noodling around on my guitar to locate something. I do. It's that I don't have the extra time to do so on most occcasions.

If it works for you, do it and don't worry what anybody else thinks. Of course, that's just my opinion and you know what they say about opinions...
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David Mason · From: Cambridge, MD, USA

Wait a minute! I am in charge here, and I say "don't you dare do it!"

Rabble.

Steve English · From: Baja, Arizona

Bo,

Please......never ever offer an idea, regardless how ingenious it may be, without first securing adequate approval........especially on a forum!

Laughing

Ray Minich · From: Bradford, Pa. Frozen Tundra

Tab is another tool in the toolbox.

I'd a never found the intro to "Look at Us" without it.

(I'd would have never found the intro to "Look at Us" without it. (Special entry for Herb Steiner Smile

))

Thank you Lloyd Maines.
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Bo Legg · Posted 4 Apr 2011 8:41 am

Steve

I think that ought to be in the Forum Rules.

Dick Sexton · From: Greenville, Ohio

I have a poor memory, tab helps. I see it as reference material. Not unlike a tape or record of a song I haven't listened to or played in many years. Or a book on any number of subjects that might be used to study or refresh a vague point.

Don Drummer · From: West Virginia, USA

Learning by ear and writing it out using tab is of great benefit as it reinforces the learning process. imo Don D

Jim Cohen · From: Philadelphia, PA

Well, I think standard music notation isn't too far from being tab. It allows one to skip the tedious (and sometimes futile) process of having to listen very carefully to a piece of music and try to discern all the notes for yourself. The only thing missing is that it (usually) doesn't tell you which finger to place where. But other than that, it shares a lot in common with tab. One could call it 'paint by numbers', even, compared to having to figure it all out for yourself. Now, standard music notation is obviously the universal standard for classical music, most pop, musical theater, film scores, etc etc etc. But we don't malign it as an "unnecessary crutch". (I'm sure no pianist or violinist wants to figure out all the classical piano or violin repertoire for themselves.)

Having said that, I will confess that, when first starting out on steel guitar, I would get a piece of tab and do my darndest to play something just like the original. I got good enough at it that I could fool my wife and friends, who thought I must be the next Buddy Emmons cuz, to their ears, they thought I sounded just like him! Except they didn't know my "dirty little secret" that I was painting by numbers and couldn't play anything as lovely as this on my own if my life depended on it. Still you can fool some of the people some of the time...

With time and experience, I've come to feel that the best use of tab is to see how someone else approached a particular passage or set of changes, or did something that sounded particularly cool, and then to dissect it enough to understand the context, why it worked there, and where else a move or idea like that could work. Then force yourself to use that idea in a zillion other places in other tunes until it becomes part of your bag of tricks that you can pull out in the heat of the battle when the situation arises. This last step (using it a zillion places in other songs than the original one) is the most important part. If you skip that step, you'll only think of that idea when you play that one song, and then you really will be stuck at the paint-by-numbers step. You won't have generalized the idea to it's musical components so you can actually use it anywhere else to add flavor, diversity or interest to your playing.

So, in practice, what this means is, sure if you can't figure out how to play that cool lick, go buy the tab and check it out. Then make sure you look to see what the chords are doing during that lick. (Are they going from a 1 chord to a 4 chord? Or back from a 5 to a 1?) Then ask yourself, "Do I know any other songs that go from a 1 to a 4 or from a 5 to a 1?" (Obviously the answer is "Duh, yeah, almost every song does that.") So, pick 1 more tune and force-fit this lick (moved to the right key, if necessary) into the corresponding spot(s) in that tune. And then in another tune and then in another... (Note, I'm not saying you should play this lick in all these songs during performance. I'm just saying you want to be in the position where you could play it if it occurred to you in the middle of playing and you thought it would sound good there.) And, by force-fitting it into a bunch of new tunes that never had that lick in them before, you will discover where you think it works well, and where you think it doesn't. That's all good.

So, that's what I think tab is good for, unless you're happy amazing your friends with your paint-by-numbers abilities. And, hey, that's okay too. It all depends upon your goals and interests in playing steel guitar.

(End of Rant)
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Greg Cutshaw · From: Corry, PA, USA

Why refuse a new riff if it comes to you in tab or in person, or via music notation or by YouTube. They are all great ways to learn new stuff.

If you put Tab together with a sound file you are getting the timing and the actual implementation and any little nuances in pick attack, bar slides, vibrato and volume swells.

I put out whole songs of tab now and then. Almost no one learns a whole song but most people just grab a few bars they like and can see how it fits within a song.

Learning tab and scales by rote eventually leads to one's brain absorbing all the tabs and later connecting all the dots into scales and connected pockets of notes. This can be more fun in the beginning than just learning scales up front.

Greg

Scott Appleton · From: Ashland, Oregon

I like to tab .. It is not a crutch nor am I feeble for using tab .. I see no better way to learn that illusive lick one cannot for the life of one find any other way.
Tab on ..pull a tab .. hello tabatha ..

Bill Ford · From: Graniteville SC Aiken

I agree with Greg, and appreciate the way he puts the tab and sound file together so you can play the sound, and follow the positions before you start learning the piece. I have listened to the sound file and followed the tab and learned the part without too much of a struggle. A good learning tool, wish it had been as available when I started out.Also agree with Jim C. about tab, and musical notation similarity.

BF
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Steve English · From: Baja, Arizona

I was gonna agree with Jim C......but Bill Ford's post was shorter, so I'm agreeing with him. Oh Well

Brian Henry · Posted 4 Apr 2011 3:16 pm

Quite frankly, I think it is sheer nonsense to suggest that tab is painting by numbers. Tab is similar to sheet music notation. In the world of classical music most classic musicians, and jazz players that I have seen, do use sheet music. It is a form of tab!!
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Dickie Whitley · Posted 4 Apr 2011 3:18 pm

Well, thanks to Mike Perlowin, I can read music notation (however pathetically slow) and put together some semblance of how I would play it on the steel. It's actually not that hard to transcribe, the hard part (to me) comes in deciding how to arrange it once you know the chords. You have the same chord located in several places and you kinda have to have the "big picture" before you start putting the pieces together (or at least the way I do it). I still buy some of my tab from Erv Niehaus because he's got a huge head start on me, and I don't need to invent the wheel again if he already has it, besides, he's a great person to deal with. I think it's a good balance to be able to do both tab and music notation.

Glenn Uhler · From: Trenton, New Jersey, USA

I agree with the last three or four people who posted their thoughts about tab, but I'm going to throw in my two cents, too.

Many years ago, I learned non-pedal steel (Eharp method) using both conventional music notation and tab. The printed music taught me how to read music and allowed me to play tunes from piano or any other sheet music. On the other hand, playing from tab taught me how to play from tab (obviously) but also taught me how to use a "short-hand" method that took minutes to transcribe, as compared to hours writing out music notes on a staff. Tab is just another short-hand method, just like the Nashville Number System. I don't think I heard Paul putting down the Nashville system.

Finally, (and no one knows where they heard this) tab can be a partially legal way to get around the copyright mark at the bottom of a piece of sheet music. When writing tab, you are representing a song with a bunch of numbers; relating to only your instrument, and a system not readable by the general public, or even most other musicians. Thought I would throw that tidbit in.
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Mark van Allen · From: Watkinsville, Ga. USA

I think Jim absolutely nailed it on the reality/potential of tab, (and for that matter standard notation). It's obvious that some folks use tab to learn a complete song or arrangement, and never progress to the further steps Jim speaks of. Yes, you'd have a new song to perform for yourself or friends, but without that further effort, almost no progress is made toward mastery of the instrument, and ability to produce your own arrangements.

I have the impression from Franklin's comments on the forum and within his courses that he is not so much anti-tab as strongly pro-musicality. As an educator, it's likely he ran into many students who never progressed beyond rote copying, and he makes it clear he encourages self-expression and musical development. I think many of the "notable players" Bo refers to are just making the same arguments.

I have had several very accomplished classical musicians in the studio here for well-paid instrumental overdubs, who could play anything in the written literature well and tastefully... but could not improvise even the simplest parts over basic chord progressions. I see that as somewhat analogous to complete reliance on tab.

As a teacher, I collect instructional material of all types, studying the teaching methodology of many players, as well as stealing what I like of their musical ideas. Tab represents one of the quickest ways of cataloging and storing those ideas. In fact, when boning up for fill-in gigs, I'll write short little bits of tab on my set list to help remember kickoffs and harmony lines.

But when playing live or recording, it only makes sense to learn, prepare, and think in the way music actually unfolds, as Jim notes... I to IV chord verses, iim V cycles, choruses starting on the IV, bridges with a ivm, etc. etc.
Tab allows notation of one permutation of these ideas, organized in a single song and key structure, and is of limited or no help in developing and retaining these larger playing skills, unless further mental application is made.

Experienced players seem to have figured this out. I think some of the resistance to tab comes from those who don't want to see students stuck in copy-only mode.
In the end, whatever gets you where you need to be is the right path. Of course, you do need to know where it is you need to be!

Bo Legg · Posted 4 Apr 2011 4:00 pm

You want to scare the heck out of a steel player? Buy him some sheet music.
You want to scare the heck out of a country picker?
ask him to play a 13b9.
In addition to notation and tab I think folks here would do well to remove the stake, brush off the garlic, hold up a cross, fight the fear of those demons and open up that music theory book and read it. You might learn something even though you will most assuredly turn into a vampire.

Dickie Whitley · Posted 4 Apr 2011 4:29 pm

I totally agree Bo (at least with the "you might learn something, don't know about the vampire stuff), and (hopefully, it's within rules to do so), might I suggest Mike Perlowin's book, for no other reason than that's what I used. I think it's a good start.

George Duncan Sypert · From: Colo Spgs, Co, USA

Tab is a good learning tool but only if it is correct. I learned to play by ear on the steel with notation learned on the standard guitar as a young kid. I have purchased a lot of tab over the years(many) to see if I was close to the original performance I was trying to learn. Many times it was very close but others off considerably. Jim C. is correct in his statements about learning the phrase or passage to be repeated in other songs in all keys. Helps when your gun is jammed. I will continue buying tab if for no other reason than being curious about how it was tabbed out.
George

Herb Steiner · From: Spicewood TX 78669

Since I'm a producer of tab, I should recuse myself from this discussion. But I will say that published tab for steel guitar has been around since the 1920's. The Nick Manoloff courses were tabbed for the A Major (low bass) tuning.
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Gary Richardi · From: SoCal, USA

I remember reading articles by 6-string studio great, Tommy Tedesco. His attitude was "whatever works". If tab helps you learn a tune, I don't understand what could be wrong with it. Sure, a lot of tab is wrong, but if it helps get you started, that's got to be a good thing. I don't understand the negativity at all. I hear similar about DAW recording and using visual waveform representations as cues, "use your EARS not your EYES" as if there's something wrong with using BOTH.

Mike Perlowin · From: Los Angeles CA

I've made my opinions about the need to read conventional musical notation very clear. Here are my thoughts about tab.

Tab is a very useful teaching tool for beginners. It also is useful for learning a specific lick or part.

But I think too many players rely on it. This year in Phoenix, I played the old Frankie Avalon song "Venus." Afterward, another player asked me where he could get the tab of the song. I told him that if he wanted to learn it, he should do what I did, which was to get it from the sheet music. The thought never occurred to the guy that he could do that. As far as he was concerned, tab is the only way to write music for the steel.

In my quest to bring the steel to the attention of the classical music community, I have occasionally run into resistance. One thing some classical musicians have said is that the steel is just a musical toy, more or less on the same level as a kazoo, and not a real musical instrument. I think the fact that so many players rely on tab is one of the reasons why.

Like it or not, conventional notation is an international written musical language that has been around for hundreds of years, and is used my millions of musicians the world over. By using tab exclusively instead of as a learning tool for beginners, we are isolating ourselves and our instrument from the rest of the musical world. Small wonder some of these people have such contempt for the steel.

Tab is essential for beginners. But I say once again that after you know your way around the instrument, it's time to stop using it and learn how to read music.
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