Tab/Sheet Software?

It sounds to me more like you’re creating an extra step. It’s akin to writing out directions to get somewhere, and instead of writing, “Turn right on Main street”, you write, “When you approach Main street, apply the brakes and spin the steering wheel clockwise”.
Tab is just weird to me, sorry.

If you are watching/listening to someone play and you are trying to learn that song, it might be helpful to create it. Not everyone can read/create sheet music.

Yes. Good tabs (with note duration) convey more information than standard notation - sometimes you do want to get across a suggested fingering.

Tablature and standard notation are both tools for understanding and communicating music. I see no need to reject one of the tools available to me, especially given the utter paucity of sheet music for bass for many genres.

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Yeah, I can maybe understand it in that scenario. I can also understand tab for beginners.
What I’m questioning is: If you already know how to read music, and you know what the note is, why spend the time writing down which fret and string to play? Just play the note.
That’s all I’m saying, really.

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I supply a lot of sheet music to the jam groups I play with.
Every person is an individual and if they only want to use TAB that’s fine with me.

I think TAB alone is so limiting, especially if you do not know the song.
I supply both standard notation and TAB on one one sheet so everybody is happy.

This is the first time I have heard of anyone starting with TAB and wanting to convert it to sheet music though. I was happy to see that MuseScore can accomplish this :+1:

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Even if you can’t read music (and you should try) you still should be able to read the tempo an duration of notes.
Tab does not give you this no matter how close or far apart they put the numbers.
You can play a piece of music with notation blind, you cannot play it with tab alone.
You must hear the music as well to get the tempo.

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Exactly!!!

Does anyone believe you could go to a studio gig and they’d hand you a sheet of tablature to play? It doesn’t happen. It’s always in music notation.
I personally think (and this is just my opinion), anyone who has completed the B2B course and still relies on tab is retarding their progress as a bass player. You must learn, at the very least, the basics of reading. Tab is just too limiting.

That’s how I supply it to all my jam buddies so everybody’s happy.

I think this is another area of music that is a personal choice.
As long as it works for you it’s all good. :+1:

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I guess I’m just a jerk. I write all my scores in music notation without tab. Hate me. LOL

Because i’m going to think about where to play it and write down where to play it instead of writing a “C” note on the staff and then having to decide later did i want to play that on the 8th fret of the E string or the 3rd fret of the A string. If you write notation, you have to convert it into tab in your head anyway. Standard notation is ambiguous, tab isn’t.

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I do a lot of volunteer work at my daughters’ school the middle school band has 4 bassists none can read really well and all wants tab. I can barely read tab. I don’t really use sheets either. I learn the songs then create my cheat sheets I’m good to go.

That’s why if I can play and generate tabs it would be great. Makes life simpler for me, lol. Plus the same note can be played in several places. Tabs provide where the left hand should be.

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I choose whichever is easiest for whatever I’m doing… and just like photography, what i say i’m going to do and what i end up doing isn’t always the same thing :slight_smile:

haha, not a jerk. In my case I know 0 about sheet and can read tab easier because I used it playing drums… If I’m trying to do something today instead of several hours of learning all the sheet shiit (see what I did there :wink: ? I need tab for now. I’ll get to sheet eventually!

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MuseScore does it automatically for you so there is no extra time spent.

This is something that is decided in practice. Whether to play that C on A3 or E8 will be decided by the artist while playing the song. I do this all the time; experiment with different fingerings of the same note to see which flows better with the tune. I don’t need to write it down, I just do it.

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you could write your music on a placemat with pudding and I’d be like “sure, whatever works for you” :slight_smile:

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I know you will, and trust me, my comments are not aimed at you. :smiley_cat:

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The economy of motion takes years of experience and understanding the fingerboard and also the understanding of personal skills in the tool bag. Some path or shape might make sense but personal preference trumps everything else. When your skills improves new paths opens up in your line of sight.

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These are actually the same note pitch wise but the timbre is different. Which one you pick is up to you and may depend on what notes came before or are coming after.

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Right on @Celticstar . We could get into a whole another conversation about that, but I think you follow my drift.

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