Confused? Just Play it by Ear Eye

Guitar TAB. We’ve all used it, and those of you who haven’t should listen too! Does this use guitar TAB:

Click here if you can’t see the video.

Well, does it? This video is of the guitarist “Jason Becker”, from the band “Cacophony”, do you think he used Guitar TAB to learn that? To quote his Wikipedia page:

Jason Becker studied the works of violinist Niccolò Paganini and was a playing partner with Marty Friedman. He later arranged Paganini’s 5th Caprice, performing it during an instructional guitar video. Becker’s compositions often include high speed scalar and arpeggio passages, both of which are trademarks of his ‘shred’ style of guitar playing.

In case you didn’t know, Niccolo Paganini (October 27, 1782 – May 27, 1840) was a virtuoso violinist of his time. Do you think that Paganini wrote in Guitar TAB? I don’t think so, in fact, I’m sure he didn’t. So how did he learn this piece, let alone study the works of the composer? The answer is, he could read music- there’s no way he would have been able to study Paganini without it. So when you watch the video above, remember that to get to Jason Becker’s level, it takes more than just great technique. To get there takes an ability to read notation.

Here’s another example:

Click here if you can’t see the video

Yes, sorry, this one has been overplayed. The point is, this piece was originally a canon composed by a man called “Johann Pachelbel” who lived in the 1600′s. The fact that this piece could be arranged by (in this case) JerryC, could only be due to him being able to read the original music notation. Are you starting to see the pattern here?

Being able to read musical notation can be an invaluable source of inspiration to you as a musician- and, to be honest, it’s no harder to read than TAB (once you get the hang of it). No harder to read than TAB, but so much more useful! You see, not only does musical notation allow you to play almost any song, from any period of history, for any instrument, but it also notates the actual music- and not the techniques used. Why is that good? Because it takes your focus off “patterns” and “hand mechanics” and on to the music itself! Thus, you will be developing as a musician.

If, when you learn a new song, you get to see the notes being played (rather than the frets), your understanding of music theory will increase almost by default (as I’m sure people such as Jason Becker, and Randy Rhoads found)! That’s not even mentioning the increased opportunities that are presented to you from being able to read music (instrument teaching, session work, the ability to study composers and theory etc,).

So, I hear you say, how do you suggest I go about learning to sight read? Well, start off by learning some of the notes on the fretboard (if you play barre chords you already have a head start on this!), and then find out where they’re written on the stave (this shouldn’t be too difficult if you have any TAB with the notation above!). Then? Then you practice, and keep at it, find a good resource for sheet music, such as this one and play through a little bit each day. By constantly exposing yourself to new pieces, you’ll soon be reading music notation like a pro

November 19, 2009 at 12:00 pm | Guitar Technique and Exercises, How to, Practicing and Practice Routine | 1 comment

One Response to “Confused? Just Play it by Ear Eye”

1. Chainsaw Guitar Tuition » Christmas Sheet Music says:

   05/01/2010 at 8:53 pm

   [...] always stressed the importance of learning to read sheet music over guitar tab, and why it’s a good idea to learn to sight-read. However, if you’re unable to read sheet music (yet…), there’s a large selection [...]

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