Berklee Music Audition tips.

[Uncreative123]

Originally Posted by ArrowHead

That's not sight reading. In a "sight reading" situation, you're being handed an unfamiliar piece of music, given a metronome click, and asked to play it. Forget about tabs. Forget they were even mentioned. There's nothing academic about them, and outside your actual guitar lessons and guitar specific classes you won't be using them in school.

The reason staff notation is best for sight reading is because you can get the rhythm while at the same time following the intervals between notes. At my best (which wasn't very good), most often when sight reading I was only aware of key signature, the rhythm, and the relationship of one note to the next. If you stopped me mid phrase and demanded what note or fret I was on, I would need to think or look at my hands.

What private music school did you go to again? I graduated from Berklee and 95% of the guitar material was TABs. So yes you to sight-read tabs. You constantly have stuff put in front of you that you've never heard or seen. Thats not any different just because its tab. Thats tantamount to saying ALL sheet music is sight reading; all tab is prepared/memorized or what have you. It goes both ways. Please reevaluate what you think you know to be sight-reading, because its wrong.

So the music production and engineering major is a special major. Only after your accepted to the school and complete I think 3 semesters Can you interview or audition to get into that major. They take your previous semester grades into account heavily.

[Najka]

Originally Posted by Uncreative123

What private music school did you go to again? I graduated from Berklee and 95% of the guitar material was TABs. So yes you to sight-read tabs. You constantly have stuff put in front of you that you've never heard or seen. Thats not any different just because its tab. Thats tantamount to saying ALL sheet music is sight reading; all tab is prepared/memorized or what have you. It goes both ways. Please reevaluate what you think you know to be sight-reading, because its wrong.

So the music production and engineering major is a special major. Only after your accepted to the school and complete I think 3 semesters Can you interview or audition to get into that major. They take your previous semester grades into account heavily.

I didn't know that. I have submitted an undergraduate application and pretty much everything has been submitted. I have been in contact with an advisor for a while. Sound engineering and production was one of the undergraduate majors I was allowed to pick from. It is a newer program, maybe when you went through they didn't have this program or have changed it since?

[EtherealEntity]

This week I've been writing a new song (Haunted Shores type thing) in which I decided to actually figure out what chords I was playing on guitar. In notating the music very slowly and forcing myself not to cheat and instead read the staff, count the notes etc., I've been able to learn quite a lot. Before this I only really knew the order of the notes on the staff (takes minutes to learn). With google and some help from this forum I'm now getting used to figuring out and writing all the advanced chord names, as well as reading the staff faster.

Perhaps writing a small piece and ignoring the tab/not relying on familiar fretboard shapes to tell you what notes you are playing will help. Good luck in your audition.

[Uncreative123]

Originally Posted by Najka

I didn't know that. I have submitted an undergraduate application and pretty much everything has been submitted. I have been in contact with an advisor for a while. Sound engineering and production was one of the undergraduate majors I was allowed to pick from. It is a newer program, maybe when you went through they didn't have this program or have changed it since?

You can choose any major. You can't declare a major until your second semester. MP&E is the hardest major to get into because you actually have to go through a formal interview process to be accepted into the major whereas for the others it's just some light paperwork and maybe meeting w the head of the dept. So many people switch majors which is part of the reason i think they're so specific about who they accept. They only want people who are serious, not people looking for a semester or two of free recording and then switching majors. It's not a new major, its been there for at least a decade; was there before i ever started. I thibk film scoring is newer, but probably not by much.

Everyone still has to do their 4 semesters of core music classes. Hope you like singing, because you're going to be doing a lot of it lol.

[ArrowHead]

Originally Posted by Uncreative123

What private music school did you go to again? I graduated from Berklee and 95% of the guitar material was TABs. So yes you to sight-read tabs. You constantly have stuff put in front of you that you've never heard or seen. Thats not any different just because its tab. Thats tantamount to saying ALL sheet music is sight reading; all tab is prepared/memorized or what have you. It goes both ways. Please reevaluate what you think you know to be sight-reading, because its wrong.

Your attitude is a bit hostile.

I went to Umass Dartmouth as a jazz performance major. I have never, ever, ever, ever, ever, aside from you, heard of "sight reading" tablatures. I was a member of two separate sight reading ensembles, and took several years of mandatory "sight singing" classes as part of my studies. All used staff notation.

Here's the wiki:

Sight reading - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sight-reading is the reading and performing of a piece of written music, specifically when the performer has not seen it before. Sight-singing is often used to describe a singer who is sight-reading.

How would a non guitarist or composer communicate parts with a guitarist who only reads tabs? The entire idea of sight reading tabs, or the idea of your professors saying they want to drop staff in favor of tab, sounds suspect to me.

How do you determine key from a tab? How would you transpose a tab? How do you get fingering, note, and rhythm all from a tab without time to study or memorize beforehand? You could perform a musical score of a part you've never seen following a tab?

When did you graduate Berklee, and from which major? I suspect a large degree of bullshitting going on here.

[MacTown09]

Okay I will give a little more info now that I have time and am not in class...

When I auditioned in 2008 this is how the interview ran:

I played my own prepared song (Rusty Cooley's "Under the Influence") and after, they asked me a few questions about it like how I learned it and how I develop my technique.

I was then asked to just jam with some dude. He got up from his Macbook and went to the piano where we just jammed for a couple of minutes to some blues progression. He wanted me to play pentatonic stuff -_-

After that I was given a sheet of music and they asked me to review the first line for a minute and then play it back to them when my time was up. Here's how I got through all three pieces of increasing difficulty: Play it as quickly as possible through when you are practicing. It's also good to note the difficult spots and make sure you make it all the way through the end. If you can sight sing- use it to help. I work on playing the notes I sing a lot to make sure I know what I consciously think is what I actually play. Once they ask you to play it, slow it WAYYYYYYYY down and just play through it. There is no need to rush through it and remember, your main goal is to make it through to the end so take a deep breath and just struggle through it!

Then he would play a couple notes on the piano and I would have to play em back. This was especially useful with singing and playing. I sang and played the notes back at the same time to help me get used to it. He kept playing faster until I couldnt do it anymore haha.

Good luck man! Singing and playing helps a lot, but also just go through a buncha different pieces of music and just muscle through them! It's what works best.

[Najka]

Originally Posted by Uncreative123

You can choose any major. You can't declare a major until your second semester. MP&E is the hardest major to get into because you actually have to go through a formal interview process to be accepted into the major whereas for the others it's just some light paperwork and maybe meeting w the head of the dept. So many people switch majors which is part of the reason i think they're so specific about who they accept. They only want people who are serious, not people looking for a semester or two of free recording and then switching majors. It's not a new major, its been there for at least a decade; was there before i ever started. I thibk film scoring is newer, but probably not by much.

Everyone still has to do their 4 semesters of core music classes. Hope you like singing, because you're going to be doing a lot of it lol.

I,m extremley motivated to get into this field!! I have spent a while in the military and have recently been put in supervisory positions. I used to hate singing becuase it required having confidence in your self. If I had not joined the military I wouldn't have developed the confidence i needed. Now I'm regularly raising my voice and yelling, I do a lot of drill and calling out commands. It has really helped me find my big boy voice. I'm used to working 14+ hour days, the ciriculum so far at berklee sounds like a vacation and excuse for me to pklay music ALL the time. i'm obsessed with guitar, to the point where if I'm spending every second of my waking life working, why not be doing what I love? The Military is a good way to learn work ethic, but it is a rough life style. Thank you for taking time to respond to this thread, everyone's advice is very appreciated. Especially everyone who has been through it taking the time to respond! Thank you!!

[Uncreative123]

Originally Posted by ArrowHead

Your attitude is a bit hostile.

The entire idea of sight reading tabs, or the idea of your professors saying they want to drop staff in favor of tab, sounds suspect to me.
When did you graduate Berklee, and from which major? I suspect a large degree of bullshitting going on here.

My attitude is hostile, yet you're the one calling me a liar. Well there's nothing I love more than proving others wrong, so let's get started:




Cum Laude '09.

I've got screen shots of my grades for the last 8 semesters (not the first 8 though) proving I was on the Dean's List for each of those semesters, you know, if you want more.
















There you go. Three different professors all providing tabs. So hopefully you can get past this whole 'trying to call you out' kick now.

I went to Umass Dartmouth as a jazz performance major. I have never, ever, ever, ever, ever, aside from you, heard of "sight reading" tablatures. I was a member of two separate sight singing ensembles, and took several years of mandatory "sight singing" classes as part of my studies. All used staff notation.

Here's the wiki:

Sight reading - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Well I guess if you're a product of Umass dartmouth, then it shouldn't come as a surprise as to why Berklee is held in higher regard. You're actually trying to argue what sight-reading is, when it is such a BASIC concept. And seriously, at this point I just want to point out how ridiculous it is of you to argue my point and start calling me a liar because YOU don't understand what I'm saying.

First of all, reference the tabs above. You've never seen them before. I put them in front of you and say "play this". What do you do? You look at the paper, while you play on your guitar, what you are reading. Now, let's say I remove that TAB and replace it with, I don't know, let's say "Vinnie" by The Screaming Headless Torsos (you're a big jazzzzz cat, you should know Fuze) which is all sheet music. What do you do? You look at the paper, while you play on your guitar, what you are reading.

"Sight-reading is the reading and performing of a piece of written music, specifically when the performer has not seen it before."

Is tablature somehow, not written music? Is it somehow different if the person has never seen it before?

Wow, so you're kind of saying it's the same thing? No, that's exactly what I'm saying. It's not any different. It's the CONCEPT. You can't get your ahead around the fact that "TAB isn't sheet music".
I do this for 25 hours a week. I put tabs in front of kids that they've never seen before and ask them to play through it. Unless they're one of the kids I have that reads sheet music, then I put sheet music in front of them and have them do the exact same thing.


You're talking about sight-singing and other things that are completely unrelated. How many times did I emphasize "FOR GUITAR"? Are tabs for anything but guitar? (Yes, drums; not the point) Sheet music is not practical at all for guitar; it is a NECESSITY for everything else. But, we weren't talking about everything else. We weren't talking about sight-singing. We weren't talking about playing piano. We were talking about sight reading for guitar. Your whole argument is based around subjects that we weren't even talking about- aka "flawed".

How would a non guitarist or composer communicate parts with a guitarist who only reads tabs?
How do you determine key from a tab? How would you transpose a tab? How do you get fingering, note, and rhythm all from a tab without time to study or memorize beforehand? You could perform a musical score of a part you've never seen following a tab?

Man, I seriously have to ask at this point, do you know how to read tablature? I mean...How do you transpose tab? LOL, are you serious or was that a slip of the brain?
How would you get the fingering for sheet music without looking ahead? In fact that is one of it's biggest pit falls. How do you get the NOTE from tab? Uh, I don't know, if it says 7 you play 7?? ; If you're playing TAB- why would you need to know what the note is at all? Trust me, I don't think Metallica knows any notes on the fretboard, but somehow they manage to stumble through their songs.
The rhythm is VISUALLY notated. This is why I said, the ONE advantage sheet music has over tablature is rhythm. All good tabs will have correct spacing between notes though, so it's not like it's a total crapshoot and you have nothing to go off of. Let's not forget that nearly all of these tabs have the correct rhythm indicated above them in the staff. Which raises another interesting point. If there is no rhythm, such as with the Augmented triads I posted, how is reading rhythm even an issue at all?
How do you tell the key? Well, if you can read chord symbols as complex as "Gmaj" above a bar, you can figure it out. Determining the key of a song is THEORY not sight-reading. And what would that matter anyway? As a jazzman you of all people should know that just because a song starts in one key, doesn't mean it's in that key the entire song, and it sure isn't going to be notated with a keysignature when it changes every bar.

Consider this. When looking at scales- do we often see A staff- or a chart that looks like this:


That right there is from Dave Fiuczynski himself. Huge fuse/jazz professor at Berklee (also guitarist for TSHT's). Gotta wonder why he would choose to notate a scale this way instead on the staff....
Same thing with chords...
triads... etc. etc.


The second half of your statement is completely illogical. I don't even know what you're trying to prove at that point. You're talking about memorizing material...which again has nothing to do with sight reading. When you think about an orchestra or something performing a piece- it's not like it's the first time they've ever seen the material. They've rehearsed and memorized the vast majority of it. I don't know if or why this is what you're eluding to, but again, not really the point at all.



Edit: not sure why Fuze scale isn't showing up. will fix later. Point remains- as a touring musician and instructor I've never had to read sheet music....unless I was teaching other people how to read sheet music. That should give you some idea of the 'real world' experiences of reading music. Unless you're a session player, it's rare...even then, lots of those guys are using tabs now.

[Najka]

Originally Posted by MacTown09

Okay I will give a little more info now that I have time and am not in class...

When I auditioned in 2008 this is how the interview ran:

I played my own prepared song (Rusty Cooley's "Under the Influence") and after, they asked me a few questions about it like how I learned it and how I develop my technique.

I was then asked to just jam with some dude. He got up from his Macbook and went to the piano where we just jammed for a couple of minutes to some blues progression. He wanted me to play pentatonic stuff -_-

After that I was given a sheet of music and they asked me to review the first line for a minute and then play it back to them when my time was up. Here's how I got through all three pieces of increasing difficulty: Play it as quickly as possible through when you are practicing. It's also good to note the difficult spots and make sure you make it all the way through the end. If you can sight sing- use it to help. I work on playing the notes I sing a lot to make sure I know what I consciously think is what I actually play. Once they ask you to play it, slow it WAYYYYYYYY down and just play through it. There is no need to rush through it and remember, your main goal is to make it through to the end so take a deep breath and just struggle through it!

Then he would play a couple notes on the piano and I would have to play em back. This was especially useful with singing and playing. I sang and played the notes back at the same time to help me get used to it. He kept playing faster until I couldnt do it anymore haha.

Good luck man! Singing and playing helps a lot, but also just go through a buncha different pieces of music and just muscle through them! It's what works best.

Thanks! I'll start incorperating singing along with the notes

[Najka]

that's what I pictured the sheet music looking like, with the tabs under the score. I'm just your typical metal head...I have Musicdyslexia..

[ArrowHead]

Forget about tabs. Forget they were even mentioned. There's nothing academic about them, and outside your actual guitar lessons and guitar specific classes you won't be using them in school.

Originally Posted by Uncreative123

What private music school did you go to again? I graduated from Berklee and 95% of the guitar material was TABs.

Since you missed it the first time. Note I said OUTSIDE guitar specific applications. You immediately respond about your GUITAR material. You did have non-guitar classes, right?
What classes were those tabs you posted from? Guitar classes, per chance? (yup, looked it up. Every single example you post is a guitar instructor)
What type of tabs did you use in your music theory classes?
Did you use tabs in your sight singing classes?
How about composition, did you use tabs in composition classes?
What about orchestration, did you write everything out in tabs?
What about ensemble? Were you given tabs in Ensembles?
How about your recital pieces? All tabs?
How about the biggie - SIGHT READING? Did you take any sight reading courses or do any ensemble requiring it, and did they use tabs?
Or your audition to get in, the reason for this whole thread? Did they have a sight reading component? Was it tab?

Your comments and hostility are bordering on absurd. I really wish you could tone it down a notch and talk nice with the rest of us. Multiple people AND the Berklee website all have confirmed that there IS sight reading involved in the application process and that it is notation, not tab. Why are you still trying so hard to prove different? And why be such a jerk about it?

[ImN0tTelling]

My good friend auditioned for Berklee a few months ago and recently learned he was accepted. He is going for a performance major for guitar but I would assume the audition would be the same even if you're going for the Engineering major. He played his prepared piece, played along to chord changes with a piano, and matched pitches from the piano by ear, and then did a bit of sight reading. He had been working through the Berklee course books as well as numerous other theory books since his Sophomore year in high school when we met, I specifically recall him always carrying around the book entitled "Chromatic Harmony" (I'll link to the book on amazon if I remember after typing.) So what I gather is ear training and reading will be a crucial part of your audition. I really hoped this helped, even though it is a bit of a second hand tale.

Almost forgot to link the book, if anyone was remotely interested:
Amazon.com: Chromatic Harmony (9780029286302): J. Shir-Cliff: Books

[Uncreative123]

Originally Posted by ArrowHead

Since you missed it the first time. Note I said OUTSIDE guitar specific applications. You immediately respond about your GUITAR material. You did have non-guitar classes, right?
What classes were those tabs you posted from? Guitar classes, per chance? (yup, looked it up. Every single example you post is a guitar instructor)
What type of tabs did you use in your music theory classes?
Did you use tabs in your sight singing classes?
How about composition, did you use tabs in composition classes?
What about orchestration, did you write everything out in tabs?
What about ensemble? Were you given tabs in Ensembles?
How about your recital pieces? All tabs?
How about the biggie - SIGHT READING? Did you take any sight reading courses or do any ensemble requiring it, and did they use tabs?
Or your audition to get in, the reason for this whole thread? Did they have a sight reading component? Was it tab?

Your comments and hostility are bordering on absurd. I really wish you could tone it down a notch and talk nice with the rest of us. Multiple people AND the Berklee website all have confirmed that there IS sight reading involved in the application process and that it is notation, not tab. Why are you still trying so hard to prove different? And why be such a jerk about it?

Right, we're talking about the audition. It's a GUITAR audition; not a sight-singing audition. The sight-reading portion is sheet music for guitar. Why are you still talking about sight-singing? That has absolutely nothing to do with the audition process he is preparing for. You didn't even go through this audition, so why you feel you know what it consists of is beyond me.

You said "outside of your guitar classes...you won't need tab, derp" Did this need to be emphasized? Did anyone think tabs would be used outside of a guitar setting? Is that even possible?
Guess what- with guitar as your primary instrument you're going to have A LOT of guitar classes/ensembles/labs so tabs are going to be very prevalent. In fact the only time you will ever have to sight-read, aside from your semester proficiency, is in Ear Training/Solfege (sight-singing). That's it.
Unless you take some crazy lab/ensemble. Even the country lab I took was all tabs. Not sure about the polyrhythm lab, can't remember.

The whole point of the above tabs was that one of those instructors was the biggest ball buster of all time. In my very first semester, very first lab, the very first (or second) thing he put in front of us was Vinnie by TSHT's and it was all sheet music. Crazy-ass chords, chord changes, and melodies. It was the most terrifying thing I had ever seen up to that point and just because you couldn't sight-read it very well didn't get you off the hook. He would straight up make you feel stupid if you didn't practice the stuff and get it down. He was the only guitar instructor I had that ever gave me sheet music. He also happens to be the only guitar instructor who confided in me that sheet music on proficiencies should be done away with altogether. He was the best instructor I had there, probably anywhere.




He's such an insane player and can play anything. I mean anything. Most people who claim that, neglect insane techy/metal stuff, but he grew up on Racer X, Jason Becker, etc. and it took me years to figure out why he never pursued that alley when he was so proficient at it. For my level 3 and 4 proficiencies we were playing Stabwound and Only Ash Remains (Necrophagist) in their entirety.


And thinks sheet music is unnecessary for guitar.



Whenever you want to apologize for calling me a liar, I'm listening. (or reading).

[Najka]

Originally Posted by ImN0tTelling

My good friend auditioned for Berklee a few months ago and recently learned he was accepted. He is going for a performance major for guitar but I would assume the audition would be the same even if you're going for the Engineering major. He played his prepared piece, played along to chord changes with a piano, and matched pitches from the piano by ear, and then did a bit of sight reading. He had been working through the Berklee course books as well as numerous other theory books since his Sophomore year in high school when we met, I specifically recall him always carrying around the book entitled "Chromatic Harmony" (I'll link to the book on amazon if I remember after typing.) So what I gather is ear training and reading will be a crucial part of your audition. I really hoped this helped, even though it is a bit of a second hand tale.

Almost forgot to link the book, if anyone was remotely interested:
Amazon.com: Chromatic Harmony (9780029286302): J. Shir-Cliff: Books

thanks for posting this!!

[Najka]

Lol, my mom said the same thing. Whoever gave me bad rep for get a "real degree" I am an established Jet mechanic for the Air Force, I don't even need to pretend I make more money than you ever will. I have a real degree in Aeronautical Engineering. I'm someone who knows what it's like to slave for a living. I've given more than just sweat and tears for this job. Don't ever discourage someone from reaching out to thier dreams, you only live once, and it's too short to be miserable. When you work as hard as I do money doesn't mean everything.

My friend came home with chinese food and gave me a fortune cookie. It said; "you only lose when you stop trying".
There is good advice everwhere, and you can be successful anywhere. Opportunity doesn't come you need to make it, and seize it.

[sevenstringj]

Originally Posted by Uncreative123

The rhythm is VISUALLY notated. This is why I said, the ONE advantage sheet music has over tablature is rhythm. All good tabs will have correct spacing between notes though, so it's not like it's a total crapshoot and you have nothing to go off of. Let's not forget that nearly all of these tabs have the correct rhythm indicated above them in the staff. Which raises another interesting point. If there is no rhythm, such as with the Augmented triads I posted, how is reading rhythm even an issue at all?

I'm primarily a pianist, so I don't use tab. But I see no reason why the numbers can't be stemmed to indicate rhythm. (I'm sure someone crafty enough could come up with a reasonable representation of half and whole notes, or simply tie quarter notes.) Rests can be included as well.

Does any such tab exist?

[Eptaceros]

Second thread I've read in the last week where Arrowhead has to act like a "boston tough guy" and then backpedal to the point where he seems like an innocent, harmless child. Listen dude, it's clear in your writing that as soon as tabs were mentioned, you had to shoot them down as illegitimate (for what sake, I don't know). I will agree with you that sheet music goes way farther in communication between guitarists and other musicians. At least that's how it has panned out through my own experiences. That doesn't mean that all other methods of reading music are shit. And yes, you can sight read tabs. I do it all the goddamn time.

[ImN0tTelling]

Originally Posted by Najka

thanks for posting this!!

No problem, really glad I could help!

[ArrowHead]

Originally Posted by Eptaceros

. Listen dude, it's clear in your writing that as soon as tabs were mentioned, you had to shoot them down as illegitimate (for what sake, I don't know).

I didn't backpedal at all.

I said there was nothing acedemic about them, and they wouldn't be used outside guitar classes. I still stand by that. Where did I call them illegitimate? They're musical short hand, they're no less legitimate than a chord chart. In an acedemic setting, working with people who play all different instruments, you won't be using tabs. In a guitar setting, like applied lessons, you will use them at times because they're the easiest way to establish fingerings. I've never argued otherwise at any point in this thread.

Glad you think I'm a tough guy. I don't think I behaved that way at all, but you're free to take what you want away from it. Out of curiosity, what comments came across as tough guy? Since it's not what I was trying for, I'd be curious to know what you've misread to get that impression.

[TemjinStrife]

I will say, that if you EVER plan on stepping outside the guitar world (and there's a lot of money and opportunity to be had there) knowing how to read musical notation will benefit you GREATLY.

[ArrowHead]

Originally Posted by Uncreative123

Right, we're talking about the audition. It's a GUITAR audition; not a sight-singing audition. The sight-reading portion is sheet music for guitar. Why are you still talking about sight-singing? That has absolutely nothing to do with the audition process he is preparing for.

And thinks sheet music is unnecessary for guitar.

Whenever you want to apologize for calling me a liar, I'm listening. (or reading).

1) Are you reading my posts? I haven't mentioned sight singing.( [edit] - I see, I mistyped sight-singing ensemble earlier. My mistake, it was two sight READING ensembles) We're talking about sight READING. And we finally agree, it's part of the audition, it's not a REQUIRED part (you can still get in if you don't pass it), and it's in staff notation, not tab. Right back to my very first comments, so why the argument?

2) I think, in a GUITAR lesson and learning context, sheet music is a bitch. I actually agree there, which is another reason why the attitude and hostility is insane. However as soon as you put the guitar down to work on voice leading, composition, etc... the staff becomes very important. The idea of "doing away" with it is absurd. Here it is, near 20 years since I attended school, and I still use staff paper on a near daily basis for a lot of things.

3) Regarding saying you didn't go to Berklee I thought I already apologized. If I didn't, I DO owe you one. I'm sorry. In regards to the argument about "sight reading", you're either completely wrong, or misunderstanding what I'm saying quite horribly.

[Ryan-ZenGtr-]

What, no jazz hands?
Bit bizarre no one carried on the discussion of The Real Book, especially as the topic is a jazz academy.

It might help Najka and other applicants reading this.

How can you read The Real Book if you can't read dots?

How can you learn jazz without The Real Book?



Note; I only mention it as there is an online advert for it's availability is currently being circulated publicly.

Tab has no place in the study of music history
I'm with Arrowhead's theme on this one. There are instruments other than guitar, some may have noticed ( ), where the ability to sight read notation is mandatory.

Transcribing this material into combined notation and tablature is a convenience to students, as Uncreative123 has championed, as a good way of teaching with regards to maximising short time constraints for those unfamiliar with notation alone.

However, in situations where students are not developing their reading chops due to the convenience of tablature it may be to the students long term detriment. So goes the classic argument.

TemjinStrife said...

I will say, that if you EVER plan on stepping outside the guitar world (and there's a lot of money and opportunity to be had there) knowing how to read musical notation will benefit you GREATLY.

Additionally, the study of music history can only seriously be conducted with sheet music - It is the only accurate historic document of the original work, be it a printed reproduction or handwritten manuscript.

Adapting the sheet music to tab requires additional notation and interpretation, therefore time, expense and limited repetoire of commercially available work.

As a guitarist I find tab to be a great convenience, which has made the necessity to read redundant. The result of Tab's success has meant that the average guitarist's skill set has diverted from the rest of the western musical instrument's tradition due to willful ignorance.

^(Nice and controversial there!)

I have little motivation to learn to read to a high standard, despite the material that would be opened up to me, especially from traditional instruments. Maybe that will change in time. Note that I hold my hand up here to being guilty of willful ignorance on this subject.

The reality

With Sibelius, Guitar Pro or other software, any electronically transcribed tablature or notation can be adapted to suit a purpose quickly and effortlessly, giving the performer access to their preferred presentation.

So today, in normal circumstances, the whole argument is ridiculous, for the reasons outlined in this last paragraph, interesting though all the subtleties are.

But...

A while ago, I had this discussion with my teachers (<<< Old School mind set); They said "...but what if you have no computer?"

...

I'd have to break out the crayolas and the rulers and do it the old fashioned way!

*mercy!!!!*

For contrast, early electric guitar...(6 strings)


Bach's Cello Suite: Prelude from Suite No. 1 (4 strings)


Alex ARCHIPOVSKY (3 strings)


^Do not underestimate Alex, as the French hosts on this programme did, you will be amazed!!! .. and probably slightly confused as well. There's plenty more of him online, as this example may not be to all tastes.

[b]The root of all evil[/i]
I blame frets for the bad attitude in some of the posts in this thread, after all, if the guitar had remained fretless in the tradition of violins, violas, cellos and other traditional instruments we'd all be reading dots.

Students of Classical guitar

John Williams is a good topic for debate here, as a popular modern classical guitarist, who drew much inspiration from the classical tradition for his orchestral compositions. Could he have done so much in his career if he had concentrated on TAB?





(^Australian comedian, the large concert hall backdrop and conductor parody, + it came up first result for laughter.jpg... made it the right choice )

John Williams, arrangement for guitar, he was always a folky at heart.


(Couldn't find original = )