Music Reading Primer For Guitar

by Thom Gustafson

After 35+ years of teaching from books that I was never quite happy with, I decided to write my own. Now I can only blame myself if something is wrong but I can also change and make corrections as necessary to continually improve the books.

I believe that a beginning method for learning to read music on the guitar should present the music basics in a careful, graduated manner. I also believe songs learned should include familiar songs as well as orignial songs that the student must interpret for themselves.

Being a literate, reading musician is an advantage for anyone seriously pursuing musical knowledge. I hope you enjoy this book.

Click on this link to view or download a pdf. If you need a program to view pdf files use the free Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Below are posted links to .mp3 accompaniment files to use as backup while playing most of the songs in the book. The songs are listed in the order they occur in the book. Click on the link and you can play along with an accompaniment file. Most songs play through three times. The two measure count-in for 4/4 time is two half notes then four quarter notes 1-(2) 3-(4), 1-2-3-4. The count-in for 3/4 time is two measures of quarter notes 1-2-3, 1-2-3. Have fun!