Tabs, Sheet Music, Or Ears? Options

[Bear Rose]

Hey GMC,

I was wondering what everyone's favorite/most used way of learning music is? Do you use lots of tabs? Can you read sheet music? Or do you just use your ears?

I started out using tabs for nearly everything. I never learned to read music, but I tried a few times and got a very VERY basic concept of it. Lately though I've been using my ears more and more and it is such a breakthrough for me. Naturally, I'm tone deaf, but through years of playing and training my ears, I've developed the ability to actually play what I hear now! I love it!

So, what do you use to learn music?

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[Lester]

I'd prefer ears, but if time is short, or I get stuck, I'll check a tab...
I don't know anything about sheet music

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[Todd Simpson]

I always start out by ear and then look for tabs or sheet music in a pinch. Being able to work out songs by ear is a great way to work on your ear training. Then you can use the tabs/sheet music to sort of grade yourself and see how well you did.

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[Yozshura]

When Is started I used tabs all the time, I wanted to learn some songs and the tabs helped me to learn them fast. But after a year I felt I didn't learn much, so I started to learn songs by ear. It was pretty hard at the start but after a while I felt like I've accomplished something. Learning songs from ACDC, Iron Maiden and other amazing bands by ear is pretty fun when you're done, you can play them AND you can say you learn it by ear. It's a good feeling.
I know how to read sheet music, but i'm so slow I don't think I can play any music.

Yozs

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[Gitaerunowakai]

For me, its a little bit complex.

At school, I take a formal music course so it involves a lot of sheet music reading. I read classical music and learn it through sheet music and sometimes during assignments, I may be asked to compose for the guitar, which I hand in as sheet music. But I have a cheeky little trick! I write it as tab on Guitar Pro and then hand in the sheet music only version. For me, sheet music is all well and good, its a good means of learning, but in terms of the open nature of the guitar, how you can play one note in multiple places and all the various articulations possible, sheet music does not cut it for me. But, with tab, it writes down the articulations and the exact location for playing the notes. I use tab more often to learn solos in other styles besides classical music. Sure, tab has its drawbacks (i.e. there is no rhythm information), but in the context of rock guitar, why would you want to learn a guitar solo which you haven't heard before or even want to learn? For rhythm, thats when the ear comes in. I often deviate from the original articulations and put my own life and feeling into it.

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[Sickz666]

Tabs.

I´ll always look up the best ranked tab i can find , but then i lissen aswell.
If it dosent sound right i work my way to it.

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[Bear Rose]

Tabs.

I´ll always look up the best ranked tab i can find , but then i lissen aswell.
If it dosent sound right i work my way to it.

Yeah, I've found that since my ear has improved, there are lots and lots of incorrect tabs out there! I still use them for reference fairly often, and it is rare to find a 100% accurate tab.

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[Ivan Milenkovic]

Tabs are good for reference, but they can often be misleading.

After some 10 years of playing, you can go without tabs, just use your ear and scale knowledge. The amount of licks you know, combined with theory can offer you means to learn by ear more or less effectively.

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[Bear Rose]

Tabs are good for reference, but they can often be misleading.

After some 10 years of playing, you can go without tabs, just use your ear and scale knowledge. The amount of licks you know, combined with theory can offer you means to learn by ear more or less effectively.

I totally agree. Its amazing to me the more you play scales, the more you can play what is in your head. I've found that I can pick out melodies of music sometimes on my first try by knowing which notes in the scale make which sound. Its very cool!

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