Question about tabs

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Do the lines in tab music correspond to bars in sheet music?

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Hi @dowap

That is a good question. Unfortunately the answer is very often "no". Some notators try to do it, but it is often impossible because some notes (such as extended ones like a half or a hole note) extend beyond the end of of one bar and continue into the next bar. Other notators leave a larger space in the tab to sort of indicate the ending of a bar. But it seems to me that very many notators make little effort to indicate bar divisions. :anguished:

Tabs for harmonica are just not made to do this. You really need traditional sheet music (you know what I mean: the five lines with bars and various note durations, etc) to do this in a consistent manner. :roll_eyes: With this sort of system you can add the usual harp tabs, as I have done in another post somewhere here that I cannot find at the moment.

Regards,
– Slim :sunglasses:

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Hey @dowap , here is a link to the post I mentioned with traditional music notation and harp tabs added to it.

Regards,
– Slim :sunglasses:

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Thanks @Slim, I just wonder why more harp music isn’t notated that way. Is it just too much trouble, or is it due to the nature of the instrument itself?

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Hey @dowap

I have no answer to that – but it is also a very good question. One possible reason is that there are actually quite a few talented harpists who have never learned how to read traditional music scores.

Regards,
– Slim :sunglasses:

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Yeah thanks to @Slim for all of his awesome answers to this great question, and I have to echo, to answer your last question @dowap, it’s not the nature of the instrument, it’s just too much trouble, lol. As @slim said many harmonica players don’t read music.

Interesting that you’re discussing this because I’ve been considering if I should start incorporating written music into future YouTube videos.

Personally I learned by ear, and still do when I’m learning something new. But I did take the time to later in life to learn how to read music, so I could (with time and effort) start adding written music with tabs. Hmmmm… :thinking:

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