• Guys, we've spent considerable money converting the Les Paul Forum to this new XenForo platform, and we have ongoing monthly operating expenses. THE "DONATIONS" TAB IS NOW WORKING, AND WE WOULD APPRECIATE ANY DONATIONS YOU CAN MAKE TO KEEP THE LES PAUL FORUM GOING! Thank you!

911 Tabs vs. Ultimate Guitar?

jeff.scott

jeff.scott

New member
Joined
Mar 28, 2009
Messages
97
Is it just me but has anyone else found 911 Tabs totally useless? 911 just seems to be one table of contents after another, and I keep clicking in circles and have never found an actual tab there. Am I doing something wrong?

As a result, I just avoid 911 Tabs when searching songs, and favour of Ultimate Guitar.

Thoughts?
 
Lenny

Lenny

Member
Joined
Jul 23, 2002
Messages
967
Most of tabs on these sites are a joke. Try gtabs.org, they host many of the tabs that were available on Powertabs before lame lawyers had it shut down. With the free powertabs software you can view them and it's the real deal, not txt files made by inept guitar players.
 
jeff.scott

jeff.scott

New member
Joined
Mar 28, 2009
Messages
97
Lenny said:
Most of tabs on these sites are a joke. Try gtabs.org, they host many of the tabs that were available on Powertabs before lame lawyers had it shut down. With the free powertabs software you can view them and it's the real deal, not txt files made by inept guitar players.
Click to expand...

Thank's Lenny. I'll give that a try.
 
DHBucker

DHBucker

Active member
Joined
Jul 18, 2007
Messages
2,367
I can only use the 911 site for limited things. Most of the time the tabs are WRONG. My ear tells me many times and then I watch an artist play something and the tab is complete BS!! Prime example I've seen lately is Goodbye by Steve Earle. Also, some people giving "lessons" on you tube are full of it and play songs wrong. They seem really proud of it too....
 
phat A

phat A

Member
Joined
Jul 29, 2005
Messages
163
I go to those sites but am amazed by just how off they are half the time. YouTube "lessons" are pretty bad too although with a little searching, usually there's someone who has it pretty close. Usually I just go off of lyrics with chords, and/or just listening to the song.

I'm curious how many of you actually use tabs or printed music for learning, and in what situations? I've had to learn quite a bit of music for a cover band lately and it would be nice to find an accurate source for just chords and lyrics as that is what I need 99% of the time.
 
27sauce

27sauce

Active member
Joined
Jul 9, 2007
Messages
4,415
Those sites are illegal, violations of publishers' copyrights. I wonder if they use the inaccuracies as a defense.

As for learning, just learn them off the record!
 
phat A

phat A

Member
Joined
Jul 29, 2005
Messages
163
That is a good point. Never thought of that.

Like I said, 99% of the time I just listen to it and play by ear, but I find having a lyric sheet with the chord changes on it is a nice tool sometimes, and for me the easiest way to learn something. I just wondered how others did it and why they felt tabs were necessary. At least for rock anyway.
 
LSGoCards7

LSGoCards7

Member
Joined
Apr 3, 2009
Messages
716
I use 911 tabs. Tabs are a guideline they can get you about halfway there but you really have to verify everything with your ear. The only tab I would try and go completely off of is published stuff like Alfred, etc.
 
SixStringSamurai

SixStringSamurai

New member
Joined
Jul 31, 2006
Messages
109
I learn faster watching video. Anyone else been to Vanderbilly.com? There's lots of good stuff over there.
 
jeff.scott

jeff.scott

New member
Joined
Mar 28, 2009
Messages
97
Samurai,

Just checked out Vanderbilly.com ... a great site. Very much like the intructional videos on youtube, but seem to be better quality. So tired of hearing a guy ripping out an incredibly accurate solo but the wbcam quality is so bad you can't tell a Les Paul from a Strat ...lol. A very nice site, one to bookmark for sure.

I agree that most tabs and chord charts online are wrong, but I like to use them as a starting point and it's always a good idea to check a couple of different versions.

Also, so tired of people who take the time to write out lyrics and chords and post them, and they key is nowhere close. Why bother?

J
 
jeff.scott

jeff.scott

New member
Joined
Mar 28, 2009
Messages
97
Samurai,

Just checked out Vanderbilly.com ... a great site. Very much like the intructional videos on youtube, but seem to be better quality. So tired of hearing a guy ripping out an incredibly accurate solo but the wbcam quality is so bad you can't tell a Les Paul from a Strat ...lol. A very nice site, one to bookmark for sure.

I agree that most tabs and chord charts online are wrong, but I like to use them as a starting point and it's always a good idea to check a couple of different versions.

Also, so tired of people who take the time to write out lyrics and chords and post them, and they key is nowhere close. Why bother?

J
 
TBR623

TBR623

Member
Joined
Dec 5, 2001
Messages
555
Having started playing in 1975-literally WEARING turntables out learning songs off the record was THE ONLY way.

I agree some of these guys tabbing songs must have shit in their ears. I own the Tascam GT-1R and it makes it simple to loop parts.

All the tabs in the world can't make you PHRASE the stuff written down. Fact is practice makes perfect-too bad guys develop bad habits from the start and expect to be spoonfed.
 
DHBucker

DHBucker

Active member
Joined
Jul 18, 2007
Messages
2,367
Just yesterday I wanted to learn new song. It is The Things I Never Needed by Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, (yes I'm ate up with them right now). No tabs to look at to just get ideas, no goofy You Tube covers to maybe get ideas from, hmmm what to do? I found a video of the band sitting around a table playing the song and I watched and just listened about three times. When I couldn't really tell by the video what chords or voicings they were using I just used the old I-IV-V rule and then played around and I got it. Not a hard song to play, but Ben is using different voicings and positions for the same chords at times and I thought that was very cool. Gives the music different textures IMHO. The bottom line for me is, this is like the NEW turntable/ear way to learn. I used to play records over and over too. Use your ears,your eyes, and your experience. They will never lead you astray. I look at sheet music and tab most of the time when I just can't get it any other way.
 
Triburst

Triburst

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 12, 2006
Messages
4,353
I've seen even the "authorized" retail tab books be incorrect on some tabs. The one for "Cross to Bear" by the Allman Brothers is absolutely laughable -- as if Duane only used the bottom two strings for the leads on that song.

If you have a copy of the song you're wanting to learn, the excellent "VLC Media Player," (available HERE) is a great resource.

VLC will let you slow down the song (at a variety of speeds), but compensates to keep it in key. That's great for picking out the nuances of a difficult lead. I like it much more than "The Amazing Slow-Downer" program because of the versatility -- and because it's free -- and it has no spyware, adware, etc.

VLC Media Player is an open-source project done by a team of very talented programmers as a hobby. It will play virtually any media file you can throw at it -- including many proprietary formats.
 
Last edited:
hellhound

hellhound

New member
Joined
Sep 28, 2003
Messages
145
These are some of my favorite tab/instruction sites:

http://www.songsterr.com/
htpp://vanderbilly.com/

Songster has some really good examples, you will need to play with the "mixer" buttons at the top of the Tab to see all the guitar parts for some songs that have multiple guitars. I don't care for the Midi sounds they use, but at least they have something to play it for you.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top