Why can't I play a guitar solo if its written by tablature and yet I can play my own stuff?

Question

I can play my own solos, and yet when I pick up a guitar and find tablature I cannot play what's written. I see the fingerings, but I just find it hard to grasp what I'm supposed to play.

Answer 1

You've developed habbits of playing by ear. And now you're trying to play by site. It's a clash in your musical brain. You just have to keep practicing both and they will blend soon enough.

Answer 2

You need lessons. Get back to basics and learn the scales and their relationships to the chords being played. You can play your own stuff because it's off the cuff and probably not based on much more than redundant patterns your fingers have gotten used to. Most people probably hear the same lead every time you play something. Do youself a favor... find a teacher and go into it like you know nothing. Forget everything you think you know, drop your ego, and build your knowledge and skills from the bottom up. Once you develop an indepth understanding of scales, chords, keys, and most importantly, the interelationships between them, you won't even need the tabs. Your understanding of the keys and the chord progressions will give you an intuitive understanding of where the solos will flow. Keep in mind, you're worst enemy is the bad habits you've picked up from 'jamming'. It's harder to unlearn bad habits than it is to learn good ones from the start. And know that it won't happen overnight. It will take at least a couple of years of commitment and devotion, but the rewards will last a lifetime. Good luck.

Answer 3

If you are learning the guitar just to sing to then sure you pick up the chords in no time, I learnt mostly myself, but it doesn't hurt to let other experienced people give you tips to improve, this will make you improve quicker and make things easier in the long run, but as you were saying about singing to keep yourself company, it doesn't look like you're trying to become the next Jimi Hendrix so sure learning all by yourself shouldn't be a problem.

Answer 4

Well, if you're getting tabs from the internet they may be innacurate. But, maybe you don't fully understand how to read tabs, you need to know where it's askind you to bend or slide, etc. Also, one problem with tabs is that it doesn't tell you the length of the note like music notation does. The best thing to do would be to listen to a song while trying to play the solo and only use the tab as a guide. But, honestly, if you can play really sweet solos yourself, don't worry about anyone else's.

Answer 5

Hey man just keep practicing. It takes a long time to self-learn the guitar sometimes you got it sometimes you just don't. Practice makes perfect that is all there is to it. Some day you'll figure tablature out. If you can read sheet music try downloading some songs in sheet music.

Answer 6

Try actually listening to the song. That will help you grasp what you are actually playing and help you get a better sense of the song.

Answer 7

You probably play by ear better than play by reading music. A lot of people are like that.