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Tagged: Put the tabs in a box
- This topic has 12 replies, 8 voices, and was last updated 3 years, 11 months ago by Dan S.
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May 18, 2020 at 1:37 pm #174381
Hi all
How do you guys normally go about learning a new lesson, playing from the tab, or memorizing the whole tune?
The reason I am asking is although I can read tab I have never being able to play live from the tab. I would love to be able to do this, but I must admit I find it a struggle and tend to memorize tunes. Hopefully, this will improve if I stick to it.
Has anyone been in the same situation or have any thoughts on this issue.
Cheers
Jim
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May 18, 2020 at 2:45 pm #174385
Hi there, Jim
That’s a strange problem you have 😉
Normally people have the opposite wish and would rather memorize a tune than read it off the tab. The only reason I use the tabs is to learn and memorize a piece. I feel if I still need the tab to play it, then I haven’t learned it yet. And once I learn it, after a while I forget it, so the tabs come in handy again.If anything, I’d like to know your secret of memorizing a lesson by ear. I’d love to be able to do that 🙂
🎸JoLa
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May 18, 2020 at 3:17 pm #174388
I have the feeling that
With tab, you learn to play guitar (move fingers around the neck)
But with ears, you learn to play musicSo I go to tab the less I can.
Tabs help when a part is complex, when I need some rhythm details ( do we start on tempo 1 or 2), or if I forget the melody, I play mechanicaly the first measures, reading the tabs, then it goes on.
Where does the white go when snow melts?
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May 18, 2020 at 4:24 pm #174391
JoLa unfortunately no super human powers on my part I’m afraid.
As you do I use tab and video to learn , usually small snippets at a time, but assumed maybe incorrectly that some can play at performances speed directly from tab without the need to memorize .
Phil the aim of joining AM was to help with me to play music and develop my own style , but at the moment at my level I need the tab .Cheers
Jim
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May 18, 2020 at 4:43 pm #174393
For some songs or lessons, I can play the tab after I’ve gone through it a couple of times. But in the past, my aim was to memorize it as soon as possible. The ultimate problem is that after you’ve memorized quite a few lessons, your brain gets full. Since I have been an AM member for quite a few years, I have reached the point where I don’t really totally memorize many of the new lessons. Instead, what I do is learn the “takeaways” as Brian calls them: techniques, phrasing, chord progressions, composition skills, some classic licks, etc. Now days my goal is to get better at improv and composition, not build my memorized repertoire ever larger.
Sunjamr Steve
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May 19, 2020 at 8:00 pm #174455Anonymous
Tabs are a good cheat sheet, guitar substitute for sheet music. The more you work with them the easier they will be for you to play off of.
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May 19, 2020 at 8:10 pm #174457Anonymous
I don’t think my post actually answered your question as to how I go about learning a new lesson. I like to watch the video up to about half the composition. I watch that a couple times and then I print the tabs and learn that part from there. After I have that half down, I move to the 2nd half, watching, then playing off tabs. After I feel I’m getting the thing down, I like to watch the vids again to see what little things Brian did, such as muted strums, to spice of the playing a little. Then I just work on it. I try to improvise a little to prove to myself that I understood the lesson, rather than just memorizing it. Sometimes I’ll listen to the video lesson once just to pick up any tips I might garnish, and then I move on to something I prefer. I have to confess that I don’t have the time or the desire to work on every lesson. Guitar playing is just one of my hobbies. And then there’s that thing called life that takes up time too.
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May 20, 2020 at 6:48 pm #174510
i don’t read regular musical notation, so tabs is a great short cut to learn a song. But then I put away the tabs, and rely solely on ear memory and finger memory and visual positions on the fretboard.
The tab is just a quick learning tool to get up and running. Then it’s about playing it musically.
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May 21, 2020 at 7:45 am #174545
Unfortunately I can neither memorize very well (especially longer runs) nor can I read tabs that well (ha, ha). However I can say my tab reading has improved since I joined in december.
Now this is not that big of a deal when recording in a daw, since I can go piece by piece to do a recording. A video recording is another animal all together. In that case, I have to come close to memorizing and then using memory and the tab make it through with minimal mistakes. Any big blunders and I have to start over again.
I have only done two lesson videos and they are more “chordal/riff” styles (324 and 330) so easier to memorize/read and then the april challenge which was more of a jam. I need to get better at both memorizing and tab reading!
The main issue is that since I don’t memorize this kind of stuff very well, it takes forever to get through a lesson!https://crowssayveeeh.bandcamp.com/
https://soundcloud.com/kevin-emmrich-
May 22, 2020 at 4:38 pm #174670Anonymous
330 is a lot of fun. I think that lesson really illustrates how Brian lays out a composition for us. I love being able to visualize how the chords and fill licks being played center around certain scale patterns. It kind of brings everything together. The caged shapes, scale shapes. Makes me realize that the time I’ve spent noodling around with scales has not been wasted.
Sorry Jim. I know this was not about tabs. Not trying to hijack a thread.
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May 21, 2020 at 8:04 am #174549
Thanks all much appreciated.
The only way I will get better is to practice from tabs and videos. Must admit it does take me a long time at the moment but hopefully, the by-ear side of things will gradually come over time.
Currently working through EP354 and hoping to be able to partake in the May member challenge.Cheers
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May 23, 2020 at 12:21 pm #174720
330 is a lot of fun. I think that lesson really illustrates how Brian lays out a composition for us. I love being able to visualize how the chords and fill licks being played center around certain scale patterns. It kind of brings everything together. The caged shapes, scale shapes. It makes me realize that the time I’ve spent noodling around with scales has not been wasted.
Sorry Jim. I know this was not about tabs. Not trying to hijack a thread.Not a problem Robert B
I have just had a look at 330 and it looks very challenging but i agree also a lot of fun, in fact, maybe my next foray after 354 is cracked -
May 28, 2020 at 6:22 am #175021
I’ll take a giant leap here and say ” You need to put the tab sheets in a folder and only take them out when you want to relearn something”.
Someone once said that the only wrong note is the one that doesn’t get played. The more I follow Brian’s styling , the more I realize how true that is. It’s the main reason I subscribe. His styling is the lesson . He says that the guitar needs to sing. Or he will often say “Now where is that note from ?” Took me many hours to understand that’s really at the heart of his best work.Back to the basic question. I’d say I learn the notes from the tabs , but I learn the song from the videos. After a while I put the printed tabs into my folder and just run with it as I want to sing it. I then go back to the videos and find that I’ve changed some notes and the feel, but the song still sings. The tabs help me learn the notes , but the video brings it to life.
Lastly – you don’t need to play just like him unless you are an exceptional player, but you need to learn from him.
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