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Patrick,
I learned EVERY Ventures hit WITHOUT tab back in 1964. They weren't
that difficult to pick up. Good ears did the trick. In so far as Link
Wray's "Rumble" would be concerned, if you have any kind of ears, you
should be able to learn it off the record. My reliance on my hearing
rather than Tabs (which didn't exist anyway back then) is the main
reason I'm so together as a player.
Tabs can help with certain things (like if you're trying to discect
Yngwie at lightspeed), but there's no substitute for translating what
you hear to the fingerboard. Taking guitar lessons and developing your
ear will be more helpful than relying on tabs.
It may be a struggle at first, but you'll get there.
Regards,
Les Fradkin
On Wednesday, September 29, 2004, at 11:27 AM, Patrick Shiflett wrote:
>
> This is coming from a person who can't play guitar
> worth a damn, so please take it with a grain of salt.
> To me, the whole point of the surf guitar 101 exercise
> is to make this world of music more accessible to the
> masses. If you want to do this, you should probably
> use every tool available. This message board is one
> of those tools. I think the idea of peer reviewed
> tabs is excellent for people like me. I love surf
> music and getting the chance to hear directly from
> people like Ivan, Dave Wronski, Fenrec and a whole
> host of other guys who produce the art, is amazing.
> (Honestly, it is better than amazing, you guys are
> great.) I think ignoring tabs would be a great
> disservice to those who want to learn that way.
> There are two things to consider. First, is it worse
> to have someone who can only enjoy and learn a song
> from the tabs, than having them not play at all?
> Learning by ear and developing your own style are
> fairly inaccessible when you first pick up an
> instrument. It doesn't have to be about the purity of
> the art, it could just be about enjoying playing, even
> if it is crappy, it is your own crap and you can enjoy
> it. The second thing to consider is this: (it is an
> analogy, but a good one) Amish people build really
> good houses. They don't have power tools, but they
> all get together and they can put together a fine
> house all made from hand tools and natural materials.
> It takes about a year and a lot of guys to just build
> one house. Even though these are really nice, the
> bulk of the population lives in homes with synthetic
> materials built by power tools.
> Anyway, just some thoughts.
> --- Marty Tippens <> wrote:
>
>> If the goal is simply to learn a particular song,
>> then I would agree with you, Miller. If the goal is
>> to become a more complete musician with the ability
>> to improvise and to be able to play songs on the
>> fly, then developing the ear becomes important.
>> Learning with tab is not completely detrimental to
>> developing the ear but I just think that learning a
>> song without the tab is a quicker way to develop the
>> ear, especially with the type of songs in question,
>> the Pipelines, and Link Wray tunes.
>>
>> Many of us probably know folks like my Mom and
>> Mother-in-law who can play piano very well as long
>> as the music is in front of them. My Dad can sit
>> down in any room with a piano and play any request
>> (well maybe he doesn't know too many Metallica
>> numbers). "I wish I could play piano like that!" is
>> the compliment he receives most often, even from
>> those who can play with the sheet music.
>>
>> -Marty
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: loscobrassurf
>> To:
>> Sent: Wednesday, September 29, 2004 6:05 AM
>> Subject: [SurfGuitar101] Re: does anyone have any
>> Link wray tabs?
>>
>>
>> -
>> It seems to me that the method of getting there is
>> less important
>> than just getting there. If tab workes for you
>> than use it as one of
>> your methods.I could see that tab could be used
>> to learn a difficult
>> riff even by someone who learns by ear. I tried it
>> a long time ago
>> and it seemed slow. miller
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> -- In , "Marty
>> Tippens" <mctippens@e...>
>> wrote:
>>> Good analogy, Warren. Training wheels were never
>> a good idea. Put
>> the kid on the bike and let him fall on the lawn a
>> few times. Its the
>> same idea with learning Link Wray by ear.
>> Beginners will get it wrong
>> at first, but if they keep at it and they'll get
>> it sooner than they
>> think. Also, they'll not be depending on 'training
>> wheel' tabs the
>> rest of their life.
>>> -Marty
>>> ----- Original Message -----
>>> From: captainspringfield
>>> To:
>>> Sent: Tuesday, September 28, 2004 10:46 PM
>>> Subject: [SurfGuitar101] Re: does anyone have
>> any Link wray tabs?
>>>
>>>
>>> I think I'm somewhere in between a few of the
>> viewpoints
>> expressed
>>> here. To use a really crappy analogy, I look
>> at it like riding a
>>> bike. You don't just hop on a ten-speed and
>> head for a steep hill-
>> -
>>> there has to be some sort of guide at first,
>> like training wheels.
>>>
>>> Tabs are great for those of us who can't read
>> music. A friend of
>> mine
>>> just bought a guitar and wanted me to show him
>> some basic stuff.
>>> Since we live a few hours away from each
>> other, the easiest thing
>> to
>>> do was tab some chord progressions, etc. out
>> for him. He can
>> learn at
>>> his own pace, and I really don't see too much
>> of a difference
>> between
>>> him learning a C chord or a scale off of a tab
>> than if I showed
>> him,
>>> finger by finger, how to play it.
>>>
>>> Plus, the more you learn, the less reliant you
>> become. I used to
>>> prefer full, in-depth tabs, but now I tend
>> towards the sparse
>> ones--
>>> "A-D-E-D, solo in Am" leaves a lot more up to
>> the person learning
>>> from the tab than a note-for-note
>> transcription. I'm still not
>> very
>>> good, but that's more than what I need to be
>> able to fake my way
>>> through "Louie, Louie."
>>>
>>> I'll be the first to admit there's drawbacks,
>> though. You can
>> find a
>>> tab for the guitar solo from the New York
>> Dolls' "Chatterbox"
>> online
>>> somewhere, but it's not going to show you how
>> to play it with the
>>> attitude that Johnny Thunders originally did.
>> Sort of like how,
>> to
>>> bastardize a quote from Spinal Tap, seeing a
>> Dick Dale riff on
>> paper
>>> tends to understate the hugeness of it.
>>>
>>> OLGA has a few two-dozen page Neil Young tabs.
>> I see no point in
>>> flawlessly learning something like "Cortez the
>> Killer" or "Down
>> By
>>> the River" (which I don't have the memory for
>> in the first place)
>> and
>>> in the process completely abandoning the
>> spontaneity present in
>> the
>>> original performance, but apparently some
>> people do.
>>>
>>> Some people also like to finger-tap and play
>> classical music
>> loudly
>>> on electric guitar. Me, I prefer The Sonics.
>> Tabbing's just as
>>> subjective, though. It works for some, it
>> doesn't for others.
>>>
>>> Now if only someone could tab the Eddie & the
>> Showmen version
>>> of "Scratch."
>>>
>>> -Warren
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> .
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>> for
>> archived
>> messages, bookmarks, files, polls, etc.
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