Why is it so hard for many guitarists to read sheet music on the guitar?

Probably the answer is easy. They haven’t done anything about it. An old used tyre can stand leaned against the wall of a car garage for thousands of years. Why? Nobody has thought about moving it. Could it be that easy also with playing guitar sheet music? I think so.
Sometimes we consider ourselves poor sight readers or not able to read guitar sheet music at all and we think this is part of our personality. Every person who wants to learn to read guitar sheet music notation properly has already taken the first step towards changing that condition, just like you have done by reading this article.

Climbing the “Reading Guitar Sheet Music” mountain starts with step one

Surprised? Well, I have been teaching guitar playing for many years and I have found that learning to play guitar is like many other activities. People, not you of course, often want to start from another position than from where they are.
I would like to suggest that we approach the sight reading assignment from two directions. First by learning to find our way around the guitar and learning the notes on the fingerboard.

Make a string safari on your guitar

With the conventional tuning on your guitar you will have the note E on the first open string. I guess you are aware of the fact that you can find the same note on the second string too. If you don’t know on what fret you will find it you can listen your way through the frets on the second string until you’ll find the note that sounds the same as the first string.
Now I will be frank and tell you that E on the second string is on the fifth fret. Maybe you have already found that out. E on the third string is on the ninth fret. Practice to play E on these different places and jump back and forth until you can find the frets without effort.

How to proceed learning the guitar fretboard

In a similar way you can invent small exercises on you guitar fretboard like playing all E’s on all six strings until you can play them with ease or finding all C’s and play them consecutively like a picking exercise or as an exercise for your right hand fingers.

Knowing the notes on the guitar fingerboard will be a great help for you, not only when playing guitar sheet music but also when you are playing by ear or improvising a guitar solo.

Classical guitar sheet music can be found in large quantities on the Internet. You can browse your server to whatever information you want to get about classical guitar music. You can download music, purchase online music, chat in specific forums with other guitarists, read through different articles and so on.

Aside from your local music store, Internet can be a great place to look for hidden treasures. There are a few very interesting places, which will offer you anything you dream of when talking about classic guitars. Most sites are made for people who are looking for specific music. You can download anything you find interesting. You can also purchase valuable classical guitar music, which is not so easy to find on local music stores.

Classical guitar music sites can be very helpful for professional guitarists. They are also meant for newcomers in guitar playing. Some sites offer tablatures, which can be really useful for people new in guitar playing. Tablature shows where your fingers should stand when playing. Every song has a tablature and you can always check up with the right position of your fingers. Learning guitar is really easy with the available tablatures on the Internet.

Another great priority of classic guitar music on the Internet is that they give you a wide insight into the tradition and history of guitar music. You can listen to selected playlists of different classic guitar music and find your own place among the guitar lovers.

Selling and buying things on the Internet is really easy. That is also valid for all sorts of classic guitar music. Classical guitar sheet music can be purchased individually by piece, or in books that feature a collection of works. You can order them or even get them at discount prices, if available.

For the newly- involved guitar maniacs, it is easier to use Internet to sharpen their abilities. You can search through and find manuals about playing classical guitar. You can order either on CDs,DVDs or MP3s and get the thing you need. All kinds of teaching tools, experiences, recommendations are just waiting for you to buy. The moment you begin collecting these, you will find that your abilities are improving. There is no stopping you when you find that you are advancing. You can learn to play as good as you want to, and admire all the valuable teaching tools that you can find on the net.