Why are many professional published tabs plain wrong?

[townsend]

The background: I've always wanted to try to play Jethro Tull's Sossity: You're A Woman. This is a beautiful and interesting steel string guitar song. I'm not great at picking songs out (esp. if there are multiple acoustic guitars involved), so I purchased the only tab book I knew of at the time that included this song: Jethro Tull Greatest Hits, Acoustic Tull/Volume 2.

There are definitely accurate tabs in this book, but I could never play Sossity. It just didn't seem to fit. I tried again several years later, and though I know the melody by heart, I just couldn't get it to work.

I decided that the problem was me (as is usually the case). For example, sometimes if you can't play a song "up to speed," it just won't sound "right."

Today after reading another post, I go to www.sheetmusicdirect.us and, out of sheer curiosity, decide to check out Sossity. I download the software and bring up the sample page. I pull out my tab book, and note that the tabs differ in major respects. I play the MIDI file version of the sheetmusicdirect version, and that confirms that that tab (not the one I own) fits the song!

What is going on here? My tab has a "1970 Chrysalis Music" copyright; the sheetmusicdirect tab says "1971 Chrysalis Music." The tab I bought had enough errors that the song was unrecognizeable to me.

I know guitar transcription can't always be exact. I've e-mailed Andy Aledort on differences between his Hendrix Signature Licks book and his Hendrix Are You Experienced DVD. But these differences are miniscule, and result from determining whether Hendrix played a portion of a riff on the 2nd vs. the 3rd string. That difference is inconsequential.

I've seen numerous tabs to Led Zeppelin's Ramble On. But most of them sound like the song, and in this case it's hard to know where Jimmy played it, unless one has video footage of a performance. I'm forgiving here.

But this Sossity tab I purchased is so off that I can't even play the song! I'm sure there are many other examples. I basically bought a 17.95 tab book for one song, and the tab is incorrect. The front of my tab book has the phrase "authentic transcriptions." Really? This is irritating, especially when you purchase the tab. I still plan to purchase tabs, but caveat emptor. Anyone else had similar experiences?

[Tone_Terrific]

Speculating-
But quite a while back real guitar tab was almost impossible to find. We has to make do with piano/vocal and chord charts. The fills and riff were written in the piano melody line, if at all. circa 1970
A tab 'transcription' may have been simply a method of playing what had been 'transcribed' based on the piano/vocal rendition of the tune i.e. you pass the piano sheet music to your staff guitar player and have him re-transcribe the piece as tab...done. BUT, not necessarily accurate to actual recorded performance. Buyer beware. Things have improved a lot although those old ones may still be kicking around. Just imo.

[ssss]

Some tabs I've seen were obviously not written by guitarists. While they were often correct in terms of bare notation/rhythm, they were basically unplayable because the notes were tabbed all in the wrong places on the fretboard and the tabs didn't make sense in a guitar context.

Stuff like for ex. G being tabbed on the 7th fret/B string instead of 12th fret/G string etc. etc.

[SyKrash]

Alot of times too, the typesetting screws the notes up. It's basically just like translating a book. One mistake gets made somewhere along the line between author and publisher and by the time anyone notices, it's already on the shelves at guitar center.

[BluesForDan]

I bet a lot of those erroneous transcriptions were the result of disinterested individuals who get paid a pittance compared to the performers. The transcribers probably went to music school, majoring in classical piano. They can't get a gig to save their life. Meanwhile, the filthy, untalented hippy guitarists drug and booze their way through armies of groupies, have money thrown at them left and right. They can't remember what the hell they did in the studio when they wrote the song in the midst of a drug-fueled jam session that got caught on tape. But they're fat, dumb, happy and rich, so they don't care.

The transcriber does a half-assed job, gets paid the meager amount they get paid, and who the hell is going to be able to tell if they got that second riff in the third bar, 2nd verse right or not? Transcriber is probably thinking "Who the hell is going to want to play this tripe, anyway? It is not a Mozart or Tchaikovsky, for pete's sakes."

The internet stuff is often done by people who actually like the composition, hence their desire to transcribe it and share it with fellow fans of the tune.

[Ken Ho]

Hey, glad my link was helpful.
My take is that accurate transcribing is very difficult to do, which is why "use your ears" bugs me so much. Sometimes though, you see mistakes which have to be plain laziness or total abscence of any proof-reading by a musician. I can't explain that at all.
The Hallelujah tab I bought recently showed all chords in capo and open designations. Half of the last page had these switched around, then it came right again. Weird !

[daddyo]

I find this disregard for accuracy even in things like chords for hymnsi published books. They'll be a hymn people have been playing on piano for a hundred years. The piano music will be dead on but not the guitar chords. Wrong chords. Wrong locations.

[CharAznable]

When I was starting out, I bought a Black Crowes tab book that was blatantly and obviously wrong, even to my then untrained ears. When I learned how to really play the songs from other sources, I went back and realized how horrible and mediocre the transcription was. And I had paid money for it.

[KRosser]

It's because they don't care about the quality and they're just trying to make a fast buck.

Honest - try approaching one of them with corrections and see what they say.

[90wreck]

I use them only as a template or lauching pad for something I can't figure out on my own.
Wrong positions is the biggest mistake.(as well as wrong notes..but it will get you started and you can fine tune it on your own)

[Ken Ho]

Originally Posted by 90wreck

I use them only as a template or lauching pad for something I can't figure out on my own.
Wrong positions is the biggest mistake.(as well as wrong notes..but it will get you started and you can fine tune it on your own)

Yeah, wrong position is one of those thoings that make it obvious no-one with a clue has proof read it. Sometimes you see the screwiest fingering even a doofus like me can see is wrong.
Current publicaitons are still miles ahead of the shite I had when young and trying to learn. Everyhing just chord boxes, no riffs or fills, wrong key, hopeless.

[Dasein]

This is a problem for you? Figure it out!

[darth_vader]

Originally Posted by Dasein

This is a problem for you? Figure it out!

Whilst I agree that picking things up by ear is probably the best way to quickly improve your guitar playing and your listening skills, not everyone has the time to sit down and spend half an hour to an hour just to work out the parts of a song by ear. Other times, you might need things together in a hurry (say, learning tunes for a new band) and don't have time to do it by ear. Tabs and sheet music have their place, and it's a pain when a piece of music you're relying on is completely wrong.

[Dasein]

Originally Posted by darth_vader

.. not everyone has the time to sit down and spend half an hour to an hour just to work out the parts of a song by ear....

I actually call that guitar playing. If you don't have the time, take up another hobby.

[darth_vader]

Originally Posted by Dasein

I actually call that guitar playing. If you don't have the time, take up another hobby.

Ugh, it's not worth the argument