The Metallica riff everyone plays wrong 

this dude is just the best honestly, so chill

I'm one of the "transcribe it myself" votes. This started because i couldn't find tabs in the pre-internet days (when the earth's crust was still cooling and i rode a dinosaur to school), so i just trusted my ears. I wasn't always right, but i was more often than not. Later when internet tabs became common, they were so often wrong that i gave up on them altogether.

I definitely thought this was gonna be the same old enter sandman G string thing, but no, that surprised me, I like it 😁

A guitarist auditioned for my band. He was playing a C#m instead of CMAJ. When the other guitarist and I corrected him, and even played along with the original track, he said we were wrong because the tab said C#m...

Probably Hetfield used the same tabs for remembering how we played that :D

James Hetfield be like "Shit how did I play that song again? Ah wait, just let me look up the tabs for it"

This is coincidentally my favorite Metallica song! I never thought of playing it that way, and thus I was playing it wrong. It's awesome how you appreciate the subtle details as you get older and more advanced in your playing.

I learn songs with a combination of ear and I also watch the artist play it live to insure I’m playing it right and in the right position.

Omg you took care of that "bug" on the door jamb! I was just trying to shoo it away during the last episode because I thought it was a fruit fly on my screen lol

Davie504: "SLAPP like!" Paul: " Gently strum"

That feel when I'm a beginner but I've been playing this right the whole time. FeelsGoodMan

Even on the chord sheets, there are frequent errors. I usually look at all the versions, regardless of the rating, cherry pick the good chords and try to fix the bad ones myself.

I noticed when the internet first got going that tabs were 95% inaccurate. I always hypothesized that the people who need the tabs the most, for the most part, are also the people who post the most tabs, hence why we end up with a lot of inaccurate tabs. And the people who need the tabs the most don’t have a good enough ear to know that the tab is inaccurate, hence why they give a positive rating to an erroneous tab. I have always been a stickler for “getting it right” when it comes to guitar tab.

Totally agree. I’m glad I did most of my learning of cover songs by ear rather than by tab (even if I was learning them differently than the way the original player did them).

I don't think tabs are bad at all, just another tool. As a self-taught player, tabs really helped me out in my first few years, allowing me to discover new ways of doing things and linking what I heard on a song with what it looked like on guitar (even if it wasn't always accurate). Over time as my ears developed and as I learned more about music and guitar, I naturally became less reliant on tabs and more on my ears to the point where I would only use tabs as a starting point if I just couldn't figure something out. By that point I could normally tell if the tab was right or not but it would still be useful in getting me in the ball-park. I think if you really love the instrument and you really want to learn it, then you don't have to force yourself to learn a certain way and deprive yourself of certain tools like tabs, just do what feels right, follow your curiosity and enjoy the process, mistakes and all. You'll get there if you're meant to.

1:04 "when we ktulu at this tab..."

Hetfield - I'd like to use a lifeline Phone ringing Mustaine - Hello...

So even the greatest players get it wrong, amazing how one note can make a huge difference. Thanks Paul!

I would happily listen to you talk about any subject and be just as interested, but being a guitar player makes me appreciate your videos even more. You always put out unique content that is not only informative and entertaining, but you explain things so well that people on every level can understand and apply it to their own guitar vocabulary to spice up their playing beyond the typical run of the mill licks you hear these days. I'm subscribed to a lot of music and especially guitar channels on RU-vid, but yours is the only one that truly inspires me to learn new things and progress not only as a guitar player, but a musician as a whole.

I'm 73 years old, I have been playing guitar for 60 years. When I started, I played the record over and over again, playing along. I never got on the Tab bandwagon and I still learn by listening to the song and if I have trouble, I go to RU-vid and check out people like you, and yes, I still play in a band that gigs an average of 6 times a month.

Paul, i returned to guitar after 20 years break... i'm still at beginner stage, but man, the world changed soooo much. Now with mentors like You the joy of playing is back and i can learn much much faster! Thank You for sharing Your passion!

I was a little legato on the like button this time... But I made it happen!

I've never been a great guitarist, but I was blessed with a good ear and man... the amount of times I find those little errors or missing notes/chords in TABs is amazing.

Paul, couldn't agree more. I think many of us as guitarists - no matter what level, stop at what's easy and leave it at that. I was one of those players for many years, then got frustrated with my tone and technique. By using more than 1 set of tools, you get the whole experience of a song or playing. Thanks for vid, really hit home for me.

Hey Paul, I've been playing the guitar since I'm 12, I'm now 29. I must say I think I stopped getting better after 4 or 5 years. I must say your videos are giving me the will to practice harder stuff again... (just watched the video where you play the test that stumped them all). Thanks for doing what you do, you're awesome. Cheers from Belgium

I used to transcribe myself because it gets you more accurate parts. Now I find tabs and combine them with what I hear myself.

Many, many years ago when I first started playing, I remember discovering the existence of tabs on the old OLGA repository, so I looked up some Lemonheads tabs and started to play along and I realized, "Wait a minute, this doesn't sound right at all." And I don't have great ear. And that's when I realized that you cannot trust tabs. They're great as a starting point, but you gotta listen to the record to make sure.

The fact that I actually remember hearing this and fixing it almost makes the two years I listened to Metallica exclusively worth it.

'after gently strumming that like button' haha! very good Paul... i liked that and also a great video explaining in a fun and down to earth manner the shortfalls of tab!

You just reminded me yet again of how much tabs have frustrated me over the years...thanks for the video.

I dont know how many times it feels like im sitting with the guitar in my hand trying to mimic you, feels like you're sitting here teaching me. Thanks bro.

You speak right from my heart man. When I had my first guitar lessons it bored me so badly I gave up after weeks. I picked up the guitar 8 years later and taught myself with tabs. Now I picked up Bass and I use to practice with the original music after peeking at the tabs - there is always so much more going on in the original bass lines over the tabs its amazing.

Paul, every time I watch your videos I feel like we grew up learning and playing the same songs. In this case I must have found an obscure but correct tab all those years ago - because as soon as I saw you play the "wrong version" I knew it wasn't right in my ears. Thanks for pointing this out, hope all the tabs out there get fixed now!

Hey Paul! Since you said before that Metallica inspired you to play guitar and that’s what you played a lot when you were starting out, I think it would be cool if you did a countdown video on your favorite metallica riffs or something please!

Very thankful that you and pretty much every other guitarist youtuber have told to not rely on tabs, especially since the songs I like arent exactly popular. Now I can learn songs by ear (usually w/ power chords) even though Ive been playimg electric for just +1 year

He got rid of the dark thing on the wall but didn't straight the panel

I actually learned the right version ages ago, and I was always frustrated at the time that my buddy who was a much better guitarist would play the wrong version.

Literally just tried learning this song by tab and realized "the original recording has a lot more color than this tab." And i then I had to learn the first few chords all over again.

It took me years to develop enough of an ear to start transcribing for myself. It was worth the effort though. I feel so much more connected to a song when I learn it by ear.

Thanks for bringing up the poll results on tabs vs transcribe. You are on it!

This may be the only time I get to say this, I've been playing it the 'right' way for 25 years and I couldnt be happier :)

I'm a beginner and I use mostly tabs, even when I know yhey're wrong because the real song is usually harder to play. I just prefer playing the wrong thing than not playing at all...

I've been playing it the correct way for decades, but learned it from a tab book I bought at a guitar store.

I use tab as a starting point. Saves tons of time. Often there are fingerings/positions I might never have thought of as I was learning... so it's educational in that light, as well. I generally check multiple versions and correct it when playing if they don't sound right. For me, it was also a nice 'rites of passage' moment when I started printing the tab so I could hand renotate the parts that were wrong. That's one of the real joys of tab in the end... how easy it is to communicate the music in an intuitive way. Easy to read, easy to write.

twin son no. 1 plays by ear and works songs out with no effort at all. he'll work something out, then checks what he's worked out against tab online and points out to me by playing the section the right way how the tab is wrong. i'm rather proud and envious of him.

I'm not sure how people don't hear this. When I started playing guitar in 96, it quickly became obvious that pretty much all tabs were wrong, so I had to use my ears. Which was a very good thing. It makes stuff like the missing notes in this Ktulu part extremely easy to hear.

This is an excellent point to make! I teach guitar myself and I always stress concepts like noticing patterns that line up with chords, movement between chords like walking basslines, and the REASON add, slash, and sus chords get used in particular places so students get that context and can understand how to add more to their playing than just sticking block chords back to back. I think I might include this very video in some of my classes!

Read the title as *i played the lick for my entire life* was deeply disappointed

Such a subtle change that makes a world of difference.......my ear could not hear it until you actually played it.

Wow.. So I've been always playing it right. Oh boy. This is new for me

"strumming the like button"... my new favourite euphemism :-) I like to at least 'try' to work out a song by myself at first. But sometimes, for many reasons (such as not being able to isolate the guitar part enough to hear it correctly, or simply not being good enough) I resort to other sources of help. More recently, the useful 'slow down' function in YT has made things a lot easier, both in learning and practising faster phrases. But historically it was tab from published books and guitar magazines. Even as a merely average player, I found the glaring errors in some online tabs bewildering. Love your videos, Paul. Keep up the great work.

This is why i watch YT videos of song tutorials - learn much more in a video than reading tabs. Also great for visual learners etc

Recently I started using tabs as a guide when I can't quite listen the notes, but always looking for mistakes and listening to the song

I do this all the time. For 4 years I've been part of the live band backing up a glee club show. We work all year on a completely new set of songs, perform them for 3 or 4 nights, and throw them all away to start on next year's show. Truth be told, it's kind of killing me to throw all this material away (especially this year - we are covering the Bohemian Rhapsody soundtrack - I really don't want to leave this music behind). But I keep the current year's songs playing all the time in my car anytime I'm driving. It never ceases to amaze me how I can hear brand new subtleties even after playing the material for months. I tend to think of it as different levels of learning and hearing. In the beginning you just want to know structure, chart level changes, and timing. I try to get to a point where I can rehearse without holding a guitar by just visualizing in detail every move and every note. It takes me quite a while playing a song to get to the point where I can do this, but it is after this point where learning all the nuances begins.One of the mind tricks you need to develop is to listen with "new ears". It is easy to hear what you expect vs what is really being played. But it is a valuable skill to develop.

Both versions of the Dm Arpeggio are correct. On the album version the "correct way" is played at the beginning of the song, and the "wrong way" is played towards the end when the intro is reprised.

i'm glad to say that I learned it pretty correctly from the start, back in 93. My tab source was a metallica album compilation book, and refined by ear, or vise versa.

I usually try and watch live videos and learn that way how something is played.

This was the first song I taught myself with the official book. It was the hardest finger transition I've ever played. Thanks buddy!!

My guitar teacher does tab notation for one of the big tab booklet companies. He said most of the online tabs are wrong like this. Usually minor issues, but sometimes they are the same notes played in the wrong positions making it harder to play the song than it should be.

i tried guitar, my hands i think were/are too small to get some chords so i gave up, i did what you said, picked a song, learned some easy tabs (without chord play) and played a songs easy intro like fade to black for instance, i wish i could go back to being young and get proper lessons. i know youll say its never too late and i agree, but with work, a child and now a dog too i wont have time, but thats okay! these videos are making me happy and are so easy to watch, thank you for sharing

The amount of simplistic genius that is in a Metallica song continues to blow me away

For my first few years of playing before my ear really developed I would exclusively use 5 star or 4 star tabs on ultimate guitar. Now when I learn a song if I can't quite figure out where it is by ear I'll use either a tab or video as a guide in conjunction with my ear listening for anything that may be a little little off, and I think that's the best way to learn a song once you get your ear developed. Isolated guitar tracks are also excellent if you can find one for the song you want to learn

No, I've been playing it right cause I learned it by ear. I agree with everything you said. Likely 90% of tabs I've visited/seen in my life contain errors, and you can only use them to get a general idea of the song.

1:35 dude you just blew my mind lol. I can’t believe I never noticed that. And it goes even further! Haha thanks for sharing this with us.

I use to learn from tabs but to review them with the song. It’s a great exercise to fix them

I just joined a tribute band, and started learning the songs. One of them was giving me trouble, so I looked up the tab to save some time. Every one I found was wrong, ended up going back to my ears, I trust them more now

Paul, I totally agree! I love and hate tabs at the same time. In your Next Level Playing course, I've been rewriting out the tabs and replacing the numbers with the note letters to help with the fretboard memorization and it has changed the way I look at the instrument.

Fretboard logic is a really good book to teach you how the guitar works musically.

tabs put me in the ball park, but hard work makes the home run.

MIND BLOWN!! I’ve heard it, and played it but NEVER HAVE LISTENED to it apparently lol

I just updated the tab to what Paul played so no need to worry anymore.

How can I missed those sounds? It sounds much better with it. Thanks dude

Interesting. I listened to this record recently and heard something off from the way I remembered it but didn't know why. So thanks for explaining it! If I don't have a video of the guitarist playing, I open the tab in front of me and then listen by ear for any inaccuracies. I find it easier than a cold start with no visual cues at all, but maybe it's just about doubting my ears less and taking a leap. Great and insightful content as always, Paul!

Tabs are a head start to get you started in the right neighborhood, but it's best to then compare it to the actual song.

Many interpretations/tabs are like this, but I think it's all part of the fun. String subtleties are definitely hard to pick up on (a fretted note vs. an open string - Like Enter Sandman) or position subtleties (like Hells Bells or things Van Halen). But that's what make the guitar awesome!

Paul always gets me thinking. Thanks!

I didn't respond to your survey because my honest answer was 'both.' I use tabs as a quick starting point, but even published ones in books are rarely correct note for note. So, I always end up refining the details by ear.

I learnt this intro by ear back in the early 90s when the only way to get the tab was to spend money on a book. Did anyone else notice that the #11 in the Bb section isn't there during the outro? That outro version of the riff is what Hetfield plays throughout now.

I recently stuck coloured dots all over my fretboard. It looks most uncool, and yet... It's totally 'opened the doors of my perception' of the fretboard's layout! I can now see which notes make up each chord. This in turn makes it easier to relate them to standard musical notation. Tab is okay for showing chords and riffs as patterns but learning the notes and notation really feels like my understanding is going a whole level deeper. The coloured dots I use match the Dr Neon coloured strings I fitted which in turn match the string colours on the Rocksmith guitar tutor/game: 🔴=E 🌝=A 🔵=D 🍊=G 🍏=B 💜=F and C=💰(gold) Having a totally uncool looking guitar is totally worth the insight it's giving me!

I think In the outro of this song its played with the first picking pattern described, and the intro uses the second, I might be wrong though

You can find transcribed music from major bands (Metallica, Radiohead, Pink Floyd, Etc.) which have the musical notation, often note the key changes, tempo, as well as plain TABS. This helps the learning experience be a little bit more engaging. It's also a useful tool to pick up the scale used in a solo then try and improvise over them, which develops your ear, understanding of the song, and general sense of music.

That thing is making the melody follow a note or position on a string and it's beautiful it implies a bunch of the rest of the song leading to a solo I think we start with looking it up when we can.. But rarely use just what we find. I like where they have lyrics and a chord and I just use picking techniques to single out notes vs just strum etc. Hearing it and your version. Eventually they meet or not.

When I began learning to play guitar, I tried to learn by tabs. I'm Brazilian and I didn't speak English at that time, so I used sites in Portuguese. I found out most of them were wrong. I got so pissed that I just stopped trying by tabs. So I would just play/pause the whole thing and try to find the correct notes. When I learned English, I found out that most of the tabs in websites in English were the same (Brazilians had copied them). Now I'm grateful for that, because it gave me a good ear for music.

I usually look up tabs for a starting point if i cant figure it out for myself. Once i have the first few notes its usually easy enough to find the rest

I use tabs as a jumping off point, so I know where to start. I then use the album recording of whatever I'm learning to cross reference. Once you realize that it's all just user submitted, learning songs only from tabs is like using yahoo answers in a debate. It's bad because many times you look up well produced covers on youtube, and they play it the wrong way too, so you have this snowball effect of more people thinking the wrong way is right. Great video.

In the 90s I photocopied some Hal Leonard's books, still got them, transcriptions are very detailed and of course well done.

I'd say hearing is one of the most important aspect of playing music in general. Not necessarily because you can hear the exact notes or how to play something, but because you'll understand and feel the music a LOT better. I'd recommend ear training to everyone who wants to get to the next level in making music

Learning a song by TAB vs listening and transcribing yourself reminds me of driving to your destination using GPS vs reading a detailed roadmap. I have become somewhat de-skilled in map reading (listening) as a result of GPS (using mainly TAB). But, GPS / TAB is definitely easier, though not the best for learning a route / song - because you miss all the contours on the map / passing notes and ghost notes of the song. Doh! - this sounded so much easier in my head than when writing it down !!!

i've learned most of the songs i know by ear, but i never learned how to read sheet music so instead of transcribing i just try to memorize everything... now i remember most guitar lines i've ever played but i can't remember what i had for dinner last night

The whole intro to this song is my favorite guitar progression of all time

Nice video Paul! I think Hetfield plays an E note on the Bb chord because it’s a pedal tone: The chord progression is Dm-Bb-C-Dm (i-VI-VII-i) but he plays a D on beat 1 (everybody noticed) and an E on "3 and" (less obvious but once you hear it you can't unhear it) over all 3 chords.

I have the hobby of buying score books and correcting them. And I played it right in the 90s ;) Thx for the good content, keep it up!

Yeah, we've all been there. As a beginner guitarist in your first band or two, you suss out decent versions of tunes that pass. Then you learn to read music and really learn your craft and realise how much detail you missed. It wasn't until I became a music teacher and re-learned so many pieces that I realised how many tunes I'd been blagging.

Tabs may be the fastest way to learn a song for a beginner, but it doesn't have to be that way once you are more experienced. Transcribing can be super fast, provided you've put the work to get to that level. Then it's much more fun, and you play the song as you hear rather than as someone else does. Another benefit is that you naturally emulate the original down to every detail more accurately.

Transcribing songs yourself helps to keep your hearing alert to notes that may be missed by using tabs off the net. Strangely enough, you can slow the playback of youtube clips on songs you may want to learn while keeping the same pitch. It can sound nasty but is handy for isolating notes you may be struggling with.

I agree 100% on your statement. Tabs are a great shortcut, but that’s all it is, a shortcut. I live and swear by tabs, but I am just a vocalist that sometimes plays guitar. I know however that I miss a lot of information and my learning curve has been the lowest over the years. But yeah, I think that works for me, even though I’d appreciate learning further to be able to compose stuff, etc.

Like most people, learning guitar, I defaulted to tabs, mostly for expediency ... but, the upside is, I quickly started to recognize mistakes in the tabs, or omissions. So, in a offhand way, using Tabs ended up helping me with my ear training ... I now usually, try to read/follow the Tabs while the song is playing, in order to see if I can spot deficiencies in the translations ... but mostly, I watch your channel now! (and a few others, who know what the hell they are talking about!) Thanks to RU-vid, and Players such as yourself, I have learned more in the last 5 minutes than I did in the last 40 years!

The Wolf Marshall tab from the late 80s books (from Guitar mag) had it perfect. Guess I’m lucky to be old and learned guitar in pre internet days.

I don't like using tabs because they're generally not accurate. And learning songs by ear has taught me so much. You learn all the little habits each different guitar player has, and more often than not, you realize, the things they do are easier than they seem, you just have to try and see things differently.

One of the problems we have with tab, like the written word in general, is that we tend to be influenced by what we are reading and therefore we convince ourselves that the tab is correct. I've wasted a lot of frustrated time trying to wrestle an incorrect tab to fit what l'm hearing, before realising that it's actually written wrongly.