Guitarists Can't Read Music, But They Should. (ft. Carlos Bonell)

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Sight-reading is the achilles heel of many guitar players, but it is an essential skill that's opening up many possibilities. This video is an excerpt from Carlos Bonell's excellent tonebase masterclass on his sight reading approach.
Watch the entire lesson on tonebase. tonebase gives you instant access to knowledge from the world's greatest classical guitarists, performers, and educators.
Music in video performed by Carlos Bonell and Jakob Schmidt.
sheet music link: imslp.org/wiki/4_Easy_Pieces_(Mertz,_Johann_Kaspar%29
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[@MrMjp58]

Great to see Carlos still playing brilliantly. I remember an interview he gave with Guitar magazine c.’77, where he discussed sight reading, amongst many other topics.

[@michaelreaper666]

Good to see my old friend Carlos still playing ..but you missed the rests and dampening strings .. but when sight reading these are easy to miss .. well done sir !! .. great video

[@barrylangweiler9356]

Having studied piano at 6 or 7 until I was 12 and then going to guitar and still at it at 76 I could never understand how some prefer tablature but I always did consider that guitar is a more difficult instrument to play than piano.

[@joseph4756]

Tablature, even if nothing else, specifies the fingering and position, eliminating potentially confusing options. 🤔

[@phanhuyduc2395]

Modern tab is much better than sheet music in anyway. From a person can sight read with piano but use tab for guitar

[@ClassicalGuitaristWannabe]

@@joseph4756 But also limits! When given the exact fingering I would think it stops someone from trying out other ways to play the same thing which might have some advantage over the fingering given. When one is free to try different positions it will help them get to know the fretboard. I try to improve my knowledge of the fretboard by trying to play the same passage on different strings and positions. Also one can play around with the sound more. A note on an open string sounds different to a fretted note. You can use this to play around with the sound you want.

[@ClassicalGuitaristWannabe]

@@phanhuyduc2395 I find the opposite. sheet music has more info within the notes themselves.

[@TheRichie213]

Because tablature can be learned in a few minutes. You can make quick progress.

[@thepostapocalyptictrio4762]

Bravo!!

[@bradjohnson9583]

Sight reading is marvellous skill for a musician, and I fully support anyone who endorses it!

[@phanhuyduc2395]

If you are just a bedroom guitarist sight reading is useless. Only if you are a pro and have to work with other instrument then sight read is benificial

[@MonkyTube18]

​@@phanhuyduc2395not if you play notes in your bedroom without being a pro (like me)

[@MonkyTube18]

​@@phanhuyduc2395so it depends on what you play. But i think we talk about classical guitar

[@rickclyne9625]

For me, sight reading is not about near-perfection first time thru a piece. It’s about substantially reducing the amount of time and effort required to be able to play something in an acceptable, pleasing way. Here are the top benefits of being able to do so in my experience: >You can explore and get familiar with hundreds and hundreds-even thousands-of pieces of music >You learn to see music as a sequence of chords, not notes, which makes playing from sheet music so much easier (just like reading a book: you see and process words, not the individual letters) >You don’t have to memorize your repertoire >You don’t get bored or discouraged by only playing a limited number of of pieces that you spent months trying to master I played guitar as a teenager. No formal training, just learned rock chords (majors, minors, 7ths, minor 7ths) up and down the fretboard. Then in my 30s I started taking piano lessons from an excellent teacher, one of who’s mantras was “I’d rather have you play 500 songs one time, rather than one song 500 times.” Another one was “Play the entire book, and then play it again.” So I began sight reading every day, and methodically moving thru more challenging collections-Czerny studies, sonatinas (Lichner, Diabelli, Clementi, Kuhlau, etc.), fake books, Schubert dances, Haydn sonatas, Mozart sonatas, Joplin, Chopin mazurkas… Yep, it took years and decades, but it was never not fun and rewarding, regardless of the level I was at. Can I play every one of those pieces well now? HECK NO. But there are hundreds that I can play well by just opening the book and sight reading them on the spot. A year ago I got back into guitar. Bought a nylon string classical, and applied this same approach. In that time I’ve played hundreds of pieces by Sor, Carulli, Carcassi, the pieces in the easy-to-intermediate renaissance and baroque canon, etc. I’m just beginning the journey, but already have 20+ pieces in my functional repertoire. Learning how to sight read is the best gift I’ve ever been given. The journey has no end…and is rewarding every day. I will get to explore and play music until I die or lose my marbles. I’ll never get bored…because I can sight read. So do it.

[@EPeltzer]

To me the great difficulty in guitar sight reading is in the upper positions and where you're changing positions a lot. As he mentioned there can be a lot of ambiguity because you can play many notes in three or four different places on different strings so that is extremely daunting. The piece he is playing is not difficult in that respect, and is not not more difficult than other polyphonic instruments such as a piano. Changes of rhythm, note durations,triplets, accidentals, knowing the key. All musicians who read notation learn this, and if this were the worst we had to contend with then many many more guitarists would go ahead and try to master sight reading. Barre V, VII, VIII, X, XII . . . You really have to make separate sight reading studies of each position from 0 to 12 at least, and of course in all the keys. Ouch. It takes years of patience and dedication. Lots of wonderful music that may otherwise really not be all that difficult skips all over way up the neck and that's what takes the years of study to read with facility and shunts most people off to TAB.

[@unwaveringdiscipline5489]

If you look everytime a phrase appears it shows what finger you re supposed to fret with as well as where you want to barre for the sound. True, there can be ambiguity and that's where interpretations differ but there are only so many positions that will be naturally reachable to play a fa from CIII

[@frannyp46]

Reading is hard, especially for guitar with its notes in different parts of the neck but it’s worth it because it’s a transferable skill.

[@dsargeant]

The piece he is playing is from the Royal Conservatory of Music Guitar Method Level 2. Called Romanze in this method. Students in Level 5 should be able to sight read from this book. I have been teaching from this method since the 1980s.

[@adamguitar1498]

I became a significantly better sight reader without realizing it. Technically I did read more to improve, but what helped me improve was writing music. As in physically writing it in notation, on paper. It could be something simple like a scale pattern, or something else like voice led traids, but what would turn out to be various things i wanted to practice. Some of the time it was to help think through ideas, other times remember certain things. Anyway, the act of writing created a certain connection from notation, to the guitar, to the ear, and to the eye. For example writing out voice led chords trained me in quickly identifying voicings based on the note spacing, and writing in different keys meant knowing what their tonality is. Then from playing the music after writing it helps associate with whats on the page and it's realization on guitar. But yeah do the aame thing with written rhythms and that improves those

[@ShredDead]

Improving your musical sight-reading is no different than physically reading a book by expanding your knowledge, vocabulary, or grammar. Being able to comprehend, well... that's another issue.

[@JacarandaMusic]

I’m surprised Carlos didn’t notice the rests, apparently any of them, at any time, in a grade 3 piece.

[@LAVISHING]

Love this video!

[@JamesW225]

Anyone that likes playing music should understand its language

[@deldia]

It’s hard. I’m a few years in learning here and there. It needs a specific effort with flash cards and then just trying and trying pieces with increasing difficulty. It gets easier. One thing that makes it easier on classical guitar is that there are less notes easily accessible compared to an electric guitar so you can better guess where it would be played. The piece he played in the video: I would be able to have a reasonable go at parts of it but a slower.

[@newgunguy4176]

Tablature only works if you've heard the song.

[@davidnorton2642]

As mentioned previously: there are MULTIPLE rests written into this music, yet those are all overlooked. Why is that?

[@ingeronnabakk6844]

Guitarists can sightread!

[@jeztaylor6055]

Didn’t realise F Murray Abraham played classical guitar

[@elementsofphysicalreality]

I have a song that has an arpeggio sequence that utilizes one note on multiple strings. The sheet music wouldn’t explain it. The tabs would. You’re going to read the sheet music and play it incorrectly. Unless you have the tabs. The different strings have different timbres. Playing the wrong string is incorrect. Also, how are you going to know if I’m tapping a note? It doesn’t say in the sheet music. You won’t know the technique required to play the lick unless you have the tabs.

[@tompickstring3885]

For this guitar notation uses string specification with circled numbers.

[@Nosmirk]

Im just glad I can read music. I'm hopeles with sight reading. But then, I don't work with John Williams.

[@Jeff-vg6rm]

Tabs 👌🏾

[@DeOmnibusDubitandum76]

Does anyone have the tabs for this?

[@isaacbeen2087]

lol is that a joke

[@DeOmnibusDubitandum76]

@@isaacbeen2087 It's an attempt at throwing a wrench into the rosette, so to speak! :0)

[@FordHallam]

😁🤣

[@isaacbeen2087]

@@DeOmnibusDubitandum76 hahahaha, no jk I use tab for banjo all the time

[@DeOmnibusDubitandum76]

@@isaacbeen2087 I use tabs for vihuela and lute music, we need to shake off the tab stigma! Free the tab!!!! :0)

[@pajaritoasturiano]

I cant read, l still compose thanks to recording technology, not only guitar lm even composing a sinphony and if l study a giant l use my ears, but l wish l could read, l tried many times to learn, even diferent people tried to teach me in diferent waus but l just cant get it. Its like triyng to read arabic or chinese.

[@joseph4756]

That's absolutely not an apt analogy! If you think about it, notation is simply a couple of overlaid graphs. One organizes the timing of the events [tones and silences], and the other one tells you the event [pitch and register] that occurs at that time. There's no vocabulary, grammar, or even syntax! You can read notatation if you can just slow yourself down [even draw pictures/diagrams, now that you know it's a graph], and grasp one bar, then step-by-step progress to the next, and the next! There is NO spoken language as direct, consistent, and logical as music notation! 🤔

[@robertcarley924]

A very good video. Even a simple piece such as this has a more difficult passage that forces the 'reader' to analyze what the timing and technique should be. A good illustration of proper sight reading!

[@socratesarvanitakis8547]

I liked this video by Carlos Bonell and mainly I agree with most points he raises. I think guitarists are poor sight readers because of a lot of reasons, but two are, imo, the main ones: 1 The guitar is indeed one of the most difficult instruments to read a prima vista, even harder than the piano I thought, when I was a student. 2 Most guitarists seem to be in a hurry to prove themselves, therefore they prefer to memorise the really difficult pieces of the repertoire which often are beyond their technical ability at the moment. In doing so, I have observed in numerous instances that they also tend to be very snobbish about simple but very attractive didactic pieces by Carulli, Sor, Giuliani and other masters. I took this wrong approach in the first two years of my study (memorising everything that I could play and never improving my reading skill), but suddenly I stopped and took the opposite approach, i.e. sight reading everything and memorising only what I wanted to keep. Of course I had to start with the most easy and sometimes boring pieces, but I don’t get easily bored. My sight reading was up to scratch within four years and when I had to take my grade 8 exams, I could sight read pieces of grade 4-5 easily. But the biggest benefit that I've got out of this long adventure is that I familiarised myself with a lot of guitar/lute/vihuela repertoire from Renaissance to 20tth century by reading every day through countless anthologies. Today I think the situation with reading skills of guitarists has worsened rather than improve (as well as the guitarists' general musicianship which seems much poorer than 30 or 40 years ago). I think it is very much reflecting the general fall in educational standards that we have witnessed in the same time period, and I would blame more the governments and the music education institutions rather than the musicians themselves. My general advice to classical guitarists would be to practice separately for technique and repertoire, and devote another time in the day for practising sight reading. And for God's sake, avoid tablatures at all costs-they can only keep you back. What intrigued me in this video most is that Mr Bonell after his long career as a teacher and performer is not familiar with this piece by J.K. Mertz. It is quite well known amongst guitarists, and I met it in the 1st three books that my teacher told me to buy in my first year of study. It was an anthology published by Schott in three volumes of increasing difficulty and this piece was in the middle of the second volume. The whole collection was entitled "The Guitarists' hour" or something like that, and I think it is still on sale by the same publisher. Have a look here www.google.com/search?q=schott+music+london-an+hour+with+the+guitar&client=firefox-b-d&sca_esv=6875faee4ba80aec&sxsrf=ADLYWILV1yFUfKzVWwd8BwDE4SiqWjoxyw%3A1715602731051&ei=KwVCZsjYAoi8xc8P_Pah2AY&ved=0ahUKEwiImvCazoqGAxUIXvEDHXx7CGsQ4dUDCA8&uact=5&oq=schott+music+london-an+hour+with+the+guitar&gs_lp=Egxnd3Mtd2l6LXNlcnAiK3NjaG90dCBtdXNpYyBsb25kb24tYW4gaG91ciB3aXRoIHRoZSBndWl0YXIyBRAhGKABSLi5AVCbCViKrwFwC3gBkAEAmAGEB6AB4yGqAQkxOC4xNS42LTG4AQPIAQD4AQGYAi2gAuwiwgIKEAAYsAMY1gQYR8ICDRAAGIAEGLADGEMYigXCAgYQABgWGB7CAgsQABiABBiGAxiKBcICCBAAGIAEGKIEwgIHECEYoAEYCsICBBAhGBWYAwCIBgGQBgmSBwkyNi4xOC42LTGgB5Fw&sclient=gws-wiz-serp

[@madlatheoperator4649]

I wouldn't describe it as snobbish. You can like something. Nobody thinks less of you for it. But the reality is Sor, Giuliani and Carulli just aren't very appealing. That's true for a lot of the guitar's repertoire Could you imagine telling an aspiring metal guitarist they need to start with PM5K? Or a rock guitarist 3 Doors Down? If the music isn't appealing to the student, then the motivation is going to evaporate. Similarly, telling them to avoid tabs is a great way to kill it for a ton of people. Sure, those that remain may be better for it, but I much prefer a more inclusive hobby. There are a number of other skills which I think are just as important, if not more so, like improvisation and ear training. As for the piece in the video, I'm pretty sure it was deliberately selected so the lesson could be filmed quickly. Bit lame, in my opinion, since he basically just one-shot the thing.

[@ClassicalGuitaristWannabe]

@@madlatheoperator4649 Your personal taste isn't reality for everyone. Sor is beautiful. What don't you find appealing about Sor?

[@madlatheoperator4649]

@@ClassicalGuitaristWannabe That's not what I said. I know some people like Sor. I know some people like PM5K and 3 Doors Down. (I'm not saying they're musically equivalent though.) Some people like some things and others don't and that's fine. No hate, nor judgment. What I am saying is if you look at a large population of people and separate them into Sor fans and people who are indifferent, you'll find the indifferent group to be quite large. Most popular piece I can find on Sky Guitar is ~281 in terms of views (Etude No.17 Op. 35).

[@ww3032]

@@madlatheoperator4649I’m an intermediate and could one shot the piece too. Should have chosen something trickier for someone as esteemed as the prof.

[@ClassicalGuitaristWannabe]

@@HelloSpyMyLie "Ironically the classical guitar is not suited to classical music". - Explain. How is pop music more diverse? I don't find it diverse at all. All sounds the same to me. And classical music makes more use of melodic and harmonic minors which makes for more interesting harmony. Sor is on par with the music of his day. Really very beautiful. Admittedly he concentrated a lot on Etudes but they're more than that. People see the word Etude and think it's just an exercise. Of course Sor writing for solo guitar is going to be very different that Mozart or Beethoven.

[@ashleyizzard1957]

For those who wish to denigrate the ability to (sight) read music, just stick to viewing channels on how to be a brilliant guitarist in 2 weeks, no music theory required, no scales, and definitely no reading music; you are well provided for.

[@jackdanila9893]

Do you know of any KZbin channel that teaches music theory and how to use it for classical guitar?

[@ashleyizzard1957]

@@jackdanila9893 Yes, Michael New has a very comprehensive set of music theory videos and his delivery is excellent. He applies the topics to a small keyboard but the theory is relevant to guitar (or any other instrument). Bradford Werner has an excellent channel called "this is classical guitar". I'm not sure if he does videos entirely dedicated to music theory but watch his videos of numerous pieces he has done and you will be able to pick up aspects of music theory along the way. It is worth mentioning that at the end of the day, nothing matches classical guitar lessons where you can interact with the teacher and clear up music theory issues. I hope this helps and good luck.

[@jackdanila9893]

@@ashleyizzard1957 Thanks a lot for your extended explanation, I will check those channels out. One time I tried going to private lessons but I stopped going because the tutor wanted me to study theory instead of just practicing, foolish, I know. I will give it another try. Thanks again for your comment

[@demejiuk5660]

@@HelloSpyMyLie🙄 we would all would we? Why is this video full of such obnoxious comments?

[@ClassicalGuitaristWannabe]

My way which has been influenced by my guitar teacher of course... 1: What can you point out about the music? Which key is it in? The time signature? Is it a fast or slow piece etc. This is before you pick up the guitar. 2: Play through it slowly and don't worry about slight mistakes or getting the fingering perfect or metronome perfect timing. You're still getting a feeling for the music and at the same time getting a rough guide on positions on the fingerboard etc. Do you notice patterns emerging and chords. 3: After you have done this you're a quarter or half way (depending on the score) there. Now you go back and clean it up working out the best fingering and things like which is the guiding finger for the next bar or if it can be played in another position which might make it easier etc. For instance it might be better to play it in one position because it allows you to hold onto a note if needed. In 30 minutes I can get a piece of medium difficulty to an ok level. But from an ok level to a performance will take quite a bit longer. 0-90% perfect is quite quick for me. What is the most difficult is 90-100%. It's the knowing it so well you don't have to think about anything but expression. TBH... the piece he picked i'm familiar with and it's very easy. For the level of the piece I can read something like that almost like a book and play it well. It's probably a grade 1 piece (or at a stretch grade 2 in certain parts). It's hardly Bach's Chaconne. If you wish to improve your sight reading my own advice is in your daily practice set aside 10-15 minutes and pick something up (within your level or a bit higher) that you haven't seen before and do the steps 1-3. Even if it's just a few bars a day. This can be part of your warm up.

[@kimlodrodawa123]

Wow, all those hilarious comments for and against. I am so glad being an artist and composer. I don't have to bother with that. 😅🤣😂🤣😂 IMHO, The ear compose the music and the theory writes it. ----- I feel sorry for musicians who have to read tabs or do sight-reading. But guess that's the price for wanting to play others compositions ;) -------- Old school theory and sight-reading is dying and for many good reasons. ;) 🤣😂😂🤣😂 Sorry to those who get upset about my opinion, but that's just how I see things. ------ Just enjoy your instrument(s) and play some music however you want to do it!. Cheers❤🙏

[@mer1red]

Sight reading is indeed very important. But claiming that you can pick up any piece of music that you've never seen and play it perfectly at full speed is a myth for guitarists. The guitar is an instrument that has a combinatorial explosion of possibilities to play the same thing, some work better than the other. If you come across a situation that you have never analysed before for a similar case you have to stop, explore the fretboard, evaluate the solution. You can never do this in the split of a second. No guitarist is able to play everything immediately and with satisfaction. We have to live with that.

[@user-ug1qs8bo4w]

"The guitar is an instrument that has a combinatorial explosion of possibilities to play the same thing" The same applies to all string instruments tuned to produce overlapping octaves. What about violinists?

[@mer1red]

@@user-ug1qs8bo4w Violinists play mostly melodies. Harmony is limited. The guitar is more a chord instrument and allows to play pieces with multiple voices. This requires that you have to find a solution that works for the melody, the bass and interior voices at the same time. Much more complex.

[@efstratiosanagnostopoulos6636]

Well, I can do it for easy pieces (eg studies by Carruli, Giuliani, or simple adaptations of famous tunes). But it is an overrated ability. The ability to play by ear is more important in my opinion.

[@kevycanavan]

Lots of working guitarists make their living being able to sight read. How do you think the guys in the west end or broadway do it? I know very few guitarists who can do it but it doesn’t mean we don’t exist. Most of us picked up the skill from learning piano or other instruments as it’s not a skill guitarists are generally shown.

[@mer1red]

​@@kevycanavan Of course, it's an excellent advantage for your job to be an experienced sight reader. The kind of music that guitarists who make their living by doing studio work and similar things is usually not so complex as for instance sophisticated solo classical guitar pieces. Generally they have some time, an hour or so, to prepare themselves. We are talking here about playing advanced works immediately on first reading.

[@davidespinosa1910]

Instead of "you should work on sight-reading", say "if you work on sight-reading, here are the benefits you will get". Then people can decide how to spend their time.

[@guidofeliz8384]

Sight reading is not easy, but nothing of value comes easy in life. Back in my student days, I recall SO MANY people using the same, lame excuse not to learn math. They said: WELL, I'M JUST NOT GOOD IN MATH. Nonsense!!!! The same thing is said about sheet music. Oh, God didn't give me the ability to read music. Nonsense!!! The fact is that NO HUMAN ON EARTH is born knowing how to read music. It takes effort and time. The same applies to mathematics. In fact, music and math walk hand in hand.

[@groove40]

My guitar sightreading has got much better since I started practicing it on the PIANO.

[@John-boy]

My guitar playing overall has also improved since starting piano

[@thepostapocalyptictrio4762]

This..1000 percent.

[@Dmytriy_Om]

This piece is too easy for those who playing guitar for years. For my humble opinion there is no special secrets in mastering sight-reading. Exept one - hours and hours practice.

[@demejiuk5660]

@@HelloSpyMyLieWhy are you so adamant that you’re opinion is correct? It’s JUST you’re opinion. You speak like you have some objective truth. Every time I read a reasonable comment of someone simply sharing their opinion, I see you ramming your opinion down people’s throats. It’s really quite unpleasant.

[@user-nq6fe2hj4o]

⁠@@demejiuk5660 the original commenter is right. Sight reading is only improved by countless hours of playing unfamiliar pieces, consistently. This opinion of his is reinforced by people such as David Russel, my professors, and excellent guitarists I’ve spoken with. Even though you’re not a fan of his opinion, it’s one that carries weight.

[@demejiuk5660]

@@user-nq6fe2hj4o I’m not sure why you believe I’m disagreeing with what you said.

[@tinkerwithstuff]

Not with standard notation, though, which has a learning curve _at least_ one order of magnitude higher than it needs to be, and that's just annihilated lifetime that could be used for other things, like actually becoming more musical. And standard notation & guitar are a mismatch made in hell anyway. Though this guy is even more radical (with the headline, anyway) kzbin.info/www/bejne/e6KWk4h8nKqWmJY

Je suis toujours amusé de voir combien les ignorants défendent à tout prix leur ignorance. Apprendre à lire n'a jamais empêché personne de parler ni d'entendre. Que les ignorants apprennent à lire la musique est une évidence et que ce cours leur soit offert est gratifiant pour tous. Merci.

[@ww3032]

Good video but the piece the producers chose was too easy. They should have picked something trickier. Regardless, it’s the thought process that’s important.

[@elementsofphysicalreality]

If all you see are F Ab C F G Ab Eb G D G C G Eb C G Eb C G you’ll never know where to play that. The notes per string is paramount. Sheet music don’t give you enough information. You won’t know enough.

[@tompickstring3885]

On the other side I found much wrong tabs with pattern on the wrong strings. Because of sight reading from notation it was easy to find out and play it immediately on the right strings without having to place the notes on the right strings. If you have enogh practise you will see intuitively where to play the notes.

[@phanhuyduc2395]

​@@tompickstring3885tab have notation too lol😂

[@elementsofphysicalreality]

@@tompickstring3885 $1000 bud take it or leave it. Put your money where your mouth is. Check my guitar solos. You won’t be sight reading them. And you won’t be sight reading a specific etude I’ll write to throw off your sight reading. I’ve practiced every day for 18 years. I know what I’m talking about. You don’t. You think you can sight read anything. Let’s prove it. Bet me $100 if a rack is too much. You aren’t sight reading what I’m about to write for you. You’re going to be a massive embarrassment.

[@unwaveringdiscipline5489]

But that's not all you see? It shows volume changes, rythme changes, bends and slides, which finger to use and where to barre, where it's staccato and where legato. That's all excluding the obvious tempo documentation. If all you re seeing is what note there is, then it's exactly what the old gentleman says. You don't know how to read the partitura and as a musician, you probably should.

[@kevinmaillet4712]

​@@unwaveringdiscipline5489Thats why I use a combination of tab and notation. Tab to see where my fingers go (which position I'm in) and notation to figure out timing and other issues

[@aries251962]

Sight reading extremely important in classical music. Interested that Carlos ignores the rest in bar two!? Otherwise a great lesson.

[@mauricemori]

I challenge anyone who's against sight reading as a classical musician: to learn a Bach fugue by ear from another dude who learned said fugue by ear. Chances are you'll lose so much integrity in the voices that it's guaranteed to be considered unsavory. In a mere day, you'll forget most notes you've learned. The classical tradition survived because of people who were privileged enough put them on sheet music. Don't throw it away when the it's dying.

[@Yann-wu3fk]

That is not the point of criticizing this so-called lesson. Of course any middling classical musician can read a score! You're creating a straw man, or perhaps truly cannot understand what the criticism is actually about. 🙄

[@mauricemori]

@@Yann-wu3fk bruh you literally said "Good reading doesn't produce good musicality". It's for you.

[@mauricemori]

​@@Wes-ikAxc all I hear is "a bad reader is a bad musician", which is a fine statement. What I'm arguing is "a musician that doesn't read is bad". And yes they absolutely do exist. I've met guitarists who can only read tabs that teaches their students to only read tabs.

[@mauricemori]

​@@Wes-ikAxc Well, I'm definitely not saying the classical guitar is a traditional Indian instrument. If you have to say they could compare, then my point is perhaps someone who don't know how Ragas work would not be an adequate Indian classical musician. I won't be replying to anymore of your anonymous braindead vomits.

[@mauricemori]

​@@Wes-ikAxc First of all, your original comment of "(sight reading) filters music through a region of the brain that has very musically reductive values" sounds like you're describing someone who absolutely can not sightread or play adequately. This is similar to the type of player I'm talking about. I don't know why you say now I'm creating a straw-man, and use this example as if they're someone who can read well then devalue sight reading as a skill. Secondly, no need to attack me personally. I'm simply talking about sight reading as a skill for classical guitarists, and nothing more. If you really want to talk about other traditional music, perhaps my point would be something like "some one who doesn't under stand how Ragas work wouldn't be adequate as an Indian classical musician". I don't think that's racist, classist, or bigoted in anyway, unlike your previous comment. I won't be replying to anymore of your anonymous comments, made me retch a little everytime.

[@lawrencetaylor4101]

Merci. Tonebase has trolls?

[@bradjohnson9583]

Nah - they’re just the types who claim the false dichotomy of ‘good sight reading/bad musicianship, bad sight reading/good musicianship’ (substitute ‘musicianship’ for creativity/innovation etc) It’s as silly as saying being able to read words fluently means you can’t write creative and evocative prose. Completely separate types of thinking and like I said in the other comment thread: not mutually exclusive.

[@kevycanavan]

They are filled will jealousy and you always find them in guitar communities.

[@thepostapocalyptictrio4762]

First time spending time around guitarists, I see

[@demejiuk5660]

@@thepostapocalyptictrio4762We really are one of a kind eh?😂😂

[@elementsofphysicalreality]

Sheet music is completely meaningless for the guitar. Sight reading is a gimmick. I can come up with a 10 second arpeggio sequence that 99.99% of guitarists won’t be able to sight read. The guitar is its own unique instrument and tabs are the best way to communicate the instrument. Knowing how to read is important. But sight reading is complete nonsense.

[@toliveinunity1907]

Good luck working out the rhythm of the piece on a purely tab sheet. I teach my students tab but the shortfall is the lack of rhythm.

[@elementsofphysicalreality]

@@toliveinunity1907 that’s their fault for needing a teacher. Tabs have the rhythm attached. Have you never bought a guitar world magazine? I can sight read any tab. You can’t sight read any piece of music. I’ll bet you a rack, $1,000 you can’t sight read a 30 second etude I’ll write.

[@phanhuyduc2395]

​@@toliveinunity1907lol tabs nows a day just replace the black dots with number so you get the rhythm just the same as sight read

[@vincentb5431]

The reason guitarists in the 1800s moved from using tablature to standard notation was that sheet music is more rigorous and detailed. With tab you can only express so much, and there's no easy way to write complex polyphony which is one of the guitar's most unique and important abilities as an instrument. The push from tab to standard notation symbolizes the guitar's transition into a serious concert instrument, rather than a trivial accompinament which it was often perceived as before. If you're content with being accompinament or playing melodic lines, there's little shame in sticking to tab. If you want to be a serious soloist, it's best to pick up some sheet music.

[@elementsofphysicalreality]

@@vincentb5431 you just haven’t had to play anything hard enough to see the limits of sheet music for the guitar. For all other instruments that have 1 place per note it’s different. I guarantee you that I can sight read tabs better than you can sight read sheet music.

[@DSteinman]

Best thing I ever did for my guitar sight reading was... learning violin

[@demejiuk5660]

What do you mean by that? Someone else said the same thing about the Piano.

[@DSteinman]

@@demejiuk5660 the tuning and scale length allows you to play way more in one position without shifting, and even when shifting, fingering patterns are consistent across the instrument's range. You can easily feel where you are once you orient around position reference points. And if you play in a community orchestra like I did, you get loads of experience because string parts just burn through tons of notes, and you immediately can tell if you're with your section or not.

[@tomm5023]

For me the greatest difficulty is doing it every day, even for 10m. I want to be skilled at it but I don’t like doing it, often resulting in periods of…not doing it. Especially chords throw me off. Makes my brain freeze. It’s really an internal fight.

[@Yann-wu3fk]

Music and reading are seated in entirely different regions of the brain. Good reading doesn't produce good musicality. Of course, sight-reading is a necessary evil in orchestras and larger ensembles, but it filters music through a region of the brain that has very musically reductive values, hence the boring performances that are the hallmark of the "sight-reading is important" crowd.

[@user-ug1qs8bo4w]

"it filters music through a region of the brain that has very musically reductive values" I'd like to see some evidence for this. It would seem to follow, on this logic, that reading aloud from written text would have to be filtered through that same region of the brain, thus reducing its value in some way.

[@Yann-wu3fk]

​​@@user-ug1qs8bo4wIt doesn't follow logically. Music is naturally seated in a different region of the brain from reading. The fallacious nature of your half-baked argument aside, the region of the brain in which musicality is seated is capable of subsuming linguistic tasks but not vice versa. The region of the brain involved with reading has great difficulty grasping and tends to exclude many aspects on which musicality depends. For instance, it has difficulty with complex rhythms including deviations from straightforward metronomic tempo. It also has no sense of depth, hence the dynamically flat or tiered performances characteristic of those who fetishize "reading" music. There is plenty of empirical evidence for this. Look it up.

[@bradjohnson9583]

No one claims 'good reading produces good musicality' - sight reading is a means to an end. Very often musical projects (such as the recordings that Carlos mentions) are done with very tight time constraints and low funding, so the musicians have to be able to reproduce what is written very quickly. It would be great if musicians were always given the time to lengthily pontificate over their interpretations, but that isn't how it works all the time. You may be surprised by the amount of professional musical bodies that produce many recordings are actually the result of great reading. Another thing - the existence of sight reading as a concept does not cancel out the fact that 'longer time horizon' practice exists. They exist as separate means of producing musical content (and don't necessarily guarantee whether something is 'boring' or not, by the way!)

[@user-ug1qs8bo4w]

@@Yann-wu3fk The proof of your facile an puerile assertions is on you. That's where logic begins, so you have not even touched the surface.

[@Yann-wu3fk]

@@bradjohnson9583 Blah blah blah. It's not even a means to an end. It's a hindrance to the end. There are more important things musicians should be learning, but you won't learn such things on channels like Tonebase Guitard.

[@Hotsk]

You simply ignore all the rests. Shame on you!

[@guidofeliz8384]

Sight reading is not easy, but nothing of value comes easy in life. Back in my student days, I recall SO MANY people using the same, lame excuse not to learn math. They said: WELL, I'M JUST NOT GOOD IN MATH. Nonsense!!!! The same thing is said about sheet music. Oh, God didn't give me the ability to read music. Nonsense!!! The fact is that NO HUMAN ON EARTH is born knowing how to read music. It takes effort and time. The same applies to mathematics. In fact, music and math walk hand in hand.

[@Kitharwdos]

Wrong choice of piece for sight reading.. too easy and slow.. it's much different when you have a fast and more complex piece..

[@michaelk1589]

Too easy piece to demonstrate anything. Give him some Kazuhito Yamashita or Vicente Amigo lol.

[@MonkyTube18]

its for non readers

[@madlatheoperator4649]

@@MonkyTube18 Don't think so. There's a presumption of the ability to sight read already. I'm not sure who's the intended target here and what the goal of the lesson actually is. Play through a piece a few times, start with getting to grips with the notes and target problem areas is what I'm getting. Okay. That's not really ground-breaking. That's pretty much how most people will attempt anything.

[@MonkyTube18]

@@madlatheoperator4649 yeah you are right ... maybe he just demonstrates that it can be done. I dont know

[@madlatheoperator4649]

@@MonkyTube18 Think he just wanted to get through filming quickly and it backfired hard when he basically just one-shotted the selected piece.

[@MonkyTube18]

@@HelloSpyMyLie but its never the less a very handy skill to have. Sight reading general i mean... not playing classical hardcore scores at first sight