Archive for the ‘Tablature’ tag
Acoustic Tablature Vs Sheet Music
Acoustic tablature is now the preferred method for reading guitar music among almost everyone that plays guitar today. Even among the classically trained, who use sheet music, becoming familiar with tablature has almost become a necessity. It’s like being able to interpret something in two ways.
As a beginner to guitar you’ve probably tried looking up specific songs on the internet, and discover them to be laid out in tablature. Rarely will you see them in sheet music form, if you find them in that form at all. It is almost impossible to learn any song these days on the internet if you do not understand what tablature is, or how to interpret it.
Acoustic tablature, guitar tablature or ‘guitar tabs’ for short, is pretty easy to learn. Getting used to it is another, though it’s not impossible. I would compare it to learning the controls on a video game controller.
At first you will find yourself stopping and looking at your hand, making slow progress. But after a few hours, or days, your fingers become to ‘think’ intuitively. It’s a matter of hand-eye coordination.
If you’re used to sheet music, it might be a little less intuitive, like having to unlearn something. But it doesn’t mean you can’t. A lot of classically trained musicians can make the adjustment pretty easily. You don’t have to UNLEARN reading sheet music. Acoustic tablature should just be considered an additional skill, not a replacement. It is however, an additional skill that comes in very handy in todays online music searches.
Guitar Tablature Or Sheet Music?
Is it necessary to learn ordinary music notation for guitar or is it sufficient to know how to read tabs? Is it worth the price to learn to read ordinary guitar sheets?
Many guitar books available with tablature notation will also have a staff above with the guitar sheet music notation. It is also very common today that classical guitar books also have a guitar tab staff below.
This was not very common a few decades ago. Tablature has by some guitarists been considered cheating. Is it cheating or is it a help to have tabs at your disposal?
Personally I have as a guitar teacher experienced many instances when tablature has been a great help to my pupils. however, I would be very happy if young musicians would put more energy into the endeavor to learn to read sheet music notation.
It is a great advantage to have a working knowledge on how to read and understand music scores and the various symbols pertaining to it.
Let’s take a look at the advantages of being able to read guitar music notation:
1. You will be able to play a piece of music the way the composer has intended without having heard it before. This is possible because music notation consists of descriptions concerning the pitch and also the length of the notes and other symbols telling you how to play the notes and performing the music.
