MUSIC IS NOT ABOUT FOLLOWING SOME DIAGRAM, OR FOR THAT MATTER FOLLOWING WRITTEN MUSICAL NOTATION. WHILE USING YOUR EYES IS BOTH BENEFICIAL AND HELPFUL IN LEARNING MUSIC... AS WELL AS THEY ARE FOR ANYTHING IN LIFE... MUSIC IS ABOUT THE EARS, AND AN AUDIO AWARENESS OF KNOWING WHERE TO GO FROM NOTE TO NOTE, CHORD TO CHORD OR EVEN ENTIRE SECTIONS OF A SONG. EVEN THE WORDS OF A SONG SHOULD NOT BE YOUR GUIDE... "IT'S THE SOUND" MUSIC IS ABOUT FOLLOWING AND NAVIGATING THROUGH THE WORLD OF SOUND... NOT THE WORLD OF VISION OR SOME MEMORIZED PATTERN ON THE NECK OF THE GUITAR, OR ANY INSTRUMENT.
IF YOU CAN'T HEAR IT... YOU PROBABLY WILL NOT BE ABLE TO PLAY IT... EXCEPT SOUNDING LIKE A ROBOT...
LIKE LANGUAGE ITSELF, WE DON'T FOLLOW SOME LITTLE BOOK OF PHRASES WHEN WE ARE HAVING A CONVERSATION... WE CONTINUOUSLY CHANGE AND ALTER AND ADJUST THE WORDS WE USE AND THE WAY WE SPEAK ALL ALONG THE WAY.
THE NECK OF THE GUITAR WITH IT'S STRINGS AND FRETS IS A GRID... LIKE THE CONCEPT OF THE INVISIBLE LINES WE CALL LATITUDE AND LONGITUDE WE HAVE ON MAPS OF THE EARTH. JUST AS WE CAN SEE THESE LINES ON A MAP, WE CAN USE THE FRETS AND STRINGS AS LOCATIONS FOR THE SOUNDS WE WANT TO PLAY, AND WE ACTUALLY CAN HEAR WITH OUR EARS THESE LOCATIONS... JUST AS WE DO THOSE WE SEE WITH OUR EYES ON A MAP.
HOWEVER, THE OVERALL CONCEPT IS AVAILABLE FOR THE SAME USE EVEN ON OTHER INSTRUMENTS WITHOUT STRINGS OR FRETS... JUST AS THOSE OF LATITUDE AND LONGITUDE ON THE MAP ARE NOT REALLY THERE BUT ONLY A PROJECTION WE HAVE CREATED FOR REFERENCE... THE EARTH EXISTS REGARDLESS OF THE LINES ON THE MAP AND THESE POSITIONS OF SOUND STILL EXISTS WITHOUT A VISIBLE GRID SUCH AS THOSE OF THE GUITAR NECK.
