Are guitar tab books dying out?

General Music Discussion
#1

I always keep an eye on Guitar Instructor and Hal Leonard for new tab book releases, and I have noticed that, over the last few years, the amount of new tab books being released has dwindled massively.

From around the time I started playing in the 90s until the 2010s I bought a lot of tab books, and there always seemed to be something new coming out all the time. These days it seems the tab book market has dried up. I know a lot of people don’t buy books and buy digital sheet music, but even the market for new digital sheet music seems to be sparse at the minute.

Is it simply due to the fact that guitar-heavy albums aren’t that popular any more? Are smaller publishers like Sheet Happens the future of publishing tabs?

1 Like
#2

I guess free tab websites and apps like Songsterr are more popular than tab books now.

3 Likes
#3

Just my guess, but I suspect that what Steve 506 wrote is correct. I’m guessing that a lot of the people who buy music books these days read standard notation and enough of the people that at one time would have purchased tab books now hunt the web for free tab that it’s no longer profitable to publish physical tab books. No judgement implied, and it’s just my guess…

2 Likes
#4

The best way to learn music is by ear anyway. There are apps that can slow songs down for you and you can always look up the song online later or just ask someone who knows if you’re really stuck. A bass player named Cole Davis created what I think is a really good ear training course if you wanna give that a try. In some ways it’s geared more towards bass players, but I think guitar players can benefit from it as well. I sure did.

1 Like
#5

I think there’s a LOT of really good upside in learning by ear… but one of the core observations of CtC, I think, is the exact fingerings and picking mechanics can matter HUGELY in how a particular part can be played, so while that’s probably true for a lot of genres, really technical guitar parts are maybe not the best example.

But, learning by ear right up to that point where the mechanical “solving” of a part becomes important, is abslutely a great way to grow musically.

And, AT that point, I think the biggest difference between the mid-90s when I was first learning, and today, is there’s so much video out there of people playing, for free and on the internet, whereas back then maybe you could find a Hot Licks VHS and hope the parts were slow enough to work out.

Now, you can just go to Youtube, find a good video of the guitarist playing the exact part you’re struggling with, slow it down to 0.25x, and just really scruitinize what their fingers are doing.

I’ve seen some more independent artists publish tabs through more independent channels - I’ve got the transcriptions of Angel Vivaldi’s “Away With Words Pt. 1” from a company called Sheet Happens who I think had Angel provide the transcriptions, though I should probably ask him - but that was more an excuse to support an artist I like and maybe learn a few things along the way than it was any serious desire to sit down and learn his solos. He’s too much better than me. :rofl:

3 Likes
#6

I couldn’t agree more with you - it’s very satisfying learning something by ear! In all honesty, and I’m going to lie to you, I’m kinda lazy when it comes to learning stuff by ear :joy:.

I think we will see more and more of this in the future. It’s good that the artist is helping with the transcriptions, as I’m assuming they will be more accurate than if they were done by someone else and the artist didn’t proof read them.

I think some tab books are authorised by the artist - as far as I remember Hal Leonard does this with some titles.

2 Likes
#7

I hope this becomes a common practice! I stopped using tabs out of frustration with the thousands of underwhelming transcriptions by third parties (mostly mainstream publishers).

2 Likes
#8

Hardly surprising. Over the years, I ALSO bought “Official Tab Books”, and they were absolutely shocking… I learnt to transcribe, and I have 100% faith in my own ear now over most substandard Tab Books out there… Wasted money in those days, and a waste of possible ear training! The hardest thing I find these days is working out what horrible tuning some of these modern bands are using!

1 Like
#9

Some were better than others. I think the early Hal Leonard books were absolutely terrible - the Extreme Pornograffitti one is infamous for it’s inaccuracies.

1 Like
#10

I also have not done nearly as much learning by ear as I should. But the truth is, some of my major heroes learned that way at least to some degree. And think about like…doing studio work for example. You may or may not get a chart. So if you really wanna be the best musician you can be,…you’ve gotta sharpen your ears. These days,…gospel players are the best at it.

1 Like
#11

or learn instruments where tabs and sheet music are hard to come by. It forces you to learn by ear. I could probably write a thesis on this topic and how much of the stagnation of music currently in part is due to the color by number style that come about as a result of learning solely by tablature.

3 Likes
#12

Are you familiar with the company Sheet Happens started by Protest the Hero guitarist Luke Hoskin? They churn out tab Books (physical and digital) for artist new and old, but primarily in the metal sphere. They seem to be relatively successful, so there’s still a market. I think I’ve purchased at least 15 books from them over the years.

#13

Yes, I have heard of them. I actually didn’t know they were started by Luke from Protest the Hero!

They have a great variety of books and are probably one of the biggest publishers out there now (I’m guessing).

#14

I mentioned them earlier on - didn’t know who started them, but Angel Vivaldi has released a few transcriptions through them. Cool company.

#15

Indeed you did. Sorry about that. I need to slow down and read more carefully.

Yeah, Luke started the company over a decade ago at this point and really has it down to a science. I believe the transcriptions are all either written by the band or are transcribed by someone else and approved by the band. Between the Buried and Me and Protest the Hero make up the bulk of my collection, but I also have some Haken, Rivers of Nihil, Periphery, and Fallujah books.

I rarely actually use the physical books, though, and that might say more about how tabs are primarily distributed. I’d much rather have the guitar pro files they come with. I essentially have my entire tab library on my computer and that convenience, coupled with the practice tools built into guitar pro, make the physical books relagated to moments where I dont have my laptop.

2 Likes
#16

Nah it’s cool - you added some context I didn’t know!

#17

You wouldn’t be the first. Your thesis would probably be spot on IMO.

#18

if you are really into the books, check out the used book stores and websites. I would think they did stop printing them if they aren’t selling its supply and demand etc.