What Is Sight Reading?

Often confused with music theory, Sight Reading refers to the ability to look at a piece of music and then play it. It’s often assumed that the piece being read from is in music notation, however guitarists use a range of material that we can read from such as guitar tablature, chord diagrams and chord charts. It’s important for guitarists to learn how to read from all of these and not just music notation.

Unfortunately, most guitarists don’t enjoy sight reading and so don’t learn it. Those who learn sight reading tend to have excellent timing and rhythm skills, a more positive mindset to their learning and more productive home practice sessions. Part of this is due to the fact that they don’t have to memorise all of their content and so simply play what’s in front of them, rather than wasting time trying to figure out what it is they were suppose to be practicing.

There have also been numerous studies linking Sight Reading music notation to an improved intelligence and creativity.