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Old 01-20-2013, 03:42 AM
JonPR JonPR is offline
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Join Date: Dec 2010
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I've never understood how people find notation hard. I learned it at school with everyone else (playing recorder) before I ever thought of learning guitar. When I did start on guitar, the book I used was all notation, no tab, so that made it easy.

Of course, the trick is to begin with it (like the kids I teach do, from age 7 - they have no trouble with it). If you're already some years down the line, used to tabs, I can see it can feel scary to go back and feel like a beginner again.

Essentially you need to learn the neck. Then it's not too hard to look at a piece of notation, see (eg) there's a middle C, and you know you can play that on string 2 fret 1, string 3 fret 5, string 4 fret 10, etc. You should then be able to transfer whatever line it is to a scale pattern you know in whatever position you choose. Eg, if the line runs C D E G F, you find the D E G F around where you place the C. If you don't know the neck well enough to do that, then you need to work on that too.

Obviously this is not quick. I've been reading music for 50 years (playing guitar for 46) I still can't sight read a piece straight off, unless it's really simple. I've never had to. But I can do it quick enough.
So - unless you've been booked for some session work next week! - don't worry about it being a slow process. Just keep at it - and put the tabs away! Remember tab is a prison; it locks you into one position. Notation gives you freedom; you play it your way.
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