Ollie Bonugli
Senior Member
Thanks for all your opinions. It seems that we mostly agree that Traditional Notation is better than Tabs, it'll be interesting to see what people think in a few years time. Hopefully Tabs won't have taken over!
Really? First tabulatures date back to the 12th century...
I've tried to learn. Never picked it up. My original hurdle was nobody told me speed/tempo didn't really matter (as long as it was all the same).When I started drumming about 18 months ago, objective one was to learn to read music.
I've played guitar for longer than I care to admit to, but never learned to read.
Honestly, learning to read was the easiest thing. Even at my "cat-sat-on-the-mat" music reading ability, notation is an enormous improvement over tab. I don't consider myself especially musical, but even I can (usually) hear the rhythmic pattern in my head when looking at a piece of drum music*.
* Simple music...Black Page and Polynesian Nightmare do not count!
Prepare to be dismazed....
That Nashville stuff also gives me a headache.
Absolutely, music from the microtonal works of Stockhausen or Partch all the way to the subtleties of a BB King string bend are extremely difficult to notate using traditional systems. Before turning to the world of IT I was a professional guitar teacher for 10 years and have to admit I really liked tab. I did want all my students to get to grips with standard notation. However learning tab, on the guitar at least, was quick and got them playing much harder pieces than they could have handled if they were reading the music, particularly from a rhythmic perspective. If it meant they played/practiced more I was happy to use it.Traditional notation doesn't work for everything.