Tabs

[newbassista]

Hello everyone.

After 18 years of break I started to play bass again 3 months ago motivated cause they asked to help a band in a church, the problem is I always played bass by myself without taking any class and I've been using tabs and I'm pretty good with them.

Now with the songs I need to learn I can't find any tabs at all. Are all brasilian songs, pretty easy but there is no tabs.

Is there a site where I can translate the songs from YouTube or wherever in tabs? 

[Burns-bass]

23 minutes ago, newbassista said:

Hello everyone.

After 18 years of break I started to play bass again 3 months ago motivated cause they asked to help a band in a church, the problem is I always played bass by myself without taking any class and I've been using tabs and I'm pretty good with them.

Now with the songs I need to learn I can't find any tabs at all. Are all brasilian songs, pretty easy but there is no tabs.

Is there a site where I can translate the songs from YouTube or wherever in tabs? 

Some people don’t like tab, but I say anything that gets you playing is good in my eyes.

 

I can’t talk for Brazilian music, but resources like Songster are pretty good.

 

ChatGPT can also generate tab, too, but I don’t know how accurate it may be.

[Reggaebass]

Hi and welcome,  quite a lot of the songs I learn there isn’t tab for, I always look first and if there is it gets me started although it sometimes isn’t correct, I tend to just learn by ear and breaking it down into sections, there is an app which I find useful called Looptube which lets you isolate sections and you can slow it down to make it easier, maybe give that a look 

[Dad3353]

GuitarPro does both notation and tabs, so if you have a 'dots' version, GP will create a 'tab' for you. Don't be fooled by the name, GP works well for bass, too. 

[chris_b]

Tab, Bah humbug.

[newbassista]

Thank you all, indeed I'm trying to find it on chatgpt, let's see if they are pretty close.

I'll write the entire name on the chat

[HeadlessBassist]

The issue you're going to have with tablature is that it doesn't usually give you a clue of the rhythm. Can you follow the chord symbols and improvise the parts?

 

Also, are the songs printed in classical notation?

Edited Monday at 19:24 by HeadlessBassist

[newbassista]

With tablatures I try a couple of times mwhile I listen to the song with the headphones until I find the right rhythm.

The easiest way is find the song on YouTube of someone playing it with tablatures below but of course you can't find every songs 

[Burns-bass]

Don’t get the hate for tab really. I did a dep gig Saturday and had chord based lead sheets printed by the leader. That’s tab, effectively, and was good enough for us all as we knew the rhythm.

 

If it helps you play music, then crack on!

 

 

[BigRedX]

I don't think anyone who uses tab doesn't also have a recording of the song(s) in question from which they can get the rhythm.

 

I'm of an age when very little pop or rock music was written down in any format and if it was, it was normally wrong. Therefore I'll usually work things out by ear as I always have done.

 

IMO if a band wanted me to play a baseline exactly as it has been recorded then they also need to supply me with tab, notation or a recording of just the bass line. Otherwise they will have to make do with my interpretation of the part, which will be close but might not be 100% accurate.

[newbassista]

Yes I have the songs, or played by the band or others I can find then on YouTube. One of them I did it by ear but the others a bit faster and complicated I'm not able to do it in that way, I'm still not that good to play it by ear. I should find someone to help me out but even guys more expert than me I see they have difficulties to do it

[Dad3353]

3 hours ago, newbassista said:

... even guys more expert than me I see they have difficulties to do it

 

In that case, simplify. There's no shame in playing at your best (not theirs, or the original bassist's...). Most songs can be simplified, keeping much of the 'spirit' of it all. The audience will fill in any other auditory information from their own knowledge of the song, and if they don't know it well, what does it matter..? Don't flail yourself skinless over a piece that's above your pay-grade. Play it as best you can (and practice more in the years to come, obviously...). Your ears will develop faster if you use 'em more, too, so keep working stuff out the 'old school' way. 

Edited 19 hours ago by Dad3353

[newbassista]

Thank you all so much for the tips, I will keep pushing plying by ears hopefully I will make up something decent, this is an example of the song we are going to play, this is the acoustic version, simple, and as you can see there are little chord guitar, in your opinion how could I fit the bass into this song? Could you make an example of tabs for bass that could sound nice for this song? Thank you in advance

[Burns-bass]

So the song seems to me (listening while watching the football) to be in G, so I’d just use the G major scale as a guide to the notes you want to hit. (I can’t tab that out, but you can find it online!)
 

 

[Dad3353]

Yes, as above, the chords seem to be G, D and Amin, so any notes from those chords will fit. You can see the chords changing from his hand positions, so just watch and listen, and you'll soon 'hear' what you're seeing. Try it, using the video, and listen to what notes you play fit best. Top tip : just play notes on the beat at first, and all will become clear.