How many learned like this??

[Parralax view]

Like some others here, I came from a time before guitar mags, published tabs, published lessons etc. It was place the lp, play along to get the licks and chords right and return the needle and start over until you aced it. It was inconvenient, tiresome and it stuck. At my advanced age, Tabs are gibberish to me. I much prefer watching the artist play if available and can glean much from watching, BUT, I have to really want to learn the passage in the first place, which basically says, I don't use much of any method any longer. ;-)

 

[László]

BUT, I have to really want to learn the passage in the first place, which basically says, I don't use much of any method any longer. ;-)

You know, that’s kinda how I feel now, too. Most of the music I play I write, so that’s easy. With other artist’s songs, I’d rather put my own spin on a passage than play it note for note.

 

[gush]

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

Somebody needs to keep their damn kids under control!

 

[walrus]

I've definitely used those! But I remember having The Beatles Complete way back when - a giant book with the chords (and piano) for every song. Too bad it was mostly wrong...

 

[CandidPicker]

Somebody needs to keep their damn kids under control!

LOL. Someone's been practicing!

 

[jimfisher]

 

[vchizzle]

Oh yeah. I started learning by ear, then discovered those mags. They were a great help. I held on to a bunch for a long time. Still have a small handful. I should dig them out and see what I kept.

 

[Herr Squid]

I played piano and wind instruments for many years before I touched a guitar, so I had a little theory and could read standard notation before guitar. But when I did pick up guitar, I was determined that I would never be dependent on sheet music in front of me in order to be able to play. I literally could not play more than a few minutes of piano or a band instrument without the sheet music.

So I went to the opposite extreme, and I don't even know where the notes in the treble or bass clef are on the guitar neck (OK, I fib a little, I think I know where middle C is and could work from there). Anyway the notion of me sight-reading on a guitar is completely ludicrous. My ear kinda sucks for picking songs out, so I'm definitely a creature of tab. The 80's tab magazines were a huge boon for me, and I still get a lot of mileage out of the Guitar Pro tab reading/writing/playing program.

I do get an amazing sense of not-quite deja vu out of the magazines, since many of the 80's tabs are back in them and the guys on the cover are also the same as before but look so freakin' old now...

 

[mad monk]

When I started playing again, I would go over some of the old songs I used to play. A friend said I was playing it "wrong" and showed me a tab book with the riff in a different position. I tracked down a live performance of the song with the artist playing it (Hooray, you tube). I was playing it exactly as he was.
Many times, the tabs are the right notes, in the wrong position. I later learned that I was doing the same thing with a lot of UFO stuff. I learned it from tab. When I was able to watch Schenker play them from about 10 feet away during sound check, I learned to trust my ears a little more. The tabs were dead wrong.

 

[AP515]

You know, that’s kinda how I feel now, too. Most of the music I play I write, so that’s easy. With other artist’s songs, I’d rather put my own spin on a passage than play it note for note.

Again we see how people are different. I like to learn it as close to the original as I can. Not only note for note, but bend by bend. Not because I think it has to be played that way, but because I want to see if I can get the same feeling, emotion, or power as the original. Once I have it down to my satisfaction, I might mix it up a little but I don't want to learn it that way or play it that way, until I have it pretty tight as an original.

 

[merciful-evans]

the only tab i ever used was the ones Steffan Grossman used to give away with his albums.

I learned in the 70s. We all learned by ear. I find it hard now though. Its not a lifelong skill, you have to keep at at.

 

[László]

Again we see how people are different. I like to learn it as close to the original as I can. Not only note for note, but bend by bend. Not because I think it has to be played that way, but because I want to see if I can get the same feeling, emotion, or power as the original. Once I have it down to my satisfaction, I might mix it up a little but I don't want to learn it that way or play it that way, until I have it pretty tight as an original.

It’s possible I’m just too lazy to learn to do it the right way, but I’m a composer. So I like to play guitar, but in a way that I practice composing at the same time. It’s very good for that, but very bad for learning new things on guitar.

Oh well, there’s only so much time in the day.

 

[veinbuster]

I still have quite a few of those magazines. They’ve been ignored long enough that I will probably go back through them next year.

I rarely cared if I learned a song note for note. When I played in a bar band, we just wanted it to be close enough to get a free beer.

When I stopped that, I just played through the songs once or twice to steal ideas from: chord progressions I liked or stylistic elements that appealed to me. Really just broadening my vocabulary.

But...I liked Baroque by Satriani enough to take a month or so to get it right and continued to play it from time to time. A few years later my youngest daughter heard it on the radio and come running over “Dad, somebody stole your song.” I had to confess that while most of what she heard in the house was mine, I had borrowed that song.

 

[Black Plaid]

Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, and Paul Gilbert had random columns in Guitar Player. I always looked forward to those infrequent nuggets to learn everything I know. Paul Gilbert's "Intense Rock 2" video was also really amusing/helpful at the time as well.

After 33 years of being "self taught", I decided to find a good teacher. I play blues/rock/metal, but decided on a Jazz guy, because they seem to know-all-the-things.

 

[walrus]

Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, and Paul Gilbert had random columns in Guitar Player. I always looked forward to those infrequent nuggets to learn everything I know. Paul Gilbert's "Intense Rock 2" video was also really amusing/helpful at the time as well.

After 33 years of being "self taught", I decided to find a good teacher. I play blues/rock/metal, but decided on a Jazz guy, because they seem to know-all-the-things.

Hey Black, if you enjoyed Paul Gilbert's early video lessons, he currently gives personal on-line lessons at ArtistWorks.com. I've been doing them for a few years - great stuff!

 

[sergiodeblanc]

I think I learned “Jet City Woman” and “Battery” from magazines, there weren’t really any Cro-mags, Bad Brains, or Dead Kennedy’s tabs, and that’s what I was into back then.


I do have a soft spot for Guitar World though.

 

[Black Plaid]

Hey Black, if you enjoyed Paul Gilbert's early video lessons, he currently gives personal on-line lessons at ArtistWorks.com. I've been doing them for a few years - great stuff!

I've considered doing that, but am afraid I'd be too much of a fan-boy to actually learn anything.

 

[walrus]

I've considered doing that, but am afraid I'd be too much of a fan-boy to actually learn anything.

Plenty of fan-boys (and a few fan-girls) on there!

 

[Bill SAS 513]

My kinda thread...recently sold (yes, someone actually bought a box or two) of older mags...Loved Guitar Player and World...still have a few boxes...(yes, near my "thinking room".)
Wife still insists I clear out more crap...But clutter makes hiding new acquisitions easier, though!!!!

 

[alantig]

My kinda thread...recently sold (yes, someone actually bought a box or two) of older mags...Loved Guitar Player and World...still have a few boxes...(yes, near my "thinking room".)
Wife still insists I clear out more crap...But clutter makes hiding new acquisitions easier, though!!!!

Some years ago, I bought something like 100 copies of Guitar Player. Back issues that I couldn't get. Covers most of the 70s, and it had the Kiss cover issue from 1979, which I hadn't been able to get my hands on (and my mother had refused to buy me at a music store when it was a new issue). I still subscribe to too many guitar magazines - a couple years ago, I started a project to catch up on Vintage Guitar. My goal was one issue per week for the year, which I actually exceeded, but it took me almost the next year to fully catch up. I've stayed up to date on that, but I'm a few years behind on GP, and let's just not mention Premier Guitar (Sept. 2014). I did have to stop reading every article - I started skipping the jazz guys and the reviews of guitars and amps that I know I won't buy.