How To Read Sheet Music
Learn How To Read Sheet Music For The Guitar!
Being able to read music is a great skill that every guitar player should at least try to acquire. Reading on the guitar can be pretty difficult for some players. Many guitar players start trying to learn how to read only to get frustrated and quit. This lesson will cover the very basics of how to start reading music on the guitar. We will mainly cover the names of the lines and spaces on the treble clef.
Guitar music is written on the treble clef. You can identify a treble clef by looking for the squiggly G looking character at the beginning of each line of music. If you look at a piece of sheet music you will see a series of 5 lines and 4 spaces. The musical alphabet is A B C D E F and G. Each of these lines and spaces correspond to one of the letters in the musical alphabet. The lowest line on the staff is an E. The lowest space on the staff is an F. If you continue up each line and space you will just go through the musical alphabet in order. When you come to a G note just start over on A again for the next note.
Let’s take a look at the names of the lines and spaces separately. The names of just the lines are E G B D and F. You can remember these notes by using the phrase
“Every Good Boy Does Fine”. To remember the names of the spaces just remember the word “FACE”. This is how almost everyone learns to remember the names of the lines and spaces. It may seem a bit difficult to remember the names of each line and space at first, but if you work at it on a regular basis it will start to become second nature.
Play the F note on the 3rd fret of the 4th string of the guitar. This is the F note on the 1st space of the treble clef. You could also play this same F note on the 8th fret of the 5th string or the 13th fret of the 6th string. When you are reading music on the guitar, most notes have multiple places that you could choose to play them. This is one of the things that make reading music on the 
guitar so difficult.
For this lesson just concentrate on getting familiar with the names of the lines and spaces on the treble clef. Remember “Every Good Boy Does Fine” for the lines and “FACE” for the spaces. Once you are familiar with the lines and spaces, start trying to find those notes on the guitar fretboard.
Once you have learned how to read sheet music, you should learn how to read chord diagrams, how to read guitar rhythms, how to read guitar tabs, and how to read chord charts!
Trying to teach myself how to play the guitar not easy at all.
i know what u mean. especially reading the sheet music for me, its the hardest
I know right! I can’t do it and I’ve been trying for so long!!
iv only been trying for about a year but it is still very difficult
It’s easier after you first get started, just don’t get too stressed out, never quit, and always practice. If you’re like me and have school work cause you’re still a junior, again, don’t stress it. Just take things slow and don’t take on the biggest things first.
Im 14 i tried for 2 years and got nothing but that was 3 years ago i just got it i picked up my guitar and am prgressing be patiant talent can not be made by a sheet of music its time
me too i have only been able to read TABS and not sheet music lol
Hi ALL
its quite easy like notes on the stave or staff is
EGBDF-Every Good Boy Does Fine
and on the spaces FACE- Face……..
Br George
Dont give up its been 5 years now since I started playing and I did it all by Teaching myself, Granted it would be alot quicker probably with a teacher but I feel more intimate with my knowledge of my guitar
Get the guitar free app or the full version it helped me well enough so that I can actually play some of the more difficult songs such as dream on by Aerosmith but it took me 2 yrs.
this stuff makes sense but taking a class is way better and well worth the money dont teach urselfs go to school
i cant go to a school im still in highschool and dont have the money to go to 2 different colleges, one for music and one for law
Teaching yourself is the best way. Depending on a teacher to teach you everything limits your self reliance,lessens your self confidence and can cost too much money.Daily practice(at least an hour a day)takes discipline.If you want it bad enough you will get it. Many of the best guitar players were self taught.
I’m trying to teach myself guitar and it is really hard. The hardest part for me as been the sheet music part but i know mostly everything else but this video has helped a lot with sheet music
For some reason, it is very hard to find information on whether one should play a “c” note on the 5th string/3rd fret or 6th string 8th fret. In other words, what is the practical way to analyze a written part so that you will know which “c” note to use? Maybe it is simply subjective.
Yes I agree. I too have been searching for this information all over the internet and no one seems to hit on it. Which makes me wonder does it really exist. Maybe with the guitar you are supposed to just make that decision yourself. Like when you say a note, the guitarist must decide which voicing of that note to play whether it be open string, 5th fret 3rd string, whatever it may be. I wish I could find the answer to that question. If anyone knows the answer to this question please email me at Dclan86@hotmail.com and let me know. The question is again “How do you know which string or fret of the guitar to play a certain note on when reading music?”
For some reason it is hard to find how to analyze a written part so that you will know which note to play. For example, should the c note on the 5th string/3rd fret or the c note on the 6th string/8th fret be played in a particular situation.
Nate I’ve watched a lot of your video clips now on the site and to the end of DVD 3 in the course. You keep saying this string this fret is such a note, take your word for it. This lesson on How To Read Sheet Music For The Guitar, I was expecting to find some way to relate the notes on the staff to the fretboard. If we don’t know how to find a note on the fretboard, what good is it to know the name of a note on the sheet music?
is there some place on the site or on the DVD set where this information is connected so it becomes useful and one could pick out a tune or create a TAB for ourselves from sheet music, at least simple stuff?
I concur with your issue wholeheartedly! Wherever you go to find guitar instruction online, you get chords, chords, chords with ad-nauseum detail on how to construct them. But nowhere do you find simple correlation between guitar strings/frets and actual notes. You get scale progressions with no real note labeling or correspondence between sheet music notes and guitar string/fret combinations. Why the mystery?
Hey,look at this! No sooner than I whine about not finding guitar/note correlations than I find just that. See the site below. Mystery solved.
http://www.zentao.com/guitar/theory/notes.html
Help!! Guitar is so hard! But super cool! Don’t give up!
What’s the difference between guitar sheet music and piano sheet music? I’ve played piano for years so reading that is easy, but now I’m trying to teach myself how to play the guitar and I’m confused.
I know its almost been a year and you probably know this by now but, The piano music is in two staffs, Treble and Bass Cleff… Guitar is just mostly based on the higher bass clef and treble clef… The standard E of ur lowest string will equal the E in the middle of the bass clef.. as u go up the fret its like going up the keys of a piano (including whites and black keys). So as u progress u can find the same notes from a piano onto the guitar by finding the same notes starting from the lowest E on the the guitar and the 2nd lowest E on the piano…
Hey nate!!I LOVE your website i’ve learned sooo much stuff and i got the hang of playing chords and stuff really fast.
thanks!I just got my guitar in july too! but anyways, i play the saxophone in band and i’ve been trying to teach myself piano too, so i knew how to read sheet music but for a guitar how do you know what string to play a note on? Like how would i know what string to play an F note on? If its a high f do we play one of the F’s on the high string? thats the only thing im confused about. And i never used tabs yet and i don’t really want to cause it feels like it would be like cheating, i mean i might start useing it for some stuff maybe, but i’d rather read sheet music if i can 
feels more musical 
and i’d rather learn songs by ear too! Before i even found your website and knew anything bout the guitar, i found out how to play Eponea’s song from the legend of zelda on my guitar and Zelda’s lullaby. But anyways thanks Nate!!!! 
Or should i just not really worry bout reading sheet music for guitar too much? i have alot of fun just playing random chords and making up my own stuff.
I still gots lot more stuff to learn though! can’t wait!
Nate is there any better way to read sheet music?
yeah , but the more you learn you’ll find that the notes will overlap so that a note will end up being at the most 4 places on the guitar ! so where do you fret at ?
Why don’t you teach all the complicated staff notes
Hey Nate, I have a question. I pretty much understand the scales and key signature and I have finally figured out the circle of 5ths and fourths but I am confused about one thing. When reading a musical score for the guitar how do you know where to start? I know that keys are based on the major scale but seeing that you can play a major scale on so many places on the fret board how do you know where to find say the key of C, it shows up so many different places on the fret board.Does this all make sense? Thanks for all your help
The idea for this lesson is to make it pylalbae for a Beginner. You would need two guitars to perfectly emulate the original intro. The original song has two acoustic guitars playing the intro (one a 6-string and the other a 12-string). If you have the Guitar Pro software, you can get the full tab for this. All three guitars, bass, flute, vocals, and drums. All tabbed out and play along-able in midi. Send me a message and I can send you the link to where you can get it.
Thank you for these lessons. I am having more fun than an old man should be allowed to have. LOL
Hey I found a great website that explains the basic strings (eBGDAE) in open form and builds up from that. I understood afterwards.
http://www.mangore.com/music_notation.html
i need to learn for my band but its so defining and difficult it makes me look bewildered(confused)
I already know all of that stuff that was written there only what I want to know is how to read the notes above and below the treble cleft.
The notes above and below the average staff are in the same order. If the notes are going up above, then you keep going up with the same pattern (starting with the last line)fgabcdef with the lines and spaces. If the notes go down below then you go backwards with the same pattern. (starting with the last line)edcbagfe. It’s simple once you get the hang of it. Hope this helps!!
I already know how to read normal sheet music from sitting in band class for 3years playing the clarinet. I was more or less looking for how to read the chord outlay that the guitar books give you when they are trying to teach you how to play the chord progressions. To me they look like numbers just put on the lines ranging anywhere from 0-14. Help??
I Have learnt this stuff many years ago but never put the time in to master it.I know it can become very involved I want to learn it more seriously.I Do still have a basic knowledge of some of the deeper stuff but I would like to brush up on it all and learn it properly.Do you provide lessons of this type that progressively get more involved.If so are they 100% free as stated.I find it difficult to Find any help along these lines!
[...] upYou will need to be in a small quite room where you will not be distracted by anything when you learn to read guitar sheet music. The only way to know when you get it right is if it sounds right and it can be difficult do that [...]
I find its east to remember them by:
FACE: FACE (line)
EGBSF: every good boy deserves fudge (space
Yeah, the one here (the white one) can get ANY sound in the world. It will sound amazing for any style of music. They black ICB300 has no aitvce electronics and sounds a lot like a Fender Precision bass. Just a boomy, thud of tone. There’s no getting a really live, slap sound out of it no matter how many knobs you have on your amp. lol It’s always going to sound that ONE WAY and no other. So, you have to REALLY love that tone that it has, because that’s all you’re going to get.
its really difficult and being a school girl its..HELL
dude guitar is tough
i just got a fender guitar for my birthdsy just learing smoke on the warter today but still have no idar what i am doing lol
to me smoke on the water is one of the simpliest things to learn. how are u doing it? in power chords or on a single string?
i got my electric in december and acoustic in february and am doing pretty good for a thirteen year old, but i think sheet music is going to be my hardest challenge. im going to take concert band next year because i think it will help my skills but will it actually help me?
Great confusion, reading these notes,i m confused with how to play space notes FACE. need more such videos.
hi, im a guitar player of about a year, and i know most power chords. the problem is, i want to learn how to read from sheet music. im in marching and concert band at school ( high school), but i play percusion. i want to be able to look at a sheet of music and know how to play it on guitar. i can read tabs, but not everything has tabs. can anybody help me!
Great website, although it is confusing at times.
It is actually a nice and helpful piece of information. I’m glad that you just shared this useful info with us. Please stay us informed like this. Thanks for sharing.
I think it’s alot easier to play by ear I’m in favor of zakk wylde never will I b as good but I mean if u no ur arpegioes and penatonic and octives then I’m my eyes ur a good guitarist :p
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What?!?!
My cousin has a guitar but i don’t know how to play it and i even don’t know how to read sheet music.
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It’s not hard. Just think your a rabbit and you need to reach the end of the desert to get water!
You’ve got great insights about Sheet Music, keep up the good work!