Trouble reading tabs

KnowsPickin

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Anybody besides me have trouble reading tabs? I fully understand how they work and what the little numbers on the lines mean. But I really have problems making it work.

I've always thought I was a little dyslexic when it comes to learning music from a page. I play a number of stringed instruments (bass, guitar, mandolin); but the learning curve on uke is harder than I've experienced before, particularly due to reentrant tuning. I've just got to force myself to work hard at tab every day until it becomes vaguely intuitive. But I'm never going to get really good at the ukulele unless I can put tablature to work for me so I can move past first position open chords.

I do fine with the chord block diagrams. Tab would be easier if it also included block diagrams for basic hand positions for the regular number tab below. But you rarely see that.

Wish me luck.

.
 
A little of both. I am currently only attempting tab on songs for which I already am familiar. So I know generally what the finished product should sound like. But I try to dredge through the tabs in a way that I can play this particular arrangement as written.

Eventually I'd like to be able to play it from memory or by ear. But for now I'm just trying to reproduce the arrangement.
 
But I'm never going to get really good at the ukulele unless I can put tablature to work for me so I can move past first position open chords..

I do disagree with this. Tab is great - for learning stuff that is tabbed. There is much more music in the air and in standard notation than in 'ukulele tab. If you have a mental block with tab, try learning the same thing some other way. Though it can be great, tab is not the be-all-end-all. Best of luck with your studies.
 
I've had to go really slow and slow down the tempos a great deal when trying to figure out a new thing, like tab. Very slow in the beginning, and it can be boring to practice, but if I hang with it, it gets better.
 
I've got a form of dyslexia specific to numbers/math (dyscalculia) and sometimes I have trouble with tab as well. If there is also standard notation, I have an easier time since it gives me a visual of where I'm going. Also, I sometimes draw out little chord boxes above measures that I'm having a hard time with - for me, this helps.
 
I've had to go really slow and slow down the tempos a great deal when trying to figure out a new thing, like tab. Very slow in the beginning, and it can be boring to practice, but if I hang with it, it gets better.

Same here. But going slow, really slow, is what pays off for me. I'm just starting to pick a few things and it's exciting and difficult. But I really want to get decent at reading tabs.
 
Knows,

I have trouble with tabs because there is no note duration. If I have a recording of the song or have heard it a lot I can get by. I use tabs as a path to memorize not site read, I am too slow to do that. I would much rather have standard notation to learn from, although it's much slower for me to figure out, it works better especially for songs whose melody I am not real familiar with. A lot of time I have to change keys, and tabs are a pain to change keys in. I lot of times I convert tabs to letter notes when I am learning a new song.

Too bad there is so much in tabs instead of std. notation these days. I once saw a tab where the author went to great lengths to note time signature,duration, etc. in a tab format they invented. They had a glossary to guide you as the reinvented musical notation. I was thinking why not just learn real musical notation instead of reinventing it. That doesn't help you any, just me blathering on.

I just spent a couple of days rearranging three versions of "I'm Gonna Sit Right Down And Write Myself A Letter" into one. Had to change the key and transcribe the melody. Luckily I had the original sheet music for the melody I got from Ian, a member here. It was really useful to have the note duration. So maybe the answer is to just be patient and take your time.
 
I have trouble with tabs because there is no note duration.
There are a lot of tabs that do include note durations, but most use the same conventions as standard notation and you have to know how to read them.

Sight reading is something that takes a lot of practice. My background is in classical guitar, and most CG players are notoriously poor sight readers. I actually enjoy it and have gotten pretty good at it. On the other hand, I seem to have been born without the memorization gene. :p
 
I seem to have been born without the memorization gene. :p

And that makes two of us :)

I'll probably never be a great sight reader, but I enjoy it as well and I know the more I do it, the better I'll get even if I never approach "great."
 
I have just recently had members asking me to write out a melody line for some of our tunes, especially a couple that I've written for the group, so they can know how to sing the melody line. I am good with rhythmic dictation, but my melodic dictation is not that great. It is time for me to really find some notation software. Many of our club players also sing in church choirs, so a melody line would help them a lot.
 
And that makes two of us :)

I'll probably never be a great sight reader, but I enjoy it as well and I know the more I do it, the better I'll get even if I never approach "great."
I think part of my memorization issue is that I learned music in a traditional school band/orchestra environment, where no one ever plays without looking at the music on the stand in front of them, and no one is required to memorize anything. Even in marching band, we had those little lyres that clamped onto your instrument and held a miniature book with the music you'd be playing.

I will say that being able to read and play music while simultaneously keeping in marching stride can be considerably more of an effort than just walking and chewing gum at the same time. :p

In Tucson during my HS years, the band always marched in the Rodeo Days parade. Other schools got Washington and Lincoln's b-days as holidays (before the consolidation into "Presidents day"), we got two days off for the annual rodeo. The parade was billed as the world's longest non-mechanized parade. Meaning, they used a lot of horses. And that was before horsey butt buckets. If you ended up toward the back of the parade, you had to constantly dodge the road apples while trying not to break your stride. :eek:

One reason I really enjoy sight reading is that it allows me to explore things I haven't heard before, and without my mind having been pre-conditioned to someone else's interpretation. :)
 
I will say that being able to read and play music while simultaneously keeping in marching stride can be considerably more of an effort than just walking and chewing gum at the same time. :p

In Tucson during my HS years, the band always marched in the Rodeo Days parade. Other schools got Washington and Lincoln's b-days as holidays (before the consolidation into "Presidents day"), we got two days off for the annual rodeo. The parade was billed as the world's longest non-mechanized parade. Meaning, they used a lot of horses. And that was before horsey butt buckets. If you ended up toward the back of the parade, you had to constantly dodge the road apples while trying not to break your stride. :eek:

One reason I really enjoy sight reading is that it allows me to explore things I haven't heard before, and without my mind having been pre-conditioned to someone else's interpretation. :)

I've never tried the marching/reading music/playing combination, let alone said combination with road apples - but I think I'd be a miserable failure. I'm really not good at multi-tasking!

I'm at the point where tabs with someone else's interpretation are completely lost on me. I prefer to start with just chords and melody and add the rest myself, which is why I've found simple piano sheet music to be my favorite place to start.
 
I think part of my memorization issue is that I learned music in a traditional school band/orchestra environment, where no one ever plays without looking at the music on the stand in front of them, and no one is required to memorize anything. Even in marching band, we had those little lyres that clamped onto your instrument and held a miniature book with the music you'd be playing.

I will say that being able to read and play music while simultaneously keeping in marching stride can be considerably more of an effort than just walking and chewing gum at the same time. :p

In Tucson during my HS years, the band always marched in the Rodeo Days parade. Other schools got Washington and Lincoln's b-days as holidays (before the consolidation into "Presidents day"), we got two days off for the annual rodeo. The parade was billed as the world's longest non-mechanized parade. Meaning, they used a lot of horses. And that was before horsey butt buckets. If you ended up toward the back of the parade, you had to constantly dodge the road apples while trying not to break your stride. :eek:

One reason I really enjoy sight reading is that it allows me to explore things I haven't heard before, and without my mind having been pre-conditioned to someone else's interpretation. :)

The horses comment reminds me of the Tournament parade in Pasadena!

Our high school band had to memorize all the marching music. In college, it was a lot of scale memorization and more marching music that was a lot harder than high school level stuff. We were like a marching jazz band.

I have a very strange clarinet gift. I can sight read a piece of clarinet music and sometimes nail it with hardly a mistake. And that will be the last time I ever play it that well. It is the strangest thing. It doesn't happen on any other instrument, especially ukulele.
 
I sharted playing ukulele from regular sheet music, and everything was more or less fine. Then I noticed that lots of Uke music that I wanted to play was in tabs only, so I thought I'd better learn it (groan). And now I've pretty much learned it, but I really don't understand why ukuists can't just learn to read regular music at least for playing song accompaniments. When I play scales and noodle tunes that I know, I usually play by ear or find 'n fret.

Another thing that gives me the yips, is when the music has notes on the staff AND tabs. I usually end up playing half tabs and half regular music--confusing to say the least.

When one can read music, he can hear it in his mind, but I can't even come close to doing that with tabs.
 
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