The Importance of Sight Reading for Guitarists

Okay, guys, so 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.

A Controversial Topic

It's a little bit of a controversial subject among popular guitarists. We are kind of renowned for perhaps not being the best readers amongst other musicians, which is perhaps true of some groups. However, it is a really, really useful skill.

My Personal Experience

It's come in really handy for me ever since I've made it a focus to get better at it. Although it can seem overwhelming, we can break it down into nice, easy, digestible steps.

Resources Available

What I've done is prepare a PDF for you to download that walks you through the basics of how to approach sight reading.

Why Sight Reading Matters

• If you are doing the Rotschool syllabus, this may be a necessary part of your exam.
• If you opt out of the improvisation section, you will be doing sight reading instead.
• It is useful for learning your pieces, enabling you to read from the paper rather than just learning by ear from backing tracks.
• It helps in transcribing your own solos, allowing you to write them out if you understand the sight reading process.

Career Opportunities

Sight reading is a really useful skill looking ahead into potential careers as a musician.

• If you end up wanting to work in theatres or pits, it is an absolutely essential skill.
• You can't work those jobs without being able to read music.
• On many gigs, you're usually presented with charts if you're covering for someone, making it helpful to avoid the pressure of thinking, "I've no idea what this is."

Just some basic reading skills can really help you go a long way. So please do download that and check it out!