2. Reading

Things You Need:

Core Topics:

  • Communicating with other players: in order to learn anything from others, we need a set of terms we can use that mean specific things about the topic we are interested in. Music theory contains many terms referring to specific things, and a formal notation system that has been used for centuries. This can be daunting – most of us just want to play, not learn a new language. The quickest way to get playing is to use “Guitar Tab”, so that is the method this series will use.
  • Guitar Chord Charts and Tablature (Tab): chord charts and tablature are mappings of the guitar fretboard that show where to put your fingers and which strings to pluck. There are many forms of these, but all share the common traits of mapping strings and frets onto the guitar with symbols. Below are a couple of videos to get you started. Searching for Guitar Chord Charts or Tablature online will find you dozens of others – find one that makes sense to you.
    1. Guitar Chord Charts:

    1. Guitar Tablature (Tab):

  • Guitar Board Tool: we have created a visualization tool based on guitar tab for you to use in future posts. Any examples used can be found in this tool, which can be displayed by choosing “Guitar Board” from the Menu at the top of this page.

Deeper:

  • Musical Notation: formal training for music usually begins with students learning to read standard musical notation. Most guitarists I know cannot read this, or can only read it very slowly (are not “sight readers”). It can be a big benefit to be able to read though, dive into this if it strikes your fancy. Here’s one of many available sites that can help: How to Read Music
  • Fretboard Tools: there are many apps available for visualizing and mapping the fretboard. Search for “guitar fretboard” online.
  • Fretboard Visualization: as you learn, you will start to form patterns in your mind of the fretboard and the notes you play. How you visualize the fretboard may determine the type of player you become more than any other factor, and people have different ways of looking at this. Explore this topic as you evolve, it can help you get out of ruts. Below are a couple of examples videos. We will revisit the concept of Fretboard Visualization throughout the Big Ideas, as this is one of the best ways to learn new concepts, and can be one of the hardest things to do.

First an example for beginners of moving patterns of notes around on the neck – keep the pattern the same and the notes should still relate in the same way no matter which frets you are playing them on:

Next a complex example that helped me recently. Beginners will not understand the details of this conversation, but note that 2 advanced players and instructors have developed fundamentally different ways to view the fretboard:

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