Tablature fingering - a rite of passage?

drolling · March 2005

That's what it feels like sometimes. As I can't read music and don't have the greatest ear, I rely upon tablature to learn scales, arpeggios and whole tunes. For years I've been baffled by pieces that have been tabbed out in such a way as to make them impossible (for me, anyway) to play up to speed. Ultimately, I'm forced to relocate the notes elsewhere on the fretboard which has probably good for me in the long run, but I still wonder why so many transcribers do this. Is it a joke?

Don't get me wrong - I'm grateful to have such an abundance of teaching materials at my disposal. When I was a kid, they'd publish Beatle tunes that had been transcribed on piano and then blocked out in 'easy' chords for the guitar. We've certainly come a long way since then, but I still wonder why tab fingerings are so wrong so much of the time.

I used to think it was just me, but last night I downloaded 'Rhythm Futur' and when I started working on the tab this morning, I found myself running all over the neck. Just for fun, I slapped on the Rosenberg DVD and there goes Stochelo, playing the riff in 3 fret spaces using open strings. I guess I could (and probably should) redo the tab myself, but if I wasn't such a lazy guy I'd have learned to read standard notation by now and be making position choices for myself.

A big consolation is that the notes themselves are usually right, and all this repositioning is helping me to visualize the fretboard.

Without actually seeing someone play a tune, how can you tell if the suggested fingerings are correct?
thanks,
dr

CalebFSU · March 2005

I think it is really up to you about position. That was the hardest thing for me to get through my head when I was learning to read music. I get to pick? but how do I know for sure? I can't stress to people enough to learn to read music. I was hesitant to do so for a long time but I think as Jazz musicians we need to be able to comunicate musical ideas with others. With guitarists this is easy enough in tab, but when talking to Violinists or Bassists standard notation comes in real handy. I admit a lot of times If I am looking at say one of Dennis' transcriptions or Micheal's book I will look at their tab because they have taken time to pay attention to the positions no reason for me to guess. But it isn't very tough to learn to read It just takes(like everything) a little practice.

drolling · March 2005

The fact that some of my favorite players could not read music is no longer a viable excuse for me to remain ignorant. Gonna get some basic theory books this weekend.

In regards to finger positions, the stuff I've got from Dennis has been a pleasure to work with. The particular transcription I was referring to above was not his work, as far as I know. I haven't yet seen Michael's books, but I'm waiting on delivery of the first one. From everything I've read here, I'm certain it will be extremely helpful. Thanks for posting, Caleb.
dr

CalebFSU · March 2005

"The fact that some of my favorite players could not read music is no longer a viable excuse for me to remain ignorant. "

That was my reasoning the entire time I was in High School playing Punk and Garage Blues. But I realised it isn't very hard and will be nothing but helpfull.

If I can make a sugestion on book choices If you are totally new to reading music I would sugest "Sight to Sound" by Leon White and If you are familliar with Notation (just not with Guitar which was my case) Look for Reading Studies for Guitar from Berklee press ( we use this book for my Applied Jazz lessons here at school)