When I took lessons with Moses, Noah and Melbay.. Sheet music was big. but of course there was not much sheet music on those Hendricks, Led Zep. Clapton leads, so you had to figure those out by ear.. But today with things like guitar pro and guitar port you get the best of both worlds... you get the tabs with the music notation so if you can read you can really get the timing down.. With you ear you can get that just right squeel or bend.. So I call it ear-tab....