Why Trying To Learn Guitar Tabs Can Be So Frustrating
For many people the need to learn guitar tabs comes at a later stage in their guitar playing career. The real difficulty lies in trying to cope with the transition from a casual, self taught player to one who is able to adequately and competently read guitar sheet music. This difficulty is further compounded by the fact that guitar tabs are written in a way that is quite unlike standard notation.
This means that even if you are reasonably accomplished at reading standard sheet music for, say, the piano, you'll find that it's a whole different ball game trying to learn guitar tabs. At first glance it looks as though both guitar tabs and standard notation use the same form of stave, until you realise that what you're actually looking at is not so much a stave as a diagram showing the six strings on the guitar. The top line refers to the first string and the bottom line the sixth string on the guitar, so effectively you're not looking at a stave, but the strings of the guitar.
The next challenge when trying to learn guitar tabs is identifying the difference between the normal notes you would expect to see on a musical stave with the numbers and symbols on guitar tabs. Most of what you will see in guitar sheet music will just be numbers, and these identify which fret you should hold down. So for example, if you see a number 3 on the second line down, this means that you should hold the third fret down and play the second string.
If you're going to play a chord then you'll find a stack of numbers all in a single vertical line, and this shows you which fret to hold down for each string. This form of musical notation is not only very difficult to learn compared to standard notation, but it very hard indeed to sight read. With a whole heap of small numbers stacked up in one small bunch it takes quite a while to learn how to glance at this and interpret it into finger positions quickly. In some cases you will find that if it's a popular chord the letter will be written either above or below the numbers, and once you've learned the chord you can play this in the way you normally would.
This all takes a very great deal of time and effort to learn, and is often very off putting. If you were going to learn to play piano or flute then you would expect right from the word go to have to learn musical notation, and you would pick this up as you became more accomplished with playing the instrument. With a guitar it's quite different because it is perfectly possible to get away for some time with just knowing a few of the most popular chords and strumming to these with friends. But if you're going to move on to play in a band or perform more demanding pieces then you will need to learn guitar tabs.
The fact that this process is so much harder and more longwinded, and can largely be seen as irrelevant since you can already get away with playing the guitar at a basic level, means that many people don't bother. One of the best ways to help learn guitar tabs and become more accomplished as a guitar player is to take advantage of guitar video tutorials online, Here professional, experienced and accomplished guitarists can teach you the tricks of their trade, show you how they achieve the standards of play they do, and can help you along the way of learning guitar tabs in a way that's more enjoyable, and helps move you forwards with more momentum.
This means that even if you are reasonably accomplished at reading standard sheet music for, say, the piano, you'll find that it's a whole different ball game trying to learn guitar tabs. At first glance it looks as though both guitar tabs and standard notation use the same form of stave, until you realise that what you're actually looking at is not so much a stave as a diagram showing the six strings on the guitar. The top line refers to the first string and the bottom line the sixth string on the guitar, so effectively you're not looking at a stave, but the strings of the guitar.
The next challenge when trying to learn guitar tabs is identifying the difference between the normal notes you would expect to see on a musical stave with the numbers and symbols on guitar tabs. Most of what you will see in guitar sheet music will just be numbers, and these identify which fret you should hold down. So for example, if you see a number 3 on the second line down, this means that you should hold the third fret down and play the second string.
If you're going to play a chord then you'll find a stack of numbers all in a single vertical line, and this shows you which fret to hold down for each string. This form of musical notation is not only very difficult to learn compared to standard notation, but it very hard indeed to sight read. With a whole heap of small numbers stacked up in one small bunch it takes quite a while to learn how to glance at this and interpret it into finger positions quickly. In some cases you will find that if it's a popular chord the letter will be written either above or below the numbers, and once you've learned the chord you can play this in the way you normally would.
This all takes a very great deal of time and effort to learn, and is often very off putting. If you were going to learn to play piano or flute then you would expect right from the word go to have to learn musical notation, and you would pick this up as you became more accomplished with playing the instrument. With a guitar it's quite different because it is perfectly possible to get away for some time with just knowing a few of the most popular chords and strumming to these with friends. But if you're going to move on to play in a band or perform more demanding pieces then you will need to learn guitar tabs.
The fact that this process is so much harder and more longwinded, and can largely be seen as irrelevant since you can already get away with playing the guitar at a basic level, means that many people don't bother. One of the best ways to help learn guitar tabs and become more accomplished as a guitar player is to take advantage of guitar video tutorials online, Here professional, experienced and accomplished guitarists can teach you the tricks of their trade, show you how they achieve the standards of play they do, and can help you along the way of learning guitar tabs in a way that's more enjoyable, and helps move you forwards with more momentum.
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