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Posted
by
CmdrTaco
from the but-how-will-i-know-when-to-change-chords dept.
Gavitron writes "The online Guitar Tablature Archive OLGA.net has been shutdown again, to "ensure that composers and songwriters will continue to have incentive to create new music for generations to come." Scant details exist, but there is more information in forums and blogs."
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by Anonymous Coward writes:
on Sunday August 13, 2006 @10:21AM (#15898054)
Whoooosh......
Never before have I seen someone miss the point of a post, in relation to the story, in such a way to make themselves look more idiotic than even the lowest slashdot troll.
Last time this happends people on slashdot pointed out that these tab sites are very popular when someone is learning to play a song. Generally if a band is going to give a public performance they will purchase the sheet music (most venues require then actually).
You obviously missed my point. Please show me somebody who thinks it is necessary to protect GPLed software written 43 years ago, by somebody who's made more than enough money to retire on and who died decades ago.
Mod parent up. This has long been the theory supporting the legality of tabs. The writers of tabs see them as learning tools at best or derrivative works at the very worst.
The fact that tabs are not written out as sheet music also encourages guitarists to purchase CDs in order to learn to play at the correct timing, which is not written into the tablature. Tabs are by-ear transcriptions and their availability has helped untold numbers of budding guitars develop their skills without the need to [buy and] learn from expensive sheet music.
Tab websites have slowly been closing their doors due to threats from sheet music associations, the industry, and fear of punishment under copyright laws that leave very few fair use rights in them at all, heavily favoring the recording companies. It's a real shame that yet another one has been pressured to go under.
Not OLGA, but the commercial sheet music. I've found many examples where the sheet music I've bought is of lower quality than that available from OLGA. It smeels of the publishing compamies putting out music unrelated to what the original artist actually plays. Protecting a crappy product with lawyers isn't the way to make your customers happy...
ONLY if the performer is buying the rights to public performance via sheet music or other arrangements with the publisher.
No. Buying sheet music has nothing to do with performance rights.
Venues pay money to ASCAP, BMI, et cetera, which then do various sampling to see what songs are being played, and distribute money to songwriters. Performers don't buy performance rights, venues do.
I'd hazard a guess that large percentage of people who do perform others' songs learned via free tab sites do not have the legal right to perform that music in public.
Performers don't buy performance rights, venues do. Otherwise open mic nights would be impossible..."Ok, before you come up to the stage, we need to see your performance licences." (In theory, street musicians would need to pay ASCAP, etc., but no one enforces this.)
You don't make a living selling sheet music. Sheet music is just as much a recording as is a sound recording. Before the invention/wide distribution of sound recordings sheet music was the recorded music business and there's still money in it. The popular jazz fake book once had to be distributed by samizdat sneaker net, because it was just as illegal as a home burned CD to distribute.
Jay Ungar makes a good deal of his living from selling the sheet music for that fiddle tune he wrote, downloading it rather than buying it really is taking food from his mouth, although why one would need the sheet music for it is beyond me.
I'm a musician, like music theory, and a guitarist, and I started with tabs and playing by ear, and I can tell you from personal experience what works and why. I am very familiar with OLGA, but all this "lazy way to do it" stuff is driving me crazy! Moxley is 100% correct. Here's the scoop:
Playing by ear: This is the best way to learn to play. All classically trained students take Ear Training - you are expected to be able, upon hearing a note, chord, or rhythm, transcribe or perform what you've just heard. Music is aural.
Reading a staff (not tab): This is the international, trans-era, agreed-upon method by which musicians have communicated for centuries. Everybody who studies music quickly learns there are a lot of things wrong with our notational system, but it was developed over about a millenium, and its too late to change it now. But it's still got a huge advantage over learning by ear and over tablature: I can communicate everything to everybody, regardless of what instrument they play, instantly. Any group larger than a garage band just can't learn a song "by ear", and nobody but guitarists can read tablature (technically, tablature exists for certain other instruments, but it's probably even harder to read than tablature for guitar).
Tablature: Anybody that thinks tab is legitimate, it's not. This really is lazy (and it's how I first learned). Tablature was designed to give people a chance to play the guitar without taking lessons, but I can speak from personal experience: if you are at all serious about music, drop the tab and struggle with the staff and playing by ear. Even if it means you are playing kid stuff. It is possible to pick up a guitar and learn to read tab in a day. Learning to read a staff can take a lifetime. However, the classically trained musician is more skilled by an order of magnitude than somebody "taught" by tab... Tab does have one distinct advantage over standard notation, however: it translates easily to ASCII.
</rant> Sorry, but the whole ear/reading argument is moot - a good musician is expected to maintain both these skills. Tablature is good for hobbyists and for learning over the web.
Re:Oh noes! (Score:1, Informative)
By "fabricated" are you suggesting some sort of fraudulent intent, or what exactly do you mean?
It seems to be an accurate quote from a letetr published on this page: http://www.guitartabs.com/nmpa.php [guitartabs.com]
Re:HOW SAD (Score:1, Informative)
Never before have I seen someone miss the point of a post, in relation to the story, in such a way to make themselves look more idiotic than even the lowest slashdot troll.
Re:Wait a minute... (Score:1, Informative)
Re:Terrible!-Violating gooses and ganders. (Score:3, Informative)
You obviously missed my point. Please show me somebody who thinks it is necessary to protect GPLed software written 43 years ago, by somebody who's made more than enough money to retire on and who died decades ago.
Re:Should all copying be considered infringement? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Innocent before proven guilty (Score:4, Informative)
Poor Quality (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Wait a minute... (Score:2, Informative)
No. Buying sheet music has nothing to do with performance rights.
Venues pay money to ASCAP, BMI, et cetera, which then do various sampling to see what songs are being played, and distribute money to songwriters. Performers don't buy performance rights, venues do.
Performers don't buy performance rights, venues do. Otherwise open mic nights would be impossible..."Ok, before you come up to the stage, we need to see your performance licences." (In theory, street musicians would need to pay ASCAP, etc., but no one enforces this.)
Re:Lennon's rolling in his grave (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Why? (Score:2, Informative)
You don't make a living selling sheet music. Sheet music is just as much a recording as is a sound recording. Before the invention/wide distribution of sound recordings sheet music was the recorded music business and there's still money in it. The popular jazz fake book once had to be distributed by samizdat sneaker net, because it was just as illegal as a home burned CD to distribute.
Jay Ungar makes a good deal of his living from selling the sheet music for that fiddle tune he wrote, downloading it rather than buying it really is taking food from his mouth, although why one would need the sheet music for it is beyond me.
KFG
The best way to learn (Score:2, Informative)
- Playing by ear: This is the best way to learn to play. All classically trained students take Ear Training - you are expected to be able, upon hearing a note, chord, or rhythm, transcribe or perform what you've just heard. Music is aural.
- Reading a staff (not tab): This is the international, trans-era, agreed-upon method by which musicians have communicated for centuries. Everybody who studies music quickly learns there are a lot of things wrong with our notational system, but it was developed over about a millenium, and its too late to change it now. But it's still got a huge advantage over learning by ear and over tablature: I can communicate everything to everybody, regardless of what instrument they play, instantly. Any group larger than a garage band just can't learn a song "by ear", and nobody but guitarists can read tablature (technically, tablature exists for certain other instruments, but it's probably even harder to read than tablature for guitar).
- Tablature: Anybody that thinks tab is legitimate, it's not. This really is lazy (and it's how I first learned). Tablature was designed to give people a chance to play the guitar without taking lessons, but I can speak from personal experience: if you are at all serious about music, drop the tab and struggle with the staff and playing by ear. Even if it means you are playing kid stuff. It is possible to pick up a guitar and learn to read tab in a day. Learning to read a staff can take a lifetime. However, the classically trained musician is more skilled by an order of magnitude than somebody "taught" by tab... Tab does have one distinct advantage over standard notation, however: it translates easily to ASCII.
</rant> Sorry, but the whole ear/reading argument is moot - a good musician is expected to maintain both these skills. Tablature is good for hobbyists and for learning over the web.