You shouldn't use tabs.
People ask for them every so often, and I understand the desire, but...
One of the most vital skills in music is having a good ear and being able to match the notes that you hear. This must be developed through ear training.
If you rely on tabs, you really don't develop this.
You gain so much more by simply trying to learn songs by ear. I learned to play before tabs were widely used and available. The only written form of music around was standard notation sheet music. Usually arranged for piano and almost useless for guitar. So I learned everything by ear from records, just sitting there trying to find each note one by one. The more I did it the better I got at it. Now I can figure out anything by ear without a lot of effort. Okay, I'll admit that I've used tabs from time to time to learn really difficult passages, but I've always tried really hard to learn it on my own first, and by now I don't need to use tabs. Most surf song are simple and very easy, and there are so many ways available now to slow down recordings without changing pitch, that there is no excuse to rely on tablature.
Absolute beginners might benefit from using tab, but the training wheels should come off sooner rather than later.
If you learn the fundamentals of music, and develop your ear, you'll be able to figure out virtually anything.
Think about it; There are only twelve notes, so how hard could it possibly be? Any piece of music is just an arrangement of those twelve notes. If you break a riff down by slowing the recording, it just becomes a matter of finding each note by simple trial and error. Anybody that applies themselves can do this. Invest a little time, patience and effort in this process and you'll progress by leaps and bounds!

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Tabs are a tool, nothing more. If you prefer to transcribe by ear perhaps it is better, but I like both. And since I split my time between several bands on piano/keys and guitar anything that saves me time is welcome.

Yeah, when you learn a song by ear and you screw it up, you've created a new song and you are now an artist. If you screw up a song you learned from tabs then you just plain suck.

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Good thread. Since I picked up guitar again after a 10 years, I've made it a point to listen and watch more. I have sworn off of tabs. YouTube is great source.

Either you surf, or you fight.

I have no problem with tabs as a tool to help learning, but there are so many great songs for which there are no tabs (or sometimes just no good tabs), and then what do you do? If you learn to pick songs up by ear so that you aren't dependent on tabs, I think you're better off. That way you can use tabs and take advantage of them as a time saver but you can get by without them when you need to.

Ralph
The Storm Surfers

Be at one with the universe. If you can't do that, at least be at one with your guitar.

As a rhythm player these tabs you speak of are of no use to me.

I do find if I write out the chord progression long hand it makes it eaiser to remember.

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Everyone is different. For whatever reason I don't have a naturally good ear for learning note/riff/etc, I just like playing guitar. For me, tabs are really helpful, I never do exactly the same as the tab(some of the tab is usually wrong anyway) but it does make it faster for me to learn.

'Surf Music Lasts Forever'

I don't know. Whenever I hear "you shouldn't do this/that" I tend to wince a bit. Especially when it comes to guitar playing. I think you should do whatever you need to do to get up and running on the guitar. I wholeheartedly agree that training your ear is absolutely critical at some point in your development. And probably, the earlier/the better. Will forcing yourself to not use tabs help? Maybe.

I used tabs quite a bit in my very early development, but I always coupled it with a healthy dose of the play/rewind button on my cassette player (wow, I really dated myself there.) I haven't looked at a tab in quite a long time, but that's because my ear has taken over to the point that I can pick up stuff that tabs can't. So, I think that tabs are OK as an initial starting out tool. They may help fill your toolbox with a couple of fundamental tools that you will need as you progress. At the end of the day, If you can deliver live in front of people, who really cares how you got there?

Ryan
The Secret Samurai Website
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Tabs and my ear were the only teachers I had for a long time. Until I actually started getting lessons about 7 or 8 months ago, what little skill I have, I owe to both.

My teacher writes out his lessons and practice sheets in tab, but with other music notation (bars, staffs and flags above the tab number for note duration, rest and repeat symbols, etc) so I remain conscious of the beat and don't have to memorize the exercise during the brief time I spend with him (and pay him for) every week. Plus its teaching me to be mindful of the music theory behind the finger and pluck action.

Brian wrote:

I'd say make your own tabs, that way you are listening and then writing it down. Something about this listening and writing process helped me a lot. Slowing songs down on the computer while keeping the pitch the same and then looping over problem parts was a huge help in training my ear.

I recently picked up Guitar Pro 6 for this purpose. What I end up doing with my lessons and practice sheets is tabbing them out into that program so I can hear the lesson all week (as opposed to just when my teacher is here) thus developing my ear. Also, I can easily mute the track and play it myself, with or without a metronome click, I can speed it up or slow it down as necessary. I could even add other tracks like rhythm or base or even drums so I can learn single parts of songs and practice that way. I think I got the program for $50 and for a noob like me, it's more than worth it.

Just my 2 cents.

Tabs are like crutches - great when you need them, but it's good to get off them when you can. I wouldn't castigate anyone for using tabs, but you want to develop your ear. I think that developing your ear will make you a better player, which using won't do.

Ralph
The Storm Surfers

Be at one with the universe. If you can't do that, at least be at one with your guitar.