They also have the talent and intuition to deal with thier chosen musical situations. Great players such as Eddie Van Halen, Bill Monroe, Steve Howe, Wes Montgomery are just a few non-reading greats. Although I feel blessed with a certain amount of talent and aptitude, I must admit that my knowledge of music and ability to play are greatly enhanced by being able to read music. I figure I should take advantage of every avenue available to me to broaden whatever natural abilities I have. I found it very helpful to augment the ear training with theory and note reading skills.
Tablature is a wonderfully easy to read style of notation.
It shows exactly where to put your finger, and upon which string. It saves the player the trouble of recognizing a pitch, or rhythm, and gets them directly onto the fingerboard. The answer lies within the question. If all you really want to do is play the piece, and aren't concerned with a deeper understanding of the music, the tab reading will get you where you want to go. Standard notation may be unnecessary if you are content to rely upon the recordings to decipher rhythms, and feel your understanding of musical materials to be adequate for what you want to play.