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The Importance of Sight Reading for Guitarists

Okay, guys,

I just want to quickly talk to you about sight reading and how useful this can be to you as a guitarist and as a musician. It's a little bit of a controversial subject among popular guitarists. We're kind of renowned for perhaps not being the best readers among other musicians, which is perhaps true of some groups.

However, it is a really, really useful skill. It's come in really handy for me ever since I made it a focus to get better at it. Although it can seem like quite an overwhelming topic, we can really break it down into nice, easy, digestible steps.

Resources

So, what I've done is prepared a PDF for you to download that just kind of walks you through the basics of how to approach sight reading.

• If you are doing the Rotschool syllabus, this may be a necessary part of your exam.
• If you opt out of doing the improvisation section, then you'll be doing sight reading instead.

Benefits of Sight Reading

Not only is it useful there, but:

• It helps in learning your pieces without solely relying on ear training from backing tracks.
• If you can read, then you can learn directly from the sheet music.
• It aids in transcribing your own solos and compositions.

Ultimately, it's a really, really useful skill when looking ahead to potential careers as a musician. If you want to work in theatres or pits, then it's an essential skill.

You can't work those jobs without being able to read. Often, you'll be presented with charts if you're covering for someone. It's really helpful to avoid the pressure of looking at a page and thinking, "I have no idea what this is."

Conclusion

So, just some basic reading skills can really help you go a long way.

Please do download that PDF and check it out!