White Denim

This video is the 5,987th reason I love White Denim.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that anybody who grew up playing guitar would look up guitar tabs of their favorite songs on the internet and learn how to play along with said songs. Fuck, when I just started learning to play guitar I had to go out and buy tab books for $20 because the internet was in it's early stages. At the time, as far as I was concerned, all the internet had to offer was AOL chat rooms and half the time I was kicked off because my sister would pick up the phone to call her friends. 

GET OFF THE FUCKING PHONE I'M CHATTIN' WITH MY FRAAANDS ON AOL!!!!

...fucking dial up. We had it so hard. (That's sarcasm you fucking grumpy ass baby boomers)

And if you play guitar you can remember that first song that sucked you in. An easy song that you learned on your friend's guitar and made you beg your parents for one of your own. My song was 'Come As You Are' by Nirvana. Who fucking cared that the part I learned was a bass line...I could play it. And I'd play it over and over until I built up just enough finger dexterity to venture into other easy song intros like Metallica's 'Nothing Else Matters' or Everclear's 'Santa Monica'. 

I lived off of guitar tabs...it's how I learned to play. I didn't have lessons like some of my friends because I didn't want to be forced to play 'Polly Wally Doodle' from sheet music. FUCK THAT. I wanted to crank up my shitty Crate amp and play the intro to 'Come As You Are' on my black on black Squire until I had blisters on my finger tips....or my parent's would yell upstairs "THAT'S ENOUGH GUITAR FOR TODAY," and I'd annoyingly yell back "JUST 5 MORE MINUTES."

And because I'm not blessed with the best ear (seriously, I hate fuckers with perfect pitch) and because I'm not great at creating my own music I still use guitar tablatures today, but now I've graduated to the solo on 'Nothing Else Matters' and it's my wife yelling at me to STOP PLAYING GUITAR. I still don't even care if it's somebody else's music. I just fucking love to play. That moment when learning a song goes from rather robotically learning the finger placements to actual feeling the notes is one of the best feelings I can have.

Luckily today there are a number of guitar tab sites on the internet and even YouTube guitar lessons. You can almost find anything you want, but there are some 'less popular' songs that you still can't find, like for example: 'Drug' by White Denim (IF YOU ARE READING THIS WHITE DENIM.....THIS IS A HINT....I can only find chords, but not a tab!) 

Anyhoo, many of us at SYFFAL have wrote about White Denim and I think we can agree that White Denim is one of the best modern day guitar bands....if not thee best. Of all my friends who love White Denim the most, it's not a coincidence that they are guitar players of various skill levels. And this video for 'Had 2 Know' just gives us another excuse to learn a fucking kick ass guitar song (Or attempt to learn...this shit looks pretty challenging) because they include fucking tabs in the video!!!

When I first saw the tab lines running on the top and bottom of the screen my heart fluttered, I smiled and said to myself 'they get me.' Not only do they get me, but I can relate to THEM that much more. It's hard for me not to imagine them having musical memories that are similar to ones like mine: sitting in their rooms and learning to play songs. As fans, I feel we tend to overlook that the bands we hold up on pedestals are fans too. That's why the addition of tabs goes beyond being able to learn the song. It's that White Denim recognizes fully enjoying their music can go beyond listening. 

NOTE: White Denim are also encouraging their fans to post videos of them covering 'Had 2 Know' under the hashtag #listentowhitedenim and sporadically sharing said covers. Just when I thought White Denim couldn't get any cooler THEY COMPLETELY REDEEMED THEMSELVES.