Tips for learning to read sheet music for guitar

See if you can get hold of some grade 1, 3 or grade 5 classical pieces. In my experience, the more contemporary works (as and more classical / romantic / baroque arrangements too) are often written to a.) Be quite 'progressive', b.) keep focus on certain positions, patterns, scales, movements / 'shifts' and keys in a really logical way... And c.) Even grade 1 pieces can sound nice and be kind of fun to play well. You will learn other aspects too .. Good phrasing for example, and melody construction.

Try tabbing out some (eg early grade) pieces yourself. I can help you if you like or if you get stuck or want some starting out tips and guidance.

Working with a good teacher regularly even for just as few weeks or ideally months, explaining your goals and desire to focus on reading sheet music will help. I say this mainly because with the guitar, you have many choices around how and where to play specific written notes. Sometimes the easiest or most obvious position is not the best for the next bar. You also will likely need help choosing the best fingering for a given phrase in hand with the best choice of positioning, and what the composer intended. Learning to 'read ahead' and at the same time understand the 'fretboard choices' a guitarist makes while reading becomes much easier when you have someone who can show you their own way and explain why. This aspect is a non issue with tab, but with sheet music you have to think on your feet a lot more!

What's your background like? Do you already play guitar, and can you read sheet music at all, be it bass / treble cleff or both? I only recently learned to play sheet music on the guitar and find it a challenge, while in my 30s and having been reading music since I was 7.

There's something about the guitar that makes it tough, but actually a lot more fun IMO when you start to crack it.

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