Honestly, when I started to learning guitar, I didn't know much about notes. It was something like a boring stuff for me. Actually, this is generally not boring. If you have the talence of sound, if you can understand the difference between the two same songs which sing by different people, you may have the "listening talent".
Notes make this difference and your ability better. When you see the note, you can play the same song faster then you imagine. But without the notes, everything would be hard.
Even though you don't need to learn the notes perfectly, you should learn them because they make playing easier
The truth is we still need to know music theory, yeah i think playing by ears and tabs will still sound great as long as you know your scales and chord progression but knowing note will greatly help with performing with other musicians.
Yes I agree here as well. You need to know music theory to become a real good player. And if you want to work with other musicians then you wull certainly need to know the notes and chord names and how it all works together
Honestly, when I started to learning guitar, I didn't know much about notes. It was something like a boring stuff for me. Actually, this is generally not boring. If you have the talence of sound, if you can understand the difference between the two same songs which sing by different people, you may have the "listening talent".
Notes make this difference and your ability better. When you see the note, you can play the same song faster then you imagine. But without the notes, everything would be hard.
Even though you don't need to learn the notes perfectly, you should learn them because they make playing easier
knowing notes is according to me very important,,it helps u alot in solos,when u might need to switch from one key to other
devolupin ear takes time and it depends from person to person,,some devolp it fast some take time
many great guitarists started by hard hearing play, but soon after they're famous they took a musical class. why?
because it is very important.. when you are expert with notes reading, simply you will memorize each notes with each octaves on the fred.
and the most greatest thing notes reading guitarist can do compared with who dont is they can play a song they dont ever heard before with sometimes 80% accuracy (tempo, bending notes, etc)! all is in the notes/score.
I think theory is important, although there are many guitar players who don`t pay too much attention on that... Knowing theory and tehnique helps you to be a professional.
As olly said, guitarists are lucky to have the tabs. They provide an easy way for those who don't have any sort of musical history to learn how to play the guitar. However, I think that everyone should at least learn how to read notes fairly well. This will help tremendously when playing with other people.
The fact that you can also sightread a song that you've never heard before is really attractive to me. I love to site down with my guitar, slap a book (with notation) down and just start playing. It gives you everything you need because the tempo, styles (like bending notes, turns, etc.) are all built within the notes.
I'd encourage you to give it a try. What's the worst that could happen?
If you want to learn the notes, read sheet music, and by that I mean jazz cheat sheets (or pop, whatever, doesn't have to jazz), not classical stuff. Tabs don't help much because you just see the number of the fret, and you don't have to ask yourself what note it is.
Guitarists usually know the names of all the chords they play. This is important. You have to be able to play #Cmin or a G7, B13, and so on. But knowing the names of the notes in a scale is usually not where guitarists excell.
The joke is, "How do make a guitarists stop playing? A: You put some sheet music in front of him. A pianist? You take the sheet music away".
Guitarists usually know intervals instead of notes (the minor third of X note is 3 frets up, the fifth is one string over and 2 frets up, etc.)
The best guitarists I have met do think in terms of notes, and they usually play other instruments like the piano, sax, trumpet where you have to think in these terms.
Having said all that, just hearing things is really important too. A lot of people can run up and down a scale, but lack the ear to make it into something, so don't neglect your ability to hear. And a lot of guitarists don't learn rhythm either, which is a another thing to think about.
And there's a whole lot more to say about this ....
Not sure I agree with a lot of this I believe many of the great blues guitarist's couldn't even read writing, let alone music notation, I play by ear myself, I can't read music or tab, all looks a bit complicated to me, also as a guitarist I believe you need to have a bit of freedom in what you do, I jam with music readers and it all seems to go along fine But like everything else each to his or her own.
I didn't get where I am today,
by being somewhere else.
alun wrote:But like everything else each to his or her own
I agree here. I also can understand that some people find that learning theory etc can restrict freedom and I think this is correct.
The benefit of learning the notes is that it is much easier to communicate your musical ideas with others or even write down your musical ideas. Also if you know the names of the notes you can easily apply something that works in one place or for one chord, and move it to another place or another chord.
For a while I did get stuck with my playing. I have learnt the pentatonic scale and I could not get out of playing in that box position. I found it incredibly restrictive and demotivating. My playing sounding repetative, and unimaginative it took a long time before I managed to break away from it and make my playing more free.
I think it really depends upon what you are ultimately out there trying to do as a guitarist. Many people want to do nothing more than strum their lives away playing and singing using basic chords, so would I tell them, note reading or even knowing the notes on the neck are important? Not at all, people play with different motivations for doing so.
But if any student wants to truly understand the guitar, then at the very foundation, is being able to play and say and say and play any note of the neck of the guitar instantly. Any serious attempt has to begin there, or else, it's pointless. The question then, becomes, how do I learn the notes on the neck, or how long is that supposed to take me? This is the fundamanental, "choking" point as to why so many guitarists do not know/understand music theory. A guitar player that plays well, has only functional understanding of a piece. He may be able to execute a passage brilliantly, but that doesn't mean he understands what he's doing.
And there are plenty of high level, functioning guitarists out there, you may be one of them, and there's nothing wrong with that, but at some point, many want to get away from that and start understanding what they are doing and why it works - because ultimately for them its about playing what's in their head and bringing it to the fingers as their own creative musical voice.
I think learning music notes can help you when you start doing ensemble playing, such as in a jazz band. If there is a unison lick that you play with other instruments, it will usually be written as notes on a staff. You don't need to be a speed reader, but at least being able to recognize the notes and slowly figure them out on the guitar is helpful. Good luck!
I think you need to learn the notes because by doing that all your musical studies will become much easier.
Take note that learning the musical notes is a process don't over do it.
I recommend that you apply the following exercises:
1. Take a sheet of paper and write all the notes on all the strings:
a. 1 time without flats and sharps
b. 1 time with flats
c. 1 time with sharps.
Do it daily and you will see good results. It takes max 5-10 minutes a day.
2. After you have done the above exercise take your guitar and choose a note, any note you want and search it on all the string back and forth. I heard that steve vai used to practice like this.
Choose a maximum of 4 5 notes at least (you can use both notes with sharps or flats)
This again doesn't take more than 5 10 minutes.
By doing this daily you will start to know where they are .
everybody plays from ear ...its very essential ....to play from music ( notes )
is the best way to being a versatile musician..then you can perform other peoples
music ( if its written down )...if you dont read the notes then guess
and...some real surprises can come from just looking at the chord sheets ( and thats notes(s)(s)also )
I believe many of the great blues guitarist's couldn't even read writing, let alone music notation, I play by ear myself, I can't read music or tab, all looks a bit complicated to me, also as a guitarist I believe you need to have a bit of freedom in what you do, I jam with music readers and it all seems to go along fine 
But like everything else each to his or her own. 
