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Instruments

Playing by ear, I say. Unless you're utterly tone deaf, in which case you shouldn't look into being a musician, it's foolproof.
 
Lorem Ipsum said:
ignoring the fact that the greatest composers of all time didn't write in tab
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Doesn't matter. Tablature is a form of notation. As long as there is a comprehensible way of reading musical pieces, it doesn't matter. I think tabs work more instinctively as a guitarist because for me that means I can see where I have to place my fingers. This isn't visible from normal musical notation
 
Tarvos said:
Doesn't matter. Tablature is a form of notation. As long as there is a comprehensible way of reading musical pieces, it doesn't matter. I think tabs work more instinctively as a guitarist because for me that means I can see where I have to place my fingers. This isn't visible from normal musical notation
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Actually, it is... You just haven't learnt it that way.
 
Tarvos said:
I've never found much use for notation.
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Well first of all, what Lorem Ipsum and Flüttershy said. (Though something being in use for a long time doesn't seem the best reason, at least in this case I believe musical notation has a good number of reasons to be used over tableature... however you spell it, and being more widely used is one of them?) If you practised with notation, then you'd see the note and know the fingerings for it instantly. It can take a while of course, but it seems a better habit to get into than tabs.
Second, how is a non-guitar player supposed to read tabs? A notation system that only really works for one instrument is kinda silly.
And third, tabs seem to take up a whole lot more space than normal musical notes. Even compressed to squares (as I've seen them in some music books I have) you might be able to fit a similar number of notes into the same space on a page, but I don't see how you'd also fit things like timing, embellishments, those sorts of things that come on regular musical notes.

So what's the point of tabs? They seem so inconvenient in comparison... are they really that much easier to read and get the hang of? They seem huge and complicated to me, if I was taking up guitar I'd probably spend like... 5-10 seconds at least reading the fingering for each note. (Not that I know a lot about tabs, I compare it to posting a whole bunch of fingering charts in a row)

And then there's the whole thing about alternate fingerings, I mean, "where you have to place your fingers"?... uh, I think I'll just stop myself before this gets too ridiculous. (:
 
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Flüttershy ♥;476556 said:
Actually, it is... You just haven't learnt it that way.
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I've been playing the violin for around 10 to 11 years now and from reading notes and certain series of notes on the treble stave I know exactly where my fingers should be going automatically, which note corresponds to which position and so forth. I don't really think I could use tab on any instrument. The regular stave does the same job much better, I feel.
 
Flüttershy ♥;476556 said:
Actually, it is... You just haven't learnt it that way.
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I've learned to read notation and when I used it extensively I didn't pick up on fingering patterns. I find tabs much more useful.
 
I played piano from kindergarten to grade five, then dropped it because I hated practicing. I can read music and find the notes and play pretty well...ish. It takes me hours and hours to get my fingers to be able to play the notes on the page, but I can do it!

I've played flute since sixth grade but I don't think I'm going to do concert band next year because I don't like it enough to put the effort in when I move up into the senior band. Maybe I'll find some music and play it at home. I like to think of my voice as my main instrument. Singing is fun. :D
 
I always find regular notation with non-obvious fingerings marked waaaaaay more useful for guitar. Most of the time I can tell where to put my fingers without being told, and tabs don't convey timing or dynamics or phrasing or anything. Granted, I've got forever of piano making staves feel normal. But seriously, tabs give me very little idea of what the music I'm playing is supposed to be—I'd rather see fingerings marked on the music than be given instructions on where to mechanically put my fingers.

Iiiii really should get back to the piano. And the guitar. But mostly the piano because I find it more fun.
 
Alto saxophone! For only... 4 years? It seems longer. But i kinda want to swith to Tenor to try it out, but I'm pretty sure my director wouldn't let me. And I'm really hoping that I get a solo in next year's marching show since I'd only have to fight one person for it.

I also can play a couple notes on my brother's clarinet and i really want to learn flute and piano...
 
I've been playing viola since I was... 9, I think (maybe 8), and flute for three years shorter than that. I also sing a whole bunch when I'm bored, and I wish I could play about 6 other instruments. xD
Also, a quick question: in the credits for an album that I like to listen to, it says that there's a soprano saxophone in a certain song, and it sounds really cool... I asked some people in the band at my school, but they said there's no such thing as a soprano saxophone. I just wanted to know if that was true.
 
Cecilio_Gold_Lacquer_Brass_Soprano_Saxophone_SS280.jpg


Those people are lying. It's like a saxaphone + clarinet.
 
I play the trombone for 4 years. Jesus clown sodomizing christ.

I'm also in a jazz band

because my school's classical department sucks.
 
Darksong said:
Also, a quick question: in the credits for an album that I like to listen to, it says that there's a soprano saxophone in a certain song, and it sounds really cool... I asked some people in the band at my school, but they said there's no such thing as a soprano saxophone. I just wanted to know if that was true.
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What. Soprano is just the next sax higher up than alto. And sopranino is higher than soprano.
 
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