Not much room there to make it easier, but I definitely had to invert the string to make it look more like TABs.
I always had serious issues with RS "notation" since the start, and I still have them when playing guitar charts. In fact, I mostly use RS with the bass instead, simply because there are less strings, less notes, and very few chords or solos I am not a fan of dynamic difficulties at all, but obviously you can use them to decrease the notes on the screen.
Even with bass charts, there are still cases where the 3D graphics make it hard for me to figure out the exact timing of the notes, because two consecutive notes on different strings appear at a spatial distance which doesn't correspond to the time distance. What helps me there usually, is to try and look more at the tempo lines below the notes, instead of just at the notes (but be aware that there are CDLCs with pretty messy tempo lines).
Open strings also confuse me a lot, and I wish there was an option to show them as a "zero fret" notes instead of the whole string highlighted.
To top it all, sometimes the visuals don't seem to sync well with the audio... I tend to think this is a problem with my GPU or CPU because it seems to happen a bit random, but anyway when it happens I also noticed that my scores are better if I follow the audio instead of the video (meaning, if I don't try to "hit" the notes when they reach the bottom of the screen, but if I play them according to the audio), so I second arrov's recommendation to use your ears more than your eyes