Tablature is too frustrating. Maybe I’ll sell my banjo.
Oh no! Tablature-induced baldness!
Have you ever found yourself feeling this way when trying to learn from tablature? You are not alone! A surprising number of people have that reaction. And yet others, like myself, have always been able to utilize this tool. It occurs to me that it might be worth it to spend some time going over the basics of tablature and how to work with it so that more people can get the benefits of tablature. That’s why I created: The Banjos Rule Guide To Understanding Tablature.
This guide that I created is a product that you can pick up over at my online store at www.banjosrule.com. It should really help to dispel myths, set the record straight, illustrate good tablature habits, help you decipher different styles of tab, regrow your hair, remove ring around the collar, and increase your sex appeal. Or…well, something like that, anyway.
Some people don’t use tablature. There are actual whole curriculums devoted to teaching you how to play banjo by ear. Murphy Henry comes to mind. She has a very successful business where she sells books, tapes, and DVD’s geared at helping you to avoid tablature. She feels you really don’t need it. Now, results are results, and many people have learned to pick using her (and others) methods. That’s all well and good; I always say that there are no real rules to playing the banjo. There’s lots of good suggestions, but if you can stand on your head and pick the banjo with your elbows and make it sound like Earl, then you are doing it right. So…if playing by ear is your strong suit, nothing wrong with that. At all!
The best approach: a mixed bag of tools and techniques
Having said that, I do tend to wince a little bit when I hear “tablature is just too hard”, or “I can’t learn from tablature”, or “person x’s course is the only way to go because tablature isn’t used”, etc. In my never to be humble opinion, you are cheating yourself if you don’t learn to work with tablature. And what I mean by that is you are making it just a little bit harder. I didn’t say you are wrong, so hold those angry replies; you just aren’t doing yourself a service. On the other hand, if you have some ability to play by ear and you don’t develop it and lean only on tablature, you are cheating yourself there too! See? I’m an equal opportunity offender.
You see, in this day and age, we are so lucky to have so many tools and technologies at our disposal (TablEdit, Riffmaster, Ultimate Metronome, Slow Gold, electronic tuners, Band In A Box, etc.) that it really behooves us to utilize them. Tablature is a rather low-tech tool, but a good tool nonetheless. When I started in the mid-80′s, we already had a pretty good choice of tablature books to pick from, but I’ve heard tell that tablature wasn’t as commercially available in the previous decades…at least it wasn’t as prevalent. So yes, tab is a tool, and one that’s worth using.
The Banjos Rule Guide To Understanding Tablature
I created this guide because I’ve heard a fair amount of people lament that they get frustrated with tablature. The way I see it though, with a little coaching and a few basics, they would really come to like it…perhaps in moderation, sprinkled in with whatever other tools and technologies they are using…but like it nonetheless. In the guide, I acknowledged the fact that people for decades have been “getting it done” and learning banjo without tablature. Some by listening to records and tapes alone. However, I suggest that if you have some tablature sheet music to refer to as you are trying to make heads or tails of that tough solo that you are learning by ear, you can shave off a ton of learning time! Again, don’t rely on only tablature, but don’t discard it or overlook it. Now, imagine if you had a piece of tablature that you were picking through, and you really wanted to put the flavor and feel of the piece into it; imagine how nice it would be to have the sound file to see how the pro’s pick it? See? Each technology compliments the other, and all have their place.
The Guide To Understanding Tablature
In this tablature guide you will find lots of written instruction, 9 different sound files illustrating the various points I make, and a few exercises to try out with your banjo. I’m hoping you’ll give this a try and then come back and leave a reply to let me know what you thought.
My goal is to add one more tool to your arsenal of learning techniques. If you purposely stay away from tablature due to frustration or lack of understanding, this guide will correct that. If you are brand new and haven’t really been shown much about tablature yet, then let this guide introduce the wonderful world of tablature to you.
This guide is 7 chapters long and contains 25 pages. It’s a bargain at $10 and it’s packed full of good advice and teaching points. Feel free to click the book cover to go and check it out at the Banjos Rule! Shameless Commerce Division.