Music Notation basics and comparison with tabs

Music notation basics, and how does it compare with other methods such as tabs.

What is Music Notation?

If you want to play any particular song or your favorite classical music, you will have to refer to it’s sheet-music (which will have the complete printed notations) to understand how the song is to be played.

Music notation is a system of notating music notes so that its easier to communicate with other musicians, and also easy to preserve music (back in those days when audio recording and playback was not popular).

Learning to play any musical instrument is like operating a new machine. You need a manual to operate a new machine; you need to read the rules before you play a new board game.

The only problem is that the instructions on what and how to play is not written in plain English; it’s written in a different form, which is known as music notation.

Standard Music Notation vs Tabs

Tablature (tabs) is another way to depict notes of songs/musical pieces in written format; it’s easier to follow because it omits several bits of information that you commonly found in standard music notations.

Though there are other ways to do the same, tabs are popular because of their simplicity.

Tabs usually show only single notes (as opposed to chords) and also show you what string and fret to put your finger on; they also miss out on several rhythmic details.

But because its easier to know what the notes of a song are, most beginners prefer to use a tab to learn to play songs (compared to the proper music notation format).

The flaw with tabs is that the rhythmic information is not provided, such as how long each note should be held for, and that is the reason it seems to be easy to play.

Tabs are also used by fewer musicians (and mostly by guitar players). On the other hand, the standard notation is understood by most musicians and is most likely to be used for communication when working with other musicians.

Most guitarists, especially beginners, however are happy with the guitar tabs and learn most songs using tabs.

Tabs obviously has its benefits too:

• It offers simplicity, compared to the standard music notation which can take longer to understand
• The learning curve is shorter
• You can learn many songs in a short period of time

However, the guitar tab is not suited for more complex songs. This is where the standard notation really helps.

Why is everybody afraid of it?

There’s this misconception about music notation that it is very difficult to understand. This is one of the reasons why many students look for easier ways, such as playing from tabs or learning to play by ear.

The standard music notation is the most popular of notating music, but easier formats (such as tabs) have also emerged.

This is also the reason why most beginners do not devote much time to sight-reading (reading the musical notation).

Having said that, it’s not really that difficult to understand music notation, and it is definitely worth investing your time learning how to read from music notations if you’re serious about music.

Here are the treble and bass cleffs shown together

It’s like learning a new language; you have to do it bit by bit, and then spend sufficient time practicing it.

Undesrtanding Music Notations

So, how does one get better at learning music notation? Here are some useful links to get started, most of it is covered under music theory.

The various musical notes and how its written in standard musical notation format.

Want to learn more about music notation, you can go through more topics on music theory

Also go through the printed music guide which covers everything you need to know about Sheet Music, Folios, Fakebooks.