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Band-in-a-Box Wishlist
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Joined: Sep 2021
Posts: 277
Apprentice
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OP
Apprentice
Joined: Sep 2021
Posts: 277 |
Hey! From the perspective of a bass player, BiaB is mainly nice for free Playalongs, so far. Also quite interesting would be learning from resp. getting inspired by the BiaB styles. But I'm a bad sightreader, and therefore I'd like to be able to study and playalong BiaB bass styles from tabs. Tabs do already exist in BiaB, but they are only really useful if either completely revised manually or if the fretboard logic is good enough. That includes individual preferences in regard to the fretboard logic, which would mean a bit more than just being able to determine the preferred fretboard area. Me, for example, I prefer the following, in general: - Priority No. 1: Avoid open strings (e.g. prefer the A on fret 5 of the E-String, instead of using the A on fret 0 of the A-String)
- Priority No. 2: Avoid the G-String (e.g. prefer the A on fret 7 of the D-String, instead of using the A on fret 2 of the G-String)
- Priority No. 3: Play as far left of the Fretboard (looking on it from above while playing) as possible
I'm totally aware, that such preference rules would still need a whole bunch of general exceptions. But we need to start with this at some point, right? It's still better to have options like this, than not to have them at all - and for sure, this can still be worked out further in the future. Also, general rules might need song-specific exceptions (e.g. I wouldn't want to play a Jamerson Bassline by avoiding open strings, for sure). I think that this could also already be implemented initially, by offering another set of rules availale for each song, which (if used) would override the rules of the general preferences. And, for sure, the user could still edit the tabs manually, and manually edited notes of the tabulature would always have the first priority. Note: I've written this request from the perspective of a bass player, but our friends with that freaky number of strings would for sure also be happy about adequate fretboard logic options :-)
BiaB UltraPak+ 2026; Windows 10
Bass: Intermediate; Piano: Beginner
I came to this forum in order to suggest feature improvements for non-professional musicians like myself that use BiaB mainly as a playalong tool and as a learning tool
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Band-in-a-Box Wishlist
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Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 1,598
Expert
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Expert
Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 1,598 |
My personal recomendation: tabs are a serious obstacle for your musical development. Avoid them at all costs and learn to read music instead! In the long run it will MUCH better for you.
Latest BIAB version, latest build.
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Band-in-a-Box Wishlist
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Joined: Sep 2021
Posts: 277
Apprentice
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OP
Apprentice
Joined: Sep 2021
Posts: 277 |
OMG - Cerio, really, I don't write such requests in order to then discuss about things that are totally off-topic.
My recommendation: Computers are really bad for your writing - better don't use them, since otherwise you'll never learn a proper handwriting and you'll never learn to create logical argumentations without editing ...
I know about the advantages as well as about the disadvantages of sightreading. Just let everyone decide by himself, when to use it and when not to use it ;-)
BiaB UltraPak+ 2026; Windows 10
Bass: Intermediate; Piano: Beginner
I came to this forum in order to suggest feature improvements for non-professional musicians like myself that use BiaB mainly as a playalong tool and as a learning tool
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Band-in-a-Box Wishlist
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Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 1,598
Expert
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Expert
Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 1,598 |
I'm sorry that you took my post that way, it was just a personal recommendation based in own my experience as a musician and a common mistake I've seen in many students; IMO is not really off-topic (since, at the end of the day, this is a music forum); and miss importantly: there are REALLY strong reasons supporting this idea: https://youtu.be/4X7qgBVnMfYOf course, you're free to ignore all this completely. 
Last edited by Cerio; 01/02/22 10:12 AM.
Latest BIAB version, latest build.
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Band-in-a-Box Wishlist
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Joined: Dec 2003
Posts: 24,573
Veteran
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Veteran
Joined: Dec 2003
Posts: 24,573 |
I'm sorry that you took my post that way, it was just a personal recommendation based in own my experience as a musician and a common mistake I've seen in many students; IMO is not really off-topic (since, at the end of the day, this is a music forum); and miss importantly: there are REALLY strong reasons supporting this idea: https://youtu.be/4X7qgBVnMfYOf course, you're free to ignore all this completely. Tabs are good for learning positions. Even in the video he stated he uses tabs as an instruction tool, and that is fine. Even the old MelBay books gave you the starting position via a small number under the first note. IF one is only using tabs then they are not a musician IMO. I find this true with some guitarist. They claim they are a musician but are put in complete panic mode when presented with the easiest of notation!
Back in my day the only time we started panic buying was when the bartender shouted "last call"!
64 bit Win 10 Pro, the latest BiaB/RB, Roland Octa-Capture audio interface, a ton of software/hardware
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Band-in-a-Box Wishlist
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Joined: Dec 2003
Posts: 24,573
Veteran
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Veteran
Joined: Dec 2003
Posts: 24,573 |
This is a good idea. Using this along with notation is an excellent way for all string instrument musicians to learn all of the notes up and down the fretboard. Personally I think just giving the starting position and not going below that would be the best implementation. Once one learns the notes they would have the option of combining positions is so desired.
+1
Back in my day the only time we started panic buying was when the bartender shouted "last call"!
64 bit Win 10 Pro, the latest BiaB/RB, Roland Octa-Capture audio interface, a ton of software/hardware
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Band-in-a-Box Wishlist
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Joined: Sep 2021
Posts: 277
Apprentice
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OP
Apprentice
Joined: Sep 2021
Posts: 277 |
Cerio,
ok ;-)
Mario,
thanks for your support.
@ Both:
I'm really not suggesting tabs as the one and only source of music data, but indeed everybody should be able to decide individually and context-specific. However, I'm open to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of tabs in general, but I think that this thread here is not the right place for that discussion, since the focus of my suggestion would get lost then.
BiaB UltraPak+ 2026; Windows 10
Bass: Intermediate; Piano: Beginner
I came to this forum in order to suggest feature improvements for non-professional musicians like myself that use BiaB mainly as a playalong tool and as a learning tool
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Ask sales and support questions about Band-in-a-Box using natural language.
ChatPG's knowledge base includes the full Band-in-a-Box User Manual and sales information from the website.
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