When I chose to pick up a ukulele I first started to read tablature then I realised I was not playing it how it should have of been played, so I tried to understand and learn the music! It wasn’t until I found this site of yours, it fell into place. I don’t need much tablature now that I am on your site Phil, I have gained so much in depth of playing the ukulele since I have found the way that you teach the basics of playing and understanding the ukulele. Great stuff Phil!
My problem is that, looking from the front, it’s hard to tell which strings are being pressed down. I flip flop between the video and the tabs. I can read basic music, I just haven’t done it in so long.
Good arguments, but aside from that being a beginner I really appreciate tabs cause a) its not always easy to see your fingers do and what strings they really press. Your hand often covers them. B) it‘s difficult to pause the video every time. It‘s easy though to look at tabs for as long as I need to do. No fuzz with pausing.
I agree, tabs can be very useful. I think the real problem is when people 'own the tab' and think that means they can play it, or attempt to sight read it every time. It's brilliant when trying to communicate an idea or as a learning tool, though.
Unfortunately with my poor old brain it takes about two million times of rehearsal to memorize a song and doing that by rewinding a video back and forth is just not feasible. So when I come up with an interesting piece on some tutorial video, I will also check if there is a tab available or if it is only shown on screen I will make a collection of screenshots (just the tab part of course) and print it out. Usually the songs that I try to learn I'm already familiar with so I know the rythm or I get that from the video and just use the tab for practice. And no, I can't play out of a tab nor notes, I have to memorize the whole thing.
So true! In french I call that "syndrome du collecteur de pdf" (Pdf collector syndrome)... Thanks for this great moment. But, can you send me the tab of this video?😁😉🎶
Agreed. I get so much more hearing and seeing the techniques. All the tips and tricks are where all the magic for playing the instrument comes together for me.
Great information. I can't sight read music, although I keep trying, and my memory is terrible...what was I saying :)...so lean toward tabs to help me play. But thinking about it you are very right about listening, watching and learning. Next uke vid I want to learn, I will put some human back in this digital world we live in. Thanks so much!
tab plus notation plus watching a video are all together an effective combination for learning (as is knowing the notes on the fretboard)...not any one in isolation
I totally agree. I’ve always struggled to see what is happening when looking at a tabs. I think of the differences between tab and notation as similar to SatNav and a good large scale OS map. SatNav can tell me which direction to turn to get me through to my destination, whereas I can read my map and understand the journey and even visualise the scenery I will see. After a few years of guitar and uke tab, when I was persuaded to start lockdown lessons on mandolin I determined to only use notation in order to improve my sight reading. I’m so glad my teacher indulged my whim. Also, the treasury of folk music notation that is out there waiting to be played is phenomenal. I’ve enough to keep me going for decades! Thanks Phil!
Tabs are my "go to" when I play chord melody. They are great for songs I am already familiar with (tune and rhythm -- usually ones from decades ago). Everything you say is true and insightful. However, ukulele may be the instrument most associated with people really spending years trying to become an excellent beginner player (and elated in their meager progress).
I hope I don't end up in that catagory - a perpetual beginner. At least I don't like it when my playing remains meager. I get elated whenever I've been able to ace another new skill, passed yet another new challenge. I'm pretty sure I'm beyond beginner - especially when it comes to accompaniment playing. But I doubt I'll become a virtuoso. Mostly I play so I can give ejoyment to the simple things in life. I play well enough to keep my accompaniment smooth while I sing. But don't take my videos as an example of my playing - because they are already over a year old and I'd only started playing nearly 4 years ago (never having taken up a stringed instrument playing before that). I recorded them just after learning a new peice - so the work on them is raw and not properly rehearsed (and hindered by arthritis). Plus the recording equipment is basic and shoddy. I'm rattling on. Sorry - it's raining today and I'm locked indoors tossing up whether to stay in my music shed or go back to the house for a snooze. Nah - I'll pick up my ukulele and get the kinks out of my sore fingers. I do have an abition to record my music properly - but covid is slowing down my music production classes progress (Community college - no expensive studio classes).
I learn better watching someone teach me how to play.. once I kind of remember what I learned .. I look at the tab to refine it better.. it makes more sense. Tab makes me lazy.. I will say that.. it's better to listen and watch.. I agree. But sometimes when I am off in the woods at our cabin. I have no internet and tabs are helpful..
Really great discusion about using the right tool for the particular situation! I just started with ukulele and actually at the first time I looked on TABs was a bit confusing until I realised that the numbers on are the frets an not the fingers😅. I was a bit missing what finger I should use😢. Usually I am playing melody by ear even though I may use just what ever starting note. When I have sheet music or can hear to the recorded music I often just look/listen on/to that starting note the rest I do with try and error till I practiced it enough for being fluently concerning my personal goal. Often I try to figure out what string and finger to use having all that more convinient/comfortable/ergonomical. What for me is much harder when I don't have any advice concerning the chords that fit to the paticular part of the music piece.
I do want to write out my arrangements in tablature. You are right - it's no good for teaching you the duration of notes you play - which means you'd need to write out another line above or below to show note duration. Add to that a lyrics line. In the end you may as well learn music notations and put the note durations on a musical score. So - a tab line, the lyrics, the score - all together. That's quite a lot for a beginner to get their heads around, though. Lucky for me I already know music theory. Unlucky for me is that I have trouble memorising. I do remember my chord shapes - but since progressing I've been adding changes to how I play things. Just rambling - but I do believe having tablature is good for those of us with selective memory issues (my short term memory loss is bad). I'm good at remembering when humming melody or harmony lines of tunes (but not always remembering lyrics) - which includes the pitch and the note duration - so I don't always need notes written down if I'm singing and playing a familiar tune. A lot of people I've met don't have a clue about reading notes - so I'd just refer them onto listening to the tune on a recording. Not exactly helpful when you're getting up to do an open mic with unfamiliar backup people, or sitting in on a jam with strangers. Usually all I need to work from is the lyrics with the chord names above or between where they are played - and I'll draw a chord shape on the page if I'm doing something I'm not familiar with. Learning ukulele has been good for making me memorize at least how to hold the chord shapes to strum or pick over. I don't do melody playing on the ukulele (though I've started to work on musical interludes to add to songs I sing and play to - adding texture and interest to the song). My uke is for accompaniment. I do have a young uke student - teching him is going to challenge me more to work on playing melodies to get him practicing learning where the different notes sit on the fretboard (and I'm learning as I go - My grandkids will hopefully start learning soon). I'm enjoying challenging myself.
I agree Phil, tab's are upside down for my mind (perhaps it's my age). I struggle with them and tend to use chord progressions. Thank you for your great videos. Trev 🤗
That was a great take on sheet music and tabs. I generally these days score the melody line and the tabs for any original uke song I do. The tabs help me to remember the exact playing but the melody line and chords make it accessible to all other instruments. My tabs in Sibelius contain the note stems. Yeah, I remember the days of the ASC tabs. Great instructional video! I agree with everything you said.
I need to learn how to use my Sibelius. Especially now that I'm getting more interested in song writing and writing up arrangements of what I play when I accompany cover songs.
@@Ozrockerie You will need the full Sibelius (not First) to do ukulele stuff. Not sure what you have. Their subscriptions and pricing is so crazy these days, but as a long time user, they give me a better deal in the Avid account. They do make the best looking uke scores and tabs and fretboards. I love it. It takes time to learn. I want to do a video explaining how to set up a uke basic template for chords, melody line, and tabs. Been on my mind. If you want see what a nice tab looks like, check my song "Looking Back Home" about Saturn. The TAB link is in the description. That is why I subscribe to Sibelius. Good luck! If you have questions about Sibelius, feel free to ask me.
@@PeteyHoudini - I'm not very tech savvy - but I have used another music program before - it doesn't work on a mac, though. I need to knuckle down and make sibelius my total focus for a while - and that's a bit hard when I'm doing other studies. After this year I might even need to put myself into lockdown and just learn it. I have spoken to a local who said they'd help me to learn how to use sibelius - but it's making a time when we are both available (and they live far enugh away to make lockdown an niusance in regards to seeing each other). Thanks for your offer. I'm still working on my new life since the passing of my dad - I had him living with me for about 7 years and I'd put a lot of what I wanted to do on hold. Dad had dementia and we looked after him at home.
@@Ozrockerie : Keep calm and carry on as they say in the UK. I lost my parents 5 years ago. Devastating. I have never been the same. It never gets better. Sorry to tell you, but you have to go on. Going on gets better. I don't know Sibelius on the Mac so I can't help on that front. I'm a Windows guy but I use the latest iPhone LOL haha You need to be able to read music to use Sibelius. If you can't do that already, it won't teach you that. Keep going.
@@PeteyHoudini - I know music theory to bout intermediate level. I'm not well practiced at using it to write music - but it gets me through playing classical pieces that I like to play (4th-5th grade AMEB - learned later in life).
Interesting! I always want(ed) tabs, BUT, I have come to realise that I cannot play any tab learned songs from memory, yet songs I work out by ear actually stick better in my slightly geriatric brain!
I have tried all the memory techniques I can find and I can’t get any of them to work. My 66 year old head is full of toys, so I just have to play the song until I’m sick of hearing it 😂😂. I can read simple music notation so I usually use that to get the rhythm etc, then use tab to try to memorise it. I don’t think music notation is not that difficult if you really put your mind to it, just start with simple songs.
I can play the one song over and over again for hours - then still need to refer to lyric sheets and chord charts. But I think some of them are starting to reach my long term memory banks. I can memorise songs better when I'm not playing the uke. It's adding the chords that throw me out, still. Unless it's a simple song with simple chord progressions. I've gone beyond that, though. My music theory is at intermediate level.
It's upside down and back to front until you learn to read the map. I love being able to read music notation and tabs. I learned to read music in relationship to a piano keyboard - even when you play the fretboards of stringed intruments you need to know where the tones and semitones (steps and half steps) are in relationship to where they are on a piano. There's a semitone between the E and F, and the B and C - all other notes on the keyboard have a black note between them and are a step (tone) apart. The same patterns used in chords needs to be related to the fretboard.
@@61cheezil - I'm nearly 60 and have a lousy memory. I just keep working on it till it decides to move to my long term memory - and even then I need visual and aural reminders. 60 is a great age for new beginnings, and we never stop learning. Learn one thing at a time - eventually you will look back at what you've learned and wonder why you found it so hard. Trust that memory of yours - you'll be surprised what you can remember when you dust off those memory bank shelves.
As a classical musician new to ukulele you present excellent and clear explanations Phil! I hope more people see this and understand!
When I chose to pick up a ukulele I first started to read tablature then I realised I was not playing it how it should have of been played, so I tried to understand and learn the music! It wasn’t until I found this site of yours, it fell into place.
I don’t need much tablature now that I am on your site Phil, I have gained so much in depth of playing the ukulele since I have found the way that you teach the basics of playing and understanding the ukulele. Great stuff Phil!
VERY VERY useful video ! Thanks a lot for ligthning the path of a more musicianship journey !
awesome.....
My problem is that, looking from the front, it’s hard to tell which strings are being pressed down. I flip flop between the video and the tabs. I can read basic music, I just haven’t done it in so long.
Good arguments, but aside from that being a beginner I really appreciate tabs cause a) its not always easy to see your fingers do and what strings they really press. Your hand often covers them. B) it‘s difficult to pause the video every time. It‘s easy though to look at tabs for as long as I need to do. No fuzz with pausing.
I agree, tabs can be very useful. I think the real problem is when people 'own the tab' and think that means they can play it, or attempt to sight read it every time. It's brilliant when trying to communicate an idea or as a learning tool, though.
Unfortunately with my poor old brain it takes about two million times of rehearsal to memorize a song and doing that by rewinding a video back and forth is just not feasible. So when I come up with an interesting piece on some tutorial video, I will also check if there is a tab available or if it is only shown on screen I will make a collection of screenshots (just the tab part of course) and print it out. Usually the songs that I try to learn I'm already familiar with so I know the rythm or I get that from the video and just use the tab for practice. And no, I can't play out of a tab nor notes, I have to memorize the whole thing.
So true! In french I call that "syndrome du collecteur de pdf" (Pdf collector syndrome)... Thanks for this great moment. But, can you send me the tab of this video?😁😉🎶
Haha, yes of course :-)
Agreed. I get so much more hearing and seeing the techniques. All the tips and tricks are where all the magic for playing the instrument comes together for me.
Great information. I can't sight read music, although I keep trying, and my memory is terrible...what was I saying :)...so lean toward tabs to help me play. But thinking about it you are very right about listening, watching and learning. Next uke vid I want to learn, I will put some human back in this digital world we live in. Thanks so much!
tab plus notation plus watching a video are all together an effective combination for learning (as is knowing the notes on the fretboard)...not any one in isolation
I think you're 200% right, i find its easier to have the Tab and then watch the video
Love you're video's Phil
Cheers
Pauli NZ
I totally agree. I’ve always struggled to see what is happening when looking at a tabs. I think of the differences between tab and notation as similar to SatNav and a good large scale OS map. SatNav can tell me which direction to turn to get me through to my destination, whereas I can read my map and understand the journey and even visualise the scenery I will see. After a few years of guitar and uke tab, when I was persuaded to start lockdown lessons on mandolin I determined to only use notation in order to improve my sight reading. I’m so glad my teacher indulged my whim. Also, the treasury of folk music notation that is out there waiting to be played is phenomenal. I’ve enough to keep me going for decades! Thanks Phil!
Tabs are my "go to" when I play chord melody. They are great for songs I am already familiar with (tune and rhythm -- usually ones from decades ago). Everything you say is true and insightful. However, ukulele may be the instrument most associated with people really spending years trying to become an excellent beginner player (and elated in their meager progress).
I hope I don't end up in that catagory - a perpetual beginner. At least I don't like it when my playing remains meager. I get elated whenever I've been able to ace another new skill, passed yet another new challenge. I'm pretty sure I'm beyond beginner - especially when it comes to accompaniment playing. But I doubt I'll become a virtuoso. Mostly I play so I can give ejoyment to the simple things in life. I play well enough to keep my accompaniment smooth while I sing. But don't take my videos as an example of my playing - because they are already over a year old and I'd only started playing nearly 4 years ago (never having taken up a stringed instrument playing before that). I recorded them just after learning a new peice - so the work on them is raw and not properly rehearsed (and hindered by arthritis). Plus the recording equipment is basic and shoddy. I'm rattling on. Sorry - it's raining today and I'm locked indoors tossing up whether to stay in my music shed or go back to the house for a snooze. Nah - I'll pick up my ukulele and get the kinks out of my sore fingers. I do have an abition to record my music properly - but covid is slowing down my music production classes progress (Community college - no expensive studio classes).
I learn better watching someone teach me how to play.. once I kind of remember what I learned .. I look at the tab to refine it better.. it makes more sense. Tab makes me lazy.. I will say that.. it's better to listen and watch.. I agree. But sometimes when I am off in the woods at our cabin. I have no internet and tabs are helpful..
Great video, just keep doing what you're doing, you've made ukulele fun for me!
Nicely put Phil
Really great discusion about using the right tool for the particular situation! I just started with ukulele and actually at the first time I looked on TABs was a bit confusing until I realised that the numbers on are the frets an not the fingers😅. I was a bit missing what finger I should use😢.
Usually I am playing melody by ear even though I may use just what ever starting note. When I have sheet music or can hear to the recorded music I often just look/listen on/to that starting note the rest I do with try and error till I practiced it enough for being fluently concerning my personal goal. Often I try to figure out what string and finger to use having all that more convinient/comfortable/ergonomical. What for me is much harder when I don't have any advice concerning the chords that fit to the paticular part of the music piece.
I do want to write out my arrangements in tablature. You are right - it's no good for teaching you the duration of notes you play - which means you'd need to write out another line above or below to show note duration. Add to that a lyrics line. In the end you may as well learn music notations and put the note durations on a musical score. So - a tab line, the lyrics, the score - all together. That's quite a lot for a beginner to get their heads around, though. Lucky for me I already know music theory. Unlucky for me is that I have trouble memorising. I do remember my chord shapes - but since progressing I've been adding changes to how I play things. Just rambling - but I do believe having tablature is good for those of us with selective memory issues (my short term memory loss is bad). I'm good at remembering when humming melody or harmony lines of tunes (but not always remembering lyrics) - which includes the pitch and the note duration - so I don't always need notes written down if I'm singing and playing a familiar tune. A lot of people I've met don't have a clue about reading notes - so I'd just refer them onto listening to the tune on a recording. Not exactly helpful when you're getting up to do an open mic with unfamiliar backup people, or sitting in on a jam with strangers. Usually all I need to work from is the lyrics with the chord names above or between where they are played - and I'll draw a chord shape on the page if I'm doing something I'm not familiar with. Learning ukulele has been good for making me memorize at least how to hold the chord shapes to strum or pick over. I don't do melody playing on the ukulele (though I've started to work on musical interludes to add to songs I sing and play to - adding texture and interest to the song). My uke is for accompaniment. I do have a young uke student - teching him is going to challenge me more to work on playing melodies to get him practicing learning where the different notes sit on the fretboard (and I'm learning as I go - My grandkids will hopefully start learning soon). I'm enjoying challenging myself.
I agree Phil, tab's are upside down for my mind (perhaps it's my age). I struggle with them and tend to use chord progressions. Thank you for your great videos. Trev 🤗
That was a great take on sheet music and tabs. I generally these days score the melody line and the tabs for any original uke song I do. The tabs help me to remember the exact playing but the melody line and chords make it accessible to all other instruments. My tabs in Sibelius contain the note stems. Yeah, I remember the days of the ASC tabs. Great instructional video! I agree with everything you said.
I need to learn how to use my Sibelius. Especially now that I'm getting more interested in song writing and writing up arrangements of what I play when I accompany cover songs.
@@Ozrockerie You will need the full Sibelius (not First) to do ukulele stuff. Not sure what you have. Their subscriptions and pricing is so crazy these days, but as a long time user, they give me a better deal in the Avid account. They do make the best looking uke scores and tabs and fretboards. I love it. It takes time to learn. I want to do a video explaining how to set up a uke basic template for chords, melody line, and tabs. Been on my mind. If you want see what a nice tab looks like, check my song "Looking Back Home" about Saturn. The TAB link is in the description. That is why I subscribe to Sibelius. Good luck! If you have questions about Sibelius, feel free to ask me.
@@PeteyHoudini - I'm not very tech savvy - but I have used another music program before - it doesn't work on a mac, though. I need to knuckle down and make sibelius my total focus for a while - and that's a bit hard when I'm doing other studies. After this year I might even need to put myself into lockdown and just learn it. I have spoken to a local who said they'd help me to learn how to use sibelius - but it's making a time when we are both available (and they live far enugh away to make lockdown an niusance in regards to seeing each other). Thanks for your offer. I'm still working on my new life since the passing of my dad - I had him living with me for about 7 years and I'd put a lot of what I wanted to do on hold. Dad had dementia and we looked after him at home.
@@Ozrockerie : Keep calm and carry on as they say in the UK. I lost my parents 5 years ago. Devastating. I have never been the same. It never gets better. Sorry to tell you, but you have to go on. Going on gets better. I don't know Sibelius on the Mac so I can't help on that front. I'm a Windows guy but I use the latest iPhone LOL haha You need to be able to read music to use Sibelius. If you can't do that already, it won't teach you that. Keep going.
@@PeteyHoudini - I know music theory to bout intermediate level. I'm not well practiced at using it to write music - but it gets me through playing classical pieces that I like to play (4th-5th grade AMEB - learned later in life).
Great advice
Interesting! I always want(ed) tabs, BUT, I have come to realise that I cannot play any tab learned songs from memory, yet songs I work out by ear actually stick better in my slightly geriatric brain!
I need tabs to help me remember what was taught. Same reason I need music for piano.yes, it is a crutch.
That's a great use for tablature, essentially keeping notes to remind you of something.
Ok, ok, I hear you, but can you send me the tablature for this video anyway?
( :-)
I have tried all the memory techniques I can find and I can’t get any of them to work. My 66 year old head is full of toys, so I just have to play the song until I’m sick of hearing it 😂😂.
I can read simple music notation so I usually use that to get the rhythm etc, then use tab to try to memorise it.
I don’t think music notation is not that difficult if you really put your mind to it, just start with simple songs.
I can play the one song over and over again for hours - then still need to refer to lyric sheets and chord charts. But I think some of them are starting to reach my long term memory banks. I can memorise songs better when I'm not playing the uke. It's adding the chords that throw me out, still. Unless it's a simple song with simple chord progressions. I've gone beyond that, though. My music theory is at intermediate level.
Wish i knew how to read sheet music/note, jus makes no sense to me, tabs not much easier.
It's upside down and back to front until you learn to read the map. I love being able to read music notation and tabs. I learned to read music in relationship to a piano keyboard - even when you play the fretboards of stringed intruments you need to know where the tones and semitones (steps and half steps) are in relationship to where they are on a piano. There's a semitone between the E and F, and the B and C - all other notes on the keyboard have a black note between them and are a step (tone) apart. The same patterns used in chords needs to be related to the fretboard.
@@Ozrockerie eek sounds so complicated to me, being an old 60yo with lousy memory
@@61cheezil - I'm nearly 60 and have a lousy memory. I just keep working on it till it decides to move to my long term memory - and even then I need visual and aural reminders. 60 is a great age for new beginnings, and we never stop learning. Learn one thing at a time - eventually you will look back at what you've learned and wonder why you found it so hard. Trust that memory of yours - you'll be surprised what you can remember when you dust off those memory bank shelves.
@@Ozrockerie thankyou!