My guitar teacher taught "by ear". She taught me how to hear the chord changes, how to discover the key being played in a recording, a good bit of some general concepts of music theory, and a neat trick for writing down notes: l3 meant, first string, third fret; 44 meant, fourth string, fourth fret - and so on. Lyrics and chord changes, along with numeric notations were written and read; but never were there any staffs, clefts or dots.

When I first got into folk music I decided that I would NEVER attempt to learn any songs by way of printed music. It just wasn't part of the folk process, in my way of thinking (then). I wanted to only learn songs through aural means, using the tools I had been taught. But then someone showed me a Joan Baez songbook. Still stubbornly resistant, I had to have someone who could readily read music to teach me the melodies.

Despite having studied music theory for a couple of semesters along with having been in numerous choirs, I still remain musically illiterate. Oh, I can s-l-o-w-l-y decipher written dots if anyone were to ask it of me. But I never, ever learned or taught myself how to apply the written notes to any instrument.

Today I find that I have limited myself greatly. I have a very fine library of books filled with songs and yet still must have someone "read" them to me.