It seems like the only two options to get tabs nowadays are gtabs and songsterr. I prefer songsterr out of the two, but constantly get harassed to buy the premium version and certain important features are paywalled.
Basically my question is is there a way to bypass the premium subscription to get all the full features or a better alternative out there with a database of tabs as large as the two have. I want to be able to hear the playback of the tab and control the speed at which it goes.
I’ve never played guitar hero so I don’t know what you mean by that. I’m learning bass and want to be able to hear the rhythm and actually hear the bass in the program because it’s hard to hear in a lot of songs. Eventually I will get to a level where I don’t need that, but at this point in my journey I do. YouTube is a lot harder to use than tab programs for me.
If you’ve seen the Simply Guitar or Yousicion ads (I’m not linking them, too cringe!), you’ve got the general idea.
UG Pro’s midi player didn’t exist when I first started playing with the guitar, so something I’ll do with tab or sheet music, when I need to hear something to understand what I’m reading, is to enter the tab or standard notation into MuseScore and use it to create a midi track I can listen to. You can speed it up or slow it down as necessary.
It’s also possible to take a midi file, open it using MuseScore, and it will convert the midi data into standard notation. From there you can have it translated into tab. Tab created this way isn’t great, and you will have to modify the fret choices it makes to make the song playable, but it will get you in the ball park. The rest is just learning your instrument/tuning, what notes are where, that sort of thing.
Most popular songs should have a midi file available, especially popular music pre-2010ish. Downloading mp3s on a 56k modem sucked! Midi’s were a much faster download.
Another thing you can do is take the audio track your interested in learning from and load it into a DAW. Use an EQ filter to isolate the instrument, and add a boost after the EQ so you can hear the instrument clearly. Depending on the DAW, you may also be able to slow down the track and pitch shift it back up into the correct frequencies. This is a bit more difficult but will let you learn directly from the musician you’re interested in. I seem to recall an application that could do this in a more automated fashion, but I don’t remember what it was called.
Don’t fucking let anyone tab shame you my friend. Use them if you need them. The important thing is you are playing and learning and having fun. You can always learn new things too when you are ready.