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What are some good guitar sheet music books?

I Just bought a acoustic guitar,do you need learn to read sheet music to play guitar?

  • I bought a Montana acoustic guitar because I want to learn to play the guitar. I just listen to music and do not know anything about music notes or anything. I have beginner books that teach you about music notes, staffs and all of that but do you have to learn that to be able to play guitar or just read guitar notes. As a person with no music kno how sheet music is hard to understand but guitar notes are really easy to understand. Would I benefit in the future from learning to read sheet music? Are can i just ignore that and move on and it would be fine? Another question is how long would it take me to be able to play guitar given that I practice 20mins a day every day ?

  • Answer:

    you definitely could benefit from reading sheet music. i learned how to read sheet music on the piano and now i play guitar. that being said, i don't often use sheet music for guitar. i can read it, i know what the notes are, i know what the notes on my guitar are, but I cannot pick up a piece of sheet music and play it very well right away. i can look at sheet music and play it on the piano fairly quickly, but without my sense of "middle C" on a piano, it doesn't do a whole lot for me with guitar. so no, you don't need to know how to read sheet music to play guitar at all. beginner books are great. also look into finding a chord book and maybe some music theory books. 20 minutes a day isn't all that much. i mean i guess it depends on what you're practicing over those 20 minutes. when i practice, i play songs, so 20 minutes goes by in no time. however, just getting to know the basics, you should have a decent understanding in a couple weeks. what i did to start (self taught) was to take a chord book, pick 3 chords (i choose A,E, D but you can choose whatever) and play each one by itself. get used to the fingering and strum away. once you think you've got each of them down, trying strumming and switching between those 3 chords. i then found a song that had those 3 chords and then tried to play along. it took me about a week and a bit practicing an hour a day to get really good at those 3 chords. once you've got them down, trying adding a chord a day or something. eventually, you should have a good grasp of the chords and will be able to chord your way along almost any song. the best thing to do is just enjoy it. try not to get too frustrated and be patient. it takes a while, but it feels great when you can play. 4 years later for me and i absolutely love it. enjoy! also, here's a chord chart like the one i used when i first started: http://www.mmissary.com/guitar~1.gif

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i read tabs which r easier, but having some understanding of the notes is gd for tuning n stuff.

Bron

sheet music isnt necessary but u do need to know how to read tab if u want to be more efficient... well depending on how well you comprehend stuff depends on how long it would take to learn guitar... i am a 17 yr old and i just started playing guitar this past september im not that good but i know my basic stuff... most songs use the basic chords like A,G,D,E,C they are very simple and can help you even write your own music. sheet music isnt necessary TAB music is more efficient because it will give you the string and what fret to play on it... it might be a good thing to learn the names of the strings because that way you will be able to just follow along with the tab sheet music... there are multiple places where you can get tab music... i use www.chordie.com but it depends u can also just google it... even thought you dont have any musical experience doesnt mean that you cant learn something new you just gotta keep up with it and not give up.... good luck

foundparadise628

There are many players who do not read music, and simply "play by ear". If you have enough musical talent that you can play a song after hearing it without sheet music, then you don't have to. If not, I would definitely recommend learning how to.

Snowy Owl

I did the same thing. don't worry, you will enjoy trying to learn how to play but you will never learn unless you have thousands of dollars to invest in real lessons. that guitar will soon be dusting up in the corner.

Monica H

absolutely not, there are plenty of people who can play who can't read music. Can it help you in the future? Of course it can. Steve Martin said he learned banjo by watching a tape and imitating the fingering

dude

No way!! Playing the guitar is about enjoyment. You dont HAVE to be able to read music to enjoy the guitar. Look at Slash. He couldnt read music but he's not that badder guitarist ;)

Chris

You don't NEED to learn sheet music but it would help. You can just do the tab and be fine. :]

katie!

There are plenty of great guitar players that can not read sheet music. So is the skill to be able to read sheet music necesarry? No. But would that skill be beneficial. Of course it would be. Being able to read sheet music only further widens your possiblities and potential as a guitar player. I think that guitar tabs are a perfectly acceptable version of guitar music, and i read them. I do also read guitar sheet music. Being able to read and understand sheet music and musical notes will better help you understand the chords. If you ignore sheet music, you can still be a fine guitar player, but i recomend learning it. It is a lot easier to learn it if you have guitar lessons, or a friend who knows how to read sheet music and plays guitar. Given how much you practice, you could probably become a good guitar player in a few months. I have only been playing guitar for 6 months and I do know plenty of songs. I practice as much or maybe more than you, just not for a set time. Some days i practice for 10 minutes, some I get on a roll learning a song and practice for 2 hours. And some days I don't practice at all. I'm on more of a relaxed schedual of learning guitar. As your skill level begins to increase, and it will if you continue practicing, you will play more most likely. Just keep practicing and you will learn to play guitar well.

JC

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