How many learned like this??

[danktat]

Do any of you guys remember when this was the best way to learn a song? The tabs in the back of these magazines were BOTH the fastest way to learn a song...AND at the same time the best way to not actually learn WHY the songs worked. I am completely guilty .... and I still have these lying around .. these are from 1996 and 1997!

 

[Deleted member 5962]

Great post. I thought these would be the be all end all. Quickly learned that FOR ME, I was better to use my ear, and only refer to these if there was a fingering pattern or fretboard position I needed. But I witnessed a friend of mine literally learn how to play through these and other tabs.

Use what works for you! I learned all of my classical music from reading. Then I switched to guitar and learned almost everything by ear.

 

[László]

Tablature has been in use since at least the Medieval era, it isn’t a creature of the magazine world. It’s pretty cool to learn fingering with it, but I learned music on piano with pitch notation pretty young, so I stuck with that. At some point I got lazy and started playing by ear.

Even pitch notation can allow a player to do very well just mechanically reading and playing notes, and not understanding any theory at all. My mother is very musical, and plays well sight reading, but if someone told her to play a g minor chord, she wouldn’t have a clue how to do it. Come to think of it, the fact that she can still sight read and play music at 95 is pretty good!

I think understanding the “why” of music might be a different skill than reading using either type of notation.

 

[Going Modal]

I remember those, dank! It's funny, too, how I practically judged the worth of each issue based of the tablature songs listed on the cover, and whether I liked them or cared to learn them or not.

 

[bodia]

Man, I still remember finding Guitar For The Practicing Musician at a book store in '84 or '85. I thought it was the greatest thing, ever! I quickly subscribed to that and GW. I kept those magazines forever! They took up a ton of space. Finally, about 10 years ago, I went through every single one of them and cut out the tabs I wanted to learn. Took them to the office and copied them onto better paper. Then, I bought a hand crank laminating machine and encased them in plastic. Three hole punch, and into a binder. I have 3 of the big binders under my music desk to this day.

 

[Dirty_Boogie]

Man, I still remember finding Guitar For The Practicing Musician at a book store in '84 or '85. I thought it was the greatest thing, ever! I quickly subscribed to that and GW. I kept those magazines forever! They took up a ton of space. Finally, about 10 years ago, I went through every single one of them and cut out the tabs I wanted to learn. Took them to the office and copied them onto better paper. Then, I bought a hand crank laminating machine and encased them in plastic. Three hole punch, and into a binder. I have 3 of the big binders under my music desk to this day.

Yeah! GFTPM - Guitar for the Practicing Musician - was the first guitar magazine to publish regular tab transcriptions every month, from the mid-80's to mid-90's. Those were my bible. I had a huge stack of them, which sadly went missing during one of my moves between college to bachelor pads to marriage. Still have a few lying around, though.

And who can remember Doug Marks' "Metal Method" series - on photocopied booklets (which I also laminated) and accompanying cassettes.

 

[bodia]

Yeah! GFTPM - Guitar for the Practicing Musician - was the first guitar magazine to publish regular tab transcriptions every month, from the mid-80's to mid-90's. Those were my bible. I had a huge stack of them, which sadly went missing during one of my moves between college to bachelor pads to marriage. Still have a few lying around, though.

And who can remember Doug Marks' "Metal Method" series - on photocopied booklets (which I also laminated) and accompanying cassettes.

Somewhere I still have Michael Schenker Style and George Lynch Style cassettes and booklets.

 

[BMiller]

Oh yeah! When I started playing guitar in the early 90's, I swore by Guitar World and a few others. A neighbor gave me a huge box of magazines from the 80's that also had tab in them.

When I started playing guitar, I already had 5 or 6 years of playing trombone under my belt so I knew how to site read....bass clef anyways. Back then I did a lot of learning by ear as well.....still do. These days, I learn the basics by ear and look up the odd parts that I can't put my finger on.

 

[11top]

I learned a bunch of songs like this:



but then other players would look at me like this:

 

[Iceman101]

Oldest US mag I still have is Guitarworld December 1988 transcription Greg Howe - kick it all over
Never heard the song 'till a few moments ago. Then I saw this clip.
I better throw these mags away 'cause I couldn't play this if my life depended on it

 

[Alnus Rubra]

In my head, this is look I imagine Les gives somebody when they don’t put their PRS back in its case after playing!

 

[11top]

In my head, this is look I imagine Les gives somebody when they don’t put their PRS back on its case after playing!

Wait!!!............................That's NOT Les?!!

 

[Alnus Rubra]

Wait!!!............................That's NOT Les?!!

Giggle!








Sorry Les

 

[Warmart]

'Tis a shame what guitar magazines have become, sure they had a lot of ads then, but go pick one up at a bookstore now (if you can find any). All they are designed to do now is cause gas.

 

[AP515]

I didn't know what TAB was until a few years ago looking for a song online. I thought it was a great idea but the ones online were all wrong. My ear could hear instantly that they didn't have it right. Learning by ear is slower but you get so many more foundational skills. Much better way to do it.

 

[Deleted member 5962]

I learned a bunch of songs like this:



but then other players would look at me like this:

Worked for me But then again, I never saw the looks I was getting, so it could have been...

 

[toothace]

Took them to the office and copied them onto better paper. Then, I bought a hand crank laminating machine and encased them in plastic. Three hole punch, and into a binder.

No wonder mine are all wrinkled and yellow...

 

[CandidPicker]

Like many others, I used my ears (and eyes) to learn most of what I already know.

For those who might be interested, there's a website that caters to musicians with various apps, books and tablature. One of 3 apps was their ear-training series, which teaches you to recognize the various colors of scales, mostly melodic, harmonic and minor harmonic. Mostly designed for jazz and classical players. The website also has much more complicated transposing and interval teaching apps, for greater expense.

I think one of their inexpensive ear-training apps might be useful for recognizing specific scales when played as opposed to sight or tab reading when you don't have the music sheets in front of you. And, the ear-training series is designed like a multiple answer matching game so you don't lose interest.

Here's a link for those who might like to check it out: http://mdecks.com

 

[László]

I learned a bunch of songs like this:



but then other players would look at me like this:

Hahahaha! We’d be great bandmates then. I never give that look.

 

[László]

In my head, this is look I imagine Les gives somebody when they don’t put their PRS back in its case after playing!

Only if they don’t put MINE back in the case!

Other than that, it’s their guitar, they should happily and merrily do whatever they want. Lots of my pals hang ‘em or put ‘em on stands. Not what I’d do, but also none of my business unless someone asks whether that’s going to affect the guitar, in which case I’ll launch into my “keep ‘em cased” lecture.

One of my best friends collects vintage jazz boxes and other odds and ends, and he’s a case guy, too. But one of my other best friends forgets he even plays guitar unless it’s right there in front of his nose on a stand. I think he gets distracted by the studio gear and vintage synths he has, which is some of the most amazing stuff I’ve ever seen (he does use it all professionally).