Do the lines in tab music correspond to bars in sheet music?
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.
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. 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
Hey @dowap , here is a link to the post I mentioned with traditional music notation and harp tabs added to it.
Regards,
– Slim
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?
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
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…