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--- In , "Pollo Del Mar" <ferencnd@n...>
wrote:
> --- In , Patrick Shiflett
> <p_shiflett@y...> 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 just thought I would chime in here about Tabs, and to also say
that
> being mentioned in the company of Mssrs. Wronski and Pongracic is
good
> company indeed.
I want to chime in here as well, and say that I feel the same as
Ferenc, a distinguished member of the surf music community as well as
a truly excellent musician. Thank you Patrick for the nice
compliment.
> The last song I tabbed out was the solo in "Bells of St. Kahuna"
and I
> did it to try and help me understand how Dave puts his parts
together,
> and it was so complex that I had to learn it a phrase at a time.
Though certainly of very limited memory when it comes to non-music
things (just ask my wife!), I seem to have developed a good memory
for music. It was definitely developed rather than innate, BTW. I
worked at it (try to go through all the songs you know every few
months, and keep at it for years). When learning new songs I've been
able to learn them without having to rely on tabs, which is nice.
But...
> Tab is, in many ways, superior to notation for guitar as it shows
> finger positions. On the guitar you can, of course, play one note at
> many different frets, each position giving the note a different feel
> and sound. It is also good to know hand positions for scales-
> sometimes a lick that is impossible in one position is quite easy in
> another.
ABsolutely right.
> That said, if you have the patience, try to learn songs by ear.
Even more absolutely right.
> But really, the most important thing to do as a new player is to
play,
> a lot. By ear, by tab, watch instructional DVDs, pick up songs from
> friends, just play.
Can't get more absolutely right than this!! You got it, Ferenc.
Myself, I learned to play the guitar with tab. I used to subscribe
to the old magazine Guitar For Practicing Musician, which was the
first guitar mag with full songs transcribed in tab. Between '84
and '89 I learned dozens of songs through this method, and I picked
up many techniques by staring at the tabs.
However, I was learning a lot of different styles back then, and some
of it was pretty complex. Learning surf songs is a great way to
develop one's ear, cause many are so simple. One of the first songs
I figured out completely by ear, back in '87, was "Moon Dawg" by the
Beach Boys, and boy was I proud of that! (That's still my favorite
version of that song, and I still remember how to play it! My first
surf song [sigh]...) Since then I've learned many a surf song by
ear, and it has allowed me to learn some more complicated stuff by
ear, too. The thing that really developed my ear was learning some
50 or 60 or however many Shadows songs I know. Many of those sound
simple but are often pretty complex. THAT was a good bit of
school.... I'd definitely highly recommend it. Figuring out Man Of
Mystery completely by ear (including the solo) gives one tremendous
confidence...
anyway, if you guys want to do the communal tab, it may be a good
thing for the very beginning guitarsists. But anybody with more than
a year or two of playing experience, I'd recommend just buckling down
and listening really hard. You'll be amazed what you start noticing
when you do that...
Ivan
