bass tab sites

[Omor Nomar ff bass]

Hello all you lowdowners! I was hoping someone might point me in the right direction to some good tab sites. It's been a while since I searched the net and wondered what anyone here might recommend. Thanx!

[jeremy c]

http://www.warnermusic.com.au/images/compilations/Anywhere%20But%20HEre.jpg

[wurmhole78]

Crackin' me up JeremyC

 

I use Olga.net if I want some quick hints on some covers. If you use Firefox, you can get an Olga plugin for the searchbar, handy as can be.

[RHINO_ROB]

www.bassmasta.net

[davio]

If and when I look for tabs I usually use the universally helpful www.google.com and type in something crazy like "*song title* *band* bass tabs" and I can almost invariably find something. I know it's an out-there idea but it works.

[Cabbage_the_Bassist]

mxtabs.net and ultimate-guitar.com

[Omor Nomar ff bass]

To all who were helpful, thanks. To those who were funny, an even bigger thanks. To the jackass that decided to act like a punk (and I stress "act" davio because you couldn't possibly have what it takes to make me believe you could back any of that shit up). Stick it in your ass. Oh wait... never mind, you'd probably like that.

[Gab]

Sorry, but i have to go with Davio on this one. There are lots of good tab sites out there but there aren't any that actually stand out so not much of a difference between them in my opinion (they usually have the same tabs anyway). But getting back on topic: i think You should give Powertab a try if You haven't already done so.

[Phil W]

I sometimes search for tabs as Davio suggested with google. I always use Opera though as many have all sorts of nasty pop-ups, redirects and other beastly things. I don't search for this kind of thing using IE. Firefox I have heard recommended widely.

Usually, though, I haven't found the tabs useful and it's probably quicker (and a lot more accurate) to work them out by ear. I often search for lyrics and sometimes chord progressions though. I tend to use ultimateguitar for this.

http://www.ultimate-guitar.com

A lot of the tabs on the net are almost useless and invariably wrong, though - so bear that in mind.

[EddiePlaysBass]

www.basstabarchive.com

[dcr]

Once you learn standard notation, possibilities open up wide.

 

I think the same goes for common decency, too.

[The Geoff]

Originally posted by Omor Nomar ff bass:

To all who were helpful, thanks. To those who were funny, an even bigger thanks. To the jackass that decided to act like a punk (and I stress "act" davio because you couldn't possibly have what it takes to make me believe you could back any of that shit up). Stick it in your ass. Oh wait... never mind, you'd probably like that.

How to make friends and influence people.

 

Geoff. Saddened.

[Bottomgottem]

Uh, maybe I missed something. I tried to be offended by davio's post and couldn't do it.

 

And what exactly is he supposed to be "backing up"?

 

 

I, also, use google.

[Phil W]

I think he's implying that Davio is questioning his intelligence for not simply searching for tab sites using google. I didn't read it that way. I think Omor is being oversensitive.

[jeremy c]

Davio is right, Google is a great way to find tabs. You might be able to find certain songs on one tab site and other songs on a different tab site, but if you are looking for a specific song (which normally you would be), Google will find it. I use it all the time for lyrics.

 

How do the songs get tabbed? People like you listen to them and write them out.

 

Use some of your energy and sit down and figure out the songs yourself and you will be a better player for it.

 

A couple of days ago some of us heard a Victor Wooten interview where he said when he heard something new (and he was talking about Portrait of Tracy), he just stayed up all night until he figured it out.

 

And that's why he is Victor Wooten and you are not.

 

Name one famous player who learned to play by using tabs. Let's go one step further. Name one player who gets paid for playing music who learns the songs by using tabs.

 

I'm actually a little surprised by all the helpful suggestions in this thread....for years the general culture of this forum has been pretty much anti-tab. Maybe (and unfortunately) that culture is changing.

 

Are there paint-by-numbers threads on artists forums? Are the people who color the Thomas Kinkade paintings artists? Or does he just hire kids who learned how to paint with a paint-by-numbers book?

[EddiePlaysBass]

Jeremy, I think tab can be helpful when you start out playing bass. Don't forget, "we" are the MTV generation ...

 

That said, as much as I once used tab, I have stopped using it for the most part, and (on the suggestion of this forum, actually) have started doing it by ear.

 

That is not to say I never use tab anymore, sometimes I do check my own findings against other people's. Sometimes we're both right, sometimes one of us is wrong.

 

I would advise everyone to go the ear way though, it is more gratifying in the longer run.

[Phil W]

I recently had to learn 40 cover songs in a short space of time for a paying gig. I serched for the lot of them as both chords, tabs and lyrics. I have to say I didn't find one of the bass tabs useful. Fortunately the bandleader had provided me with a CD of all the tunes and it was from listening to this rather than from tab that I learnt the basslines.

I'm still tempted to check the tabs in bassplayer when they're noted next to the standard notation as my reading is still weak, but I appreciate the value of reading and the limitations of tab.

I agree with Jeremy that the process of learning a song by ear is going to improve your playing in the most practical and applicable skill for a gigging bassplayer (listening).

I'm trying to learn some Charlie Parker lines at the moment and (while not trying to learn them by ear!) reading the standard notation and working out my own fingering is proving far more effective than anybody's tab.

Still, if somebody wants help with something, people will usually help - provided they ask nicely!

[A Head with Wings]

Eddie said: "[...] sometimes I do check my own findings against other people's. Sometimes we're both right, sometimes one of us is wrong."

 

There sure must be times where both of you are wrong.

[EddiePlaysBass]

Head With Wings, you're right I forgot to mention that option ...

[davio]

First and foremost, I apologize if anything I said offended you but please believe that I meant every word of it. While some pokes were out of humor and sarcasm, I was trying to make a valid point.

 

When I started playing bass guitar (in 9th grade after playing URB for 3 or 4 years) a drummer friend of mine suggested I listen to my favorite songs and try to learn their bass lines after the first time we tried jamming and I simply didn't know what to play. I went home and learned every bass line from 3 of my favorite cds. Some time later another friend introduced me to the world of tabs and I went in search of some songs I liked and also to make sure what I had figured out from other songs was correct. I was sorely disappointed to find that every set of bass tabs I found had wrong notes plaguing it. I tried playing the songs their way along with the cd but their notes didn't sound remotely correct.

 

Since then I've been very wary of tabs and very rarely use them. There have been a few times that I've tried to figure out a particularly difficult bass line and looked to tabs because of the thick texture of the music and I couldn't tell which notes the bass was playing in certain places. I do not, however, rely on them past that point and even then I try out their version and see if my ears agree...if they don't I look for another method of figuring it out.

 

I use Google as my online bass tab search engine. Ive found it just as reliable (if not more so) than any single bass tab website.

 

Again, I didn't mean to offend. But please think about whether getting easily offended and starting online arguments/fights is really worth your while or not. Do you really get anything out of chewing me out whether I've been a dick or not? I think you'll find that the majority of people on this board are a lot easier to deal with than you may think.

[jeremy c]

Davio, you are a gentleman and a scholar.

[ArwinH]

Originally posted by Phil W:

[QB] I recently had to learn 40 cover songs in a short space of time for a paying gig.

 

I was in a similar situation this summer, with about 45-50 songs to learn and something like 16 hours to learn them. I didn't know how to play any of these songs before hand, but I was given 3 cds with most of the material.

I just packed a portable cd player and the three cds along with my stuff for that trip, a three nighter.

I knew the stuff better than some of the other guys up there, becuase I spent maybe 3-4 hours listening to the cds and playing along with an acoustic guitar at the venue.

[Cthulhu Fhtagn]

Gentlepeople, looks like we've lost another noob.

 

Why can't we all just get along!!!!

[davio]

Originally posted by Social Critic:

Gentlepeople, looks like we've lost another noob.

 

Why can't we all just get along!!!!

Hardly a noob, it looks as if Mr. Omor has been lurking around here longer than I have. I hope that my reply won't keep him from coming back to this forum as I'm sure it will prove to be useful for him as it has been for me.

[Cthulhu Fhtagn]

Yeah, but at 27 posts in over a year and really, anyone lurking here longer than a month knows there is a witty "repiorte" and that having thin skin and hypersensitivity usually means they end up at "other forums" comparing Metallica to Marcus Miller.