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Understanding Sight Reading in Music

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.

Importance of Sight Reading

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.

My Experience

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

I've prepared 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.

Benefits of Sight Reading

Not only is it useful in these scenarios, but it's also beneficial for learning your pieces. Rather than just having to focus on learning by ear from the backing tracks, if you can read, then you can learn it directly from the sheet music.

Additionally, it helps in terms of transcribing your own solos. Understanding the process of sight reading allows you to write those out effectively.

Career Implications

Looking ahead into potential careers as a musician, if you want to work in theatres or pits, sight reading is an absolutely essential skill. You can't work those jobs without being able to read.

In many gigs, you're usually presented with charts if you're covering for someone. It's really helpful to avoid the pressure of looking at a page, 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!