# How Do You Guys Deal With Tabs?

Category: Jam Session

## Post 1 by Shell Script (I just keep on posting!) on Monday, 08-Apr-2013 9:14:51

Hello all. I know the popular way to learn music amongst the blind community is by ear, but in my desire, this is not an option, as the music requires a lot of skill and perfection.
The song in question is Avenged Sevenfold's Unholy Confessions, which is mainly in D Minor, but there are accidentals. Where might I find screenreader or braille tabs for this piece? The BARD music collection does not have it, so any suggestions would be great.

## Post 2 by Deadnight Warrior (Zone BBS Addict) on Tuesday, 09-Apr-2013 22:59:52

My go-to is Ultimate Guitar. It took some getting used to and experimenting with, but I've decided that writing it out is the best way. It gets too confusing to switch back and forth between each line and remembering where in a bar you are. By your username, I'm assuming you want the bass tab? If so, here's the link to it:
http://tabs.ultimate-guitar.com/a/avenged_sevenfold/unholy_confessions_ver4_btab.htm
I'll just use this as an example for what I mean. The tab has the intro written as:
G|------------|---------|------------|---------------|
D|------------|---------|------------|---------------|
A|------------|---------|------------|---------------|
D|-0-0--------|---------|-0-0--------|-8-8---7-7-----|
I'm not familiar with the song, but looking at this I'm assuming it's in a 3/2 or 3/4 time signature given that the person who wrote the tab has each bar divided into 12 parts. Each bar begins with a | and the numbers and dashes indicate which fret to play and where within the bar to play them. The letters at the beginning of each line indicate what string that line is referring to. For example, the two zeros in the first bar of the lower D string mean that you play the open D string twice somewhere near the beginning of that bar. Of course, it always helps to have the song to listen to. As I said I find it easier to braille out the tab on paper so I can feel all four lines at once and see how far down the lines the fret numbers are relative to each other. Another easy way I find to do it is just pay attention to the fret numbers and figure out when to play them just buy listening to the song. Think of it as trying to learn the song by ear when you already know what notes to play. This way, you just need to figure out what order to play them in. When I'm doing it this second way, I usually do one string at a time instead of doing all four or six (in the case of a guitar tab) at once one bar at a time. Hope this was helpful!

## Post 3 by Shell Script (I just keep on posting!) on Wednesday, 10-Apr-2013 6:56:02

Indeed it was! I will get onto these tabs after school, thanks loads, Deadnight warrior!

## Post 4 by LeoGuardian (You mean there is something outside of this room with my computer in it?) on Wednesday, 10-Apr-2013 12:10:05

Even when I did play bass, I never learned how to read the tabs, never saw Braille ones then. I can read music though, but like you said, NLS is hopelessly narrow when it comes to music selections. Victorian plus 50s ballroom standards, plus church type quadrophonic harmony things with few if any expression markings. Meh.
Now their recorder selection is actually of interest if you swing that way, because of the Royal Society or something, the UK has done for us.
Sometimes you just gotta see what it looks like, and if you hear someone play it you are only hearing their interpretation. I grew up learning to read music, and my sighted friends who played instruments all read music, whether rock bands or whatever we all were into. Well maybe not the blues people but everyone else. That narrowminded approach to music they got, or at least had, kinda led to my ultimate dropoff I think. Braille music is a great skill, and I'm glad I know how, though I still say Piano is technically the most difficult to learn it on. Even such notes as I scratched out for myself using a slate, I could sneak a peek when playing bass, or easily look in recent years when using my recorders. But anyway, it does take a lot of time to learn it, but they're wrong: it ain't lazy that keeps people from learning it. It's just not all of us are fuckin choir boys.
Anyway sorry to have hijacked this thread. Good explanation for what Tabs are and how they work. I still think you'd do better with the notes because actual music notation shows you more.
If you can find a way to learn it, then you can copy. I learned to copy young because otherwise I was gonna stay stilted in their world, which isn't mine. Plus one more thing they won't tell you: You know how someone who can see can learn to read music and know absolutely no theory? That is impossible to do that blind. By learning the Braille music system you learn basic theory for how the parts fit. If you can learn to read piano music even, then you can learn how to find your spot in the mix. Its only difference is showing intervals - the parts of chords, so it literally marks it up for you where you see contextually in the scale you're in what goes with what. Some educator on here will tell you better than I, i'm just telling you as someone who has done it. Maybe see if you can PM Motifated on here, he does this, and I think even teaches.
Rock it like you mean it,
Leo

## Post 5 by Shell Script (I just keep on posting!) on Wednesday, 10-Apr-2013 15:27:15

Oh, so true. I learned to copy through tracks. I had a teacher cut tracks for me, but since said teacher is dead, I can't cut tracks (see other thread). I had to learn how to use the bass in the band as a whole, which is a bitch, because when you have two guitars, the bass is (at least for me), hard to weed out.

## Post 6 by LeoGuardian (You mean there is something outside of this room with my computer in it?) on Wednesday, 10-Apr-2013 15:32:03

Oh I meant copy it down, son, not on a computer. I dono, I'm sure that works I have never done music on a computer before. I meant to put it on paper for yourself, or into a Braille notetaker or an iPhone with a Braille display. With the electronic Braille you just have to fake it by turning off yor translator and just enter the characters which are just characters, but to us they'll look like the real thing for Braille music.

## Post 7 by Shell Script (I just keep on posting!) on Wednesday, 10-Apr-2013 17:10:55

That I have begun to do. I took out good old Perkins, and started banging down some tabs for some shit from the seventies, just to see how it would work.

## Post 8 by roxtar (move over school!) on Sunday, 15-Sep-2013 2:18:25

Damn man, that's ingenius.
I'd never considered reading tabs on the computer before, but that's an awesome way to go about it.
It can be difficult doing it all by ear, as there are so many ways to play something on the guitar.
Is he playing the open b string? the 14th fret on the a string? the third fret on the g?
Now there's a way to find out.Thanks for some food for thought.

## Post 9 by Shell Script (I just keep on posting!) on Monday, 07-Oct-2013 11:46:48

Your welcome. To be truthful, I don't think it matters unless you absolutely want perfect tone. I never understood why metal musicians use the very high frets to achieve something that can be done on lower frets and other strings. I like to use my strings to my advantage1 I have four for a reason.

## Post 10 by HauntedReverie (doing the bad mango) on Tuesday, 13-May-2014 16:12:53

This is the most random thing in the world for me to be doing, but I'm going to try to pick up the base. base is stupid hard for me to hear by ear. I was extremely proud of myself for getting most of Within Temptation's Faster down by ear, but the guitar solo bridge is throwing me.
I found a text version of some tabs here, but I have no clue what it means. is this any more useful? can I get a translation?
http://www.songsterr.com/a/wsa/green-day-holiday-bass-tab-b-s499
the tab example posted above in the thread completely confuses me. Why do the first three strings have no numbers? why are some zeros, some eights, some sevens, and some dashes? What do those mean?
the songs the band plays for their covers are easy stuff mostly; Greenday, Seven Nation Army, that one WT song. I just need some other way than by ear to pick up the base part. I don't suppose there is a super secret cool selection of rock braille music?
Basically, I'm a stupid noob beginner to the base, and I have no idea how to read these tabs. I have a braille display and a Perkins, so any pointers would be wonderful. Treat me like I'm completely clueless.

## Post 11 by Shell Script (I just keep on posting!) on Wednesday, 14-May-2014 20:21:03

If you refer to the Unholy Confessions excerpt, the zero represents an open string. I think the dashes are the strings themselves, the sevens and other numbers are fret numbers, I do believe. I haven't looked at in a while though.

## Post 12 by Deadnight Warrior (Zone BBS Addict) on Monday, 19-May-2014 11:13:45

Hi there HauntedReverie. I don't have my bass with me at the moment to try this song myself, but I hope this helps or at least gives you somewhere to start. I'll sit down with this and figure it out myself so I can give you a complete explanation of this particular song soon. First of all, here's a better tab:
http://tabs.ultimate-guitar.com/g/green_day/holiday_btab.htm
This one's a lot better written out. A tab is basically a visual representation of the fret board in a way. Since this is for a four string bass, there are four lines. The beginning of each line is labeled with the name of the string that it represents. The line is then divided into measures. The beginning of each measure is marked by a |. This is where it gets a bit tricky though. When reading left to write, you're basically reading time. The dashes break up each measure into tiny amounts of time. The numbers on each line represent which fret to play when, with the place of the number along the line showing where in each measure each note is played. This is why it helps to write it out with a Brailler since you can then see where the notes are on all four strings relative to each other. Hope this helps.

## Post 13 by Shell Script (I just keep on posting!) on Tuesday, 20-May-2014 21:53:25

When you rip out the other tracks and listen to the bass and guitar tracks, you'll discover that they are almost identical in nature (no shit), with little deviation. No really fancy technique, really. As for the count, it feels like a 4/4 to me.