[gtrdave]

Originally Posted by Kentl

for the most part as far as i know yes

i go to a site that has power tabs and 99.9 % are right

and most as far as i can tell is note for note

Here's my idea of "note for note":
If the original guitarist in the song were to suddenly die in a bizarre gardening accident and the band called you to take his place, you'd be able to do that with very little difficulty.
You've committed the entire song to memory, you play the right notes, play them in-time, play the whole song without stopping and play with a similar feel as the original.
If not, then, to me, you didn't learn how to play the song.

[crazymoose]

Originally Posted by gtrdave

Here's my idea of "note for note":
If the original guitarist in the song were to suddenly die in a bizarre gardening accident and the band called you to take his place, you'd be able to do that with very little difficulty.
You've committed the entire song to memory, you play the right notes, play them in-time, play the whole song without stopping and play with a similar feel as the original.
If not, then, to me, you didn't learn how to play the song.

Exactly. Most beginners think they can play this song or that song, but they do it really sloppily and it doesn't sound very good at all. I know that was me 2 years ago. I though I was the bomb cause I could play "Enter Sandman" by Metallica, but in reality I was so horribly sloppy... it was only my non-guitar playing friends who thought I was really good. Looking back at recordings, I sucked. At the time however, I thought I could play "Enter Sandman" note-for-note. This isn't necessarily you, but every guitar player I've seen in their beginner stage has fallen into this trap. You start making real progress and suddenly you think you're the best. Eventually you'll start to get even better and you'll realize just how little you know. I'm like 50x better than I was 2 years ago, but I feel much less like an expert guitarist than I did two years ago. The more I learn the more I realize how much more there is to learn. Funny how that works...

Anyway, recordings will tell if that's a problem or not. Even if it isn't, there's definitely harder guitar songs out there than ones by Demon Hunter and Nickelback. I'm sure you can find harder songs to learn. Maybe a Lincoln Brewster solo like "Today is the Day"? Don't get me wrong, you're making good progress, kudos to you for that, but you've just got to keep pushing yourself to be even better. You should definitely work on learning songs by ear (internet tabs are very often wrong even if they seem right to an untrained ear). Just start by trying to learn an easy song without ever looking at a tab. Then check with the internet to see how close you were.

[Kentl]

Originally Posted by crazymoose

Anyway, recordings will tell if that's a problem or not. Even if it isn't, there's definitely harder guitar songs out there than ones by Demon Hunter and Nickelback. I'm sure you can find harder songs to learn. Maybe a Lincoln Brewster solo like "Today is the Day"? Don't get me wrong, you're making good progress, kudos to you for that, but you've just got to keep pushing yourself to be even better. You should definitely work on learning songs by ear (internet tabs are very often wrong even if they seem right to an untrained ear). Just start by trying to learn an easy song without ever looking at a tab. Then check with the internet to see how close you were.

well i dont use internet tabs a lot

songster is a thing where you have to pay these tabs are 99.9% right and they ahve many artists saying that


as for ear i dont know how to

i cant no mater how many times i play back a song make out the guitar and what its doing

i play by ear with out knowing it

just listing to it i head the notes but i somethimes hear the drums as a note or what not

now i wont mind trying but the only tip evrey one has for me is just try
and well it be beter if there where beter tips


as for his solo its not on songster and i dont use internet nomal tabs
im not sure how ill learn it

[mulletman]

Next step:

Learn some SLAYER!

[crazymoose]

Originally Posted by Kentl

well i dont use internet tabs a lot

songster is a thing where you have to pay these tabs are 99.9% right and they ahve many artists saying that


as for ear i dont know how to

i cant no mater how many times i play back a song make out the guitar and what its doing

i play by ear with out knowing it

just listing to it i head the notes but i somethimes hear the drums as a note or what not

now i wont mind trying but the only tip evrey one has for me is just try
and well it be beter if there where beter tips


as for his solo its not on songster and i dont use internet nomal tabs
im not sure how ill learn it

See this is why you need to learn to play by ear... I know it's hard at first and you'll suck at it, but you have to keep trying. There's no magical method to learning things by ear, it's just something that takes loads of practice. Try finding a really easy song that's on songster and try to figure it out. Little melody lines are usually the easiest, and just try and figure it out note by note. It will be painstakingly slow at first and you'll spend hours learning a few minutes of song, but as you learn more songs you'll get faster at it. After you figure out what you ant to figure out, check on songster and see how close you were. Don't give up if you're wrong. Keep trying. The first song I figured out by ear I got pretty much every single note wrong, but I slowly got better at it until now I can get a good percentage of notes right. You just have to understand that failure doesn't mean you aren't improving. The more you try to figure stuff out by ear, the better you will get.

[Ax]

Kentl, I'm gonna take a different approach than everybody else. Learn to read and play from music. Pick up a solid guitar book and play it from front to back.

[RubberChipmunk]

Originally Posted by The Phantom Mullet

Next step:

Learn some SLAYER!

YEAH SLAYER




I need to learn some SLAYER...

[Kentl]

Originally Posted by Ax

Kentl, I'm gonna take a different approach than everybody else. Learn to read and play from music. Pick up a solid guitar book and play it from front to back.

I'm learning thatn alredy form my guitar teacher

Originally Posted by crazymoose

See this is why you need to learn to play by ear... I know it's hard at first and you'll suck at it, but you have to keep trying. There's no magical method to learning things by ear, it's just something that takes loads of practice. Try finding a really easy song that's on songster and try to figure it out. Little melody lines are usually the easiest, and just try and figure it out note by note. It will be painstakingly slow at first and you'll spend hours learning a few minutes of song, but as you learn more songs you'll get faster at it. After you figure out what you ant to figure out, check on songster and see how close you were. Don't give up if you're wrong. Keep trying. The first song I figured out by ear I got pretty much every single note wrong, but I slowly got better at it until now I can get a good percentage of notes right. You just have to understand that failure doesn't mean you aren't improving. The more you try to figure stuff out by ear, the better you will get.

I'll try that

[jeepnstein]

Listen to a bunch of music. Explore some of the different styles out there and see what you like. Broaden your horizons and start developing your musical tastes. Oh, and try to play some of the different things you hear.

If your lessons are making progress then you should also expand your musical horizon. Then you will know the next step you want to take.

[Kentl]

Originally Posted by jeepnstein

Listen to a bunch of music. Explore some of the different styles out there and see what you like. Broaden your horizons and start developing your musical tastes. Oh, and try to play some of the different things you hear.

If your lessons are making progress then you should also expand your musical horizon. Then you will know the next step you want to take.

I'm not sure what you mean by expand your musical horizon

If you mean styles

I have rock metal blues country

I really don’t like country and blues is not my thing

I HATE funk

[Rainer.]

Originally Posted by Kentl

I HATE funk

SAY IT AIN'T SO!!!

[Ax]

Originally Posted by Kentl

I'm not sure what you mean by expand your musical horizon

If you mean styles

I have rock metal blues country

I really don’t like country and blues is not my thing

I HATE funk

Learn it all even if you don't like it. You can always borrow techniques and you may find that just knowing other styles increases your skill greatly.

[jeepnstein]

If you can't find good music in any genre you're listening to the you still need to expand your horizons. Learn to appreciate the musician's craft as much as the product they sell. It's all about learning to make music as opposed to being a consumer. Can you name your favorite Rap act? How about a Reggae band? If you had to be stranded on a desert island with a jazz band would you know who to pick?

There are some phenomenal players out there right now who just so happen to not be playing in the American rock music market. Afro-Cuban, Latin, Funk, Jazz, Reggae, Bluegrass, Broadway, Classics; there is a great big beautiful world out there. It's even easier these days to experiment since the web offers things like Pandora or RadioIO. It doesn't even have to be guitar music. Remember that our instruments are simply tools we use to get the music out of our heads. Don't ever put yourself in a box.

Listen to lots of stuff and just let it take you wherever it takes you. Musicians need to be flexible and take their muse from wherever they find it.

Country: Take a listen to Townes Van Zandt, Redd Volkaert, Danny Gatton, Bill Kirchen, and yes, even Brad Paisley. You'll hear talent by the bucket load.

Blues: Albert Collins, Stevie Ray Vaughn, and Robert Johnson all have something to say on the subject.

Reggae: Go to Pandora.com and type in the name "Jimmy Cliff" as a radio station. Be prepared for some seriously interesting music.

Jazz: Start with the Big Bands and work your way down the rabbit hole.

Bluegrass: Tony Rice. Check him out on YouTube. Particularly a video of him playing "Shenandoah" on Clarence Whites old guitar. Or the New Grass Revival. Or Rice, Grisman, and Garcia playing on "The Pizza Tapes".

Then of course there is my all-time favorite guitar player of all time. Go to YouTube and check out a guy by the name of Martin Simpson. I never would have found him if I hadn't been willing to experiment a bit.