I occasionally like to figure out how to play songs that I like. Rather than figure out the chords for myself, I’d like to be able to look up the chords online. Yea, there are multitudes of websites purporting to have the chords to the songs I would like to learn. But EVERY SINGLE MOTHERFELCHING ONE OF THEM IS DEAD FUCKING WRONG!!! In fact every single one of those popup infested clusterfucks has the exact same WRONG chords on it. WTF is going on here? Is every one of those sites run by the same tone-deaf shithead, or what. Is there some legal issue that prevents them from posting the correct chords? Is there such a thing as a site that actually has the right chords? GAAAH!!! Oh and for good measure, all of those lyrics sites has the same problem, all alike, all wrong (and are popup hell).
So in conclusion, I would like whomever is responsible for these travesties to have every wrong note shoved up their ass sideways.
Well, if there is one, I haven’t found it. Online tabs are a good place to get the general idea of a song, but sometimes the blunders you find there are nothing short of incredible. Wrong keys, wrong chords (watch those major/minor swaps…for example, you’ll often see a major chord confused with it’s minor relative a minor third down or major third up. C will stand in for Am or Em, D for Bm or F#m, etc.) And if it’s got sevenths or sixths in it, forget about it.
It’s best to just use them as a guideline and let your ear fix the problems.
I so hear you. Here’s what happens, some website pics up an ASCII version of some tab created in '93 for the internet v. Old School and that becomes THE VERSION. Seriously, every Google hit for “my song guitar tab” is the same one, author and everything.
Online? That’s not even half of the problem. Look at publishers like Hal Leonard and Cherry Lane that are consistently putting out inferior products. Usually they completely neglect an artist’s tuning and capo position. They have numerous errors in every book I’ve seen with chords omitted, lyrics incorrect (or worse, bunched at the end of the song), and more. On top of that, seemingly random decisions as to what artists get and don’t get songbooks (I’m sure that could be up to a number of different reasons, like the artist, contract, publisher, etc, too.)
The best avenue I’ve found is to go to the artist’s website/forum and see if he/she/they are participating. It’s helped with a lot of problems when finding the right chord voicings. (David Wilcox’s forum, for instance, is great. This is an artist that not only uses capos, but split capos, and alternate tunings. Sometimes all at once which makes ear transcription really difficult if you don’t know all of that beforehand.)
I agree. I only look up a tab when I’m really stuck or if I think the song might be in an alternate tuning. Tabs don’t have all the answers, but they do have the occasional revelation. You’re better off using your ear as much as possible anyway.
I usually just use them to get a basic idea of the chord progression if I don’t have a recording of he song available. If you cross check enough online versions of the song (and yes, a lot of those sites post the same transcriptions) you can usually get most of the information you need to at least figure out the rest yourself.
Of course, they often get the key wrong so you have to adjust for that.
You betcha! If nothing else, the crappy chords on web sites are free. It really hurts to pay for something and have it turn out to be wrong because you can’t return sheet music.
I guess I’ve reached the age where I can do the old you-kids-have-it-easy-these-days thing. I’ve been playing the guitar (badly) since the mid-60’s and you have no idea how much of an improvement the Internet has made towards getting the chords to songs. As bad as it is now, it used to be much worse. For starters, you had to buy the sheet music which was very expensive, usually written for piano, and apparently arranged by some unemployed piano teacher. There was rarely any consideration for the guitar except for chords listed above the lines of music, and generally no concept of what a capo even was. If the music came out in Eb then Eb it was. I learned to transcribe pretty well back then. I also learned how to look at the sheet music in the store and memorize the parts that were givig me trouble.
I do understand your frustration, though. They still get it wrong a lot.
Same here. Once you get used to it, you can just listen to the song and know what the chords should be. As your ear gets more “educated” and your skills get more “sophisticated”, you begin to also hear alternative chord choices in your head. I used to get sheet music, and I used to transcribe it sometimes. I found the chording to be too simplistic and boring, or just wrong. So, I “converted” the bass and began to see that "no, that’s not an C, it’s a C7#5 or that’s not a D7, it’s an F dim. It takes practice and listening. Just because someone else wrote it down does not mean you must play it that way.
Oh, if only that were true. Some people can do that; others find it to be almost impossible. It’s one of those talents that you have or don’t have. Those who have it can’t understand why some find it so hard to do. The rest of us seethe in barely controled jealousy as someone casually works out the chords to something we had to abandon long ago.
Seconded. I can figure out intervals, etc. but I can’t ear a song and say “Oh, C-G-Am-C” or “Hmmm, E-G-Dm.” Just can’t do it. If I get started (like from a tab), I can usually tell where the chords will resolve; that the Am comes after the C and the G, but just hear it and know? Uh-uh.
Nah, it’s not something you just have or don’t have. Trust me. Years ago I would have said I just didn’t have it. I took “ear training” courses in college, and you know what? I started to be able to do it. Now I’m way out of practice and can only do it in the most basic way, but trust me, if you were doing it in class five days a week for a year or more, you’d start to pick up on it. I’m not saying it would be easy, but it really is a question of practice.
Oh, picking up on chord progressions is definitely a learned skill. Absolutely. Some people can pick it up more casually than others, but with enough practice, anyone except the most tone-deaf should be able to hear the basics of chord progressions. I’m not saying it’s easy for a lot of us; it’s just that the basics are within the abilities of most people.
If you can hear the invervals, you’re mostly there already. I bet you can tell the difference between a major chord and a minor chord too, without even thinking about it. Here’s one of the most common (over used?) progressions: C-Am-F-G. You can hear it and recognize it. It’s a favorite of the old “cheat sheets” and is a staple of 60‘s folk and rock. Even simpler is the old E-A-B (Wild Thing). You hear it, it’s always the same. Don’t think about the chords themselves, focus on the sound it makes.
I bet you can hear when it’s wrong, can’t you? You also are almost there. There’s no shame in having to write down the right chord as you work your way through a song. There’s no shame in writing the wrong one down and correcting it.
As you get more practiced, you begin to recognize the patterns. You start thinking “I’ve heard that before, it’s the same as that other song I already know”.
Other than that, there’s nothing wrong at all in taking someone else’s arrangement and fiddling with it. Add some chord changes and see if they sound good. Try playing different positions on the neck of the guitar. The players who get skilled at it can play good harmony in counterpoint to the melody, or play the melody and harmony by doing this. It’s very popular among jazz guitarists like Wes Montgomery. When it really clicks, you’d swear there were several musicians rather than just one. That’s when your instrument is no longer just thumping along, it finds its voice and starts to sing.
I can tell the difference between major and minor chords when they are played by themselves, but when they are in the context of some chord progression I can’t always.
The thing is, like SteveG1 says, after a while you start “recognizing” the progressions themselves rather than the chords. You also learn that the major/minor progressions are usually specific to keys. That is, the thirds (the notes that are either major or minor) correspond to scale of the tonic. For instance, if you’re placing in C major, then all your notes are going to be naturals, so you can suss out your chords accordingly. Usually.
After you learn about five bazillion songs, you just get to where you recognize all the movements. If you’re like me you’ll have weird little associations for them based on songs you learned early on (For instance, I recognize the C-G-Am-F progression as the “Let it Be” progression). It’s not even so much a conscious thing. You just start realizing that you can identify more and more things immediately.
My only problem now (I’ve been playing guitar for more than 20 years) is that I don’t always have an easy time with breaking down complex harmonies by ear. For most chords it’s no problem but I get a headache trying to suss out a lot of those jazzy pretzel chords.
Oh god, yes!
I’ve been trying to get Rolling Stones’ “Jumpin’ Jack Flash”, and all of them are either blatantly wrong, or they are all the same, and so I can’t find the real thing anywhere.