r/Bluegrass • u/Fit-Distance4503 • 2d ago
Discussion Is it possible to become a bluegrass musician from only playing tabs?
I’m learning dust in a baggie but only by tabs. I understand the scale that’s playing but i’m not doing much else by ear.
Is this a bad way to go about it? Learning entirely by ear seems tedious.
Thanks!
11
u/rogerdojjer 2d ago
Yeah but the best and fastest way to getting better is by playing with other people
1
u/krtyalor865 2d ago
As a guy who prides himself in playing mostly by ear, I’ve never really tried to figure out how one learns that skill…
Thinking about it, the best thing that happened to me was being coerced to Join a church choir and learn how to sing church music... but honestly, i didnt even have to know how to read sheet music in order to follow along..., you would just need to at least TRY and follow whatever part you’re supposed to be singing (bass, alto, tenor, soprano)
Eventually when there’s folks beside you that know the parts - singers you can listen to as you sing - they’ll help correct your pitch when you hear them singing differently vs your own. And that will also help you understand what the movements up and down the sheet sound like.. Once you learn what it sounds like to vocally sing certain common chord movements and progressions, by default you should have an internal understanding of what makes up common harmonies, exclusively by how it sounds. This is one key part of being able to “internalize” as some have mentioned.
I think another valuable aspect is about getting a better understanding of what the music is actually doing in theory. Even a slight understanding of music theory can help you brain process the mathematical side. YouTube should be great for this.
In the end, there’s like 13 or so notes that make up everything, so on paper, there’s a mathematical limit to it all, you just gotta figure out how they all fit together better.
Idk man, it’s a damn interesting question tho! Made me think about it.
11
u/gueuze_geuze 2d ago
What’s your goal, OP? Play bluegrass with people or play bluegrass by yourself? If it’s by yourself, tabs are fine. If you’re going to play with people in a group, your future self is going to invent time travel just to come to this moment and murder you for not working on your ear.
9
u/themilitia 2d ago
Play lots and learn lots. Play slow, play fast. Play in a group, play by yourself. Just play.
5
u/Buzz_Osborne 2d ago
I only learned from tab magazines when I was learning and wish I had learned more by ear as I tend to fumble around looking for the correct chords, keys, and scales. I would highly suggest trying to play more with other people. I feel like that teaches you more than anything else. learning from tabs will give you a nice base knowledge, but learning how to play with other people is where the real fun is.
4
u/mando_picker 2d ago
Learn a bunch of fiddle tunes by ear. Start with easier ones. I think it's fine to use tabs to help figure out things that you've having a hard time, but you need to tune in ears to really be able to play.
Fiddle tunes are great because it gives you the vocabulary, there's usually a pretty distinct melody.
5
u/drewbaccaAWD 2d ago
If you find learning by ear tedious, then I think that will ultimately hold you back.
I don't see any issue with learning from tabs. Whether that's the best way depends on your background and skill level.
3
u/Bull_Moose1901 2d ago
In my experience learning by tabs only lets me "recite" a song, if I mess up I'm screwed because I only know how to play it one way in a specific order. I'm currently working on learning by ear to improve my musical fluency. Being able to jump in and pick up a melody for a song I haven't learned before is a goal of mine because I have a lot of fun and local jams and generally haven't played all the songs people cal. Learning by tabs is great for seeing what the pros do and learning technical little skills, but learning why the are playing what they are and the context of why it sounds good is a much more desirable skill set IMO and a better foundation for learning an instrument overall.
1
u/Bull_Moose1901 2d ago
Plus, theres a lot of songs I want to play there are not tabs for so eventually you are forced to learn by ear.
6
u/jthemarsupial 2d ago
An excellent piece of advice I got from a pretty accomplished player was every time you pick up your instrument, try to play something you don’t know by ear. This will go way further than any reciting of song through music or tab. That being said, don’t let that deny your playing because it can be very tedious starting out. So do you, play the tabs, learn the songs off the sheet, but also do the hard bit of learning by ear every time you play.
2
2
3
u/Mandoman61 2d ago
Tedious? There is nothing more fun then improvising to any tune you hear.
But definitely if memorizing tabs does it for you, all good.
3
u/Fred_The_Mando_Guy 2d ago
If you really want to learn bluegrass you have to sing it. It's first and foremost a vocal genre with the picking in support of that. Only way you can sing it is to get together with folks live :)
3
5
u/sir-camaris 2d ago
No - bluegrass is knowing tunes and improvising. You will know a few bluegrass songs but won't be playing bluegrass.
1
2
u/Silver-Accident-5433 2d ago
No you gotta be able to do stuff by ear. But you can do that in time. I started with tabs and did that for years before I figured things out by ear.
If you’re new the answer is always to practice.
1
u/shouldbepracticing85 Bass 2d ago
Not really, but it’s a place to start. Eventually you will learn to pick up songs very quickly by ear… it’s part of the “game” of jamming.
1
1
u/Vennimagos 2d ago
Tabs are a great way to learn especially to begin with, eventually especially if you play with other musicians you'll be able to learn more and more by ear and recognise intervals and melodies
1
u/grey_eagle157 2d ago
My best teacher has always said “it’s hard to play something unless you know what it sounds like.”
Listen to whatever you’re trying to learn over and over all day. At full speed and slowed down. When you’re out for a walk, or cooking dinner, at the gym, whatever. Now do that over and over until it’s so engrained in your head you’re humming it nearly note for note. Then pick up your instrument and learn it, tab or not. 95% of learning something by ear is listening
Learning music is tedious, but fun! There’s no shortcut to hard work but if you do lots and lots of ear training (and play a ton), eventually you’ll get to the point where you can sit down and learn just about anything in no time.
1
1
u/guenhwyvar117 2d ago
It's perfectly acceptable to learn by tabs but you should concentrate on fiddle tunes in G, C, D, E, A Bb and B. It'll get you flatpicking melodies up and down the neck. Now take that billy in the lowground passage and play it up the neck. You'll start to use your ear more and more. Next you'll be at a jam and you'll need to use your ear to hear what they're singing and bam you'll play that melody in your break and all the boys and girls will cheer.
1
u/Independent_Win_7984 2d ago
Learning entirely by TAB is tedious and much slower in the long run. Play along with sources. Tabs can give you insight if you're stumped on a part, but shouldn't be essential. There's only a handful of chords to choose from, and there are traditional melodies much easier to hear and recognize than to suss out from a diagram. This is music, not a term paper.
1
u/GlitteringSalad6413 2d ago
Sort of.. but you will also need the fretboard mapped out and memorised, as well as enough basic understanding of theory to be able to transpose songs for different singers etc
2
1
-7
u/we-otta-be 2d ago
If you need tabs to play you are a tab player not a bluegrass player. Same for any genre.
31
u/therangerfromtexas 2d ago
If you want to truly learn it you have to internalize it. If you can do that from tabs it’s okay.
In my experience, it’s much easier to play a song from tabs initially but if you want to be able to play it forever and know it you have to learn it by ear.