guys
learn to read music
if u play in a group with a guitar, madolin, banjo, and base there is no way for u to tell each other the notes unless u can read music
the tabs are differnet for the differnet instruments
as for frets, acoustic violins wouldnt sound right with them, they are just not made to have them
the frets on a guitar act similar to the bridge on a violin and it would just sound funyy having frets

I come from a guitar background. At the time I started playing I was unable to afford lessons, so I taught myself...soon I became frustrated that the process to begin to learn how to read the notes was sooooo slow and tedious that I looked for an alternative. Tabs! Tabs are great...I admit it is a lazy way to play, but it beats being 27 years old and struggling to play "mary had a little lamb" because everything else is too complicated to read. Reading tabs I immediately played the songs from musicians and bands that would have me taken years of tedious study otherwise. Tabs are great! Drawback...you`ll never learn the correct timing because tabs only tell you the string and the fret position. So develop a good ear, listen to the song, and play along while reading the tablature version.

I would not recommend tablature for violin, however if it helps you get your foot in the door and get over your initial frustration of trying to learn how to play then try it!
To find tabs, just google it, violin tablature. *Tablature shows you the 4 violin strings or 6 guitar strings and the the fret number you should pluck on each string.

I do not understand what is so difficult about learning to read music (as opposed to tablature).

OK, I suppose the sharp/flat/natural thinkg can trip you up--and the fact that it is line/space/line etc not space-space-space.

But the fact remains that being able to read music opens you up to much more possibilites.

Further, if you learn to read music, you will also learn to know where notes are---you will be able to instantly translate--someone says.,
"play bflat" and you will know what that means.

On the other hand, if you learn tablature, you will not have a sense of notes.

If you are a child, I suggest learning music, and skipping tabs.

hi im like cool

im nine ok

I started playing violin about a year ago. I had never picked one up and thought that I sould learn........My music reading skills had gone out several years ago. However, I do have a fairly good ear for music.

I found that using tabs worked well for me to find and play all the different keys. A product called "no fret" really helped me get the proper location for each of the various note locations when playing a different key.

Give it a try. Beats the heck out of tapes (which come loose and slip around the fingerboard)

hi do you play violin?i do

I origionally learned violin, and played it for about 6 years, played some viola, then i switched to bass for 5, and now am attempting to learn violin again.

the hardest thing is that on Bass and guitar each finger does one half step. in half position on the A string, the first finger is Bb, the second is B, and the fourth is C(the third is not used), on violin, viola, and cello, on the A string, in first position the first finger has to cover 3 or more notes, Bb, B, and sometimes C.

Tabs are great for bass and guitar, on these instruments each finger=one note when your in first position, on violin, cello, and viola, tabs are not so good, if a correctly written violin tab says 3 it could mean either the first second or third finger, depending on the key, speed, and the other notes being playyed in the song.

it just does not work well to read tabs for violin, it takes much more thought than just playing by ear or reading sheet music, (that is once you know how to fluently read sheet)

Tabs though are good for sending music over the internet, they are the best way to do that, but not a good way to learn something on violin.

"Further, if you learn to read music, you will also learn to know where notes are---you will be able to instantly translate--someone says.,
"play bflat" and you will know what that means."

Wrong. What you mean is memorizing the notes on the fingerboard.
Im playing guitar and usually use tabs, seldomly notation. I know pretty well where every note is.
As far as guitar is concerned tabs are just easier to read and there are also tabs with rythm. Notation opposedly has no advantage, except that its harder for someone to read them than tabs, if he knows neither of them.
But I think anyway that there is no good possibility developed to notate rythm; the best is still to hear the music.

guitar is not the same as violin, how you finger them is different. so just because it works great on guitar and bass, (which it is great on thoes), does not mean that it is good on violin. really it`s up to the person playing, but though music notation is a harder, more complicated musical language, it is easier to apply to any instrument. the hard part is learning it.

Learning via tabs will NOT make anybody incapable of locating any note on any instrument, which he plays.

When coming to applying notation on an instrument, its easier for someone who is not advanced.

Again: Knowing where the notes are or as I said before memorizing the fingerboard has nothing to do with the ability to read mucial notation.

hey people,
Picking the violin up again after years of absence, also learning to read the old sheet music again. Anyone fancy being the light at the end of the tunnel for me. Not doing to bad at all for only having it 2 days now but getting a bit of bow bounce and me no like it , and the E sounds a bit funky to me but I don`t have a tuner yet.
Any advice or general tips would be greatly appreicated.
Gav

please do someone has the violin tabs of moquito song from queen of the stone age????????????????

thanks

There is NO excuse whatsoever for tablature, on guitar or any other instrument.

To who said they wanted a fretted violin, you can always put colored tapes on the violin then move to clear tape and then take the tape off.