lol - I don’t! I just know what notes I like to put together in a sequence.I play entirely by ear and feel.
The thing is, I have the technique to play anything you could want me to play (virtuosity aside). I’m uninterested in playing other people’s music, so apart from a few riffs, I don’t even know an entire cover song!
I mean, if you just wanna play rock music, learn a “power chord,” and stop. You’re done. Now learn how to move it all around.
man I would love to taken lessons from guthrie govan but he lives 3hrs away from me (by train).
thats the thing… i want to learn everything. scaling, hybrid picking (using the pick and fingers), sweep picking, slap technique (funk), Bossanova etc…
I suggest learning theory for the simple reason of being able to communicate easily with others and to help you label certain things while you learn them. It just feels silly when someone is telling me what a sweep contains by saying “14th fret on the E string, 12th fret on the A, 11th fret on the D string” when he can just say “G minor” and I know what notes I’m looking for. It’s kind of like saying “Hey, you should’ve done quarter circle forward times two plus three punches on wakeup!” when you mean Ryu’s first ultra. xD
EDIT: Also, it’ll help your ear training (in my opinion). I can hear progressions in songs and pretty much know what chords to play without a guitar in my hand because of the intervals and relationships of the chords within a scale and how they sound. So tackle it head on, man. Best of luck in your musical endeavors. 
Tabs are good for learners. Most people understand them and you can find some pretty decent ones online if you know where to look.
Power Tab wins bonus points for displaying traditional notation, too.
Bass question:
How does DI compare to a real, air-moving bass amp? Is it a decent solution for live stuff? Recording? Not that I’m anywhere near doing either of those things, but the gear head in me wants to know.
Depends.
In a live situation it would depend on the quality of the monitors IMO if you’re going DI. This is a situation I’ve found myself in several times before. Going DI using stage monitors to hear yourself works if you need to verify you’re playing the right notes etc, but it’s not good for really hearing your sound in relation to the rest of the band as compared to a real bass amp. For me, I’m always questioning, “Are my highs too harsh? Do I have enough bass to support the band?” Usually those are issues you don’t have too much control over if you’re going DI; usually a soundman would make those adjustments without you knowing much about it. If your soundman doesn’t know much about bass, then you’re screwed to be honest with you.
If you’re recording, it’s not so bad as you can make all the necessary adjustments. It’s easier to deal with versus playing live. Live music can have so many variants that can affect your sound, especially playing bass.
Personally, I’ve always gone for some sort of bass amp to monitor my sound before going DI through a PA system. That way I can EQ what I need to not only on my bass, but the pre-amp on the bass amp itself. Plus I like being able to feel the bass move some air around me. You don’t get the same experience going DI.
Learning to read and music theory in general is important. It makes it so much easier when you are talking to your band mates on what kind of sound and rhythm you want. Just makes talking music easier in general. Not that you HAVE to learn the name of chords or why hitting a note in a certain way completely changes the tone of your song.
As far as tabs go I don’t think it has anything to do with your skill as a guitarist. I would recommend forcing yourself to learn on your own so you develop your ear, but you are more than welcome to use it. I use them every once and a while, but it’s more of a guide line, cause 99.9% of the time they aren’t correct. Tabs also don’t tell you what feeling to hit each note or chord. The dynamics, speed, sustain, strength of hitting the note/chord completely changes the sound. Oh yeah and timing
you should be a virtuoso if you were playing for that long. Learn the chromatic scale with your left hand only to dramatically improve your playing.
I’m not too keen on learning theory right now.
to me, learning theory whilst learning how to play the guitar is like learning how to play street fighter for the first time, and being taught hit box mechanics, how to safe jump, zoning and poking, when you dont even knowing how to do specials yet…
Ok so I decided to go back to basics pick up the guitar again. Expect this time I feel like i should really learn how to play an acoustic guitar.
What are some of the most important things to learn when starting all over?? I wanna develop good habits right off the bat.
Economy picking, exercising all your fingers, playing to a metronome.
some good advice about learning chords
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part 2
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