Before you play: a 30-second scan
30-second ritual before playing
While you play: the four rules
- Don’t stop. Missed a note? Keep going. In sight-reading, keeping time matters more than hitting every note.
- Rhythm before pitch. Right rhythm with a wrong note still sounds like music; the reverse doesn’t.
- Look one measure ahead. While you play this measure, your eyes are already on the next one.
- Read in chunks. Scale, arpeggio, chord, repetition. First note and shape.
How to practice reading
- Use material easier than your level. Reading is speed training, not difficulty training.
- New material every day. Repeating the same piece turns into memorizing.
- A slow metronome, no shame. 50 bpm without stopping beats 100 bpm with stops.
A 15-minute daily session
| Time | What |
|---|---|
| 3 min | Note Hunt (Practice tab), at your current level |
| 3 min | Rhythm lab or “Listen and pick the rhythm” |
| 7 min | New reading: an easy piece you’ve never played |
| 2 min | Reward: play something you love |
12-week plan
| Weeks | Missions | Daily practice focus |
|---|---|---|
| 1–2 | 0 to 3 | Landmarks, lines and spaces until they’re automatic |
| 3–4 | 4 and 5 | Rhythm every day, clapping and counting |
| 5–6 | 6 | First-position melodies, turning the aids off |
| 7–8 | 7 and 8 | Key signatures, intervals, stacked chords |
| 9–10 | 9 to 11 | Easy Carcassi and Sor studies; fifth position |
| 11–12 | 12 and 13 | One new piece a day, at sight |
Where to find material
- IMSLP (imslp.org): a free library of public-domain scores. Look up Carcassi, Sor, Giuliani, Aguado, Carulli.
- Frederick Noad, “Solo Guitar Playing”: a classic classical-guitar method in English, built around reading.
- Matteo Carcassi, Method Op. 59 and Fernando Sor, Op. 60: short, progressive lessons, great for daily reading.
- William Leavitt, “A Modern Method for Guitar” (Berklee Press): a notation-only method, the standard for electric and contemporary guitar.
- William Leavitt, “Reading Studies for Guitar” (Berklee Press): pure reading, in every position on the neck.
- “Hal Leonard Guitar Method” (Will Schmid and Greg Koch): a progressive method with notation from the start.
- MuseScore: thousands of free scores, and you can enter your own. Pick versions without tab.
When motivation disappears
Do just Note Hunt for 2 minutes. Starting small usually unlocks the rest. If it doesn’t, that’s fine: 2 minutes count as a practice day.
You finished Pauta Viva
0 XP · Staff Apprentice. Now it's all about volume: one new piece a day.
Quick check
Get every answer right to finish. Mistakes are part of it: read the explanation and try again.
1. You miss a note in the middle of sight-reading. What do you do?
2. The best material for practicing reading:
3. The first item of the 30-second ritual:
On the acoustic guitar: Today: download a Carcassi lesson from IMSLP you've never seen, do the ritual and play it start to finish without stopping, very slowly. That's reading music.On the electric guitar: Today: download a Carcassi lesson from IMSLP you've never seen, do the ritual and play it start to finish without stopping, very slowly. That's reading music.