Hi to you all,

I bought my son finally an electric guitar for his upcomming birtday and I was wondering if you (the guitar players amongst you) have the ability to tell me where I can find understandable guitar tabs for a kid of 10 yrs old.

Thx and much appreciated!

UW

'Doo doo doo Heartbreaker'

I've been teaching guitar and bass for about 13 years and one thing I've found is that, unless you really know the song well, internet based guitar tabs, for the most part are horrible and can be very frustrating.

My advice to you would be to find a songbook filled with tunes that your son likes and buy that. Obviously a beginner level book would probably be better than "recorded versions", if your son is a beginner.

The good thing about published books is many of them actually have the tabs right below the actual "music" notation. If you can't read the music you can read the tab. What makes this generally superior to the "crap" you find on the net is the fact that the publishers are able to represent the rhythm of the notes where on the internet, this is the major problem of tabs. I have seen a few places on the web where they do manage to represent rhythms with some accuracy but for the most part, it's just frustrating.

Although I won't deny that getting the notes is possible from TABs online, for the most part, even when I go to the web to get some notes, I'm listening to the recordings to get the rhythms.

One more note on TABs vs. published music is the fact that the published versions are generally more accurate and more reliable. I've seen tabs on the web where some 13 year old kid starts off by saying "not sure if this is right but it's how I play it". Like anything else, just because it's on the web, doesn't mean it's right.

All the best to your son!

Mr DJA

Can he play already or is this his first guitar? I agree with DJA, forget about the online TABs. Only if you're an experienced player, they can be useful when figuring out how to play a certain song.

never mind the tabs; listen to the records and dissect 'em

the best site in my opinion:

[www.ultimate-guitar.com]

download the software "power tab". they are really good. trust me: i work with onlinetabs for 10 years and most of the internet stuff sucks. but the powertabs are great!
get the bets of both worlds: train your ear and read the tabs (you will hear when they're wrong)

The guy is 10 years old. No dissection yet. Mr Dja is totally right - the Net tabs are difficult, often wrong, and hard to read because many programs will slide all chord names to the front of the line.
Buy song books in a bookstore or Amazon. And Urban - if he is 10 years old still, buy him a Beatles book, not Stones. Beatles are chord songs (Stones are more riffs) Plus there is only much good to be learned from digesting the Beatles song structure early on.

Lots of Stones songs are chord songs...Sweet Virginia; Dead Flowers; Let It Bleed; YCAGWYW; Dear Doctor; to name but a few.

its good to play both Beatles and Stones. Lyrically the Beatles may be a little safer...;-)) on second thought maybe the Beatles would be better. I have a 10 yr old son too..not sure singing along with Let It Bleed is right for that age...but it sure is fun to play!

You're right Duke; of course there are Stones songs that are melodic chord songs. But as a first, for a 10 year old rocker I just see the Beatles songbook being a better starting point.

beatles are very good for him IF he is familiar with beatles songs ..

Ask him what songs he likes and would like to learn, it's a different generation ... he'll be more interested if he can learn what he likes not what us old fogey's think he should learn.

...

Ultimate Rock Music Poll
[www.squidoo.com]

"never mind the tabs; listen to the records and dissect 'em"
Now that's EVEN more frustrating than net tabs. It's very hard for a beginner to figure out what's going on in a song. Standard tuning? Eb? Open G? These things can be HARD to figure out when you're a rookie.

Buy him a book or a subscription to a guitar mag that offers songs transcriptions.

I agree with Taylor. Make sure the tuning is right and just keep listening and playing to the same part over and over til you nail it.

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never mind the tabs; listen to the records and dissect 'em

No offense personally meant to the original poster, but I get so pissed whenever someone says that, because, as another person said in reply, NOT EVERYONE CAN DO THAT, ESPECIALLY RIGHT AWAY! The guy who said it originally is right, but only to a point. If you can, screw the tabs and play by ear, but only if it comes at least fairly easy, otherwise a beginning player needs to be taught songs to play in order to begin to understand structure, then as time goes on, the ear may develop, but it may not, or it may take several years. My sister, who is 4 years older than me, started playing when she was around 16. Our Dad drew out a few of the basic chords for her, and very quickly she was playing along with what seemed like every song that came on the radio. I followed suit shortly after, when I was around 11/12, and I was absolutely hopeless at playing by ear, I just could not do it. It wasn't until I was in my mid to late 30's, and had been in a couple of bands, that I finally developed a decent ear. I'm 40 this year and I'm a decent player, but I still sometimes struggle with anything approaching a more complex structure or involving more abstract chords. If it's barre chords and/or in the I-IV-V (1, 4, 5) song structure, usually I have no problem, but anything else can be dicey. Some people just don't have the knack for it, and at a young age the frustration it causes can be very discouraging, I quit playing numerous times because of it. And everyone on here is correct, the internet tabs can be horrible. I've found tabs that are in the wrong key, incorrect notes, poor advice on how to play the song, you name it. A store bought tab book is the way to go if tabs are to be used. I also recommend videos, as you can see and hear exactly what to do. But the best way to learn is to take lessons, if the right teacher can be found, which generally isn't too difficult. I recommend talking to the teacher first to feel him out, hear his thoughts on how to learn, and what his overall philosophy is. It's important for him to like teaching kids. It also helps if your son has a good idea of what he likes and would like to do, and if the teacher's style lines up with that.

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dcba
"never mind the tabs; listen to the records and dissect 'em"
Now that's EVEN more frustrating than net tabs. It's very hard for a beginner to figure out what's going on in a song. Standard tuning? Eb? Open G? These things can be HARD to figure out when you're a rookie.

And yet that is how Keith, Ronnie, Mick and all the greats did it. There is alot to be said for learning by ear, but you gotta be hungry!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2009-06-27 04:56 by ChrisM.

Yeah but by now they were 18, 19. There is a huge difference. Everyone, and Keith and Brian too were shown some chords at first when they were kids. Everybody needs to get jump-started a bit. At 10 years you don't know so well what you want yet; it's great time to get motivated but also one can easily be discouraged or distracted. IMO nothing better than to learn some basic chords, and then then first time you realize you are able to play simple songs like "Yellow Submarine" or 'All Together Now" it's a "wow" moment. As in "Wow I like this; I want more of this sensation".
Then - if they are the real deal they are going to get hungry for every record they can get their hands on, and want to figure them out.

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guitarbastard
the best site in my opinion:

[www.ultimate-guitar.com]

download the software "power tab". they are really good. trust me: i work with onlinetabs for 10 years and most of the internet stuff sucks. but the powertabs are great!
get the bets of both worlds: train your ear and read the tabs (you will hear when they're wrong)

Ultimate-guitar is great indeed. You might try 'Guitar Pro' as an alternative to 'power tab'. It is very helpfl.

A quick search on youtube for 'guitar lessons' on any song usually comes up with loads of good free teachers as well.

Ultimate Guitar indeed contains a lot of great TABS, but also much, much more rubbish. Same with YouTube. Again, for a beginning guitarist player not recommended.

Rock Basics part 1-3. Available in every decent music store.