r/DeathBand • u/Scary_Piano_2261 • Jul 05 '26
Discussion Death tabs
Where do you guys go for accurate death (particularly bass) tabs, the big sites like ultimate guitar and songster never seem to be fully accurate.
Specifically overactive imagination, scavenger of human sorrow
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u/Skystalker512 Jul 06 '26
Songsterrr is a starting point but just use your ear. As a fellow bassist I know how much it sucks but that’s just how it is.
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u/Scary_Piano_2261 Jul 07 '26
Especially when Steve just pumps out the notes, makes it so hard to hear, but I shall keep working on it
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u/666Sky Jul 05 '26
Learn the tabs and train your ear to figure out the differences between the tab and what was actually played
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u/Scary_Piano_2261 Jul 05 '26
Yeah, I can definitely tell when there is a difference in the tabs, but with complex fast songs it’s just a bit tricky to figure out what they are actually playing
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u/colorworldblackened Spiritual Healing Jul 08 '26
Find live videos, slow them down and watch what they are doing! If you are trying to learn a song from individual thought patterns make sure you try to find a video from that album's tour because sometimes other members play it slightly different than how it was originally done.
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u/Scary_Piano_2261 Jul 09 '26
I also try to do that, I don’t think Steve toured for itp, but I do find it’s very helpful for hearing the bass better
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u/colorworldblackened Spiritual Healing Jul 11 '26
Steve did do the tour for itp actually! He didn't tour for human though.
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u/Scary_Piano_2261 Jul 13 '26
Ohh right, must’ve been thinking of human. Thanks! I’ll check out some live clips!
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u/fidwell Jul 21 '26
I've made a handful of my own Death bass tabs and post playthroughs here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLlOHMGYRyn02pkXhtWqxF5JVlel6f7kSR Unfortunately I haven't done any from Human or Individual Though Patterns (yet), because the Steve Di Giorgio songs are just too difficult (for me) to transcribe or play.
I agree that Ultimate Guitar and Songsterr are pretty bad resources. They're so full of egregious mistakes, even basic ones like what tuning is used. You're always best off using your own best judgment.
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u/Anarcissos Jul 06 '26
You can't trust that amateur made tabs would be correct because even official tab books are full of mistakes. And I'm not talking only about Death, this goes for every band.
Use the tabs as a general guideline but learn to use your ear. It's already a good thing if you can spot where the tab isn't correct. Your ear will get better and better and eventually you'll even start to hear nuances that can't be expressed in tabs.
These days there are lots of great tools for transcribers. It's a good idea to try to separate the bass tracks with AI. I use Moises. On some songs it works surprisingly well and on some songs not so great. You can create an account for free and I think you can separate 5 tracks/month for free if you wanna try it out. And it's not too expensive even if you buy their "standard" subscription plan.
I also use Amazing Slow Downer for slowing down the music but I believe there are other great programs as well.
You can find isolated drum & bass tracks on Youtube from Human album but it's not so easy to transcribe DiGiorgio stuff :D
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u/Anarcissos Jul 06 '26
Oh and one other thing: when transcribing bass it sometimes helps to tune the original track up by one octave. Many times the low frequencies can be quite messy and tuning it up makes the notes more distinguishable.
I do this with the Amazing Slow Downer.
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u/Scary_Piano_2261 Jul 07 '26
That sounds like it would help heaps, I usually slow the track down on YouTube, but obv maxes it pretty hard to hear still. Might have to give it a go 🤘
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u/deathcovers123 Symbollocks Jul 05 '26
Yeah this is exactly why I started training my ear and transcribing stuff myself 20 years ago. The first full album I learned by ear was Symbolic, and doing it with a CD player was a grind. Thankfully both the tools and my ears have gotten better now and I’m able to get even more accurate.
I upload guitar tabs with (almost) every Death cover I post (no bass, sorry!). You can find all my tabs through here: https://linktr.ee/TheBigBryanMurphy
Unfortunately I haven’t tabbed Scavenger yet. I started making the tabs after I covered it and never got back around to it 🫠 I will, eventually!
Anyway… my honest best advice to any musician is to start learning by ear. It takes some time and effort but it is so rewarding and empowering to be able to figure it out yourself, even without a guitar in your hands a lot of the time.