Back in the day of the caveman and troglodyte I played piano and clarinet. Learned the old fashion way on clarinet in school reading sheet music. I was very good at clarinet but it was boring as hell. Taught myself how to play piano reading off of sheet music which the pros refer to as "charts" or "chart reading". The thang with chart reading is you are restricted to what is written down. Another issue especially in guitar based music is many of the inferred and tone/timbre aspects are unwritable. Any riff or progression can be written down to be sure however often it is also required to know the secret handshake to actually be able to play the damn 'thang.
Example: Here's Luther Dickinson playing this absolutely sick bend @2:45 in the vid. One can write it out with all the musical symbols you want but you'll never play it correctly because this shit just cannot be
transposed.
Here's another example: Here's a riff that Billy Gibbons has played probably more than anyone I know and Luther rips the livin' sheeit out of it! It's a double cross string trill which can be
transposed well enough, but what cannot be
transposed is how to play this kick ass mofo'. Here's the riff @3:15. Doesn't sound that difficult right? That is until you try to do it. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, Luther ain't using a pic, Thumb and fingers only. Now try it. What is the musical symbol for tucking your pic under you ring finger and hold it and playing this riff with only your thumb and index finger. There is none.
Charts do have their place. Classical music. Jazz. Be-Bop. Studio/Commercial/Bandstand/Jingle music. But it just doesn't translate to modern rock and blues. Sure you can write that stuff out. You can write out every thang for Muddy Water's
Rollin' Stone but you fo' sho' won't learn how to play it correctly or the way Muddy did by playing it off of a chart.
It would be like going to the grocery store and picking up a box of some kind of food you have never had. You can read all the ingredients that it has but that won't tell you how its supposed to taste.
Jeff I think its great that you are learning to read charts and play guitar. You're doing something differnt' that keeps it interesting because its a challenge and its a great tool to keep you in the drivers seat and while results come slowly oftentimes you WILL see results. It can only help to make you a better guitar player and give you a better understanding how music comes about.
One tip I would also give is that more often than not, music that has been transcribed for guitar is more often than not done so by a keyboard player. This is merely evident by the many thousands and thousands of error filled and false transcriptions found in modern guitar sheet music. For many years the opening riff to
Stairway to Heaven was written out based on the open Am chord. Which is too bad because Page played it at the 5th fret with 2 fingers and only a partial Am. Which also raises another minor question. How did Page get that awesome fat tone on
Black Dog? God only knows how much money people dumped on pedals and gear to sound like that. Too bad Page didn't. He doubled it to another track but only after playing it exactly the same way and then combined both tracks. Pretty unf**kingbelievable.
As per guitars. If you want a Les Paul then buy a Les Paul. Studio's are excellent guitars for the money. If buying via GC or Sam Ash play it first. Some can be all over the place playing wise. Play enough of 'em and you'll find a winner. They come set up poorly from the factory. That's not necessarily a knock on Gibson though. Some folks like high action, others low, and also differn't string gauge's. You can't accommodate ever body with a single set up so they do a simple generic "slap some .10's on it and ship it. Note also that fret ends can be a little sharp and need some tweeking and most notoriously nuts are often cut a tad tight and string binding is an issue. You'll hear notable pings when tuning up and sometimes down and have tuning issues. Most people falsely attribute this to slipping tuners. Nope. I've literally played thousands of guitars and not once experienced tuners that slipped. Its the nut and a simple fix. A pass or two of fine sandpaper is all that is needed in 90% of the cases where it is an issue. At worst, the nut needs to be recut or replaced. Its not a big deal and not exclusive to Gibson. Plenty of Fender's and other brands come poorly set up and make it to the showroom floor.
I can play any style music I want on any guitar no matter how much it costs. I play Les Pauls, LP Jrs. Flying V's, and also currently a cheapass Squier Tele that I bought years ago in Alaska as a throw away guitar. That guitar is a monster and it plays and sounds like sex. I replaced the cheap pots and caps in it recently and changed out the malfuctive 3 way switch to a 4 way in series. Absolutely killer tone. Does it compare to my '07 '54 RI LP Goldtop? NO. Because its not the same guitar. The Goldtop I bought used in '09 from Cowtown in Las Vegas from Jesse Amoroso. Name sound familiar? He's the guitar dude on "Pawn Stars". Jackass still owes me money on a guitar I have on consignment.
Kidding. Jesse is A-1 coolcat! The guitar had just hit the rack when I strolled in, played it for 10 minutes and then went and transferred money in my bank accounts. I paid $2,200 and change plus tax. Is it a great guitar because I paid that much? NO. Is it a great guitar because it says Gibson Les Paul on the headstock? NO. Its just a great guitar and whereas the tele I mentioned plays and sounds like sex, play the Goldtop and you will think you actually ARE HAVING SEX! How much is that worth?
Buy the guitar you want knowing what you like in guitars whether it be baseball bat necks or slim 60's or whatever pickups you like. Whatever guitar you get, play the sheeit out of it!
