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Couldn't get the video to play - Thunderstorms have made everything wet, and ATT plus water equals slow Internet.
However, I feel guitarists should learn regular notation. Tab could be an addition, but normal notation should be primary.
Why?
Notation is universal. You can play everything, even if you don't know it. Tab books are limited.
I know a guitarist who gets a lot of session work because he can read regular music (I've played sax on more than a few sessions with him).
You can even play with people who don't speak your language.
I admit, reading music on the sax and piano is easier than reading music on the guitar. But every instrument has its gifts and challenges. Transposing is way easier on the guitar. Sax and piano require entirely different fingerings.
So just as the sax and piano person becomes a better player by learning to transpose, the guitarist becomes a better player by learning to read universal notation.
That's my personal opinion anyway YMMV
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Notes I agree 100%.
Way back in the late 1960's I was one of the few guitarist around our area that could read music and most importantly site read music. I was hired by a group of older musicians who wanted to add a guitarist who could read and jam, this was my first wedding band experience. While my friends were playing in bars for $15 a night I was playing weddings for $100 a night.
If one can read music then music can be a lifetime hobby or career.
PS - I have one of those old fake books only now I have a hard time reading those notes! I think they shrunk.
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Way back in the Jurassic Period, one used to have to sight read well just to be able to join the union. Now all you need is a computer and Autotune.  The Union in Philly had this guy that used to make sure you could read well. 
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Way back in the Jurassic Period, one used to have to sight read well just to be able to join the union. Now all you need is a computer and Autotune. The Union in Philly had this guy that used to make sure you could read well. Didn't he buy a better suit and become governor of NJ?
You can find my music at: www.herbhartley.comAdd nothing that adds nothing to the music. You can make excuses or you can make progress but not both. The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding.
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Way back in the Jurassic Period, one used to have to sight read well just to be able to join the union. Now all you need is a computer and Autotune. The Union in Philly had this guy that used to make sure you could read well. Didn't he buy a better suit and become governor of NJ? No, but I understand he's buried somewhere in Jersey. We'll never know.
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It looks like the union may be stretched a little thin where I live. Local 342 covers 40 of North Carolina's 100 counties, almost half of South Carolina and part of Georgia. ++ AFM Local 342 website ++ Unions have never been that strong in this part of the US.
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In the Northeast, you couldn't get a decent club gig if you weren't union. (And guess who ran the Unions?)  These were my Union reps when we were playing Bob's Country Bunker: 
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In the Northeast, you couldn't get a decent club gig if you weren't union. (And guess who ran the Unions?) These were my Union reps when we were playing Bob's Country Bunker: Yeah but who can forget their version of "Stand By Your Man" or "The Theme From Rawhide". Now THATs real country music! Their band wasn't too shabby either.
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Perhaps this should be titled: why you shouldn't depend on tab. TAB is perfectly ok if you understand the music behind it.
Who here plays off of chord charts? Or are you such a notation purist that you refuse to cheat that way and instead transcribe out everything onto staff paper?
Just as silly as those who say you should never use a capo.
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Perhaps this should be titled: why you shouldn't depend on tab. TAB is perfectly ok if you understand the music behind it.
Who here plays off of chord charts? Or are you such a notation purist that you refuse to cheat that way and instead transcribe out everything onto staff paper?
Just as silly as those who say you should never use a capo. +1
You can find my music at: www.herbhartley.comAdd nothing that adds nothing to the music. You can make excuses or you can make progress but not both. The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding.
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Perhaps this should be titled: why you shouldn't depend on tab. TAB is perfectly ok if you understand the music behind it.
Who here plays off of chord charts? Or are you such a notation purist that you refuse to cheat that way and instead transcribe out everything onto staff paper?
Just as silly as those who say you should never use a capo. I agree completely.
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Since this topic keeps coming up on here, I went back to a post I made in 2011 about TAB, standard notation, BIAB and importing MIDI files: "I’m going to take one more crack at this. Most, (not all), musicians who play fretted stringed instruments prefer TAB to standard notation. If you import midi into notation software the standard notation will be correct but the TAB almost certainly will NOT be the way the music is actually played, although it will be plausible or technically correct. What you created may look similar to you, but the TAB and fretboard will almost certainly be wrong. Why does this matter? For example, an open G string sounds different than a D string fretted at the 5th fret, or an A string fretted at the 10th fret, or a low E string fretted at the 15th fret. But they are all the same note and same octave, yet they sound different, especially on an acoustic guitar. Midi and std. notation treat all these notes the same. Here is an excerpt from something I wrote several years ago concerning TAB vs. std notation. ".......Tablature vs standard notation for stringed/fretted instruments. It’s frequently maligned and often misunderstood by people who don’t play stringed instruments, (and occasionally by those who do play them). For anyone who may not be familiar with tablature, the number of lines = the number of strings. For example, a guitar has 6 strings and therefore has 6 lines in the notation. A banjo has 5 strings and therefore has 5 lines. A bass guitar has 4 strings and 4 lines, etc. A 0, (zero), on a line means an open string. A number on a particular line means you fret that string on that fret. In the following, I have given 8 examples of a G major scale, all played in the same octave, in 8 different positions on the guitar. There are other positions you could play this scale in this octave, but “Eight Is Enough”. (I’m showing my age here). Tablature and standard notation are shown.   So TAB doesn’t just tell you what note to play, but where to play it. If you don’t play guitar, you might ask “why does it matter which one you use?” In some cases it may not, but each position opens up different possibilities for phrases or licks or ease of fingering. And they sound different when played on an instrument vs. playback of a midi file. When “pickers” create music notation, they usually aren’t going to be importing a file, but manually entering the notes in TAB instead of std. notation, unless they’re a classical or jazz musician. While it may be possible to create something that looks similar to the original post in BIAB, it’s extremely unwieldy, time consuming and impractical. And the sheet music when printed is definitely not professional quality, or as Finale calls it, “engraver quality”....."
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Perhaps this should be titled: why you shouldn't depend on tab. TAB is perfectly ok if you understand the music behind it.
Who here plays off of chord charts? Or are you such a notation purist that you refuse to cheat that way and instead transcribe out everything onto staff paper?
Just as silly as those who say you should never use a capo. I agree completely. I also agree.
Principal: Your child always causes trouble in school.
Me: My child causes trouble at home, do I ever call you?
64 bit Win 10 Pro, the latest BiaB/RB, Roland Octa-Capture audio interface, a ton of software/hardware
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Perhaps this should be titled: why you shouldn't depend on tab. TAB is perfectly ok if you understand the music behind it.
Who here plays off of chord charts? Or are you such a notation purist that you refuse to cheat that way and instead transcribe out everything onto staff paper?
Just as silly as those who say you should never use a capo. I never use a capo. Moveable chords work fine for me. But then I don't play the kind of music that depends on open string chords. And I don't think TAB is a bad addition to reading standard notation anymore than I think chord names are or a fake book is. But my personal opinion is that every musician should learn how to read standard notation and know basic music theory. Insights and incites by Notes
Bob "Notes" Norton Norton Music
https://www.nortonmusic.com
100% MIDI Super-Styles recorded by live, pro, studio musicians for a live groove
& Fake Disks for MIDI and/or RealTracks
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I respectfully disagree with Notes.
I don't think every musician should learn how to read standard notation NOR know basic music theory.
I agree that there are SOME musicians who, possibly because they've never been around music much, or never grew up with music, SHOULD do both. I've played with people who can't keep time and/or can't sing in tune.
A few things come to mind.
In my own case, I've been playing a musical instrument since I was 8, and that was over 60 years ago. Although I picked up some basic music theory along the way, I cannot read standard notation, nor have I ever found a need to, nor do I ever plan to. If you do, and can, "good on ya", but not for me.
Two of my guitar-playing acquaintances are at opposite ends of this spectrum. One knows theory, reads music, has played in all kinds of bands and sounds great. The other sounds equally as good but he couldn't tell you what chord he was playing nor what key he was in. Both are "musicians". One has a need for notation and theory, the other does not.
In my last few years of "snowbirding" wintering, I've played in several Jam Sessions with many different "musicians". The majority of them woud have quit long ago if they had been made to learn notation and theory. They do it for their own enjoyment.
If Notes meant "every gigging musician, who wants to be able to sit in with other 'reading musicians' and feel comfortable", then of course they will be better off with notation and theory. But "every musician"??? I would disagree.
LLOYD S
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I play some big band gigs and stage shows because I can read music. I play gigs where no music is needed, everyone knows the tunes already. I play some gigs where you have chord charts to read for new music. The more you know musically is really an asset. No negatives to knowing as much as you can. Ray
Asus Q500A i7 Win 10 64 bit 8GB ram 750 HD 15.5" touch screen, BIAB 2017, Casio PX 5s, Xw P1, Center Point Stereo SS V3 and EWI 4000s.
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I play some big band gigs and stage shows because I can read music. I play gigs where no music is needed, everyone knows the tunes already. I play some gigs where you have chord charts to read for new music. The more you know musically is really an asset. No negatives to knowing as much as you can. Ray great summary of the key points, Ray!
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