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.

A Controversial Subject

It's a little bit of a controversial subject among popular guitarists, if you like. We're 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.

Practical Benefits

It's come in really handy for me ever since I've made it a focus of mine 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 Available

So, what I've done is prepare a PDF for you to download that 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.

Learning More Effectively

Not only is it useful in exams, but it's also beneficial for learning your pieces. Instead of just focusing on learning by ear from the backing tracks, if you can read, then you can learn directly from the paper itself.

Additionally, it helps you in terms of transcribing your own solos. You can write those out if you understand the process of sight reading.

Career Considerations

Looking ahead into potential careers as a musician, if you end up wanting to work in theatres or pits, then sight reading is an absolutely essential skill.

• You can't work those jobs without being able to read.
• On a lot of gigs, you're usually presented with charts if you're covering for someone.

It's really helpful not to feel the pressure of looking at a page and thinking, "I've no idea what this is." So, just some basic reading skills can really help you go a long way.

Take Action

Please do download that PDF and check it out!