Tab sites

I know a good description how to do just that :slight_smile:

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I think this is a big part of it. And I think that “correctness” level can vary from song to song for the same player. As in, they might consider one tab that’s 97% accurate to be “correct enough” while another that is 99% accurate is not good enough for a different song.

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I think it’s number two. Transcription is a time-consuming, tedious process. It’s not surprising to me that people who submit tabs (for free) get to a point where they say, “good enough”.

To be more clear, the errors and omissions I find in tabs on Songsterr are usually in the fills. The good tabs get the main groove right. But they may omit some fills or variations on the groove, or there may be some mistakes in those. But usually you have enough of the song at that point that it’s not too hard to figure out the omissions.

I also think it’s likely that people who can do accurate transcriptions don’t share them for free.

I think the biggest issue I have with tabs on Songsterr and other places is that the fingerings they provide are often suboptimal. For some reason people that submit these tabs tend to prefer to slide all up and down the neck on one string instead of crossing strings horizontally. This often makes songs more awkward to play than they should be. So I’d always recommend checking the fingering in the tab and making sure there isn’t a better one. This also makes me think the people submitting these tabs aren’t anything close to an advanced player, which would also explain the transcription errors.

A perfect example is the song Good Times by Chic. All the tabs I’ve seen for it online involve going all down the neck on the E and A string. But when you realize the main groove is just the Dorian scale, you can use the Dorian scale shape, which is much easier and probably how Bernard Edwards actually played it.

I can see why people might think of it as subjective, but it’s not. 100% correct is correct. Anything less may be “good enough” for a given person, but it’s not correct.

The only time it could possibly be subjective is if you have a bass player who plays a song different ways on different albums or performances. Then the subjective element would merely be which version is the “correct” one. But the transcription for that version would either be objectively correct or not.

Another possible subjective element would be the fingering, as many riffs can be fingered multiple ways. In this case, I’d think the “correct” one is the way the original bass player played it, unless there’s an objectively better alternative fingering (and even then, the bassist likely used the fingering they did for tonal reasons).

Are we not setting impossibly high standards here. And shouldn’t we clarify what ‘accurate’ and ‘correct’ mean

I have used Ultimate Guitar for tabs for the last 2 decades. I bought lifetime access for a tenner :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

“Why I remember when it was a free site and there were no subscription models, no ‘official’ tabs and no tab player. “ (Rocks back n forth on his old creaking rocking chair as he draws heavily from his short walnut pipe, gazing longingly at his old worn instrument , thinking of days past ) :man_white_haired::rofl:

They were all written with notepad and used dashes for string lines. They were not created by the original recording artist or anyone involved but were transcribed afterwards and were an interpretation of what the person heard and how they would play it, and we would rate them.
Move to now and that hasn’t changed just the tech to write/display it is better and more standard notation has become involved in the tab notation but the process is the same., done by the same individuals. So can we expect their transcription to be perfect to the recording we’ve chosen to learn. Give 10 bassists 1 line to learn in a week and you will get 10 different lines a week later

When it comes to a 100% ‘correct’ tab I ask this question.

For The Animals - House of the Rising Sun would you like the 100% accurate tab (which contains the mistake made by Chad in the original recording) or the 100% correct tab (which omits the bassists little blunder)?

And whilst we are here what would a correct sheet look like for my instrument?

It’s a rhythm instrument so surely the correct version will give me the correct groove but the fills would be left to my own interpretation.

My tuppence worth

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TBH I would simply prefer accurate sheet music coverage across many genres, but we are not getting that any time soon. And the one thing that machine transcription- be it AI or rocksmith/tonelib - are spectacularly shitty at, it is generating reasonable standard notation.

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I hear you on that. I started down the music reading path in January. At least with UG Pro ‘Official’ I can use the standard notation and know it at least was written by a human at some point, regardless of accuracy issues. I think I’ve just reduced my expectation for what I term accurate from ‘it has to be note perfect’ to ‘it has to sound good and be close enough’.

Let’s face it, usually I would be at the back of a mix and only need fills when everyone else stfu :rofl:

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IMO, one of the best deals for bass tabs (with and without notation) are the ones transcribed and played by Jason. You pay $29.95 once and get all of his previous tabs (485 and counting), plus you get all future tabs for free. He transcribes dozens of different bands. He releases one or two per week, with him playing the bass cover over the song.

Here’s his website: Bass Tabs by Jason

Here’s an example video that he released today. I like the way his videos are a closeup of the bass and his playing.

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On the other hand, there’s Cover Solutions which has 1.4k songs and is free:

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That’s a good YouTube channel. Sub’d!

Two things though.

  1. If you want printed/PDF full tabs, you have to join his Patreon channel, so not totally free.

  2. It’s tab only. No notation. Personally, I need/want the notation. Jason provides both in PDF form: tab only and tab with notation.

For those who can’t read notation, this is a great addition to the Tab sites repository. Thanks for sharing. That guy can play!

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@ConstantineBass has some great material out there as well, including standard notation as well as in Guitar Pro format:

https://bassinstructor.ca/bass-notes-tab/

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You can join the patreon for 1 month and download everything, so a super great deal.

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