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Does anyone out there actually sight read Guitar music?
I've been playing classical guitar for some time now, but only recently started using actual music instead of tablature. I also play the violin. Being a monophonic instrument, you usually can sight read music pretty fast as you take it one note at a time. On the guitar on the other hand you have to find the precise note on the fretboard which the music is refering to and you have to play more than one note at a time a lot of the time... you also have to set up your fingering (RH & LH) to prepare for coming sections etc. So my question is.... does any really sight read Guitar music and not "study" it?? I mean is it reasonable to want to look at a score and play it through the first time you see it? (because this fairly easy with the violin)
3 Answers
- Thom ThumbLv 61 decade agoFavorite Answer
Sure, I do, and I'm proud of it. I sight read classical guitar music all the time. It's an expected standard for a virtuoso, and I was trained in the virtuoso tradition. In particular, live performance at weddings, parties and so on gave me a lot of experience at sight reading, as well as practicing sight reading at home. Gigs where people aren't paying a lot of attention are great, and flutists and other instrumentalists will just pull out a pile of music and say "OK, how about this one" - :) We never practice for a gig - it's all sight reading, sometimes for 2-3 hours.
It is not easy to do, and it takes a long time to be good at it. You just have to do it. Get some music at your level, or a little below it - a book full of things- and every day, sit down and pick another piece at random. Don't ever look at it except in preparation to play it at sight. You can look it over, but don't study it. Note key, meter, scan it for tough spots, and then go. Don't worry if you don't get all the notes- keep going. Then dump it and try another one.
And btw, ty for saying it's easier on the violin and detailing why. Sight reading on classical guitar is harder, and sometimes you get disdain from violinists who have no clue how hard it is, as if their instrument was as hard to sight read on.
- Anonymous1 decade ago
If somoene throws me some music, I"ll look at it for reference only. It's easy to improvise when you're just havin fun and playing. If I really need to play something carefully, I'll read off of it, but not when just jammin around.
I know how to read music, but I'll usually just study and try and memorize the songs I play. good luck to ya.
