Originally Posted By: mrgeeze

Tab gives you the benefit of where on the guitar you're supposed to play the note. On a guitar (for example) that can be helpful as you have 3 or 4 places to find middle C.

I do think that the best is having both. That's the cats meow. The tab definitely gives you a jump start especially if you're trying to do some note for note stuff.

+1
As a bass player I'm starting to learn to read tab and in a short amout of time I'm able to read and play simple phrases. This progress would have taken me much longer if I chose to learn standard notation. For me, there is little value in learning any notation if I'm unable to play to it in real-time.

I agree that the cat's meow is both but I have to start somewhere.

Additionally, today's tab is not your grandaddy's tab. Today's tab language appears to me rich and expressive and I've only scratched the surface of it. I'll leave it for the experts to say whether it is as expressive as standard notation but even if it isn't it has all the granular expressiveness that I need right now. My time is limited and tab is definately value added.

How to read bass tab

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