April 7, 2026
Shred Wars: Tabs vs Ears
How to Get Better at Guitar
Guitar glow‑up: Ditch printed tabs, trust your ears—or build an app
TLDR: A guitarist swears by learning songs by ear—pausing, finding each note, and writing your own tab—to lock in real progress. Commenters split into camps: ear training purists, practice-time realists, scale evangelists, and app-building jokesters, all agreeing the fastest road to shredding is listening and playing whole songs.
A heartfelt post says the secret to getting better at guitar is old‑school: listen to songs, pause after every note, find it on your fretboard, and write your own tab. Then compare with online versions, watch performances for tricks, and build a playlist to practice full songs—not just riffs. The vibe is very “learn like the greats,” and fans of teacher Justin Sandercoe’s methods are nodding hard.
But the comments? Absolute string‑slinging. One camp, led by taylodl, calls this “still tabs,” arguing the real level‑up is ear training—learning keys and chord progressions so you can jam with anyone, anytime. The pragmatists clap back with beachy’s Sting anecdote—rewinding vinyl to pick out parts—and the big takeaway: the only magic ingredient is time spent practicing. A former student (dfxm12) swears their teacher assigned this exact homework, while glial claims the true “step‑change” was mastering pentatonic scales (a simple five‑note pattern that unlocks tons of rock solos).
Meanwhile, the dev crowd shows up with jokes: kelvie confesses to coding an “app of shame” instead of practicing and drops a link to their chord finder. Verdict from the pit? It’s a messy, lovable brawl—tabs vs ears vs scales vs apps—but everyone agrees: listen more, learn full songs, and keep your hands on the strings.
Key Points
- •The article advocates learning guitar by listening and transcribing songs rather than relying on prewritten tabs.
- •Learners should begin with simple songs featuring straightforward, mostly single-note riffs confined to one neck area.
- •The process involves pausing the song, finding each note on the guitar, and writing it on blank tab paper.
- •Accuracy is improved by checking personal transcriptions against online tabs and performance videos.
- •Ongoing practice includes building a playlist of learned songs, focusing on full-song playthroughs and sometimes learning additional parts.