How to Read Sheet Music

Lesson 3/53 | Study Time: 5 Min
Course: Beginner Guitar
How to Read Sheet Music

How to Read Sheet Music

Most of the sheet music you will buy will be arranged for piano. Piano music is written using two or three staves, with the chord symbols written above the top staff. It may also contain unfamiliar symbols and terms. At this stage you need only look at the top staff, which contains the melody line (tune), the lyrics and the chords. In some sheet music chord diagrams may also be included. As most sheet music is arranged by keyboard players quite often the guitar chord shapes given are incorrect, unnecessary or impractical, and many piano arrangements of guitar based songs do not sound anything like the recorded version. Guitar tablature versions of sheet music are gradually becoming more popular and in many cases are very accurate arrangements of the song.

Also, many piano arrangements are in difficult keys for a beginning guitarists and quite often use unnecessary chords. Piano sheet music also gives no indication of how to strum the chords. So piano sheet music is only a guide for a guitarist but is useful for lyrics and a general chord guide.

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Gary Turner

Gary Turner

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Class Sessions

1- Chord Charts 2- Notes on the 1st String 3- Eighth Note Rhythms 4- Notes on the 2nd String 5- Notes on the 4th String 6- INTRODUCTION 7- Notes on the 5th string 8- LESSON ONE 9- The Major Scale 10- Sharp Signs 11- Silent Strums and Continuous Rhythms 12- Key of A Minor 13- The Open Position 14- Tuning Methods 15- The F Sharp Note (F<span class="symbolA">#</span>) 16- The Octave 17- Strumming Chords From the Root Note 18- Notes on the 6th String 19- Sharps and Flats 20- The 12 Bar Blues Progression 21- How to Read Sheet Music 22- Minor Chords 23- Alternate Picking 24- The Pivot 25- Approach to Practice 26- The Major Chord 27- Rests 28- Easy Chord Substitution 29- Acoustic Guitars 30- The Chromatic Scale 31- Root Note Chords 32- The G Major Scale 33- The Key of C Major 34- Turnaround Progressions 35- The Lead-In 36- The Seventh Chord 37- How to Transpose 38- Slide Finger 39- Key Signatures 40- Electric Guitars 41- Notes on the Guitar Fretboard 42- Notes on the 3rd String 43- Bass Note Rhythm Patterns 44- Where to from here… 45- Amplifiers 46- Styles of Playing Guitar 47- Strings 48- Tuning Your Instrument 49- How to Hold the Guitar 50- How to Read Music 51- Chord Diagrams 52- Fingering 53- Using a Metronome

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