Notation vs. Tabs debate

I can read music, but tab is invaluable in many circumstances. As mentioned earlier, the high G on the uke if often used to carry the odd note from the melody line (particularly in campanella style). Chords are particularly tricky to read, especially, again, when the high G can throw a spanner in the works (much easier to read a 4 note chord an play it on a linear tuned instrument). What about 3 note chord voicings? Which 3 strings? As a guitarist a well, and one who plays music often in different open tunings, it would be far to complicated to try to read music and then adjust my fingering to suit the tuning I'm using (that would be like mixing all the piano keys up just before a pianist took to the stage!). The same goes for those who tune various instruments to different pitches (for example, I have ukes in Eb, C, Bb, A and G tunings). I could spend hours learning the chord names and notes on the fingerboard on all those ukes, but I have better things to practise!

I arranged some lute pieces for uke a couple of years ago, and learned all about lute tablature. The main reason for tab being used for the lute appears to be that there was no standard pitch for the instrument. It would be tuned up until the tension felt right (I have a copy of a page from a lute tutor book, which states 'tune the first string until it almost breaks!'), or until the piece was in the right key for a vocalist. The low bass strings on many larger ukes were often re-tuned to suit certain pieces, as they were often not fretted but used as open strings only, like the strings on a modern harp guitar. This idea (and the idea of acoustic guitars being tuned to whatever pitch or set of intervals the player felt sounded good, which is often how blues players started off- no-one told the how to do it 'right'!) is much more prevalent in the world of 'folk musics' as opposed to the more rigid world of classical music. The snobbery shown in that quote from the Oxford Companion to Music about the 'ignorant' using tab really just shows the author's narrow view of music, and I pity him/her.

Of course, much classical guitar notation has fingering and position indications written on it. Often this helps, but often it just swamps the reader in information- not too much to read, but often too much to sight read. Personally, I prefer a combination of notation and tablature.

All that said, do learn to read music. To read simple lines isn't hard (even if you never learn to sight read), and it opens up all sorts of written music to you.
 
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I first learned to play music on piano, and learned to read standard notation then. I moved on to clarinet and saxophone, so I have been playing instruments for a long time where there is only one way to play a specific note (there are minor fingering variations on a woodwind). On the ukulele there are several ways to play any note.

While at first tab was a bit confusing to me, I now find it easier to sight read tab when playing the ukulele. A brand new song is easier to pick up with tab because it tells me exactly which strings I'm going to fret where. Having standard notation alongside tab helps me immensely, as I can more easily understand how the notes are going to sound and what the melody line is. I could also figure out an alternate fingering if I wanted to, which I often do. So I want both.
 
http://www.learningstyles.org/styles/

This is true. The ways our brains ingest information is different for everyone.
Music is aural, but playing is a kinesthetic abstraction that produces a sound.
To write it on paper, is a second layer of abstraction, because you still have to convert that into a kinesthetic to produce an aural result. How to best make that translation depends on the person.

I think in shapes/position
Some people think in staff/graphic
Some people think in word/letter labels, ie A, or chords
Some people think directly to sound
Some people think in muscle memory.

Everyone is different.

I have difficulty with staff on frets. But on keyboard, its very logical

So.. different strokes for different folks.
One way may be better for you. That's great. But not everyone is just like you.

I have long held a theory that the "bell curve" that has long been used to measure students' abilities in the classroom has less to do with ability and much more to do with how well that particular learning environment matches a given student's learning style. From time to time, I read something that indicates I am not alone in this and that at least some schools are dealing with this issue by providing different means for various students to learn.

However, in an earlier post I did talk a bit about how embarrassing it can be as a musician for somebody to ask us to play some song and we can't because we don't have the sheet music. I am talking about pop type tunes and not some heavy duty classical piece of music here. I don't have a good memory, so for me the way to handle this is to be able to pick out the melody by ear and apply chords to it to come up with something that resembles the requested song. I remember being involved in the Sudnow piano method some years ago and encountering a woman who played concert piano, touring the world. She was incredibly adept at reading anything put in front of her, but she could not play "Happy Birthday" on request. She expressed a real sadness about this, and learned the skill of being able to do so via the Sudnow method. That was an eye-opener. Music is a vast area and there is room for lots of different ways to approach it. I learned from this woman that, even at that level of performance she was at, there are things people whose approach to music as simple as mine, may be able to do some things that some others can't. She was really good at memorizing. By the time she takes a piece of music to the concert stage, it is really memorized and the sheet music is pretty much a prompt (i.e. safety net) in case she has a memory lapse. I could never do what she could, but it was not too difficult for her to learn the skill (not a talent) of picking out tunes by ear, and she did.

Tony



Tony
 
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Hi Tony,

I have to deal with this daily. First, I don't use a bell curve and I think(other teachers help me out here) the No Child Left Behind policy has eliminated that type of grading.

I do my best to teach to a variety of learning styles and levels. I give the students an opportunity to have audio files of the works we are reading, I allow the use of technology devices so students can learn more about a topic or find alternate sources of reference for content and we usually watch some video clips, documentaries, movies, music videos or other media to help visual learners as well.

Back on the topic:
I am so happy to have heard from others and how they use tab and SMN as complements.
Perhaps I have been expecting to much of myself in my desire to get better.
I think that I will take the mastering of SMN in smaller steps; I feel like practice has become a bit torturous lately and that makes me not want to practice.



I have long held a theory that the "bell curve" that has long been used to measure students' abilities in the classroom has less to do with ability and much more to do with how well that particular learning environment matches a given student's learning style. From time to time, I read something that indicates I am not alone in this and that at least some schools are dealing with this issue by providing different means for various students to learn.

Tony
 
I agree with what's been said. Let me add the following:

At a minimum a player should learn to read the melodic line in standard notation. Ohta-San says that you should always begin with the melody. Learn to play the melody and memorize it. If you really want to get even better, transpose it into different keys but learn the melody line. If you're using a simplified version of a song such as the arrangements in the Jim Beloff Daily Ukulele fakebooks, learn to read the melody line before playing the chords. Sing along with the melody and get it down exactly. Then play the chords. You'll be a better musician and you'll see where the melody notes occur in the chords or you can even add the melody note to the chords and discover the subtleties of extended and altered chords.

This is good advice.

I like both. It's nice to see the melody line for creating chord solos. Tab is good for knowing where to finger on certain frets when the arrangements are well done.

Pete
 
In fourth grade, everyone had to learn how to play the tonette. Every Good Boy Does Fine, FACE, and flats and sharps go in between some of them. Actually, that is all I knew when I started playing the ukulele, and while I have gone way past that in my understanding of music, it still serves as my foundation. I like tabs, they are easy. And I memorize a lot of songs too. I memorize the lyrics, the chords, and sometimes the melody, if it serves me. Mostly I memorize so that I can just start playing without a whole lot of rigamarole, but I have gotten a lot of other benefits from it. But I'm in the group that thinks reading both notation and tabs is beneficial. Just like a lot of things, it doesn't have to be one or the other. I've never been one who thought that I could only take one thing from the smorgasbord.
 
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The problem with tabs is seeing the melody. With musical notation, you can see the pitch visually. Also, it's not difficult to learn notation on the uke. Why would this be important? Well, you can pick up a fake book and read the melody. Usually, the melodies are written very simply. If you understand how to make ukulele chords then you can play most music from a a fake book and not even have to read music. You can improvise.

I've learned both tab and notation on the uke. Learning the tabs has slowed me down some. Learning tabs and not notation hinders musical learning in my opinion. It's easier at first but soon reaches its limitation quickly. With notation, you can choose which way you would like to finger. A user who only knows tabs may not even have an idea that a piece can be played differently.


Tabs add another layer of abstraction in my opinion. When you play by notation, you train your brain to associate notes with places on the fretboard.

Another negative with tab is you do not learn the fretboard. When you learn notation, you learn quickly that there are several places to play the same note. Also by becoming familar with the notes on the fretboard, you become a better player. Just putting a number on the line in tab tells you nothing, only where to put your fingers. Maybe a good analogy would be painting by numbers. This is what tab reminds me of. It'll get you the music but at the cost of not understanding.

Tab can be good for learning chords. It has its use but it is limited in my opinion. I've noticed that I learn a piece quicker by notation than tab. Something about converting and finding the notes on the fretboard cements the knowledge in my head.
 
Like many others, I learned the basics of recorder at primary school and along with it the basics of standard notation. I have continued to play recorder on and off since and still play with other recorder players. We play music from the 16th to 20th century in parts using sheet music with a conductor.

As a result I am a reasonably competent sight reader of single line parts both in treble and bass clefs (I mostly play bass recorder in the recorder group).

I also play folk music in a folk band and we play much of our music by ear which means learning the tunes. Nevertheless having the sheet music to hand as a prompt is very useful though we are aiming to try and play without music in front of us for performance.

With ukulele I am a singer with ukulele accompaniment, I am happy with either words with chords or a lead sheet with the basic melody and chords above the notation. I tend to learn melodies by ear then work out how to add the ukulele and place the chord changes.

I don't really play instrumentals on the ukulele so I feel no real need for tab though I will occasionally add a little bit of tab on my lyric/chord sheets for intros.

Overall, I think it's well worth the effort of learning to read standard notation as it is the standard representation of music in written form and is transferable to any instrument. If you are in a band with other instruments, then using standard notation is a most useful means of communication between band members.

If you play fingerstyle instrumentals on the ukulele I can see the value of tab but as it is normally written there is no real indication of note durations and so of rhythm. In renaissance lute tablature, they wrote little "flags" above the tab to indicate note durations so you know what rhythm to play. Modern tab often seems to lack both time signature and indication of note duration which is a major weakness and a reason why it is insufficient on its own and so needs to be supplemented with standard notation above the tab.
 
With notation, you can choose which way you would like to finger. A user who only knows tabs may not even have an idea that a piece can be played differently.

Tabs add another layer of abstraction in my opinion. When you play by notation, you train your brain to associate notes with places on the fretboard.

Another negative with tab is you do not learn the fretboard. When you learn notation, you learn quickly that there are several places to play the same note. Also by becoming familar with the notes on the fretboard, you become a better player

I totally agree with your comments. "Different places to play the same note" might not be obvious to some players. I've read music most of my life for guitar and later for the piano. I've always known where the notes are on the guitar based on sheet music. I have two ukulele students now and they really want to learn to read the melody line. That is nice to hear!

Pete
 
Thats never wrong to start with formal music notation.
But you can enjoy the ukulele asap with a tab sheet.

Formally you would better get a Grade8 ABRSM music theorey exam before you study any instruments very very seriously. Haha
 
Chords, TAB, Notation?! Whatever the individual enjoys. 3 chords is the comfort of the majority of 'ukulele players I know and they are happy with that. Ric

No no... you need 4 chords.

 
I think in shapes/position
Some people think in staff/graphic
Some people think in word/letter labels, ie A, or chords
Some people think directly to sound
Some people think in muscle memory.

I think in pictures, and in muscle memory.

I've played quite a few instruments in my time: piano, violin, viola, bass & tenor recorders, flute, cello, harp and now ukulele and bass ukulele (not all to the same level).

Muscle memory is what I rely on most of all. Only concertos (as far as I know) require the soloist to play from memory without the sheet music in front of them.

What I have found is that once I have played the piece enough to have it "under my fingers", I can read music without actually reading it, it's just there as a prompt somehow. Same with tab on the uke.

There used to be a tv program here called "Spicks & Specks", a music panel/quiz game. One game required a participant to play notes on a little keyboard just by matching the numbers on a sheet to the keys, and for their team to guess the tune. For a while it was meaningless until they 'got it', and suddenly the notes became music.

Playing from tab is like that for me until/unless I know the tune. After that I make my own decisions as to which string & fret to play it on.

A tab program that also included functionality for rests, dotted notes and actual time values would be useful for me.

I can play from notation, but I don't yet know where the notes are on the fretboard as quickly, so I can't sight-read as well..

So yeah, my long-winded vote for "whatever works for you"
 
I saw a post recently where someone was talking about remembering the tabs for songs and it got me to thinking...

I started out playing ukulele by looking at tabs and not paying attention to the musical notation. After a year of playing, I have started covering up the tabs with tape on a song so that I concern myself with only the true musical notes themselves and not be tempted to look at tabs for help.

For me, using tabs is like reading the the abridged and simplified language version of a Shakespearean play. Sure, you might get the general idea of the major themes and symbolism in the story but you miss the way the man wanted you to experience the story...
all the wonderful word play and rhythmical flow of the dialogue, etc
.
The same can be said of tabs, they "get you through the song" but understanding the notes, their lengths, rests and how these all work together in each measure and how the measures connect to each other give the music it's emotion, power and rhythmical nature.

Furthermore, tabs never helped me to be good at keeping a beat because the numbers on the lines never tell you how long to play them or when a rest comes or anything else about the color of the note and how it flows to the next note; all you get are numbers on lines.

I personally wish I would have taken the time to read music notation first, it is a task in itself; but in the end, I believe the benefits far outweigh the time spent learning to play a song "the right way" using music notation.

Thoughts?



How I am improving my reading of music notation:
A free iPad app called Music Tutor. And lots of practice on my uke. Also, I put Mel Bay's Modern Ukulele Method Grade 1 into my practice book rotation. There are no tabs in the book; although he shows you were the notes are on the fret board at the beginning.

Tabs, written properly, show timing and rests and dynamics just as well as standard notation. The advent of computers made it more difficult for people to show the timing and rests. . ., so folks got lazy and showed only where to put your fingers and not when to put them there, but poorly written music is just as bad as poorly written tablature.

There are a couple of drawbacks to tablature.
One is that tab is instrument specific. A tab written for ukulele cannot be easily played by a banjo, guitar, mandolin or trumpet player. Standard notation does not have this limitation.
Another is that there are hundreds of books of fiddle tunes and other songs written in standard notation that are not available in instrument specific tabs.

An advantage to tab is that it is much easier to read than standard notation. Students of the ukulele or other fretted instrument can play simple tunes on the first day of reading tab, while standard notation is much harder to learn.
Another advantage to tab, that has been mentioned above in this thread, is that it shows you how to obtain a given note. The same A can be played on an open 1st string, the 5th fret of the 2nd string, the 9th fret of the 3rd string or the 2nd fret of the 4th string. Which one you choose will affect the ease of playing the next or preceding notes in a given passage.

As someone mentioned above, standard notation and tab are both ways of notating music, but they are not music. You can't listen to a sheet of paper. It becomes music when someone plays it.

I have learned songs/tunes from tab, standard notation and from records, videos or watching others and it's nice to have a choice.
 
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The Beatles did pretty well not reading TAB or notation!
 
Based on comments in this thread and from some friends I've decided I AM going to try and get back to reading standard notation. I remember most of the timing stuff, it's figuring out the notes from EGBDF and FACE that bogs me down. So as a first step I'm penciling in the name of the note below the staff and find I'm able to play at a reasonable speed. I DO know where the notes are on the fret board from practicing scales (well the C scale anyway).

Baby steps but I welcome the challenge and know there's a wealth of material out there in notation.

YMMV
 
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