Professional tab/sheetmusic for guitar/bass?
Usually I get my tabs from the typical websites like Ultimate-Guitar.com and others, but lately I've had a few songs I am trying to learn that the free tabs just are not right (I play bass). I have also downloaded Guitar Pro files but those are wrong too. I have checked into some \"Professional\" sheetmusic sites for those songs I really want an accurate transcription, but they are not right either. In fact, sometimes the \"Professional\" sheetmusic sites are the worse - and they are charging $3.95 per song. And by not right, I mean not written accurately for the guitar/bass as on the artist's original recording. Some of the \"Professional\" sheetmusic I have seen is obviously written for keyboard and pretends to be for guitar/bass if they throw in the chord diagram above the score. It's just not the same.
So what I'm looking for is tabs on the quality level of Guitar World magazine with accurate bass lines, and I'm willing to spend about a buck per song. Too much to ask for?
My problem is that I have been schooled since a small child to learn music (saxaphone) by reading off a sheet. Now I'm playing bass guitar and finding quality tabs on certain songs is more than a challenge. Failing to find high quality tabs, is there any system or method you guys would recommend on learning how to play by ear? As I progress in my bass playing, I am finding more and more that I am going beyond what I can find in the free tabs and Guitar Pro files on the internet. I suppose the ultimate would be to learn how to play by ear, but sometimes the song(s) I am trying to learn are currently beyond my level and at least with a tab/score in front of me, I can see how to play the piece and work it up to tempo over time.
Thanks in advance for any suggestions.
So what I'm looking for is tabs on the quality level of Guitar World magazine with accurate bass lines, and I'm willing to spend about a buck per song. Too much to ask for?
My problem is that I have been schooled since a small child to learn music (saxaphone) by reading off a sheet. Now I'm playing bass guitar and finding quality tabs on certain songs is more than a challenge. Failing to find high quality tabs, is there any system or method you guys would recommend on learning how to play by ear? As I progress in my bass playing, I am finding more and more that I am going beyond what I can find in the free tabs and Guitar Pro files on the internet. I suppose the ultimate would be to learn how to play by ear, but sometimes the song(s) I am trying to learn are currently beyond my level and at least with a tab/score in front of me, I can see how to play the piece and work it up to tempo over time.
Thanks in advance for any suggestions.
Comments
I was looking for \"the shadow of your smile\" the other day and found
http://www.acousticfingerstyle.com/midifils.htm
which has a bunch of music (mostly jazz and traditional) transcribed for fingerstyle guitar. The transcriptions are PDFs and include notation plus time-notated tab plus midi files of what the song should sound like. It's not a huge site but the transcriptions are nice.
For figuring out bass by ear, I figure out the chord progressions first (obviously?) then try to hear the bass as it relates to the chords and the kick drum. If I can't hear or understand what the bass is doing, I use learn-a-lick or DAW software to slow the music to half- or quarter-speed.
-Rf.
Another song we are looking at is \"What's the Frequency, Kenneth\" by REM. The bass line on that song is moving all over the place and I'm looking forward to learning that part. Fortunately for me, there are good tabs and Guitar Pro files for that song. Probably because it was so popular and more than likely transcribed by Guitar World magazine or some other real guitar/bass people. But the skill level for that song is a stretch for me and I could not learn that bass line by ear alone.
I'm also looking at \"Dancing Days\" by Led Zeppelin. I pretty much got that song down on bass, it's not that difficult, but the tabs and Guitar Pro files I downloaded were all wrong. And the so called professional sheet music was worse (probably written for piano). So on that song, my ear told me that the tabs and sheet music I was looking at was not right. But the bass line in that song is pretty easy, so I was able to learn it by ear and not be mislead by incorrect tab. That's usually not the case for me.
I do have a nice program that allows me to slow down the music file, and that helps. But, my main problem is that I never learned how to play anything by ear. So it's a talent that I'm still trying to develop. Old dog, new tricks.... That's where I'm at on that one. I'm going to have to find a program that slows down video so I can slow down those YouTube clips. That might help.
Three years ago when I started playing bass I thought, \"How hard can it be?\" considering I had played guitar for about 30 years. I mean, a bass only has 4 strings and you mainly play one note at a time. Right? Well, the more I play bass, and the better I get, the more I appreciate the instrument and the more I realize that playing it well is every bit as difficult, or harder, than when I played guitar. Sometimes the bass is moving around the rhythm is such a way that it makes it impossible for me to both play and sing at the same time. Also, although there are many great guitar sites devoted to tabs, I find it more difficult to find the same quality bass tabs. I am now learning the many of the Guitar Pro files I have downloaded are also really weak on the bass line. You can tell that it's a guitar player who wrote the bass line because he really did not know what the bass player was doing.
At my age, I don't know if there is much hope to ever get good at learning how to play by ear. If I was just starting out again, I would want to learn how to play both by ear and by sight. My brother-in-law can't read music so he learns everything by ear. I'm just the opposite having started playing saxaphone in school band. Each way of learning has its advantages. However, I am to the opinion that it would be best to learn music both ways. Unfortunately, I was never taught to value my ear for learning. I was brought up to play the music exactly as it appeared on the sheet music in front of me on my band stand.
I guess it's back to the music room, load up the files in my slow down software, and just slog through the learning curve....