https://guitarnoise.forum/opinions-and-polls/tab-sites-are-they-making-it-too-easy/ Guitar Noise Discussion Board en-US Thu, 04 Jun 2026 17:07:17 +0000 wpForo 60 https://guitarnoise.forum/opinions-and-polls/tab-sites-are-they-making-it-too-easy/paged/4/#post-215264 Mon, 18 Dec 2006 18:41:54 +0000 Opinions and Polls Denny https://guitarnoise.forum/opinions-and-polls/tab-sites-are-they-making-it-too-easy/paged/4/#post-215264 https://guitarnoise.forum/opinions-and-polls/tab-sites-are-they-making-it-too-easy/paged/4/#post-215188 Mon, 18 Dec 2006 07:38:36 +0000 "one of the hardest things to understand is that people do not always think the same way you do."
Wes,

I'm totally with you on this.

One of the surest paths to a frustrated old age is to spend too much time fretting about how other people seem to keep doing things the wrong way (which, by a curious coincidence always seems to mean "not my way"... :wink:

I have my preferences but it really doesn't bother me if other people want to use TAB or standard notation, an electronic tuner or a tuning fork, amplified guitars or an acoustic, drum machines or metronomes, or whatever choices they make. Good luck to them all. 8)

If TABs and power chords get people in, and seem easier, that's fine by me. And if others prefer to use only original scores and play only on period instruments, then that's good too. Long live diversity! I don't see life (or music) as some sort of exam that you have to pass in a certain way. :)

If I had to choose one way or the other, I would go for... but wait... who cares... I don't have to choose. Neither is particularly hard to understand so I'm perfectly happy to use whatever is available at the time. Quite a few of my 'teach yourself' music books have lines for both TAB and standard notation, so if I wish I can refer to both - and still test some alternative options out by ear as well... And sometimes - shock horror :shock: - I even let a friend or teacher tell me where to put my fingers and how to play a certain piece or phrase!

What a ratbag I am to be sure... :twisted:

Cheers,

Chris]]> Opinions and Polls Chris C https://guitarnoise.forum/opinions-and-polls/tab-sites-are-they-making-it-too-easy/paged/4/#post-215188 https://guitarnoise.forum/opinions-and-polls/tab-sites-are-they-making-it-too-easy/paged/4/#post-215114 Mon, 18 Dec 2006 02:41:15 +0000
Paul]]> Opinions and Polls pbee https://guitarnoise.forum/opinions-and-polls/tab-sites-are-they-making-it-too-easy/paged/4/#post-215114 https://guitarnoise.forum/opinions-and-polls/tab-sites-are-they-making-it-too-easy/paged/4/#post-215110 Mon, 18 Dec 2006 01:45:12 +0000 Opinions and Polls Ignar Hillström https://guitarnoise.forum/opinions-and-polls/tab-sites-are-they-making-it-too-easy/paged/4/#post-215110 https://guitarnoise.forum/opinions-and-polls/tab-sites-are-they-making-it-too-easy/paged/4/#post-215108 Mon, 18 Dec 2006 01:39:08 +0000
That's what happened to me really. When I first started playing guitar 3 years ago, I only used tabs because I couldn't tell what was going on in a song. I hadn't taken lessons then so I couldn't ask a teacher or anyone else. So in that sense tab is good to get you started.

Then after a while when I knew the basic chords etc I could kind of recognize them when they were played in songs. But even then I used tabs, maybe because I was used to it. Then I began listening to obscure bands and old bands for which no tabs exist so I had to learn their songs by ear and that's what I did. It was hard in the beginning but now I feel pretty comfortable with it and I do trust my ears. The only time I have trouble is when something is played fast or when bend slides and hammer ons/pull offs are used rapidly in succession.

Anyways, all of that to say that my ears are now much better than they used to be and I have a much better idea of the structure of the songs I'm learning. If I was still using tabs I don't think I would know anything more than where to put my fingers, but that's me.]]> Opinions and Polls Anonymous https://guitarnoise.forum/opinions-and-polls/tab-sites-are-they-making-it-too-easy/paged/4/#post-215108 https://guitarnoise.forum/opinions-and-polls/tab-sites-are-they-making-it-too-easy/paged/4/#post-215091 Mon, 18 Dec 2006 00:37:26 +0000 Opinions and Polls Denny https://guitarnoise.forum/opinions-and-polls/tab-sites-are-they-making-it-too-easy/paged/4/#post-215091 https://guitarnoise.forum/opinions-and-polls/tab-sites-are-they-making-it-too-easy/paged/4/#post-203201 Wed, 11 Oct 2006 23:50:08 +0000 Umm, there plenty of programs that make entry of standard notation very very easy . . . don't use broken software . . .]]> Opinions and Polls kingpatzer https://guitarnoise.forum/opinions-and-polls/tab-sites-are-they-making-it-too-easy/paged/4/#post-203201 https://guitarnoise.forum/opinions-and-polls/tab-sites-are-they-making-it-too-easy/paged/3/#post-203186 Wed, 11 Oct 2006 22:24:56 +0000
But isn't it all just a matter of preference ? Maybe if I had worked harder in my music lessons at school and had learned notation when learning was easier I probably wouldn't need tab to get me playing other peoples stuff. Then again on the other hand I haven't come across any websites that show guitar music freely in notation. (I may have inadvertently opened a can of worms with that statement)

Was not Vic's original question, whether or not we should be using tab for working out a particular song?
For me the answer is unfortunately yes, as I have not as yet managed to train my ears well enough to work these things out for myself. Having said that I have managed a few little riffs and things that I have heard and not known the name of, so maybe I'm on my way to getting their.

Maybe tab is music's answer to phonetics !!!!!!!!!!!!]]> Opinions and Polls Rodders https://guitarnoise.forum/opinions-and-polls/tab-sites-are-they-making-it-too-easy/paged/3/#post-203186 https://guitarnoise.forum/opinions-and-polls/tab-sites-are-they-making-it-too-easy/paged/3/#post-203153 Wed, 11 Oct 2006 18:57:11 +0000 Honestly, I know of no advantage of tab over standard notation to someone who is can fluently read standard notation. The hundreds of hours it took to become fluent could have been spent on learning/practicing other aspects. Tab takes approximately 3 seconds to become fluent in :) I disagree.

While it does take time to become fluent in standard notation (i make my students spend a whole 5-10 minutes on it each practice session!) you are still playing songs and learning techniques, and refining skills at the same time. But you could use the time saved practicing in those techniques/skills anyway. If that's what you want to do, then you've lost nothing (and I still think you'd save time anyway, but that's subjective). If you want to concentrate on something else, you have the option available to you.
Nick is simply wrong that "a lot more songs are avaialbe in tab," far more music is available in standard notation format than is available for tabulature. Orders of magnitude more . . . that's not even a debatable issue, that's a simple fact. More music maybe (never really considered it), but necessarily music relevent to any particular player, and not necessarily in a relevent medium. I have yet to see any standard notation available on the net for death metal, thrash, etc., which is what the tab sites I visit usually rate as the most popular. Rightly or wrongly, you won't ever convince anyone who is into that kind of music that standard notation is a valid option for the songs they want to learn.]]> Opinions and Polls Misanthrope https://guitarnoise.forum/opinions-and-polls/tab-sites-are-they-making-it-too-easy/paged/3/#post-203153 https://guitarnoise.forum/opinions-and-polls/tab-sites-are-they-making-it-too-easy/paged/3/#post-203148 Wed, 11 Oct 2006 18:22:07 +0000
I think you found the right word and that's "musician". I realize that my lack of sight reading etc. limits me and as such I will never consider myself a musician per se, but hopefully someday i can say that I at least am a guitar player..and I hope you see the distinction. Now you may choose to call me a hack, which would be correct, but if I could play any cover song note for note, (including solos) that's all I want to do and I don't need to have a trained ear or have to be able to read music to do that.

I really have to pick and cjoose the skills I work on since I have limited time, if I were younger I'd have a different view.]]> Opinions and Polls cnev https://guitarnoise.forum/opinions-and-polls/tab-sites-are-they-making-it-too-easy/paged/3/#post-203148