People who took lesson's.

[DerekDRP]

Hi all. Once I got a question or you all.

 

When you guy's/gal's took your first few lessons, Did the teacher ask you what you want to learn? Like tab's or sheet music?

 

 

Because mine did. And he said I will show you both but real musician's use sheet music. So I basically said screw tab's and I wanted sheet music. and he said good choice. ( It will help you out in the long run )

[SpaceGhost]

Tabs were and still aren't an option for my lessons. On occasion their might be tabs below the sheet music but tabs are less informative and next to useless when your playing a song you've never heard before.

[Troy Ponce]

My teacher said that tabs are good for the first 6 months or so just to learn a few tunes, but after that to learn to read sheet music. Solid advice.

[DerekDRP]

Thanks guy's I was going to mention that yesterday but I was gassing for air and completely forgot to post it lol.

[The Insomniac]

Sheet music has all the information you need to play a song. It also will give you the fundamentals you need for counting and communicating with other musicians.

 

Tabs are all over the place and sometimes help in learning a tune quickly. Very many times the tabs are wrong - really wrong.

[DerekDRP]

 

Originally posted by The Insomniac Sheet music has all the information you need to play a song. It also will give you the fundamentals you need for counting and communicating with other musicians. Tabs are all over the place and sometimes help in learning a tune quickly. Very many times the tabs are wrong - really wrong.

 

 

Aye ok thanks Man I cannot wait till jan-feb then i will have my dream bass. Woot.

[zenfascist]

Tabs are usually used by kids with no patience who want to learn their favorite songs without actually having to figure them out. They are missing out on something that wil help make you a good player, which is play-along. Put on one of your favorite records and try to play the bassline along with the song. I do this more than anything else when it comes to practice.

[mrcrow]

sheet music is the map..contains lots of info for lots of musicians...

you only read what you nead...

 

tabs imho are just pissing around at the edges....i say this because i cant read tabs and can read music...but i still have to master the bass clef..

 

i read root chord...melody line...and fit something into the song using scale material..arpeggii..and riffs..

 

your teacher will take longer to teach you this above tabs so if he wants quick results...and not lose a customer

 

tabs????

[zenfascist]

 

Originally posted by The Insomniac Tabs are all over the place and sometimes help in learning a tune quickly. Very many times the tabs are wrong - really wrong.

 

 

That's another problem with tabs is that they are inaccurate MOST of the time. It's best to try to avoid them at all costs IMHO.

[DerekDRP]

True guys thats why hes going to teach me music I dont want to do the easy way out. But longer to teach me is ""fine"" though. The old saying I got more time then money lol.

[sunburstbasser]

Tabs have their uses. Mostly learning 20 dumb songs for a bar band in two days without much effort ({censored} effort where its unnecessary!).

 

Learning how to at least read music is a major improvement over tabs. And reading music is more than just notes-its rhythms too. A lot of inexperienced players (and some who have been playing for many years) can read any note but can't count anything difficult. So make sure you spend some time learning what a quarter note does, and eighth, and so on.

[Reverend179]

I have no problem with tabs, personally. I see them as a great starting point- rarely do you find one on the internet that is one-hundred percent accurate, but oftentimes you can find one that will help you on your path to learning the song by ear. If I can't figure it out by myself, I'll go for a tab to get a general idea. I find it helps a lot.

 

Oh, and to anyone discriminating against a given type of musical tool- who are you to judge? Honestly. I don't give a {censored} if you play with a pick or fingers, use sheet music, nashville numbers, jazz charts, or tabs. Just shut the {censored} up and play your damn bass already!

[sunburstbasser]

I try not to discriminate against tabs TOO much. God knows I used enough learning stuff!

 

I discriminate against going by tabs and then playing along with the song, and playing it incorrectly even when you can hear the wrong-ness of it. I've done that a LOT too.

[Reverend179]

Well, yeah. VERY rarely do I ever follow a tab one hundred percent. I usually use them to see if anyone's got the basic gist of the song, but then I try to figure it out myself.

[sunburstbasser]

Thats the way to do it, though. Once you've got the basic idea, you can add your own things. When my bands do really dumb songs that I don't like playing I screw the bassline up until its practically a new song! "Rockin' in the Free World" is fun to do that with.

[gbassman100]

Derek, to answer that question we would need to know what your musical goals are. Every musician should learn to read music, it will make him a better musician and open doors to knowledge. However, depending on what your goals are, you may not want to start out spending most of your time learning to read music. It may be slow and boring and something you don't use much. It may be something you can do later.

 

I read music fluently, but I absolutely never use it for playing in my rock band. If your goal is to be a jazz musician or somebody playing backup for singers or stage productions, yes you want to learn to read music first. If you want to learn to play rock or blues and be in a band, you will want to be working on chord shapes, scale shapes, and general music theory more than reading music. That plus listening to tunes, figuring out lines and developing your ear.

 

The reality of being in a rock or blues band is (usually) you are given the lyrics and the chord progression, maybe a recording if it is a cover tune. Nobody's going to hand you a sheet of music and say "read this". Most of the guitar players and drummers you meet will not know how to read music. You'll be needing the music theory, the scales and the chord shapes to figure out what the bass player on the CD is doing, or to figure out your own bass line that fits the chords and the rhythm of the tune. Sometimes you may not even have the chords, just winging it by ear. All the time you spent learning to read music won't be of much help. Music theory and a trained ear will help a lot.

 

Yeah, learn to read music. Should it be the first thing? Maybe not. You can spend months learning to read music, and be no closer to your goal of playing blues or rock with other musicians, if that's the goal. In a blues or rock situation I'd rather have 3 months of music theory than 2 years of reading music.

[JenjaBen]

Powertabs are usually pretty accurate compared to all the other crap floating around on the net. Its got the notation and tab and it'll play the song in midi for you too.

[Thumper]

Shifting the topic....My teacher stressed good hand and body position, knowing the fretboard, and basic instrument maintenance. That has saved me a lot of physical discomfort and money over the years.

 

Tab came way later after I had stopped taking lessons. I still play entirely by ear, which has worked for me and the bands I've played in.

 

In retrospect, music theory would have helped a lot, as I blundered along on which note to play when for a while when I first started.

[bassplayer7770]

My teacher asked what I wanted to learn. Tabs weren't an option. I was more interested in learning more theory, new techniques, and new genres.

 

The first thing I worked on was correcting my right hand technique.

[DerekDRP]

 

Originally posted by gbassman100 Derek, to answer that question we would need to know what your musical goals are. Every musician should learn to read music, it will make him a better musician and open doors to knowledge. However, depending on what your goals are, you may not want to start out spending most of your time learning to read music. It may be slow and boring and something you don't use much. It may be something you can do later. I read music fluently, but I absolutely never use it for playing in my rock band. If your goal is to be a jazz musician or somebody playing backup for singers or stage productions, yes you want to learn to read music first. If you want to learn to play rock or blues and be in a band, you will want to be working on chord shapes, scale shapes, and general music theory more than reading music. That plus listening to tunes, figuring out lines and developing your ear. The reality of being in a rock or blues band is (usually) you are given the lyrics and the chord progression, maybe a recording if it is a cover tune. Nobody's going to hand you a sheet of music and say "read this". Most of the guitar players and drummers you meet will not know how to read music. You'll be needing the music theory, the scales and the chord shapes to figure out what the bass player on the CD is doing, or to figure out your own bass line that fits the chords and the rhythm of the tune. Sometimes you may not even have the chords, just winging it by ear. All the time you spent learning to read music won't be of much help. Music theory and a trained ear will help a lot. Yeah, learn to read music. Should it be the first thing? Maybe not. You can spend months learning to read music, and be no closer to your goal of playing blues or rock with other musicians, if that's the goal. In a blues or rock situation I'd rather have 3 months of music theory than 2 years of reading music.

 

 

Derek, to answer that question we would need to know what your musical goals are

 

My goal's is to be able to play any peice of music. All of it, But would most likely suck. And to be able to play with a band and in the churches band. And to get this one woman I want :-P

[SpaceGhost]

 

Originally posted by bassplayer7770 My teacher asked what I wanted to learn. Tabs weren't an option. I was more interested in learning more theory, new techniques, and new genres. The first thing I worked on was correcting my right hand technique.

 

Same here. I think that I hit a wall and started taking lessons to get me over that. I think the hand technique thing really helped me out with playing better in general. I used to play with the pinky "salute" but after a couple months of lessons I finally got the technique down.