chopped the quote for simplicity but i'll touch on everything.

learning to read tab will make it SIGNIFICANTLY easier to find new material to play along with. it won't teach you the intricacies of creating music but it does provide a simple method to expand your playing catalog. unless you plan on learning other instruments learning to read music over tab is kind of futile. it's almost impossible to find a guitar book that doesn't have both listed unless it's something like '1001 classic campfire songs' which would just have chord charts instead (G,C,D for the verses, A,D,E for the choruses, etc.)

personally the idea of repeating scales makes my skin crawl, why repeat scales when you could just play along to Black Dog instead and still practice the same skills? whatever though, i'm hardly the most standard guitarist either.

you say you want to learn music, how do you define it? it's different for everyone. for some it's rebellion, or a vehicle to spread a message, for others a plea for attention, personally it was a cathartic release for me and my friends while we dealt with demons from our formative years.

don't take this the wrong way but based on your posts you seem to be associating your sense of satisfaction with technical progress. you imply that you get bored when there's nothing new left to learn. that wall will always be there. which brings us to the last thing you said (with which i wholeheartedly agree) - HAVE FUN WITH IT. that is - by far - the most important thing to remember when playing music. everything else is just noise.

also reminds me of a Jimmy Page interview from back in the day. he went on to say that he never EVER wrote complicated guitar parts, he wrote whatever felt easiest for him to play - so he could have fun.

What I meant by reading music was tab... Opps.
Thanks

If you mean tabs, just listen to what Mr. Dave said, he had some great advice in it. Remember that in the back of tab books, there is a key to how symbols are interpreted. Free online tabs are usually more unique to the tabber but follow a similar code. Those tabs also may be slightly or heavily flawed. So be careful with the free ones.

with tabs, like anything else, you get what you pay for. Cherry Lane Music is one of the biggest publishers, their books used to run just a little pricier than the actual album they transcribed (normally around $30 a pop).

just like albums there are plenty of compilation books out there too with greatest hits by bands, styles, eras, and skill levels. though i wouldn't really recommend starting with a beginner's book, the versions are usually incredibly simplified and lack most of the really cool parts. they're fine for campfire strumalongs but that's it.

I don't think I know Cherry Lane Music, i'll check them out, thanks. I ended up buying an AC/DC one that had the tabs and sheet for about 70 songs or so and its great. The books you buy have bean really good in my experience. Its just some of the on-line stuff from the Internet tabbers, kinda suck. It can offer a good starting place if you're willing to revise it, but other times, its more like, What song were you listening too. Hell, other times, they hit the nail on the head so hard, I can't believe it. So I guess, in all, books good, Internet tabbers, like a teenager, unpredictable.

HAL Leonard is the other big name, but my books are all from the 90s. all my Soundgarden books were CLM, Hendrix was HL.

you're totally right about internet tabs, generally speaking they're best used as a rough guide to start learning a song with.

I'll look into HL too, thanks.

As far as scales go, and skin crawling, yes my skin is crawling. and I have had enough. It's just that for years I could see that music is scales (please correct me if I'm wrong) and if I knew scales and knew them well I could therefore learn to play more. Therefore when I learn how to or make a song I will have the tools to play the entire song instead of just part of it.

I don't know why I associate technical progress and success. I think It's because I'm just like a sponge and want to soak up all I can, and want to learn it all. I'm not a technical kind of guy. Maybe that's something I should look into.


I guess I use music as a vehicle to get out my feelings out. I've always felt that burnin in my soul. When I play or hear something I like I more feel it than hear it. Is that weird or don't most of us do that anyway. How do I define music? That's a deep one...What defines music and noise?...That's something that I have pondered every time I go off and start trying to be creative. Thanks

^it's all good, there's a reason a lot of musicians call their jams meditations after all...

i can also kind of see where you're coming from with the whole 'music is scales' angle, but ultimately there's no substitute for practice. knowing scales inside out won't necessarily make anything easier to play, it'll just mean you've got more manual dexterity and coordination to learn another person's parts - but theoretical knowledge will never trump practice in anyone's ability to play the instrument. and not just practicing scales, but playing along to the kind of material you enjoy listening to, or hope to create.

as for writing your own stuff all you really need is confidence in what you hear coming out of your instrument. there's no right or wrong way to write a song, only your way.

Hey I would Like to add my personal experience her just remember one thing: Learning an instrument is never going to be easy :nono:. It takes a lot of time and effort to memorize chords (even for just one song) and figure out strumming and everything. If you get frustrated, give it a break and pick it up again later. It won't be easy or quick, so don't expect it to be. If you are having a very difficult time, a few lessons with a private teacher can get you on the right track.