i, for one, have been wanting to learn music theory and ability to communicate with others for a long time and i've been learning it and it frustrates me when people, who are actually better players than me, can't tell me what they're doing - they don't know the names of the chords/notes, can't tell what key they're in. But they really are good - playing by ear. If everybody had that talent, we wouldn't need to communicate much.
that being said, i am still not disciplined enough to instantly know all the notes w/o reference, although, if i started from an open note, i could do them all (alphabetically and backwards).
To me, I learned the bass strings first and there's really only a couple of patterns, like open E-F..sharp..G, then you have open A..sharp..BC - wherever I am on the fretboard, it helps me to think of those bass 1st pos. patterns and i can know what's on adjacent strings/frets. But it's not enough for me, i want to instantly KNOW any fret, like I know certain (many) frets now.
Re: 60-chord system - valid though it may be, I really don't think it's even a system (and doesn't make sense to anybody but guitar players). It intimidates a student needlessly, when in reality there's only 5 chord types (although there may be several moveable ways to fret them) PLUS the chromatic scale. The way you present it, Rick, is correct but confusing, just like language teachers who insist on memorizing grammar rules.
Bill Edwards in his book Fretboard Logic does it in a much more compact way - you memorize the shapes you like (those that are easy to fret for you) and you're able to apply them the more you learn the chromatic scale and notes on the guitar.
I remember so well, when I was first learning to play guitar (in a folkie style, without a teacher) i would think that all these chords are "different" and unique and there's a million of them, not even ralizing that C-Am-F-G is the same as G-Em-C-D but in a different key. THAT was frustrating. I would see somebody playing a song (correctly and well) and think "oh no, those are wrong chords!".
It's the understanding of music basics (works for any instrument) AND the CAGED system (works for guitar/bass in standard tuning only) that really helped me understand what i wanted. I have a ways to learn, but i know where i'm going and can communicate.
i once sat in on a practice session of a hobby barbershop quartet and the guy who played the piano (he played each part to help them learn to sing it) did a little jam during a break - he played some broadway pieces from sheet music (he is VERY good on piano).
I don't play piano (ok, a little) and don't really read music, but I could tell the key of the song by looking at the key signature (ok, i know that much) and then i would jam a little bit along with him on guitar (not very well). but he was surprised that i understood what he was doing. We could communicate. But THAT alone didn't make me one bit better of a player
And may I just say to some of you: "with helpers like that who needs jerks?"
not all of use will "step on stage with real musicians", it's just a hobby.
And finally, may I just quote a favorite of mine, this is re: argument between musicians who read and those who play by ear. It's from "Guitar Handbook":
Andres Segovia once heard Django Reinhardt play and afterwards asked him where he could purchase the sheet music for the piece. To which Django laughed and said that there's no sheet music - he had just been improvising.
nice, huh?
by the way, his fretting hand was injured in a fire, so he only played with 2 fingers most of his life (i think it was index and middle fingers only).
Guess what, they didn't fight and call each other incompetent.
