Transcriptions & common sense
Posted by ericvandenberg on November 1, 2007
This is something that I have thought about a lot throughout the years, and since I teach a lot, I see it happening all the time: a lot of people who do use TABs to learn songs usually tend to take the fingerings in those TABs as “a rule carved in stone”, no matter what its like.
Now, there are some AWESOME transcriptions out there, some that are like 100% correct, and they’re a great resource for learning stuff. However, a lot of TABs arent. This might be caused by the transcriber being unexperienced, or by the fact that a lot of transcribers pick out the licks and melodies bar by bar, note by note.
So they figure out the notes of a lick, write them into their TAB, and then go on. A lot of times, this results in nearly unplayable fingerings, or an arrangement which is just very inconvenient. I remember that Guitar One magazine once claimed that its transcribers would make sure that the fingerings in their tabs are playable, streamlined and arranged for ease of performance.
Now, recently, a student of mine wanted to work on a few licks from Eric Johnsons “Cliffs Of Dover”, and he had two TABs, both from official TAB books (some style study books). Check out this:
These are two versions of the same lick. I didnt copy them note by note with all the details, these are rough versions, to make sure I don’t infringe on any copyrights, and I am trying to make a point here anyway.
I am not saying that version 1 is not playable, but I do think that version 2 is a bit easier to play, as there is no shift involved, and I do believe that, considering the way Eric J. uses string-skipping, bar 2 is closer to what he actually DID play. Of course, Johnson often has some quite weird fingerings, based on his philosophy that he likes to play notes where they SOUND best, even though it might mean that its tougher to play the licks with the notes located where they are.
See my point? A lot of times, it might make sense to try out some different fingerings, trying to figure out whether there is a better way to play something if a fingering is really awkward. Doing that can also be a great learning experience.
So next time you work on a TAB, try to figure out whether the fingerings used are really convenient and make sense, or whether there is a better way to play a line. Keep in mind that not all TABs are 100% correct… sometimes the transcriber makes mistakes, sometimes its insanely hard to figure out exactly what is being played.
