Do Guitar Players Need To Learn How To Read Music? Sight-Reading Woes

[@Lutemann]

The real problem is that the guitar is a non-linear instrument. Most people do not have the time or patience to to become good sight readers on this instrument. However, if one limits oneself to just the first five frets, then you are dealing with a linear instrument. When I taught guitar, I recommended that all my students learn how to read in the first five frets. For pop musicians, any more than this will not be worth it. Even with my classical guitar students, I did not emphasize sight reading per se. Reading, yes, but not sight reading.

[@kilianloganellis298]

😴 'Promosm'

[@johnmc3862]

What is 'suck'?

[@anitanuthurgun984]

+1 you're so cocky +2 outstanding music taste +3 tells me most studio professionals get 10s minutes or more of study takes. +4 sign me up. I don't wanna work, I wanna bang on these strings all day. I'm not proficient in reading/times/keys,barely hold a pick, but my ear just moves my fingers, and i try to keep things on top 7 maybe 9 frets with open string sounds, for my purpose.

[@jfar3340]

Fascinating Learning medicine is a lot like learning jazz. You learn a language and you internalize it. That's why it takes so long to become a physician, not just because of the sheer amount of material (most of which ends up being forgotten), but because you have to immerse yourself to instictively speak the language and internalize the concepts as if they were second nature. Many people think that medicine is purely a feat of memorization, it isn't. While many physicians are booksmart, there s a reason why medicine is mostly learned in clinics and hospitals, not in classrooms. Sight reading is akin to anatomy: physicians forget most of what they learned in their 1st or 2nd year anatomy class, but what matters sticks. This is not a medical advice. CHeers

[@DenisChangMusic]

I suppose it's the same in a lot of other fields too! There's the theoretical and the practical!

[@andresantana516]

1st

[@thirdcoastswing5334]

Cruise ship gig is the only one I can think of.

[@DenisChangMusic]

That’s a good one! I guess it’s similar to my “corporate function” example. So guitarists who play in cruise ships, I doubt they’re asked to sightread complex stuff like Donna Lee haha, and how often do they get asked to read the melody?

[@OlivvYeah]

Denis Chang Chang Chang.. Sorry I couldn't resist, no offense intended 😉 But very interesting indeed. I agree with you about the sight reading topic. It's kind of easy to sight read as long if you manage to stay in one position. It's at the expense of the depth of the interpretation, like you said, but at least you can do the minimum required for the job. Still, that wouldn't be at a level required for a professional recording, so having the music in advance would be essential in my opinion.

[@ericb5852]

Great video as always

[@landonskalsky735]

I look forward to these videos. Thanks Denis 🤌🏻