# Guitar Tab vs Sheet Music



## GuitarsCanada (Dec 30, 2005)

What do you use? What can you use?


----------



## Adcandour (Apr 21, 2013)

I use guitar tab pro from the ultimate guitar app. If I had it when I was young, I would be a much better player. That, and a looper.


----------



## bluzfish (Mar 12, 2011)

The first time I saw tabs was in a Leonard Cohen songbook I had in the late 60s. I never could relate to them. Coming from a background of piano and woodwinds using the traditional staffs, I guess it's what I was already used to by the time I started reading for guitar.


----------



## Stratin2traynor (Sep 27, 2006)

I've always used tab. Maybe that's why I'm not that great a player. I just don't have much time to spend figuring things out, so I find tab very convenient.


----------



## Guest (Jun 7, 2014)

I could read sheet when I was a kid (accordion) and later in high school (tenor sax).
I also relied on guitar tab pro. Way back, I used to just lift the needle off the record and 
place it back a few grooves over and over. Now, I'll watch 'how to play' u-tube vids.


----------



## Stratin2traynor (Sep 27, 2006)

Oh yeah. Forgot about those YouTube "how to play" videos. I use those all the time. Problem is, I don't play often. Enough to remember everything I've learned how to play!

I remember those high school tenor sax days myself. Wish I still had a sax!


----------



## Mooh (Mar 7, 2007)

Both.

I learned to read music through voice, choir, and piano lessons from a very young age, primary school age roughly. In my teens I transferred that knowledge to guitar by literally sitting on the piano bench with my guitar and comparing notes, making fretboard maps, and then sightreading my piano pieces and some Bach guitar transcriptions. It was rough going at first as the guitar wasn't as intuitive to me as piano, but eventually I got it. Bass and mandolin followed, then other instruments, though my reading ability diminishes with non-standard tunings.

I can read tab but most tab doesn't include enough information, but if I already know the tune my brain fills in the blanks quickly.

Peace, Mooh.


----------



## bw66 (Dec 17, 2009)

This:



Mooh said:


> Both...
> 
> ...I can read tab but most tab doesn't include enough information, but if I already know the tune my brain fills in the blanks quickly.


And this:



Mooh said:


> ... though my reading ability diminishes [drastically] with non-standard tunings.


----------



## Clean Channel (Apr 18, 2011)

Big old 'both' for me.

I have a master's degree in music and once-upon-a-time was a national competition winner as a classical guitarist. I've been reading guitar music since I was about 8-years-old.

Despite that, when I learned Eruption (for example), I went for the tab 'cause in that case it was a better option.


----------



## puckhead (Sep 8, 2008)

laristotle said:


> I could read sheet when I was a kid (accordion) and later in high school (tenor sax).
> I also relied on guitar tab pro. Way back, I used to just lift the needle off the record and
> place it back a few grooves over and over. Now, I'll watch 'how to play' u-tube vids.


pretty much that exactly. learned notes as a kid for guitar, euphonium and bass guitar.
forgot it all in a few years of inactivity, and when i picked up a guitar again in my teens, stuck with tab.
i can still read notes, but it is a slow process. Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge


----------



## Jim DaddyO (Mar 20, 2009)

I read tab,.....slowly..... I tried to figure out sheet music and spent a lot of time getting nothing done. Much like other languages, I have a lot of difficulty comprehending, must just be the way I'm wired.


----------



## Woof (Jan 13, 2010)

Tabs are fine for a tune I am familiar with, if I need to "see" what it's supposed to sound like, musical staff is better.


----------



## zontar (Oct 25, 2007)

I can, and do use both.
for some stuff i prefer tab, but when I last took classical guitar lessons as an adult, I actually found standard notation easier to follow.


----------



## Robert1950 (Jan 21, 2006)

I played alto sax in high school for four years, many, many,.... many years ago. I could re-learn notation, but it would be a bit painful. I can do tab, but I am very, very,.... very slow with it. I learn faster by watching YouTube.


----------



## bluesguitar1972 (Jul 16, 2011)

I actually don't use either very often, but if I do, I usually just go for tab. I have decent theory, but reading music is pretty weak for me. But usually, when learning new tunes, I just learn by ear or combo with ear with some tab. I find it quicker for most tunes. I've learned maybe 3 guitar solos note for note, and usually just try and go for the feel of the tune and grab the hook.

Sometimes, it's easier just to exploit the internet and a quick youtube video.


----------



## rush2112 (Oct 2, 2010)

I knew a country lead player who use to get some good paying fill-in work because he could read music.

Always admired his ability to show up on short notice and play a different genre of music with sheet music.


----------



## SoundSculptor (Apr 19, 2014)

I use tabs to get the general gist of what I want to know & will fill in the blanks via my ear if necessary. I am not able to read or understand music theory


----------



## ThatGingerMojo (Jul 30, 2014)

I find nothing wrong with tabbing something out for quick reference, or referring to tab for a quick lesson on how to play a certain riff or lick. But if it is a piece that you want to make your own, the sheet music is invaluable. The sheet music has the key signature, the rhythm and the melody whereas the tablature just has the notes and none of the nuances that accompany those notes.


----------



## kat_ (Jan 11, 2007)

I spend most of my time playing late 17th century guitar music. At that time all guitar music was written in tab. Timbre was seen as a critical parameter. An E on the first string open just doesn't sound the same as an E on the 9th fret of the 3rd string, and that difference was just as important to the composers as the pitch itself. By 1800 musicians stopped caring about that and tab was no longer used. 

I find it interesting that tab was revived in modern guitar the 1980s, around the same time that the early music revivalists were returning to tab for historically accurate recreations for lute music. I keep hoping to find some connection but so far have come up empty.


----------



## Luke (Jul 31, 2014)

Rock/Metal Music (Riffing): Play by ear mostly and occasionally through You Tube how-to-videos. Rarely by Tab.
Classical Music (Arpeggios and Finger-Picking): By Music Notation only.


----------



## deadear (Nov 24, 2011)

I can read but way too slow to play just with staff. Tabs are good for getting the proper notes in a solo because things go by way too fast for my ear. I will often play the notes some where else or use a different box. I figure out the cords and figure out what key the song is in with my ear and knowledge of theory.


----------



## Steadfastly (Nov 14, 2008)

When I was younger I used to marvel at people who could read music. I thought it was only highly intelligent people who could learn to read it. When I started taking guitar lessons I found out that even just an average guy like me could learn quite quickly. I can use tab but If find it much slower and it leaves out so much information that much of the music in a piece can me missed.


----------



## Macki (Jun 14, 2010)

I grew up using tab (80s) but I actually really dislike it. The last few years I have been teaching myself to read music. I find that I can't remember/pickup what is going on, as easily, with tab as I can reading music.


----------



## Krelf (Jul 3, 2012)

I've always played notes, and never had any desire to get into tabs. And nearly all the cheap music you get in second hand stores is in notes!


----------



## Diablo (Dec 20, 2007)

I'm a lazy tab guy....but I think eventually even that will be replaced for many with YouTube instructional vids.


----------

