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Great point. To a first approximation: Tablature is a _physical description_ of how a particular stringed instrument should be played, and the notes are a sid

Great point. To a first approximation: Tablature is a _physical description_ of how a particular stringed instrument should be played, and the notes are a side effect of that. It is instrument specific and it doesn't contain much information about the musical details of the piece. For example, tablature doesn't describe the key the piece is to be played in. To figure that out, you have to mentally translate the mechanical description into notes, and from there determine the key. Standard notation is a _musical description_ of how a particular song should be played, and the physical act of playing is a side effect of that. It is not instrument specific, and it contains a lot of information about the musical details of the piece, but usually no information at all about how a the instrument should be played. (There are a few minor exceptions.) For example, standard notation tells you exactly the key the piece is in, but the player has to mentally translate the notes into the physical steps of getting that note out of the piece. Basically standard notation adds a layer of indirection from the music to the mechanical act of playing. Like many indirections, it can be hard to understand at first, but has adds great power and flexibility that a direct system doesn't have.

iamacynic 9y ago
another feature/side effect is that you can use any instrument to play any part of a written piece, as long as it's physically possible to play the notes as written. and if not - you can improvise easily by dropping superfluous or unnecessary components/notes without changing the overall sound of the music.
- laurentoget 9y ago
  Another side effect is that as a guitar player you can look at the tuba player's part to figure out what he is playing even if you have no idea how to play tuba, if you read music. With tablature only a guitar player will know what you are playing.
ChristianGeek 9y ago
Tablature is also needed because the same note can be played on different strings, notes can be doubled, there are different ways to transition from one way to another, and there are various other nuances that are messy at best to try to express in standard notation.
anjc 9y ago
What you're saying makes sense, but it applies oppositely too in that tab is non-physical and notation very physical. Example, if you see a scale in musical notation, it's immediately obvious that it's a scale just from a 50 millisecond glance, whereas in tab it's not obvious that it's a scale until you read/play through it. When you become adept with musical notation, this is one of the primary hindrances of tab.

iamacynic 9y ago

another feature/side effect is that you can use any instrument to play any part of a written piece, as long as it's physically possible to play the notes as written. and if not - you can improvise easily by dropping superfluous or unnecessary components/notes without changing the overall sound of the music.

laurentoget 9y ago
Another side effect is that as a guitar player you can look at the tuba player's part to figure out what he is playing even if you have no idea how to play tuba, if you read music. With tablature only a guitar player will know what you are playing.

ChristianGeek 9y ago

Tablature is also needed because the same note can be played on different strings, notes can be doubled, there are different ways to transition from one way to another, and there are various other nuances that are messy at best to try to express in standard notation.

anjc 9y ago

What you're saying makes sense, but it applies oppositely too in that tab is non-physical and notation very physical. Example, if you see a scale in musical notation, it's immediately obvious that it's a scale just from a 50 millisecond glance, whereas in tab it's not obvious that it's a scale until you read/play through it. When you become adept with musical notation, this is one of the primary hindrances of tab.