Standard Notation vs. Tab

SpeedStar · 2009-06-05T14:46:38+00:00

I'd like to know what method most people in this forum use. I'm a firm beliver in Standard Notation, since I think it not only improves your musicmanship, bu...

Standard Notation vs. Tab

Wizard

I can read both forms & use them for different purposes.

If I want an 'understanding' of the music; or to play it on violin I use standard notation.
This shows you the relative pitch of notes, note timing, rests, key signature etc.

I can't easily sight read standard notation on guitar because I don't (yet) have a mental map of the dots to fret positions on the strings.
If I want to play a song on guitar that I already know - then tabs are a quick mechanical way of doing this

The voting buttons exclude the option of "both" ?

Gearhead

Renesongs wrote: I will refuse to even look at a piece of guitar music written in code (standard notation)

Wow, if I ever become good I will also make bold statements like that ?

Renesongs

Wow, if I ever become good I will also make bold statements like that

If you had been through the weeks of agony learning John Williams' arrangement of Cavatina in standard notation and discovered a tablature version years later that eliminates the need to break your hand in 3 places to get all the notes then you would find my comments on standard notation for guitar to be on the mild side. ?

Riaan

I mainly compose with software so if i ever need to give it to someone in standard notation i can just export it.

Same here, but it would have been nice to have the means to instantly get the notation of recorded audio such as guitar also. I believe it can be done with audio to MIDI converters? Anyway, the software is helping me understand the basic music theory and standard notation the fun way.

doc-phil

Bob Dubery wrote: Tab is imperfect. It doesn't have a standard way of describing the duration of notes relative to each other. It describes fingerings. If you were given just tab, nothing else, there's not enough information to be able to reproduce a piece that you don't know.

Programs like Guitar Pro and Power Tab still show the duration of notes even when just viewing tab.

SpeedStar

doc-phil wrote:
Bob Dubery wrote: Tab is imperfect. It doesn't have a standard way of describing the duration of notes relative to each other. It describes fingerings. If you were given just tab, nothing else, there's not enough information to be able to reproduce a piece that you don't know.
Programs like Guitar Pro and Power Tab still show the duration of notes even when just viewing tab.

Yes but to compose on guitar pro, you at least need to know the very basics of rhythm.

doc-phil

SpeedStar wrote:
doc-phil wrote:
Bob Dubery wrote: Tab is imperfect. It doesn't have a standard way of describing the duration of notes relative to each other. It describes fingerings. If you were given just tab, nothing else, there's not enough information to be able to reproduce a piece that you don't know.
Programs like Guitar Pro and Power Tab still show the duration of notes even when just viewing tab.
Yes but to compose on guitar pro, you at least need to know the very basics of rhythm.

Ya I suppose that's true. I think the only reason I've been able to figure out what the different notes look like and their duration is from having my grade 1 in piano which I got when I was about 11 ? I had a very very basic ability to read standard notation back then, but that's gone out the window now. I couldn't even tell you where middle c is!

Wizard

Why not try invest 30 minutes learning?
If that doesn't work - then give up.

Sites like these make it quite easy:
http://library.thinkquest.org/15413/theory/note-reading.htm
http://www.notationmachine.com/how_to_read_sheetmusic/readingmusic.htm

doc-phil

That notationmachine site is cool. If I ever have a pressing need to learn standard notation again I will, but for the meantime I'll be lazy and stick to tab ?

guitar_lesson

I think both are relatively important. Standard Notation is like a universal form of music communication whereas tabs is speciffically towards guitar playing.

Try using guitar pro 5 for learning songs and practicing sight reading. It enables both tabs and scores to be played at the same time.

DonovanB

I reckon Tab is an abomanation of music.

that said I learned on tab first and started reading later. Its like another language. You learn english; you speak, read and write, and as such communicate effectively.

Short hand works but few can decipher it. I'd equate tab to sms speak. (See the book "Eats, Shoots, and leaves")

l8r all...