Originally Posted By: KeithS
But maybe this isn't what you were asking.


It kind of is, Keith. I have always been fascinated by players who play at a high level that don't read. Most who don't read are in a place where it just never came up for them. I doubt anybody ever said "I am not going to learn how to read music and you can't make me!!!" Formal lessons vs ear playing comes into play here. I had a teacher who beat theory into my head when I was a kid (before age 5) and that foundation has been burned into my brain to a point where it is almost a detriment. You referred to my stating that I can't use a capo and that is honestly something about myself that I think is just really dumb. I just need to put the capo on and play for a week. Boom. Done. And every time I try to do that, I find myself stumbling like a toddler learning to walk. I just can't stop looking at those fret markers. Someone suggested I try it with a blindfold so I can't see them. I may try that next.

The other side of that sword is my walking into a rehearsal with sheet music and asking someone who can't read to play the song. Simple if there is a recording to refer to but when it is something nobody has ever hears, there is no reference point. And in that same scenario, if I brought something in and the singer asked to lower it a step, I would literally have to go back and chart it again in the lower key. My brain is THAT frozen.

I wish I HAD someone like your mother to expose me to finger picking and bluegrass. Along with my mother's love of polka and waltz, my father with his love of the big band crooners, and my 5 year older sister who was hugely into whoever was the teen idol of the week. I missed a lot of music because I had no country influences until I was over 50. A local girl singer here who was a good friend turned me on to country from "then" until now, and it was a whole new education.

Off to look into the CAGED system. Thanks for the reply!