TABS

[RayL]

There is gifted and there is gifted. Picking up tunes and playing them in a simple sort of way has never been a problem, but I don't have the gift of being able to spot a minor 9th diminished 13th chord (or whatever) like some that congregate here.

Similarly, there are people who cannot 'play be ear' (and envy those that can) but who are able to read the dots off a sheet of music while simultaniously playing different notes and chords with both hands on a keyboard and whilst playing a bass line with one foot on a pedalboard and using the other foot on a swell pedal (and could probably play another keyboard with their nose if someone invented a nose-operated keyboard). Now that's gifted.

Ray

[kipper]

i dont think those who have a talent for playing by ear relize how gifted they are. charlie hall is brilliant on this, he can pick out thing sounds ect that most wont pick up. so can others on this site i think some of them are truly gifted. i have tried it but never seem to get the hang of it. others work hard at it with really good results. would be lost without tabs i`m afaid. peter

Gifted! Well I never even gave it a thought and would disagree. After three active years playing around Wirral in the early 60s decided I was not going to be recognised as a successor to HBM and decided to join the Blue Funnel Line. If I was gifted I probably would have stayed at it.

pedro i think being gifted and being a sucsessfull recording artist are different things. i have seen loads of bands guitarists and singers genrall giggers who work the circite that are way better than a lot of the acts we see on the telly and who are reguarded as stars ect. even on this webb site some of the recordings members make are top line stuff and i an amazed at the the high standard of playing, arrangments and recording all with out the big budget that so called stars get. even writting there own matial. surly that must be gifted. peter

[ala1940]

How I envy those who can "play by ear".I never could and I strated trying to play guitar in 1956/58 ,not sure which exactly, but at that time it was notation and this was never written for the guitar always the piano, tab was then not even a figment of someones imagination.The main tutors was Bert Weedon's Play In A Day, Emile Grimshaws and the Eddie Lang book but Berts was the easiest and did give you some hope at least I started to understand notation. Tab has given many a chance to play and is specific for the guitar while with time "the ear" will develop and some playing satisfaction can be achieved in the early days .How many "ear" players have suddenly found after several years it might have sounded right but was it in the right "key".

[Jay Bass]

Hi
I find It essential to write things Down,
There is Only A certain amount you can remember
if i dont play a piece for a while it tends to get pushed to the back of my memory
so i find if i have written down its much easier to re learn ,if you read a book you dont remember every word
just the overall story.but its there written down if you need to go back to it.
its fine learning things by ear, but what happens if you want someone to accompany you
they may not have learnt the same version or know the piece etc.
so you need a mixture of all the things that are available .
and most of all never be afraid or embarrased to ask for help , assistance or advice
standard music notation, tabs, chord sheets, and your ears all have a part to play.

i wish we had all this technology when i started learning ,it would have saved me hours of frustration
listening to tracks over and over trying to work out who was playing what.

Regards
Jay

[Pedro]

Thanks for your replies. I can see I confused things to start with is surprising as I had to take a 'lantern test' prior to going to sea in 64 so as to establish whether I was colour blind or not. Wouldn't do if I could not distinguish between red and green (port and starboard).

However, did others like me have a lack of competence in the chord department. I was happy with the single note picking and that was it.

[Rosemary]

As a relative beginner of about 9 or 10 months I've now found that looking at tabs is a good idea as previously I was learning tunes only by ear in unconventional positions and had to re-learn almost all of them. Now I always check the tabs first and then maybe adjust them slightly if another position is easier.
I'm not good at chords at all so checking tabs for chords or double stops etc. is really useful. My favourite tabs are those that are beneath the actual notes so the bar lines and rhythm are also displayed.
best wishes
Rosemary

[cockroach]

I suppose I could be considered lucky to have a good ear, and I taught myself, although watching other players also helped- someone once said that however mediocre some players are, by watching and listening you can often pick up something useful that you didn't know, even if it's only a clue where to play something, a different chord shape etc

I found that only occasionally I could learn something useful from tab, or chord charts, but proper music notation is still way above my head after playing for about 47 years...!

However, unlike today, with the huge amount of learning aids available, I do recall that although I was doing OK on the guitar, I'd spent a LOT of time alone over the years, working things out on guitar and bass, and didn't have a girlfriend or much social life...you can't enjoy a decent romantic evening when you're at home practising or playing a gig!

[Wilson]

Hi All,
I must post a big thank you to those who spend their time making TABS and backing tracks for lesser mortals like my self to be able to play along with. I remember after seeing the Young Ones at the Star Theatre in Dalby, Queensland I went to the local Music Shop and purchased the sheet music to When the Girl in Your Arms and The Savage for the princely sum of about 3/6. I still have The Savage and no I never did work it out I recently purchased the TAB from Tony to have another go at it. Never have been able to figure out the solo. Wilson.

[Pedro]

This thread could be developed further as reading the posts I still cannot understand people who have a good ear for music cannot transpose what they hear onto the fretboard. I would say 'Move It' was the first tune I ever played on a guitar and thankfully that left no room for interpretation. It also became the tune of choice for me 'tuning' the guitar. The intro to 'The Young Ones' did cause me some bother as I played too much of it on top E until some embarassing comment was made which made me rethink my plan of attack.

[cockroach]

After many years I can usually hear what to play and imagine where the notes are, and where the fingers need to be- tend to work things out in my head, and try them out to confirm the note sequence as being OK when a guitar is available.
I've found it's handy to learn things by trying them out first in any convenient key, rather than using the first three or four frets and lots of open strings- that way, if you've chosen the wrong key to play it, you can just transpose by sliding the whole thing up or down the neck.

I was surprised after I learnt Man of Mystery starting at the fifth fret, then later found that most folks (and Hank himself) played it around the first three or four frets using a few notes on open strings.

Doesn't matter too much I suppose, but being able to quickly transpose is very useful when also backing vocalists, especially the many singers who have no idea in which key they sing ...!

Hope this makes sense?