Learning to play the guitar is becoming an ever increasing pass-time but learning to read electric guitar sheet music is quite difficult to master. Lots of instruments only need to play one note at a time but you may have to play up to 6 notes at a time with a guitar. It would be none productive to suggest that you learn to read six notes straight off, so to start with we are going to look at just reading two notes. The easiest way to begin learning to read two notes with guitar sheet music is by playing octaves. 1 - Find The Octaves Before we try to play the song you have chosen, you need to look through your guitar sheet music to find two notes that are the same but are stacked on top of one another. These are octaves because they are an octave apart. You should start by putting your first finger (or index finger) of your fretting hand on the lower note of the two. Next you need to place the little finger (or your ring finger) on the top note. 2 - Dampen And Strum Once you have your fingers in the correct position try strumming the strings with your pick hand. The only notes you want to hear are the octave strings. If you hear that some of the other notes are sounding you need to mute them by gently laying the middle finger of your fret hand over any offending strings. This can be a little strange to master but after a while you will find a comfortable position that works for you. 3 - Play 2 Sets Of Octaves On The Same Strings The step you need to take next to help your reading and playing electric guitar sheet music is to try and play two sets of octaves on the same strings. This technique can sometimes be quite tricky as you ideally need to keep your fret hand in a similar shape as you slide from one set of octaves to the next. With a bit of practice you will discover your own particular way of playing this. 4 - Play 2 Sets Of Octaves On Different Strings Once you have gotten to grips with playing 2 sets of octaves on the same sets of strings you can then move on to playing 2 octaves in a row on different strings. The key to mastering guitar sheet music when moving from one note to another and one set of strings to another is to try and keep your hand in the same shape and keep it as close to the strings as possible. Learning to play octaves is not easy and you may find yourself not seeming to progress. But you must keep trying because suddenly it will all become clear and you will soon forget that you were ever struggling to read and play electric guitar sheet music
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