How to Approach Sight Reading on the Guitar

Being able to sight read on the guitar can be a very important and rewarding ability. It will allow you to play more styles of music and enable you to play with other musicians. Besides the enjoyment that sight reading can give you, it can also help you get more gigs as a musician, as they will often require you to read some music with little practice time.

Despite all of the benefits that can come from learning sight reading on guitar, many players ignore this aspect of music. One of the main reasons for this is that the most popular style of music for guitar players is rock, and rock music does not often make use of notation or sight reading. The guitar is usually seen as separate from the other classical instruments that sight read heavily, so there is a backlash against music notation and reading when it comes to rock and the guitar.

That being said, guitar sight reading is very important and beneficial, and should be learned by every serious musician. So what is the best way to approach and practice it? There are several key points to keep in mind.

The first thing you need to know in order to sight read on guitar is where middle C is, and in effect, where all of the notes on the guitar line up with the notation. On guitar, middle C is the first fret of the B string. Obviously, there are other places where this exact note occurs on the instrument, and these alternate positions will be used to play parts according to how high or low they go.

The first middle C position on the B string should be used to play parts that go down to the lowest open E of the guitar, which would be the E four ledger lines under the staff of the treble clef. If you get a part that goes into the upper ledger lines, you will want to start on the middle C of the D string, on the tenth fret. This will allow you room to go up in register.

What this means is that you will essentially have to learn sight reading a few times over on the guitar for the different positions, and this is one of the frustrating aspects of the instrument, but it gets easier as you go.

Now that you know what position to play in, you are ready to start. An important sight reading tip is to take a few seconds to look over the piece before you start. Look for the fastest sections to determine how slow you will need to take it. Also, look for any challenging jumps in register or chords that may be thrown in. Try to work out the hardest parts in your head for a second or two so they wont surprise you.

Make sure you observe what key the piece is in and if it changes keys. Get the key signature in your mind and the rhythm under your foot. You want to give yourself the best possible chance of reading well before you even start.

One thing that many people ignore about sight reading in general is that you must practice reading through a piece without stopping, that is the whole point. If you stop any time you mess up you will not prepare yourself for reading at an audition or with another musician where you do not have the option of stopping. To help with this, try using a metronome when practicing reading through a part.

Guitar sight reading can be a challenging thing to learn. Most other instruments do not have the added element of different positions to deal with, and this makes sight reading on guitar even more demanding. Keep in mind that you cannot learn to be an expert reader in one day. It is going to take a consistent effort to progress. Make sure that you are practicing often so you do not immediately forget what you have learned and it should come soon enough.

Many people give up on sight reading after practicing it for a while, but this will just let all your time go to waste. There is a great joy to be found in being able to read music, and not only will it allow you to play more music with more people, but it will improve your understanding of music theory in general. In the end, it will be worth the effort.