Beginners Notes #524-Tablature Thoughts

[Dick Sexton]

It's a good morning to put some points about tablature to paper. Conceptions and misconceptions.

First, why? To some of us, it is obvious. But basically, it's a "Note to self" about how to do something and almost anyone who has gone to a store, stood on an aisle, thinking "What did I come in here for" knows the answer to that question and just how important that can be. Going home without that item your wife needed can be a sticky one.

Second, I would put down historical data. 60 years ago, there were few "Stars" of music, at least country and fewer hit songs, again country. A hand full were fairly easy to remember and everyone knew what they were and what they sounded like. Every single one, was played on the radio. Now, almost without exception, that many songs are produced in a year. Even more, I'm pretty sure. With so many songs, how is it even remotely possible to remember and recall on demand what you might need without a trigger to recall it or them.

We all know that tablature is NOT the "Do All, Be All" to our instrument or any instrument, but it is a tool. In my mind, only a tool. Tablature, coupled with an audio copy of what is needed to be remembered, can be an invaluable tool. Tablature is like a Map Quest GPS rendering, showing you where to go and basically how to get there. Every nuance of music is not rendered in Tab, but basic information can be. Of course, this depends on the tabber, and his or her expertise.

Now we arrive at my reason for putting this to paper. First though, I want to say I'm not attacking any tabber, especially those who write books that include tab or those that sell tab "on demand". I've done it myself; it is a labor of love with few tabbers that make little more than a few dollars for their efforts.

Now, you need a tab, so you ask for it. If you're going to play a gig, don't know the song and need it in a hurry, probably do it myself if it was a time sensitive situation. But if it is not, who is the winner here. The tabber, that person has gone to the trouble to listen to the song you needed and tabbed it out. They may have done it when they received your request or may have done it years before, but they were the recipient of the rewards of their efforts. Your payment and the gained knowledge of figuring out how "that" song needed to be tabbed.

Not a small thing, especially for them.

Hypothetical: You're learning the instrument. You want to play a song. No time crunch, no gig to play, just the desire to play a particular song. You can ask for the tab, OR you can tab it out yourself. In this case YOU are the winner, you took the time, expended the effort and will gain "SOME" knowledge, possibly a lot of knowledge about this song and about your instrument.

Listening to, and figuring out how to play a song, recording what you find in tab, can be empowering. Even if you never go back and look at the tab again. In my case, that happens a lot because I tab my original thoughts. Things no one else has played to my knowledge, and stuff that is mine alone. Some I share here, some I do not.

So, it does not have to be pretty, it does not have to conform to any standard, it is yours and if you can understand it, that is good enough. If you are going to share it, or sell it, it might be advisable to have it conform to some standard. But even in that case there are several schools of thought and different ways that tab have been written. Of course, most every seller/producer of tab thinks their WAY is the best WAY. Not so.

If you know what a lever or pedal does on YOUR steel, you could call it anything you want. I once joked that I was going to start calling mine fruit names. Apple for the "A" pedal, Banana for the "B" pedal and Cherry for the "C" pedal. We all pretty much know what they do. But you may not know what my Orange, Pineapple, Kiwi and Mango
pedals or levers do. But I do, so my tab is as valid as anyone's "for me".

Enough said, have a great musical day! Be safe and God bless!

[Marty Broussard]

“Like”

[Dick Sexton]

Thanks Marty! Appreciate it...

[Fred Treece]

Yep, definitely a tool, and a darn good one. “ Learning by Tab” takes an undeserved beating here sometimes because I think it is misunderstood as being a crutch, or a replacement for every other learning tool. It’s just part of the kit. And as you say, Dick, it serves another important purpose as a historical record for reference too.

PowerTab and TabEdit were the best things that ever happened to tab. The worst is the hand-written, rhythmically vague stuff that only somebody who already knows how the piece is supposed to sound knows what’s going on with it. “Better than nothing” isn’t necessarily true.

[Jeff Garden]

All excellent points, Dick, thanks. As a tab proponent myself, I think you covered all the bases. If I take the time to figure something out note for note, I make sure to write it down before I have a senior moment and can't even remember the title of the song I'm working on! I think tab can be really useful not to learn a song note for note but maybe to get the "answer sheet" for a really tricky few measures you just can't seem to nail down.

[Scott Denniston]

I've never written much tab but sure have gotten a lot out of it. I end up learning moves that I'd never think of on my own. Then I end up using them on other tunes and after a while they're integrated into my playing. I've heard the argument that you should be looking at your hands not a tab. That was said by someone that teaches mostly with video. So the same can be said about staring at a computer screen instead of your hands. I've received a lot through video by excellent teachers too but it's really more cumbersome that way for me.

[Tommy Shown]

I sometimes do a lick and I will try to explain to my wife, and she always says I am talking GREEK to her. But when I get around other players and I explain it to them they understand what I am saying. I can read tab but I don't know how to write it.

[Scott Denniston]

One of the only things I've tabbed out was Pat Martino's "Activities". Christopher Woitach turned us on to it and I really needed to transpose it to C6 (from his Bb tuning) to be able to transpose it for practice. This type of thing you really have to envision the way you're going to do it. I knew these would take me a while to internalize because I've been working on them forever with guitar and don't have them quite mastered there yet. I have seen them coming out in my guitar playing though so I'm sure they will on C6 as well. I changed the position patterns a bit as Christopher had suggested for me personally. I guess my point here is I'm learning that tabbing it out yourself especially if you want to make some changes has the value of needing to envision on another level. One great guitar teacher said that laying down with your eyes closed and seeing your fingers playing the notes is some of the most valuable practice there is. I think this is the direction tabbing for yourself takes you.

[Dennis Montgomery]

I find tab extremely valuable, not that I've ever really been able to learn much from studying others tabs, but whenever I do a PSG arrangement of someone else's songs (I've arranged a lot of Grateful Dead & Beatles songs for solo pedal steel) or write my own original I ALWAYS tab it out. If I didn't, there's no way I'd possibly remember how I played it a couple weeks later