Guitar players, more so than most musicians, don’t necessarily have to read music! In fact, many of us get by just fine on tabs alone. And there’s absolutely no shame in that! In fact, the system of tablature for guitar has been around since the Middle Ages, and it’s the original way that music was written for stringed instruments in general.

Does that mean guitarists shouldn’t bother to learn how to read music? Not necessarily. Like tabs, reading music has its own advantages and disadvantages, so the answer is somewhat complicated.

This post is all about exploring the different notation systems available to guitarists. With any luck, you’ll gain some insight into what you ought to focus on and why.

When it comes to notation, you should first ask yourself who you are (or who you’d like to be) as a guitar player. The reason is that different guitarists have very different interests and reading needs.

Some guitar players can read tabs and sheet music equally well. Others play mostly by ear, and might not read anything at all! There’s nothing “right” or “wrong”; it’s all about your goals.

For many of you, this might be a really easy question. You might say right away, “I’m a rock guitarist,” or, “I’m all about the blues.” That’s great! It tends to be easier to explore any given style of guitar deeply if you’re pretty committed instead of wandering around.

But some of you might not be so sure. Maybe you grew up listening to all kinds of music and don’t feel particularly drawn to anything.

Or maybe you secretly like the idea of being a jazz guitarist but, at the end of the day, all that theory and improvisation and ear training seems too difficult. Or is it that you want to feel at home in many styles of music?

In any case, you should meditate on your guitar-related aspirations. Don’t be realistic. You should set the highest standard for yourself that you can imagine and just go crazy trying to get there. But in your wildest fantasies, pay attention to what sort of music you’re playing and what sort of musical context you’re playing in.

Once you can give yourself a rough sort of label (or a rough set of labels), you’re ready to decide what you need to read!

Let me start by saying that, strictly speaking, guitarists don’t need to read music, tabs, or any other form of notation. You don’t have to focus on reading at all if you don’t want to.

You might prefer to play by ear, or you might prefer to play by example. You might even prefer to mess around with your own sounds rather than learn a piece someone else wrote. To folks who don’t read and don’t want to . . . I completely respect your approach!

That said, I don’t think there’s any harm in learning how to read. In fact, reading is perhaps the best and easiest way to explore the vast repertoire of guitar music. But who should read what?

Generally speaking, if you’re playing pop, rock, metal, folk, or country music on guitar, you should learn to read tabs.

This is by no means a hard and fast rule. Certainly, many guitarists in the styles listed above can either read music in standard notation or don’t necessarily read or use tabs.

I personally started on tabs and read them exclusively for about two years before I learned standard notation. Even today, although I read note-heads more frequently than numbers, I still appreciate the straightforward logic and convenience of the tablature system.

Tabs are great for guitarists in many ways. They’re easy to learn to read because the fret-and-string notation is highly intuitive. They’ll also give you access to a wealth of free online music, as there’s basically a culture of giving tabs away for free (much to the chagrin of the music industry). Essentially, if you hear a song on the radio you like, you’ll probably find its guitar part tabbed after a quick search.

If you’re on the fence about reading tabs, I encourage you to take the plunge. You’ll get comfortable reading them before long, and you’ll be able to read a ton of music (both old and new) in tablature form.

You should probably learn standard notation (traditional sheet music) if you play classical, jazz, or blues music on guitar.

Again, I’m speaking in generalizations. Many jazz and blues guitarists don’t read music (or use tabs or chord charts instead). Famously, Eric Clapton never learned standard notation. I do think it’s fair to say, however, that these styles of guitar particularly benefit from learning to read music.

In a real way, only classical guitarists really need to learn standard notation. That isn’t to say you can’t play classical pieces from tabs, but truthfully, if you want to be in step with the rest of the classical community, you should embrace the lines and dots.

And the lines and dots aren’t so bad! Many guitarists seem reluctant to learn standard notation, but it’s actually completely doable. In fact, I’d go so far as to say that standard notation, once assimilated, is actually easier to read than tabs.

How can this blasphemy be true? Well, a few reasons. For one, traditional music elaborates rhythms in a way that tabs tend to neglect. Often with tabs, you have to squint at the spacing between numbers to have a sense of note values, whereas written music details time in a perfectly clear way.

Another reason guitar sheet music is easier to read than tabs is because it usually includes fingerings. This means you’re getting expert direction on which fingers should fret which notes, which makes learning complicated pieces a lot more manageable. Standard notation also gives barre indications (for instance, CIV means barre the 4th fret), which are just as useful as fingerings.

As someone who reads music and tabs equally well, I strongly recommend you learn both. You can think of this as a guitarist’s version of being bilingual.

This is especially useful for the kind of guitarist who wants to play in a variety of styles. Maybe they play classical in the mornings, jazz in the afternoons, and rock out in the evening. If that sort of thing appeals to you, then you’ll do yourself a big favor by learning both notations.

The truth is, a lot of material for the guitar is only available in tabs or sheet music, but not both. That means if you’re only fluent in one language, then you’re depriving yourself of potential reading and repertoire. Don’t do so just because you’re afraid of learning something new!

The following tips apply both to learning to read tabs and standard notation. Believe me when I say that if you’ve already learned one, then you won’t have a big problem learning the other.

• Turn your, “Ugh, learning to read music is so much work!” attitude into, “I can’t wait to be able to read this stuff! All my work will definitely pay off.” Your attitude counts for everything when you’re approaching new things.
• Sight-read daily. If you’re new to sight-reading, then you’ll learn a lot by reading this post.
• Start slow. Learning a system of musical notation is a bit like learning to read a new language. You won’t pick it up right away, so be patient yet persistent.
• Get your hands on very easy music. Start with the open strings. How do they look in tabs or standard notation? Everything in guitar builds off its fundamental tuning.
• Keep your reading or studying sessions short at first. Even 5 minutes of exposure to reading music counts for a lot, especially if you do it consistently.