Learning songs via tab . . .

Trying to develop my blues soloing, but I find that I when I learn a bunch of new licks, say from an Albert King tune or something, I have a hard time incorporating the new licks into my working vocabulary. I can play the song I learn note for note, but have trouble using the new material "on the fly." Any suggestions?

Burn the tab. It's like painting by numbers. It doesn't teach you to hear...and until you can hear a lick in your head it ain't going to come out naturally in your playing.

get some paper, grab your guitar and some good records and start lifting those licks on your own.

Burn the tab.

I concur.

I don't know about burning tab. I think it's a good starting point to learn songs but it seems like most of the time the tabs are at least a little bit off, sometimes way off.

burn it all

with fire

Right now I'm using TrueFire, so I know the tabs are right, and I've got video examples, as well. I have trouble learning by ear - always have. But I suppose there's only one way to get better.

Getting better requires work. Start working now. Or you'll have more work later.

I don't know about burning tab. I think it's a good starting point to learn songs but it seems like most of the time the tabs are at least a little bit off, sometimes way off.

It's not about the accuracy of the tab...this cat wants to use the stuff he's learning...which he'll never do if he's just playing back numbers on a paper.

I have been a slave to tab...

I still maintain ... know what the player is THINKING....

see the choral changes...

you attempts will get better and better...if you know in your mind what is goin' on.

Sometimes I'm amazed we learned how to play at all back in the dark ages of the 80's, no interwebs, no YouTube, no forums... :)

I'd learn the licks, then set up a loop of YOU playing the rhythm, and then solo over the loop until you have internalized them.

You can record them on a looper, or with a handheld, on your iphone whatever.

Then play the licks over some other changes.
Eventually you NEED to play with another guitar player.

Sometimes I'm amazed we learned how to play at all back in the dark ages of the 80's, no interwebs, no YouTube, no forums... :)

what:?: dude, guitar was only invented in the early 90's.

I'd learn the licks, then set up a loop of YOU playing the rhythm, and then solo over the loop until you have internalized them.

You can record them on a looper, or with a handheld, on your iphone whatever.

Then play the licks over some other changes.
Eventually you NEED to play with another guitar player.

Or better yet, play the licks with the changes in your head. I'll amend the above statement and say that you need to play with other MUSICIANS.

Find blues backing tracks on youtube (or anywhere) and record yourself soloing to them. This is a very eye opening experience.

Can't imagine learning blues by tab. Blues is about closing your eyes and feeling things and stuff.

Why is tab horrible, but using charts is fine, and we all respect the (extremely small) percentage of guitar players who can read standard notation?

I'm not being contrary - just genuinely curious. I have a TrueFire course, "Blues Alchemy" and it's very helpful looking at the sheet music as I try to learn the licks and phrases. My ear isn't that great, and it keeps me honest, and helps prevent internalizing errors.

Why is tab horrible, but using charts is fine, and we all respect the (extremely small) percentage of guitar players who can read standard notation?

I'm not being contrary - just genuinely curious. I have a TrueFire course, "Blues Alchemy" and it's very helpful looking at the sheet music as I try to learn the licks and phrases. My ear isn't that great, and it keeps me honest, and helps prevent internalizing errors.

Standard notation is the standard written language in which we can communicate with other musicians. It's as simple as that.

Why is tab horrible, but using charts is fine, and we all respect the (extremely small) percentage of guitar players who can read standard notation?

I'm not being contrary - just genuinely curious. I have a TrueFire course, "Blues Alchemy" and it's very helpful looking at the sheet music as I try to learn the licks and phrases. My ear isn't that great, and it keeps me honest, and helps prevent internalizing errors.

Tab's not horrible, but it's not working for the OP w.r.t. blues.

I really appreciate all the posts. You know, I've been playing for several years now, and I can basically play in two very distinct manners. I can improvise, basically by remaining in the blues box, and I can play covers, which I've learned note for note with the aid of tab. I'm bored with my relatively predicable improvised lines, but have trouble incorporating the plethora of licks I know in the context of the covers I've learned. I would love to learn by ear, but I struggle to get it right. I'm gonna begin putting more effort into it, though.

get some paper, grab your guitar and some good records and start lifting those licks on your own.





If it worked for Paul and John it'll work for you!! :wink:



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I recommend lessons and listening to a lot of blues, if you're not already. There's a large vocabulary of melodic phrases that you'll need to not only be able to play, but be able to apply. You need to be aware of the chord of the moment and not just blazing through patterns. You need to intuitively know how to create and release tension - by alternating between major and minor sounds, hitting tones from the chords at just the right time, pauses, sustaining notes, vibrato, phrasing, etc.

There's a lot more to it than just playing licks, it's a language and you'll pick it up over time by listening to a lot of it and then playing what you hear in your head. You'll start to imagine how a specific solo should sound, even if you can't play it. At that point, you need to work on getting what you hear in your head out through your fingers. Understand it takes years and years of application to get even a basic fluency in this language, so there's nothing to worry about if you've only been playing for a few years and can't yet do it well. Just keep listening and practicing what you hear, and what someone else said, try to understand what the guitar player's that you're listening to are thinking.

I was where you are about 2+ years ago. I could play some blues solos note for note, but fell on my face improvising my own lines. I started taking lessons with a great player and I think I now know what to do - it's just a matter of practice, listening and applying and building that vocabulary. In the meantime, I focus more on learning complete songs, understanding why music works, and playing with others and not worrying too much about "soloing" - it's pretty much overrrated in my opinion, and we guitarists tend to spend too much time focusing on it rather than focusing on playing music. I can improvise my own solos know, not brilliantly, but I can get by, but it's not my focus. Focus on making music and you'll get there.

The biggest problem with TAB is that when you 'read' it it doesn't ever look like a musical phrase or line. It's just one number on one of 6 lines - very little information regarding the actual music. No key info, no harmonic context info, tabs rarely if ever pay any attention to bar/phrase structure/layout. It's just, "put your finger here".
All well and good if - #1) you already have experience incorporating licks and lines into other stuff. #2) you just want to learn some riffs. All good as far as I concerned.
But if you do want to be able to put that new Albert King lick into your cover version of Honeysuckle Rose then you're gonna need to understand the how and the why that lick worked for Mr. King and where it will work in Honeysuckle. Not only what chord is the lick over but where it is in the phrase and how it relates to the phrase that precedes it and follows it.

When you start reading notation you will very quickly see/hear the musicality of it.
Even if you can't hear the exact pitches, the melodic (and harmonic) contours become fairly obvious. Similarities reveal themselves naturally and after time entire sections and sometimes even the whole song or solo can be realized or at least understood immediately.
All this makes it substantially easier to relate it to and incorporate it into stuff you already know, new things you're learning, etc.

*If you want to just learn to do it by ear, cool.
Don't just learn the 'lick'. Know what chord the lick corresponds too and where it falls in the form of the tune i.e., bar 3 right before the change to the IV chord. Again - advantage of standard notation ... you can see that in the written line.

If you're having a hard time training your ear you gotta keep at it.
Try 1/2 hour a day, 6 days a week for transcribing (that's the term for learning a tune from a recording - you don't necessarily have to write it down) That's kinda what it takes to learn to get faster at it.
Start super simple and give yourself enough time. Say one week to figure out 'Crosscut Saw' (or whatever) one bar at a time.
Get it then do another over the next week. Etc. ...
Every one gets a little easier and before you know it you'll be able to transcribe a blues in about an hour. Seriously, in a year or so you probably won't even need your guitar in hand for some things.

I'd learn the licks, then set up a loop of YOU playing the rhythm, and then solo over the loop until you have internalized them.

You can record them on a looper, or with a handheld, on your iphone whatever.

Then play the licks over some other changes.
Eventually you NEED to play with another guitar player.

That is by far the best way I have found to work on leads. I have Protools so I set a simple drum loop, record the rhythym and take just play it over and over again. Then when I'm done, I have a recording so I won't forget what I played when I come back to it!

I agree that tab is not the best way to learn and quite frustrating at times, but there have been parts of songs that I just had no clue where to begin to figure it out. That is when I prefer to get the tab and try and figure out just the parts I can't get on my own.

What I don't understand is how someone has the patience to learn a full solo, note for note, that spans a couple of pages of tablature. I tried this with Sultans of Swing, Cliffs of Dover and other songs and just flat out gave up.

Just thinking about Wes Montgomery only started playing guitar when he was like 19 years old, learn those old Charlie Christian Licks off of Benny Goodman records, and just his work ethic,I won't even mention the "Thumb"..but before to long He's jamming with Coltraine.
It took years of late night jams and constant woodsheding... But guys like him,and Tommy Bolin, while I'm sure they could read charts and perhaps learn to read music later in life..they developed their ears to a high degree,that's something the greats have in common.