Aug 24
Right off the bat, let me say that the purpose of this article isn't to incite a riot with those of you who believe strongly in the value of reading standard music notation. This article aims at giving the beginner guitar player, or the average experienced guitar player who doesn't know how to read music well (like me) some peace of mind, and the specific knowledge of why it's just not necessary anymore. If you're a guitar player, or thinking about becoming one, this article is for you if you have ever:
- Felt guilty for not knowing how to read standard music notation, or read it better. (Don't feel guilty--I don't.)
- Heard that in order to learn how to play guitar you must learn to read music. (It's just not true.)
- Thought that without learning how to read standard music notation you are very limited as to what you can learn to play. (This used to be true.)
- Felt that standard music notation is not intuitive, takes years to learn, and is too complex. (This is true! And in a moment we'll see why it's just not necessary.)
Why Standard Music Notation is Unnecessary for the Guitar Player
Let's not waste any time. The reason that standard notation is unnecessary is multi-fold:
- Tablature existed before standard notation for stringed instruments and it is easier to learn and read. There's no guessing. Typically standard notation leaves you guessing which notes you should finger because all you get is a note, not the specific string and fret to play. You have to memorize what each of those black dots means, and then do it in multiple keys! This might be okay for piano, but it's unnecessary for guitar.
- Tablature is more robust, and communicates more about how to play a guitar than standard notation. For example standard notation has no provisions for notating slides, note bends, or artificial harmonics. Nor is it very good at displaying muted notes, whammy bar effects, or the exact location your fingers should be on the fret board (as mentioned).
- Tablature is now plentiful with the growth of online tabs and incredibly wide selection of tablature books available. 20 years ago, tablature for guitar wasn't as plentiful as it is now and you had to learn to read standard notation to play a wide range of music. Not anymore.
The One Area Where Standard Notation Has an Advantage Over Guitar Tablature
Standard notation has a very complex and thorough structure for conveying the duration of notes. Unfortunately with guitar tablature it is typically harder to convey time. One common method to help display time is to space the notation fingerings farther or closer apart depending on how long they are to ring out. And, often standard notation will be displayed above tablature, and this is just about the only time I look at the standard notation is to read the duration value of the notes. I have also seen tablature that uses a hybrid method of displaying time by putting standard notation note stems on the tablature fret numbers. This is similar to drum notation. So here are some options to tackle this issue:
- Get used to and learn to read just the timing aspect of standard notation
- Just listen to the song to hear the timing and then play along using the tablature
- Pay attention to the space between the tablature fret number notation AND listen to the song to hear the timing
Personally I try to do the last option as much as possible and fall back on the first option above when I really need to understand the timing in detail.
Now Don't Get Me Wrong...
Of course learning to read tablature isn't something you can do over night, but it does take significantly less time to learn to read tablature proficiently than it does standard notation. If you already know how to read standard notation, then more power to you. And, if you can read standard notation, don't overlook learning to read tablature efficiently because in the end it saves you time, and it's a better fit for the guitar. I hope this article has been helpful to you and maybe relieved some of the feeling that you're missing out my not learning standard notation. Now-a-days, it's just not important. If you're one of those folks who believes that not knowing how to read standard notation is a huge disadvantage, let me know why below. Likewise if you think tab is all you need to know, share a comment below.
Poll
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Michael is a guitarist of over 18 years and has taught lessons, played in front of live audiences, and wrote and recorded his own acoustic fingerstyle albums. He's especially fond of playing classic rock, heavy metal, classical guitar, and fingerstyle acoustic guitar in the style of Leo Kottke and John Fahey.
Not only is this website completely wrong but it’s also pointless. Below are several reasons any guitarist should know how to read music.
1.) it’s easier to learn than tabs.
2.) notes appear on the fretboard many times for example:E…
e-0—————————————-
b—–5————————————
g———-9——————————-
d————–14————————–
a——————————————
E——————————————
3.) knowing notes gives you freedom to reinterpret music by changing fingerings, reharmonizing, and transposing. How many guitarists know how to reharmonize a tab… it’s hard to do isn’t it?
4.) You have much more creative freedom to play guitar in many keys with more creativity with note reading.
5.)Tabs should not be an alternative to standard notation merely another tool.
Yep – I agree completely
A lot of publishers have stopped printing standard notation along side tablature. I hope it makes a comeback. I sightread at a lower level than I play because I just don’t do it enough. I can figure it out by ear faster than I can find the notation. I think young guitarists should learn to read as much as possible because it occasionally comes in handy if you want to learn vocal harmonies or take up the piano.
I respect your opinion, but
1) Everyone says, including myself, that learning how to read tabs is easier than knowing how to read the pentagram.
2) Yes, most of the notes appear more than twice on the fretboard, but they don’t sound the same. It can make the difference to know the fingering to a particular song.
3) It’s still easy to reharmonize, change the fingering, or transpose the notes. At least I find it easier.
4) As I’ve just said, you can still change notes or fingering.
5)There you’re right. I like to have both standard notation and tablatures
Gerry, while I appreciate your opinion, I respectfully disagree with you. I believe for most of us tabs can pretty much completely replace standard notation whether we’re playing music or composing it.
For someone who is not very serious about music, tabs are fine. You can find a tab out there online for pretty much any remotely popular song. However, if you want to go beyond that, reading standard notation is definitely required if you ask me. Here are the two main reasons I think you should learn to read standard notation over tabs.
1. Communication with other musicians. Not everyone plays guitar. If you want to play with a pianist or any other musician who doesn’t play guitar and communicate in any meaningful way, tabs aren’t going to work. However, you can communicate to any competent musician via standard notation, it is the universal language. Imagine the confusion that would result if every instrument had its own specific notation system.
2. Overall musical understanding. Memorizing numbers on a fretboard is not very musical. You will learn very little of scale structure, intervals, chord theory, and all the things required to become a competent musician who UNDERSTANDS what they are playing.
On a side note, you claim that standard notation has no markings to indicate slides, mutes, or artificial harmonics. This is well… simply not true. Slides are indicated by a straight line connecting note heads. Mutes simply replace the note head with an X. Artificial harmonics replace the note head with a diamond. As for whammy effects and note bends… well… who cares.
Zac, thanks for the input. Actually, everything you’re saying makes perfect sense to me, but I think that the point is missed here. I started this article by writing that I didn’t want to incite a riot by those who feel strongly about learning standard notation, and that this was written for the vast majority of guitar players out there that don’t need to have this level of understanding of music to enjoy it. Very few performing artists, rock bands, pop groups, folk artists, etc. can actually sight read standard notation proficiently or think about their music in the terms you’re outlining. For most of us it’s just not necessary. I’m not advocating that you know nothing about reading standard notation or understanding music theory, but for most of us to enjoy the instrument to write our own songs, it just isn’t ever necessary. I knew I’d get some flak for this so I appreciate your honesty.
I checked into your comments about standard notation having some guitar effects and indeed it can be written this way. Thanks for pointing that out.
I agree there are issues with notating guitar music, but I disagree with your assertion that it’s easier. Standard notation provides two pieces of information: the harmony and the rhythm. With tab, you have two pieces of information as well, but both relate to the harmony, making it necessary to refer to a recording in order to understand the rhythm.
I think tab provides an instant gratification approach to reading music, that is a real pitfall and actually creates a lot of problems for students wishing to move beyond it.
Respectfully, your point regarding the abundance of tab content out there is moot since the quality is generally very low.
Joel, thanks for your fair input. I agree that the rhythm of the music is not as well represented in tab, however I do feel the options and work-arounds I outlined our very reasonable for your average guitar player.
If you are looking to move far beyond tab you probably aren’t an average guitar player but someone who is looking to work in a professional situation. I would agree for example that a session guitarist will indeed need to know how to read standard notation fluently and there’s a real advantage to that.
I should have emphasized in my article that I’m speaking much more of your average guitar player and not the much smaller percentage of pros session musicians or very serious composers. For most of us we’re looking to play more accessible music, and there’s many life times of music that can be learned and played from tab without ever the need for fluency in standard notation. So I do agree with you on this point with the noted exception
Regarding the quality of tab. I also agree the free tab out there is overall a poor quality, but that’s certainly not what I had in mind either. I am speaking of the professionally published tablature books of which there are hundreds if not thousands. Music wasn’t always so well transcribed and published to prolifically, especially not in the tab format.
Joel again I really appreciate your feedback. And thanks for giving me a chance to clarify.
I agree pretty much with the article to be honest. Tabs are fine. With respect to the comment reagrading understanding scales etc, I don´t believe that this has anything to do with reading music. You can understand scales, chords etc without reading a note.
I play bass aswell as guitar and I think tabs are a great way to get started. They teach you how to play songs without having to spend hours learning to read music. I think notation has it’s place but it can easily scare of a beginner.
I’m a professional musician in New York. Commercials, concerts, plays etc.. No arranger, composer or lyricist has ever given me TAB. If you plan to do this for a living, learn to read.
Ive never seen a rock guitarist on stage reading sheet music most people that are starting out playing the guitar are playing rock music. You write and play music from the heart. In a fact most great musicians(rock,blues,country,ect)Dont ever read music of any kind. Maybe when they were 9 years old and mom made them take piano lessons. They learn songs by ear!! Music is not something that is on paper. It is sound. It is expression. All you need to know is a few simple chords and your in business.Tab is an excellent guide for starting out and reading sheet music is barking up the wrong tree.Maybe learn sheet music after you have an understanding of chords,scales, and music in general.Still a waste of time in my opinion.I am not talking about about classical composers or guitarist playing with an orchestra.Jimi Hendrix was a professional musician. He probably lit his sheet music on fire!
wow. this issue is very hot IN MY HEAD. i’m very interested in guitar…and yes somebody said about notesheet and notes scare beginners. i so agree to that because im a beginner myself. and tabs are the simplest way to follow and understand the nature of guitar playing.
i learnt quite a lot in tabs. i learnt new terms such as bending, tremolo. then i go about searching those words in the internet. ive never really take a look at notesheet (is that what they are called?) but have took a glance and woo, made me blur.
though yeah i too believe in notes being the universal language. u cant give tabs to pianists. and yeah in the long run, notes will prove useful for musicians.
I can read standard notation as well as tabs, and I see them both as useful means to learn things about guitar and music.
tabs are a good way to get scale patterns and chord patterns under your hands specifically for guitarists. I hate musicians that are snooty about what “real” musicians are supposed to do.
A persons lack of skill with notation says nothing about their understanding of harmony. It only shows that they cannot express music through that single specific system.
Things were heard before they were ever written down.
I think one thing that’s been entirely missed is the distinction between sight-reading, and learning songs. I could sit down and decode staff music with no prior knowledge as long as I had a reference to learn from. From that perspective, tabs are definitely easier to learn from. However, if you want to look at a piece of paper and play it, tabs are the wrong way to go. Any sight-reading guitarist would be an idiot not to sacrifice fingerings for detailed rhythm, key signature, and most of all versatility. Tabs may help you find notes on a neck, they say nothing about MUSIC
Tab and standard notation serve different purposes and communicate different things. Tab is an excellent way to describe exactly how to play a specific song on guitar.
Unfortunately, most folks that are serious about guitar hope to get past learning how to play a bunch of songs. While most guitarists don’t spend a lot of time reading standard notation while playing, a knowledge of it helps them learn about keys and theory Most folks that are serious about guitar want to be able to jam and solo with others. You need to know some theory to change keys or solo.
what a crock !
The rest of the musical world speaks the same language, standard notation. If you want to remain unable to communicate with other instrumentalists then keep on with your tab. Be a musician 1st, and a guitarist 2nd ! Any argument for the alleged superiority of tab is merely rationalizing laziness and ignorance. When the pianist or sax player writes a song, he’s not going to give you tab, what are you going to do? When you try to land a studio gig or any other proffessional gig, whatever charts you get will be standard notation.
Sorry to bust the bubble.
by the way… someone upstream mentioned Hendrix… late in his life he was approached by Miles Dave to do some collaborating, Hendrix was given some charts to look at and had to say he couldn’t read. What a missed opportunity. It’s well known that Hendrix had expressed that he was in a creative rut toward the end, that he felt he was going in circles. I think it’s fair to assume he probably wished he COULD have read Miles’ charts.
100% exactly right!!! A lot of rock/heavy metal guitarist think—’Oh, Jimi Hendrix couldn’t read music, so why should I bother?’=Wrong. Although Hendrix was an amazing guitarist within his idiom style, melodically and harmonically, he was much more limited than most people would care to admit…
All the great US jazz rock/fusion guitarists, all read music without exception. It’s true that the average amateur rock guitarist, who plays down a pub, doesn’t need to read music and they can get away by just busking and winging it. However, what happens when musicians need to communicate musical ideas to each other quickly and cost effectively? They read chord charts and lead sheets etc which are written in standard notation.
Do you really think Frank Zappa would’ve been able to accomplish what he did, if couldn’t read and write music—Not a chance!!!
I tend to think not of the jazz fusion guitarists, or classical guitarists, but of genres where it’s much less common to see guitarists who can read standard music notation yet are still fantastic composers and contributors to the genre. I don’t believe that makes them less talented or less creative. Maybe they could have contributed more with an understanding of how to read standard notation and some of the advantages that come with that, or maybe that would have diluted their style and entrapped them in technical stuff that would have hindered their ability to compose and contribute. Hard for me to say, but very intersting to think about. Some of the greats that have been major contributors to music that I’ve heard can’t or don’t read music are: SRV, Kurt Cobain, Jimmy Hendrix, Dave Mustaine, James Hetfield, Jimmy Page, Tommy Emmanuel, Paul McCartney, Eric Clapton, The Edge, many of the old great blues men. You have to consider that music is certainly the sum of its parts and reading standard notation is in many cases just a small part, or not even necessary. For some musicians maybe it’s a hinderance. That’s something each guitarist who may be faced with the question has to discover themselves.
It boils down to this. Music is a language that is read, written and spoken. We learn to speak before we can read and write. We go to school to learn how to read and write so we can function in society. Musicians that don’t read are functioning illiterates. They can can ask for directions, order a cheeseburger and say thank you, but they will never be able to get a decent job. If you don’t learn to read, chances are you will never be a professional musician. For many that is not important. Just don’t whine when opportunity knocks and you can’t read it or write a response.
“Musicians that don’t read are functioning illiterates.”
So being able to read tab instead of traditional sheet music means I can only work at McDonald’s?
Just got my guitar, and trying to learn, don’t know where to get started, Thought I would probably go with learning Tabs. Will I also need to learn Scales?
Thanks I need a lot of help.
Hey Monk, thanks for the question. When you’re starting to play guitar I think learning scales is good because it gets your fingers conditioned and strengthened. Later on the scale patterns you learned will help you to construct and improvise music, they even make it easier to figure out how to play music your listening to. My best recommendation is to pick up a copy of this book: Guitar Made Easy which I actually named this site after. See if that’s something for you. The other thing that you might find useful is this post Four Skills a Beginner Guitarist Must Learn First
I found this web site http://www.spytunes.co.uk Going through their self-eliminating practise routing makes tabs and sheet music redundant. I started a few weeks ago and it’s wicked. You get to learn how to use the guitar like a part of yourself. Like a singer uses his voice. You never really have to think about what you’re playing anymore.
Great stuff!
/klaban
I completley disagree with most of the statements you made. I think this article will not only limit yourself it may also may limit others who are reading it. Though, reading is not neccessary to play guitar it is fundamental if you want make a living from music.
I think you all have valid points. I voted for both are good, as did a majority. This is what I do, and it takes a little time to do it. I write the note next to the tab #. It is teaching me how to read notation. We learn by repetition, as you look at the # you also see the note name and your subconscious soaks this up, the more you play it the more it burns into your brain. Maybe someday this will be how all music is written. It would save me a lot of time, I do want to learn to read music fluently.
I have been playing guitar for about a year now and I am basically self taught. I took lessons for 2 months or so and my teacher only taught me to read TAB. I am taking lessons again in my school, as they offer it for free as an elective. Since I already play, I figured it would be an easy elective. Their method of teaching is learning to read music. To me, at least, its MUCH harder. I did originally take private lessons and they progress faster but it was only 30 minutes once a week. In school, its one hour every other day. Since the start of June, we have only covered 3 strings and 2 frets on each of them. When learning to read TAB, I learned to play on all six strings and about 5 frets in one month.
Anyway, I think it is important to read music, but if you just want to play guitar as a hobby or get a few people you know who play other instruments to make a band to have fun with, I don’t think its absolutely nessisary to read music. If you don’t really plan on making a career out of guitar, just learn to play TAB. You can progress at a much quicker place and you will be able to play songs from bands you like (my first song was “Never Too Late” by Three Days Grace) in less than a month.
These are just the opionions of a somewhat beginner guitarist. Feel free to disagree.
After 22 years of playing my reading is pretty poor but I can muddle my way through a piece. I think that as a guitarist there are so many areas that one can choose to focus on, that there is absolutely no shame in working with tabs or playing by ear. One of the issues that I think often gets way overlooked, particularly by music teachers, is sound, tone & style. Not that reading music and having great tone are mutually exclusive, but it just points out the fact that one should follow ones nose and focus on what’s most important to them.
Dave
The Gear Mall – Vintage Guitars & Boutique Amplifiers
Hey Gear Mall,
Thanks for your comments! You also make a fantastic point: “One of the issues that I think often gets way overlooked, particularly by music teachers, is sound, tone & style.” I’ve had probably about 10 different music teachers of various backgrounds through the years, and I don’t remember one ever teaching me much if anything on those points! My teachers weren’t Juilliard quality by any means, so I hope other’s have had better experiences. But that’s a shame. I have had to discover so much of that myself. I’d love to know your thoughts on how to approach learning those things. Maybe you’d write a guest blog entry on the topic?
well, for sure they can be linked together. standard guitar music nowadays has both standard notations and tabs. so, it’s a win-win for teachers as well as students.
Lex, nice point thanks.
Tablature is useful and i will grant you the fact that it makes it easier for the beginner. But just because something is simple doesnt mean its the best option. I have been playing for 6 years now and reverted to tabs and learning songs from teacher without music notation my first few years. I could play well and make my own music without knowing why it works. Playing chords that you dont know how to build is like using a SAT word that you dont know the definition for. I now play classical guitar at a SUNY college and at first it was hard to learn sight reading but the amount of time i spent learning how to read tabs could of easily been spent learning musical notation. Playing with big bands, guitar ensembles, and even my metal band has become 90 times easier with the use of correct music reading. Reading jazz charts and calssical music have increased the musicality (playing well not reading music) so much and when a student only learns tabs they are being cheated in becoming a better musician. I think every guitarist should atleast put some effort in learning how to read because it is useful for understanding music. I can understand using tabs but when a guitarist uses tabs only i see a very limited player. Making a healthy regiment of half time spent on sight reading and half time learning songs by bands was what i did with my 15 guitar students. On my last lesson with my last student he thanked me for having him sight read and have the help because he NOTICED his improvement. When he only learned songs he didnt improve on anything other than bad habit. Learning to solo comes much easier if knowing the theory behind it. also the point about fingering chords and not knowing how to play each note is false. In classical guitar music you are told which strings to use for which notes and how to correctly finger them. good guitar players are lazy (odd i know but ill explain) Reading tabs gives guitarist awkward fingerings that restrict the movment of the left hand. You want to use as little effort as possible so you dont waste time or energy. You want to be as relaxed as possible and use the limited energy with effeciency. Its like cutting through yard to get to your house instead of following the streets. It just works!
Hey Matt, thanks for your thoughts. You are a hardcore dude and you obviously are not like most people who play music for a hobby. You made some points which I agree with and are interesting though they aren’t really on topic. If someone wants to learn music theory, and get into more advanced soloing and scale composition without knowing standard notation you certainly could. Especially just by mimicking great guitarists and picking up tips and mechanics. But I would agree with anyone saying that you’ll get a deeper technical understanding of music composition by learning standard notation and the music theory behind it.
I understand all of the reasons you have given for why TAB is acceptable, and I agree that to an extent TAB is acceptable, but for serious musicians, standard notation is the only way to go. (I apologize in advance if anything I say is a repetition of older comments)
First, to say that standard notation can takes years to learn how to read is false. It can probably be done within a week to learn the major notes in the staff.
Second, to say that TAB offers a better way to see where notes are is also false, but only as long as you learn notation along with where notes fall on the fretboard. Any decent guitar teacher should know that.
Third, to say that there is no notation for sliding notes or other effects means you have not read a lot of notation. There are numerous symbols for effects, and if it comes down to it, it’s very easy to write in the word ‘whammy’ or what have you underneath a staff.
Fourth, TABs on the internet will only show you popular songs, and if you are just playing as a hobby, that’s fine, but if you want to play seriously, notation not only helps with being able to get your ideas to other non-guitar players, notation is the only effective way to get your ideas across.
While it’s fair to say that there are numerous famous musicians who don’t even know how to read TAB, those that do, or those that know how to notate are usually better musicians by far, and can stand on their own throughout an extended period of time. If you want to become famous for being good at what you do, learn notation
Hey Music Major,
Thanks for your comments. Just a few things I’d like to say in response.
Regarding your point #1: You can learn how to read music pretty quickly, but not read it quickly and proficiently. Even tablature takes some time to read quickly, but in my experience not as quick as tab.
Regarding your point #2: Well, I do believe it’s easier to translate tab to the location of a note than it is to translate standard notation. Again my point is it is harder with standard notation making tab more efficient.
Regarding your point #3: You’re right, and this is something mentioned by a few other folks. It goes to show you I don’t read much standard notation guitar music!
Regarding your point #4: I agree with you. If you want to play professionally you’ll probably need to learn standard notation in many cases, especially if you’re doing session work or orchestration. Yes.
Regarding your comment “those that know how to notate are usually better musicians by far, and can stand on their own throughout an extended period of time. If you want to become famous for being good at what you do, learn notation”. I don’t agree that knowing standard notation makes you a better musician, if you think about it that’s really a great matter of opinion, but still I do agree that knowing standard notation would help you become a better musician. I just don’t agree that standard notation is for everyone, or for most people. For most of us reading tab proficiently is really enough–that’s because tab does it’s job well! Most guitar players aren’t pros.
It’s probably George Bush’s fault.
“For example standard notation has no provisions for notating slides, note bends, or artificial harmonics”
Yes, it does.
Wow, this always pisses people off. While I’m glad that I learned to read and it can make the difference between being a Guitar player or a Musician, I don’t think beginners should start off learning proper technique AND reading AND a bunch of boring pieces like the Etude in Dmin. Understanding the math behind music theory is much more useful to me than reading. Understanding Tonal Gravity, the circle of fourths/fifths and why Major and min scales sound different before you learn to read standard notation will make it much easier.
I’m coming from a Roots Rock(Blues, Country, Rockabilly) background, I’d say readers are a minority. If you play Classical, Jazz or Heavy Metal-Math Rock, reading will of course be much more important to you. http://www.jacmuse.com/artisticconcepts/newpage16.htm http://guitar.to/indexblack.htm http://www.twelvemonth.com/index.php?p=visualinear
Danny Gatton couldn’t read. If anyone can play better than him, I’d love to hear ya.
people are lazy now a days. they treat the guitar like its guitar hero. they want to jump straight on it and be able to play songs without having to learn technique and such.they see standard notation and see how much works it is and get scared off.they all want to be rock gods without putting in the years.but if you really want to work as a musician you have to learn to read.what happens if you dont make it selling albums???you cant teach music you cant be a session youll be stuck being an itinerent teacher (no offence to tutors) for the rest of your lifejust because you couldnt be bothered learning music theory.stop being lazy and learn it.
a lot of people seem to forget that you don't need to read music inorder to play music. for the lot of you who go on about how you can't become a professional musician without reading. Are you kidding? I play professionally and I don't read music, but i know my theory, Charts. and what about all those famous guitarists? yes you know who they are.. Hammet, Clapton, Tommy Emmanuel, Danny Gatton, Slash and anyway the list is completely exhausting so I'll stop there. The Muso's I know that read music, are almost completely hopeless without their notation, and tend to be very snobbish about those musicians that choose not to read notation. come on people keep up with the modern. I knew one guitarist who told me that he wished he could join our band, but he could only read notation, not feel it. and didn't know how to improvise or play just from chord charts.
null
Just wanted to toss this in. First, some background. I've been a musician for about 30 years now. Started on saxophone, added guitar and piano over the years. I can read tab or staff notation. I can play staff notation on guitar (but I don't prefer it), but I find that it's more amusing to my friends when I play guitar tablature at the piano.
I used to think that tablature was "below" regular staff notation. However, in recent years, my mind has changed. As was mentioned above, tablature gives information which is more suited to the guitar. Staff notation might call for a high-E, and there are 5 places where you can play that note on a guitar. So, staff notation, for guitar, has some inherent ambiguity.
Now, let's take a step back for a moment. Look at, say, a flute player. A flute player usually can only read treble clef (one half of grand staff notation). Likewise, a tuba player usually only reads bass clef and can't read treble. Both of these players would consider themselves to be able to "read staff notation", yet they only focus on the notation which is best-suited to their instrument. Viewed this way, I don't have any qualms about a guitar player using notation which is best-suited to the guitar, which I consider to be tablature.
Now, the pitfall with tablature is that it makes it easy for guitarists to be completely ignorant of what notes they're playing. Keep in mind that the advantage of tablature is that it provides the string/fret info that normal staff notation lacks, but it makes it less obvious what the actual note is. If a player doesn't make the effort to find this out, then they potentially miss out on a lot of musical discovery (like realizing how certain notes in a riff fall within the chord structure, or how certain notes might have a particular sound when the do or don't fall within the key signature).
So, tablature is more suited to the guitar, but it makes it possible for the player to half-ass it, which is why I think tab gets a bad rep.
Hey Joe, thanks for your insights. I bet a whole post could be written on why tab has a bad rap. Really good point in your last paragraph there.
Apologies for resurecting a very old thread.
Having taught guitar professionally for some years, this is a subject I have to deal with on a daily basis, week in, week out.
Michael, I understand your initial revelation that tab is as old as the hills and has been used to write down guitar music for centuries. Indeed, there was a time when the guitar, or rather the lute, was the main harmony instrument used in Europe.
Let's first put aside the notion that tab is superior for guitarists: tab contains no rhythmic information, and no theoretical information. The only way to play music accurately from tab is by 'knowing how it goes'. As a professional guitarist, you will NEVER be given a piece of tab to play from. That is simply the way it is. What you will be given are chord charts, slash notation, and dots.
This being the case, why do guitarists avoid learning to read music? The answer as far as I can tell, is fairly complicated: very few guitarists take up the guitar in order to become professional guitarists. Those that do, often see their favourite players and think 'well they didn't need to read music, so why should I?'. Unfortunately, the vast majority of rock and pop guitarists cannot read a note of music, but that doesn't mean they haven't spent their careers having to work round it.
I work with many professional musicians, most of whom will tell you that 'guitarists who can read are as rare as hens teeth'. A good music reader can sit down with other musicans and make music they have never heard before, this is not possible with tab. Tab-only Guitarists put in these situations (and not all of these situations are professional, think about school concerts, community bands, amateur dramatics etc) will simply embarrass themselves (although the other musicians will probably be puzzled as to how someone managed to learn to play without reading a dot of music, and declare them some kind of genius!).
The worst situation (and the biggest argument against a tab-only approach) is when you have a guitarist (and there are thousands of these out there) who is an absolutely brilliant player, who could be making money from his/her skills but can't read music. Now of course, they could start from scratch, but this will require much more discipline than it would have, had they learnt it as part of their instrument.
Hi Jonny, thanks for your view and I do respect your opinion. One additional thing to consider by the way. Most tab alone has some indication of timing by the spacing of the notes and almost all professional tab actually has the standard notation just above it. So, getting the rhythm from the standard notation when necessary is pretty simple to do with some basic knowledge and practice. It does indeed require you to know at least how to read the time value of the notes though
Again, thanks for your insights.
Keeping the post alive, after all this time! I'm seeing far too much snobbery in these replies for my taste. As the article states, tab is perhaps the most efficient way to read guitar music, and not reading standard notation is not reason for feelings of inadequacy. Personally, I started as a pianist at age four, shifted to French Horn in 4th grade, began guitar at 14 (four seems to be a musical number for me), and today play nearly any instrument that makes sound: And I don't read sheet music OR tab. I CAN read standard notation, I have all my life. And I CAN read tablature, if I sit down and look at it closely. It turns out my ears are far better than my eyes (eyesight has always been a handicap for me. Which brings to mind a great number of professional blind musicians, for those of you who think reading music is essential). As a singer/songwriter, making the sounds match the ideas and feelings behind the words is, for me, paramount. The few solos I play on guitar are pretty, melodic sounds – I've never bothered to figure out what the notes are. Any cover I choose to play I will listen to and do my own rendition, or I will look up the chords to give me a basic idea and go from there – I have no interest in playing precisely what others play. I will admit that I'd like to learn some guitar theory and scales, but I haven't found it necessary. I'm happy, many find my music entertaining, and I'm never bored – with music there's ALWAYS room to grow. Make of that what you will.
~D!
Wow, i see all these comments and its mostly back and forth. im here trying to figure out if its best for me to take music theory in my senior year next year. And i have been playing guitar for almost 3 years now, self taught( and i am good id say), but it was very hard. I see where he's coming from, saying tabs are easier, because thats how i started learning to play too. But now, i want to become a professional musician in a band for my future, and i have felt REALLY limited lately to what i can do. i used to think that its easy to make your own songs and all by ear, and at times it is for me since i sing as well, but i have found it very hard lately and ive felt so lost and confused when it comes to reading music because i dont know how. and i feel that something is missing, its not just about reading tabs and doing it on your own, i feel i dont know anything at all about it even if i do know how to play well. i play both acoustic and electric guitar and i think its best for me to learn it all. tabs help yes, but sometimes i get so frustrated when i try to learn a song with tabs because some are not even accurate. whoever made them, didnt get it exact or whatever the case may be but it also is very frustrating when there isnt a song i want to learn. i dont know, and dont understand it, so maybe it is better off to learn. ?
Saying that TAB is older than notation, and better, because it can do things that standard notation can't doesn't really move us forward and inform. People used to send letter to each other before email, text, the phone, cell phones, and the telegraph – but it doesn't make letter writing better or worse - it's just different.
I was told in my previous business life that you can only manage things by the facts. So…
Standard notation is how all instruments have a common language. Not understanding the language of communication by everyone else in the music community, not being able to write down your ideas, instructions and compositions for others players is a problem. Not being able to understand other player's notes and ideas will also be a problem. In a musical setting with other players you will be handed standard notation to play – not TAB. TAB is unique to the guitar or bass. Nobody else out there uses it.
So is it a good idea to learn top read and write music? Depends on what you want to do. If all you want to do is play with your band of guitar and bass players – probably not. If all you want to do is solo or accompany yourself with chords, probably not. If you want to play with a variety of other musician or earn a living playing, you'll find it mighty tough to survive if you don't read. Like an actor who can't read and write, why would you hire them when there are so many who can? Why will someone hire you as a musician when you import your problems of musical illiteracy into their project?
There are too many players out there who can read, so why chance it when you could learn it? As Kenny Werner says in his book 'Effortless Mastery', "Not difficult, just unfamiliar." Nobody would suggest that an actor spends more time on technique and save time by not learning to read and write. When someone tells you don’t have to learn to read music, they are probably telling you more about their own hang ups than helping you. If you want to be a pro, or go to music college, or join a non-guitar band, or work with other musicians – you need to learn.
Hey Beatriz, thanks for your comment. I think with the situation you’re in you should definitely take theory. I love music theory personally and you’ll definitely get something out of it. It will be challenging. I took theory in school too. I also recommend you look on Amazon or online for some theory books that are particular to whatever style you’re learning. You’ll find that when you study music theory within the context of the genre you’re most interested in you’ll be able to apply it much more quickly, easily and have more fun with it. Learning theory just in a class setting can be limiting. Good luck!
I think that we can all come to a compromise on this point. I think that it is much easier to learn how to play guitar by using tabs. It is essentially a shortcut for many people. However, if you then choose to take guitar seriously and want to become a professional musician, then you should absolutely learn music theory. For the guitar hobbyist, it is totally unnecessary.
Thanks Sandy, I think you get my point
I recently came across a paid site called Songsterr that includes rhythm underneath the standard tablature. I've found it pretty useful, and it addresses the glaring area where standard notation still trumps TAB…so hopefully soon enough TAB will include robust ways of defining and communicating complex rhythms.
I will say, though, that I'm extremely grateful I pushed through and learned how to read music. Being able to move from TAB to notation and back feels very freeing. It may not be for every guitarist, but if you're up for the challenging, reading notation for the guitar opens up plenty of doors to classical guitar pieces as well as other pieces in other genres.
Thanks for stoking all this controversy!
Hey Matt, thanks for your thoughts!
I got a guitar (6 string Classical) for a birthday gift, don't ask me what the person who gave it to me was thinking, he maybe thought since I love rock music it would be a good idea. I have never even held a guitar and I have no idea how to read music either. The only thing I have successfully done with it is tune it, with a tuner!!!! I am very excited to learn and play it since I have been writing songs for some years now and would love to put music to it. I feel the whole get a "Guitar for Dummies" book won't help at all, except to maybe confuse me. Any idea where to start. I feel like smashing it!!! Which I would preferably like to do years from now when I'm famous!!!
My first guitar was a classical too. I don’t regret it for a moment. Congrats and welcome! If you’re just starting out I recommend learning to play the basic chord shapes. They will let you add music to your songs very quickly. You can checkout the chord book I have in the right column of this site, I recommend that. If you want a super quick start, start by learning the following chords: C,A,G,D. And checkout my beginners guitar guide here.
Two big advantages to me of tab are :
1. If the piece is in a different tuning, you will have to learn to sight read notation over again
2. Moving to a new fretted instrument means you have to re-learn sight reading for the instrument due to the new tuning and string numbers, not so with tab.
Having said that, I would love to be able to sight-read music for the fiddle and mandolin, as there is so much notation available !
Hey John, those are two good points, and advantages of tab. Thanks for your insight.
Your wrong.
Here is why.
Point #1.
Point # 1. Standard notation is just that “Standard” it dosen’t matter what instrument you play it on. It dosent’ matter what key your in. The E is the top space and the bottom line is an octove lower. A G7 chord looks the same regardless of the instrument playing it. G,B,D,F is a G7. If you don’t know the notes in a chord then your only playing positions and paterns. If you can’t recognize a chord then your only reading the letters above the staff.
Point #2. Changing instruments does not change the notation. Your finger paterns may change, but thats the point of learning a new instrument. If you don’t want to take the time to really learn what you are playing, then you only play for your own enjoyment. If you want to get paid, you better learn the language.
And I will add to this. Those that think guys like Edie VanHalen, Jimmy Page, Clapton, etc. got where they are without reading and thats the key to their success are mistaken. They got where they are with practice and long hours in the woodshed. If they learned to understand the theory behind what they were doing they would have become masters at a much earlier age.
I have been playing guitar for about 15 years and had a classical background in the trumpet many years prior to this as a child. I can make good sense of classical notation given enough time to examine it but feel most at home with Guitar Pro's hybrid notation.
A lot of emphasis seems to have been put here about the portability of the classical notation between guitarists and other instrumentalists as it is agnostic of the instrument in question.
This is a good point, but I think the fact that a guitar is a 2 dimensional polyphonic instrument that frequently plays all strings in chords should definitely rate a mention.
On a piano, if I were to ask you to play an E4, there would be only one possible key you could press on the whole keyboard that would produce that note. On a trumpet, you would press down the 1st and 2nd keys, or if you are feeling odd, the 3rd key only although that might put you a few cents out, and produce the right amount of lip tension / air flow. (At least you would *think* you are playing E4, but you would in fact be playing D4 (Ebb4) if you are playing a Bb trumpet.) I think standard notation is designed around the piano – one key per note, you hit it hard or you hit it soft (piano/forte!), you sustain it for x length, or even possibly infinitely with the sustain pedal. You don't control the expression of the sounding of the note – no palm muting, no bends, no natural harmonics, no artificial harmonics, no positioning of the fretting hand at a certain point of the string, no hammer-ons, no pull-offs, no sweeps, no pick slides, no raking, no finger picking versus plectrum picking, etc etc etc.
This is an extreme example, but on a standard tuned 6 string guitar, if I ask you to play an E4, if you have 24 frets, you have 6 possible locations on the fretboard to choose from, but the best one for the occasion will depend entirely on the context of that note – what comes before it and what comes after it.
Another issue is that guitars generally being tuned with most strings a perfect 4th apart makes certain chord voicings which are a cinch on a piano etc impossible to play (unless you have 30cm long fingers). Certain note combinations themselves might be a physical impossibility, in contrast to brass and woodwind etc instruments that have a fixed range (although the masters seem to be able to stretch the top end way up) and a limited number of fingerings, where the second dimension, if you will, of the note comes from lip tension etc to form the base resonant overtone of the tube whose length is modified by the valves put in place by the fingering.
I am sure that you can run into similar issues even more often on bowed stringed instruments, which I believe are tuned a 5th apart but which seem customarily to have parts written for them that only usually play 1 or 2 strings at a time, as the sonic spectrum is filled up by the desks of colleagues around them in the orchestral environment, also playing 1 or 2 strings at a time.
What I am trying to say here is that if you give standard notation to a pianist or a monophonic instrument player and they are competent, they could in theory play exactly what you want on the first attempt as that notation suits their instruments, as long as you have not asked them to step outside the range of their instrument (bagpipes, 9 notes FTW!)
Give a competent guitarist the same thing and he would probably need to make several passes over the material to add the extra dimensions of the contextuality, work out which particular chord shape etc will work for which part, as well as pull you up on whatever intervals you had asked for that are physically unplayable etc. In such a situation, he might be able to play an arpeggiated lick the writer had in mind, but the voicing might have to lose the nice sustain afforded by having preceding strings ringing out while the new notes are sounded (which can be hacked around with the use of reverb or possibly a capo, sure).
If people want to write for unfamiliar instruments, they should be prepared to have peculiarities of the instruments pointed out to them by those more familiar.
So yeah, add a time element to guitar tab and as long as the guitarist understands the theory behind what he is doing, I think we have a winner for the guitar.
With out tabs many would never have pick up a guitar. But Tabs alone do become a road block. For you begginers out there using tabs please move forward and learn sheet music. If more people of our generation had not got stuck on tabs, who knows we could have had a more memerable decade of music, instead of just a handfull.
Hi there,
I do like your blog but that article is just not true. Do not get me wrong. I get your point but I do think a lot of what you said is incorrect.
"Tablature existed before standard notation for stringed instruments and it is easier to learn and read. There's no guessing. Typically standard notation leaves you guessing which notes you should finger because all you get is a note, not the specific string and fret to play. You have to memorize what each of those black dots means, and then do it in multiple keys! This might be okay for piano, but it's unnecessary for guitar."
Do you have any facts that tabs came first? What is your source for that?
And yes you do not get a string and fret to play but if you have proper techniques, it is pretty clear which string and which fret you have to play the notes.
Ever heard of scales? I do not mean to sound arrogant but the scales have a "box" pattern (also in tabs) in which you should USUALLY play. I do say USUALLY because it is not here to limit you but to teach you the discipline of the instrument.
"Tablature is more robust, and communicates more about how to play a guitar than standard notation. For example standard notation has no provisions for notating slides, note bends, or artificial harmonics. Nor is it very good at displaying muted notes, whammy bar effects, or the exact location your fingers should be on the fret board (as mentioned)."
I do not mean to sound condescending but you are talking out of ignorance. Standard notation was designed for classical music and is there to improve consistency of music communication.
It does have something for notating slides by the way. Just out of curiosity, what standard notation have you actually read? There are notation for harmonic, slides, harmonics, muted notes (okay maybe not whammy bar). You do not do artificial harmonics on a classical guitar, at least not for the same reason you would do it on an electric guitar.
Tabs are far from being robust. Take out a tab in front of 10 guitarists and let us see if they all play the same thing. Yes they are easier to learn but they are not more robust and do not communicate more than standard notation.
"One common method to help display time is to space the notation fingerings farther or closer apart depending on how long they are to ring out."
Is that your definition of being robust? There is no way this is reliable. Timing is everything in music. That is where tabs fail and will always fail because of that.
If someone gives you a tab of a song that you never heard, I would like to see you play the song.
I did my theory exams. I agree with you that you can be a guitarist without knowing standard notation and music theory. You can be soulful while you play. I do not use my classical guitar theory at all because it is just a hobby for me. If you think about adding time value on tabs, then it becomes the same thing as standard notation.
Bottom line I agree with your conclusion but not with your reasons. For me, you are very far from the truth.
The one problem here for any guitar player that says they should not learn to read is that "You can just listen to the CD". Thats fine… If a CD exist and you have the time.
As a professional working musician I have to be able to play with any group that calls. Sometimes we don't know what song we are going to play until we get to the gig. Big problem if you don't know the tune. All you have is the notation. And sometimes the guitar player has to look at a copy of a piano score. Sometimes you have chords sometimes you dont.
If your not willing to learn the language of other musicians then your only limiting yourself and the oppertunities you have to play.
I think it's also better to don't read sheet music. If you just play something from a piece of paper it won't help your creativity I think. I learns songs by tabs but I try to avoid them as much as I can because I think it's better to learn it by ear. If you do that more and more it will help you to figure out the next song you gonna play much easier. If you learn it by ear you'll not play the song 100% as how the artist plays it and you will give your own twist on the song. Most famous guitar playes can't even read music.I hope my english is good.
Beau,
You’re wrong. Not learning to read music is just being lazy. I don’t care what excuse you come up with. Any musician that can read and also learn to play by ear. Those who cannot read can only play by ear and thats a problem.
You say it limits your “creativity” how does reading something limit you? Do you find your language skills limited by being able to read a book? Or are they enhanced? Can you learn something from reading it or do you need to have someone tell you before you understand it?
When I call a players up for a gig and they want to know what songs we are going to play I send them a list of about 600 tunes and tell them the music will be there when they arrive. If they are not up to the challenge, I call the next guy. BTW, every gig I pay the players who play. Those that do well get called again and again. Those that don’t, well they can go back to being creative.
Most guitar players don’t need to read music ever??? Well of course they don’t—The average guitarist only wants to stand up in front of their mates/girlfriends and pull off a few flashy licks to impress ‘em all…
However, if a guitarist wishes to compose music and arrange music for a band, then they need to be able to read and write music. Not only this, but there’s a vast library of educational material dedicated to jazz music etc which is all written in standard notation. If you can’t read standard notation, how can you access all this information?
When you read TAB, how can you appreciate the syncopation of a melodic line. If somebody hands you a chord chart and you can’t read, how can you know where the hits are? TAB is good for getting a fast pan handle on a piece assuming it’s accurate TAB, but it shouldn’t always be relied on as crutch!
A lot of rock guitarists strut around with enormous egos, yet their music reading abilities aren’t even on par with a little 10 year old girl playing the recorder in junior school!!! Their egos are so enormous, they couldn’t bare to have to go back to square one and look like a beginner as they get to grip with reading…
Ask Steve Vai or Larry Carlton if reading standard notation/music on guitar ever helped their careers?
I`ve been playing as a semi pro (both live and session) for over 30 years and let me tell you…I actually know alot of guitar players that can read but can`t play by ear to save their lives.
Alot of it depends on how they learned.
I can read and play by ear but I learned by ear first.
Thats probably why I play better by ear.
I`ve also come across alot of sheet music and tabs (especially tabs) that were transposed completely wrong.
Most tabs found online were transposed by the average joe, who may not even know what he`s hearing. They are giving you THEIR interpretation of it.
Example:
As a young teen living in the 80`s Tacoma WA, I was pretty proficient at sight reading.
I was sitting in a music store in the mall, playing off some sheet music. when another scrawny teen came up and said, “hey man, that`s not the way to play it”. How showed me the correct way to play it, and told be to trust my ear.
Jerry and I became friends and started a little band together that only lasted a few months.
Later in life after I moved away I found out that my friend turned out to be Jerry Cantrell of Alice in Chains, one of the greatest of my generation.
Thats why I`ve learned to trust my ear more than a piece of paper.
But bottom line…Who really cares if someone plays be ear, or reads it?
If the music sounds good, then it is good.
If it sounds like crap…..well, then it`s crap.
Great story, thanks for sharing that. You make a good point that just because someone can read music or tab, doesn’t necessarily mean they are good at playing by ear or have well developed ears. Like you said it has a lot to do with someone’s orientation and how they learned. I think for your avg Joe playing by ear and learning from friends and tab is natural.
Michael Jae,
Thanks for proving my point. If you cant read you have to hear it or have someone show you. Which means you still have to hear it.
At my shows we have over 600 songs from jazz standards to Classic rock to Ricky Martin and Britney Spears. If you cant follow the chart and play the changes and the melody when it’s presented then you will not be on the next gig.
Now if you just want to show off to your friends that you learnd a few licks and impress your “bros” thats fine.
Hey Charles, I agree, and you also prove my point that you aren’t “Most Guitar Players”, but a professional musician where your job requires you to read music. The rest of us just love to play and want to impress our bros
Thanks for your comment!
This is the problem with the modern method of teaching guitar…. I had a guy come in today for a lesson and said “I don’t want to play these notes, I just need to learn the scales and chords.” I thought his instructor was going to go through the roof. Turns out some of his buddies that had been taught by route and they wanted him to skip over knowing where the notes were on the necek and just learn the paterns…. There are to many of these types of guys out there and it gives the guitar a bad name. Playing a guitar or any other instrument properly takes a great deal of time and practice to understand what is going on. Instead it’s become a video. Push, strum, push, strum, push, strum, etc, etc…. If you don’t take the time to learn it right, your just wasteing your time and making the next generation even worse.
Sorry… Video Game, push, strum, etc.
Charles, appreciate your opinion. Though, for me, I think of all of the amazing guitarists who have contributed to music who knew just enough to kick ass and take names. What’s “right” for you may not be “right” for someone else. It’s relative. SRV failed music theory in college. Fact is many guitarists will learn some theory at some point, and pick up at least a little music reading skills, but it doesn’t mean they can’t be great guitarists, and more importantly for most guitarists, it doesn’t mean they can’t have a ton of fun and enjoy the instrument.
i’m a beginner at guitar. i learnt how to read sheet music when i played keyboard. i don’t know enough guitar theory to apply it there