Learning Tab

VegasGeorge

VegasGeorge

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I've been a musician all my life, and play other instruments reading music. But, I'd like to learn to play (sight read) Ukulele by tab. Can you recommend a specifically "tab" method book that starts off easy, and winds up advanced? I'm thinking of a book written for the purpose of developing tab reading skills, rather than just a songbook.
 
If you are serious, just download tabbed songs and play. You'll get better fast.
 
I've tried that already, and gotten discouraged. I guess the songs I want to play are just too advanced in tab. I play them all the time using chord symbols and improvised picking and strumming, even picking out some melody and bass lines by ear. But someone else's tablature for the same song is too much for me. I need some organized method allowing me to start off reading tab for Mary had a little lamb, and working up to Rhapsody in blue.
 
One thing more. My goal here isn't to learn what tab means, or to be able to sit down and struggle through a tabbed piece over and over again until my fingers and brain remember how it goes. I can already do that. I want to be able to sit down with a tabbed song that I've never played before, and simply play through it by sight reading the tab the same way I can sight read music on my other instruments. It's my idea that a structured method book would give me a short cut toward achieving that goal.
 
VegasGeorge said:
One thing more. I want to be able to sit down with a tabbed song that I've never played before, and simply play through it by sight reading the tab the same way I can sight read music on my other instruments.
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I'm not sure there's a short cut for that - I can do that now but it took me about 4 years of regular playing (although admittedly, I didn't follow a method book). Same goes for sight reading standard notation - I never was especially good at it when I was a kid taking music lessons, but I've gotten... passable at it as an adult playing ukulele from easy piano sheet music. For me, it's been just a matter of doing it, and doing it often.

That said - Pekelo's books, if I remember correctly, are more structured toward learning fingerstyle than any others I've seen, so learning tab is a big component of that.
 
VegasGeorge said:
It's my idea that a structured method book would give me a short cut toward achieving that goal.
Click to expand...

This comment hits me as ironic, because tab was originally designed as a short cut toward learning to read music.

That said, I don't think there's a specific method book available for learning to read tab for ukulele; you might have to venture into electric guitar literature as that's the instrument that most commonly relies on tablature to convey musical ideas, and even then it's limited in its scope compared to sheet music (but you know that already).

Good luck. If you find something, please post it as I'm sure many will appreciate the info.
 
http://quietamericanmusic.com/storestore/pre-order-a-ukulele-handbook

It is a mixture of tab and chords/strumming, but the tab stuff is excellent. It first breaks down melodies into single line TAB, where you see the fret numbers on just a single line, then goes into some simple melodies on full 4 string tab. Its a clever and nice smooth approach, that I just started doing with my own students.
 
You might check out Easy Classical Ukulele Solos. It has both standard notation and tab and includes a nice little primer on how to read tabulature at the beginning.
 
What I've done, George, is read the tabs like sight reading music. Just sit without a Uke and read the tabs. You can start with one string scales, and then move on to other type of scales. You probably know where some of the notes are, and that'll be a big help.

So, reading the tabs (write them if you must) on the A string, say: A skip B skip C# D skip E skip F# G# A. Then go on the E string and so forth. If you know some other scales do the same with them. Once you know where a lot of the notes are try an easy tune. This worked pretty well for me until I got bored with it. I even tried singing tabs with mixed results. Anyway that's what I did, and I have less trouble with tabs than I had before. Another secret to playing with them is remembering not to get them mixed up with reading music. They are different from reading music on the staffs; music makes sense. The four lines are the four Uke strings and not the staff lines.

A LITTLE SIDE ISSUE: Ever since your dratted cracked fingernail thread, I have been breaking my nails every time I touch something. Yesterday, while I was working out, I grabbed a dumbbell and broke my strumming fingernail. Last week I tore the heck out of my Clawhammer finger when I tried to fix it with my teeth--Bah! You've jinxed me.

Well good luck with the tabs. My way is a bit boring, but it worked pretty well for me. :eek:ld:
 
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VegasGeorge said:
I've been a musician all my life, and play other instruments reading music. But, I'd like to learn to play (sight read) Ukulele by tab. Can you recommend a specifically "tab" method book that starts off easy, and winds up advanced? I'm thinking of a book written for the purpose of developing tab reading skills, rather than just a songbook.
Click to expand...

Jamie Holding's "20 Melodies for Beginners" https://www.classicalukulele.co.uk/shop/e-books/20-melodies-for-beginners/ may fit in with your basic requirements. There's no specific "method" included, but the tunes are all tabbed for a high-G ukulele and, if I remember correctly, they are all single-note melodies, so no complicated two-or-more notes at a time to worry about.

The music is all "olde English", so if you don't like that style this choice may not be for you, but at least there's a free sample to try ...

I've got three of Jamie's e-books (four if you count the free one) and enjoy all of them ... at least worth a look :)
 
One Bad Monkey said:
That said, I don't think there's a specific method book available for learning to read tab for ukulele ....
Click to expand...

I'm thinking you're probably right about that. I've Google Searched, searched on Amazon, etc. I didn't find anything like what I was hoping for. So, I guess I will just do what you all have done, struggle through it until it becomes easier.

Thanks for all the good suggestions! I've got several tab books here, I'll just tackle one or two tunes I'm familiar with even though they may be a bit more advanced than I'd like for starters.

Imagine how discouraging it would be for a new piano student to be given a typical four part piano vocal score, and told to just play it. That, in essence, is what learning tab is going to be like. Argh!
 
VegasGeorge said:
I'm thinking you're probably right about that. I've Google Searched, searched on Amazon, etc. I didn't find anything like what I was hoping for. So, I guess I will just do what you all have done, struggle through it until it becomes easier.

Thanks for all the good suggestions! I've got several tab books here, I'll just tackle one or two tunes I'm familiar with even though they may be a bit more advanced than I'd like for starters.

Imagine how discouraging it would be for a new piano student to be given a typical four part piano vocal score, and told to just play it. That, in essence, is what learning tab is going to be like. Argh!
Click to expand...

Seriously consider the ukulele beginners handbook from Aaron keim that I linked to. I'm using parts of it to teach my 7 and 8th graders how to read tab. It's going pretty well. It really is catered to those just starting to read/play.
 
janeray1940 said:
I can do that now but it took me about 4 years of regular playing.
Click to expand...

i thought playing with tabs is; learning mesure for mesure, lick by lick, untill you can play the whole song out of memory

and that way i used tabs untill now, i thought its not possible to play by reading tabs
BUT i was wrong, you are right!
why not? when its possible to play from sheet by standard notation, its also possible with tabs, even easier i guess

so i took some realy easy tabs und just played ... hey thats fun , it works... and hopefully in 4 years i can say the same as you "i can do this" - thanks for the hint
 
Andreas Fischer said:
i thought playing with tabs is; learning mesure for mesure, lick by lick, untill you can play the whole song out of memory

and that way i used tabs untill now, i thought its not possible to play by reading tabs
BUT i was wrong, you are right!
why not? when its possible to play from sheet by standard notation, its also possible with tabs, even easier i guess

so i took some realy easy tabs und just played ... hey thats fun , it works... and hopefully in 4 years i can say the same as you "i can do this" - thanks for the hint
Click to expand...

You see, that's it! That's exactly it! I too can sit and struggle, etc. But I want to read it and play it on sight, like I read regular music notation. And a structured tab method book, running from easy beginner, to advanced tabbed tunes would be a great boon. Maybe one of you guys out there who is an experienced and proficient tab reader will write one!
 
I really think our trouble with reading tabs is that we read music on the staffs! It's no where near the same. One sees a note on the staffs and presses a valve or a key that he/she has learned will play that note--viola! And it's one note--one fingering (usually). But the tabs tell one exactly where to fret! One doesn't really even need to know what note he/she is playing! One simply frets "3 on the 2nd string" and he/she gets the required note (G). And, I guess to tab only peeps, if it sounds correct, it is correct. We're probably hung up on trying to "play it correctly" rather than just doing what we're told by the tabs. So, George, forget about staff music, learn your fretboard as I already suggested and go with the flow. You don't need a book!!!!

So just let yer hair down and do what the tabs say, or, if you're fingerpicking, use real music! "Get 'er done!" :eek:ld:
 
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A big problem with ukulele tabs is that they are not standardized. With stuff I download from the internet the notation is all over the place and some of it I find pretty incomprehensible. A lot of people do some really strange stuff to denote rhythms. My favorite tabs include the standard notation. If you read enough tab, it is definitely quite possible to play a lot of it reasonably well with sight reading.

It's a lot easier to play stuff that is coming from you than it is to read any kind of music that is written down. Even though my tab reading is pretty fluent, I can do far more elaborate finger-style playing when I pick out the melody and add to it. I think this is true of everyone. There is a story about John Coltrane (a great sax player) and his masterpiece "A love Supreme", most of which was him improvising. He had someone come up to him after a performance and hand him a transcription of "A Love Supreme" and ask him to play it. Coltrane looked at it and said "I can't play that, it's way too hard".
 
I've been playing music for years and years, but I have mostly played as it's written. I also whistle all the time and improvise freely. Then, lately, I've been saying "I wish I could play like I whistle", and, POW! it hit me. Why don't I? So now I'm teaching myself how to improvise (by ear, though I have a very good book) and having a ball. I'm improvising some blues too--mostly 12 bar. Learning music is a "Neverending Story . . ."

I usually fingerpick my Ukes by ear but mostly just the melodies. I guess I'll have to try to improvise on the Ukes too. :eek:ld:
 
VegasGeorge said:
You see, that's it! That's exactly it! I too can sit and struggle, etc. But I want to read it and play it on sight, like I read regular music notation. And a structured tab method book, running from easy beginner, to advanced tabbed tunes would be a great boon. Maybe one of you guys out there who is an experienced and proficient tab reader will write one!
Click to expand...

I didn't realize until this thread that tab was played any other way than site reading. Perhaps the struggle is because your mind wants to know what note is played. Tab tells me where, not what.
 
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