In the collective imagination, the "Guitar Hero" never has a music stand close to him and this is enough to ensure that most guitarists keep well away from this "strange" tool. Wrong!
Knowing how to read a score quickly remains an important element in the preparation of a professional, but a sufficient musical reading also allows the beginner to become better familiar with the distribution of notes on the guitar fretboard, to have greater confidence on the instrument and, therefore, to be able to learn to play your favorite song as soon as possible.
In this regard, hear what he thinks Steve Lukather (TOTO guitarist and world famous session player): "Learning to read music is always a good thing, it allows you to communicate more easily, makes you faster, more confident in yourself in the case of a studio job or if you have to learn a riff, a structure that is perhaps a bit complex - let's say that speeds up time in a work situation, you can follow a kind of musical map that helps you understand where you are while you are playing a piece, instead of having to memorize it or have someone else explain it to you. Ultimately it is a universal language wherever you go”.
And again, Tommy Tedesco, probably the most recorded guitarist of all time, always with regard to reading, says: "I just kept reading and reading; the more you read, the better you become.
In the first jobs I did they threw me out, I couldn't read enough. After some time I was able to read all the parts; and I kept improving”.
This method, therefore, is aimed precisely at those who begin the study of melodic reading and, starting from very simple exercises, it allows, in a progressive way, first to become familiar with the staff and then to develop a good practice in reading.
To facilitate the study, the exercises are accompanied, where necessary, by brief technical or theoretical indications.
Obviously this is not a music theory text so having good notions already helps a lot in the study.
A minimum of solfeggio experience will help even more, but if you are lacking it you can very well use this same book to acquire it.
Antonio Affrunti
teacher of Saint Louis College of Music
