The problem with relying too much on written transcriptions.

[GBS]

Just to be contrarian...

I started to play in about the same time period as others have mentioned. Even figured out how to rig a turntable to play at 1/2 speed, so everything could be slowed down and dropped an octave, to try to "figure things out". Searched out lots of material on how to play. Took lessons from a wide variety of instructors, tried ear training for a long time, etc., etc....
Try as I might, I just couldn't get it. Anything beyond simple I-IV-V strumming and very simple single note melody, and I was lost. Just couldn't translate what I heard to what I needed to do on the fretboard. Was akin to attempts to learn a foreign language. I knew the words, and the construction, but just couldn't assemble it into much of anything coherent. I could understand it, but not speak it. Same with music - after these many years, I've accepted that I am just not going to ever "get it".

But, I have really enjoyed being able to play those pieces that I learned by rote. I like the process of tackling a difficult piece, taking it measure by measure and eventually getting up to speed with it. And yes, there is even, once in a great while, a glimmer where what I hear the original composer doing is different than the tab, and I can adjust to make my playing closer to his/hers. Or a section is just too far beyond my abilities, so I can simplify it to something that I can play, yet fits the piece. But that is the exception, rather than the rule.

So, I've accepted that I'll never be a "musician", and will always remain a "player". But that is fine, and with the explosion in available material in the last decade or so, I'll never run out of challenges to master.

[Toby Walker]

Originally Posted by GBS

Just to be contrarian...

I started to play in about the same time period as others have mentioned. Even figured out how to rig a turntable to play at 1/2 speed, so everything could be slowed down and dropped an octave, to try to "figure things out". Searched out lots of material on how to play. Took lessons from a wide variety of instructors, tried ear training for a long time, etc., etc....
Try as I might, I just couldn't get it. Anything beyond simple I-IV-V strumming and very simple single note melody, and I was lost. Just couldn't translate what I heard to what I needed to do on the fretboard. Was akin to attempts to learn a foreign language. I knew the words, and the construction, but just couldn't assemble it into much of anything coherent. I could understand it, but not speak it. Same with music - after these many years, I've accepted that I am just not going to ever "get it".

But, I have really enjoyed being able to play those pieces that I learned by rote. I like the process of tackling a difficult piece, taking it measure by measure and eventually getting up to speed with it. And yes, there is even, once in a great while, a glimmer where what I hear the original composer doing is different than the tab, and I can adjust to make my playing closer to his/hers. Or a section is just too far beyond my abilities, so I can simplify it to something that I can play, yet fits the piece. But that is the exception, rather than the rule.

So, I've accepted that I'll never be a "musician", and will always remain a "player". But that is fine, and with the explosion in available material in the last decade or so, I'll never run out of challenges to master.

I absolutely get that and agree. It sounds like you'll always be satisfied and have fun with that approach. What impressed me was the fact that in doing so, you're now able to hear other things in the music that isn't in the tab and add some of that to your playing.