I can read a little on the treble clef, at least. I studied some sight reading when I first took guitar lessons back in high school. I got about halfway through the first Berklee 'Modern Method for Guitar' book before I went away to college and got distracted with other things (it's still a goal of mine to finish that darn book at some point!).

I don't use my sight reading skills every day, but I am glad that I learned what I learned. You never know when it will come in handy. For example, I just started doing a little bit of singing at my church, and my sight reading experience helped me learn the songs more easily.

I'd certainly recommend that anyone just starting to learn guitar try to incoporate at least a little bit of sight reading into their practice routines.

I can read music if put in a situation where I absolutely have too.

I can read music, but I should practice and get better at it. I find sheet music easier to read than guitar tabs.

I do, mainly for classical. At grade 6, the sight reading is difficult...it's definitely not my strong point

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I can more or less hack my way through some of it. I remember things like All Cows Eat Grass, or something like that in school, but the last time I was in a music class in high school was 1988. I'm more like what key is the guitar or keyboard player playing in, or what chords are they doing. That's how I usually figure stuff out. Seriously, I would like to really learn how to read and write it. It certainly couldn't hurt.

It isn't necessary for Rock music and stuff like that BUT it really comes in very handy for other things. A lot of jazz guitar things don't use tab and so you have to be able to read notation. A book i bought on Tal Farlow comes to mind. To get the music out of that book you have to be able to read. Same with George Van Eps 3 volume 'Harmonic Mechanisms For Guitar' you have to be able to read notation, no tab there at all.

Same with the set of teaching DVD's John McLaughlin did; no tab and you have to be able to read or the set is no use. I think guys like John prefer doing it that way because they want people to learn to read as part of being a well rounded musician.

You don't have to be able to do it for a lot of things but IMO everyone should learn as it's gonna increase your knowledge base and the resources you can learn from.

Don't forget when you can read you can learn parts of piano music, music from other instruments etc. It all go's in the pot to make you better.

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Yup... I can read and write music. Treble clef, bass clef, and tab.

For those who can't but want to, it's okay... Take your time with it, and you can do it!

I had to learn to read music to teach guitar lessons. (Ironic, isn't it?) It wasn't hard for me to pick up since I had about three years worth of classical flute before I played guitar. But I'm still more rusty than I used to be. I was reading fluently at a high school level on flute before I put it down for five years and forgot about reading music.

I've found it's come very much in handy when learning jazz songs. Also, I've been able to read tabs and lead sheets (aka chord charts) since I started guitar. So I got along ok without reading music for a long time. I do wish I had started sight reading on guitar sooner though.

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I learned to read music when I was 10. Learning tab threw me for a loop though, at least at first. Now I use both together whenever possible.

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when i took lessons in the early 60's my teacher stressed the importance of reading music. to this day i can pick up a chart and read it. might take a few tries to get it right, but for years this is how we did it-no tabs back then.

Another thing about reading for the guitar: it is a lot harder to sight read than for most other instruments because a note is a note and there can be 4 different strings that note can be played on. So the reader has to be reading the music plus looking ahead to see where the music is leading in the passages ahead.

Makes it a lot more complicated than reading for piano where a note has one position and that's it.

Honestly though i would urge all younger players to learn it even if they're playing Rock and Metal. As much for the satisfaction in knowing you can do it as anything else. There are a lot of great musicians who can't read and they have a bit of an inferiority complex if they have to mix with experienced players who are fluent in notation

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Luck won't do it and ignorance can't

George Van Eps.

It seems I'm one of the few who cannot read music. I did however put years of effort into learning music theory, and the payoff has been immense. There's something in guitar for everyone.

I'd like to begin practicing reading music - the more ways in which you can understand your instrument, the better.

That's a great question. Here is an anecdote for you. Last year, I was asked to train up a handful of high school students form a band. This was my first question I asked them. Because I learned site reading back when I was 12 years old. The room of 8 students all said, "Yes." I thought, "Great, we are in a good spot to begin making a band." The following week I came back with a chart for one song for each of them. Every one of them looked at me and asked, "What is this?" One commented that it looked like someone sneezed while eating a chocolate bar! Ok, I had to ask the question again, "Who knows how to read music?"

Turns out, their interpretation of that question is chord letters written over the lyrics on a MS Word document. Needless to say, both the students and I were let down based on our personal expectations on how to interpret that question.

TAB is similar in that it tells you where to play, but for how long?

The way I interpret “read music” – it is the ability to perform a song with a score in front of you without having had the luxury of time to hear the tune prior to performance. Yes. I do.

I would like to encourage any who want to learn how to read music. Two reasons: 1 - if you would like to be confident of what your role is in the song even if you have never heard it before. 2 - another benefit you have in reading music is that you are likely to get better gigs making more money. Because the better gigs are played by pros who rely on players that can read charts on the fly. The nice thing as a guitarist, I very seldom come across any charts where they have laid out every jot and tittle as a horn player may have. In most cases, they are Nashville style in that you have chord numbers with slash marks denoting the how much time to play the chord. Then, you will come across a few measures where you do have a key melody part the arranger wants you to play, either as a solo or duet, with another musician. In my experience that is about 10% of the charts I read. But, that small percent will make or break you. If you cannot get it on the first go, you will not be hired back!

So, it is your option as to where you want to take your skills to. If you are cool with playing local gigs at the local pub, then reading may not be necessary. But, if you want the next level, get studying!

Great 1st post RickeG. I must agree with you. I found out the hard way a couple of weeks ago when I was asked to play at the last minute in an orchestra on a Neil Diamond (America) number for the 4th of July. The music director e-mailed me a rhythm chart with chords and melody along with an mp3 two days before the performance. There were some lead riffs at the end of the verses that weren't shown on the chart. I thought I figured them out by ear but it wasn't until the run through before the performance that I heard the 1st trumpet playing my part. " Hey can I copy your score real quick" I asked. Though I had my notes correct on the lead I was coming in a half beat too early on that measure. It was my 1st experience playing with an orchestra. Even my limited sight reading ability saved me in that instance. Tabs are fine for showing you where to play but only notation can show you when to play.

All good stories there. Yes tab is ok but it doesn't convey the full musical experience like notation does. Learning to read you also learn the rhythmic groupings and how long to hold beats for etc. you don't get that with TAB.

Honestly if i was a guitar teacher i would insist all students learn to read. Ok, as i mentioned before, you can get away with it to a degree if you're playing Rock, metal and blues, but there usually comes a time when you're gonna want to branch out and it'll come in handy.

You can learn music from other instruments as well, for new ideas, if you can read.

The benefits are great and there are no drawbacks that i can see.

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Luck won't do it and ignorance can't

George Van Eps.