Learn · Diesis
Read sheet music on the guitar, one note at a time.
Four exercises from easy to hard: a note on the staff and seven buttons, the staff over the neck, a bar of four notes, and sight reading against a moving line. Naturals only for now, in the part of the neck you choose. Read the note works right here; the other three open in the app.
It works right here: no account, nothing to install.
Read the note
A note appears on the staff. Name it.
No clock, no end.
Until the first slip.
Guitar music is written an octave above where it sounds: your open low E is the E under the staff.
No clock, no end. Stop when you like.
This is one tool. Diesis keeps them all in one place. Every tool, your bests and your teacher's homework, kept for you.
Sign up freeReading music
What it does
Read the note
A note on the treble staff, seven buttons. Say which it is. The note sounds when you get it right, never before: hearing it would be the answer.
Staff to neck
The staff above, your neck below. Tap where the note lives. Guitar music is written an octave above where it sounds, and Diesis draws the staff that way.
Read a bar
Four notes, named in order. The first step from single notes to reading a line.
Sight reading
Notes scroll toward a line. Name each one before it passes. The gap shrinks with every right answer, down to a note every 1.2 seconds.
How to use it
- 01
Pick the part of the neck
Frets 0 to 3, 0 to 7 or 0 to 12: the staff covers the notes in that zone, ledger lines included.
- 02
Choose a challenge
Practice with no clock, Against the clock for one, two or five minutes, or No mistakes.
- 03
Name the note
Tap the letter, or press C to B on your keyboard. A right answer sounds; a wrong one keeps the note on the staff until you get it.
Questions
Why learn to read music on guitar if tab exists?
Tab says where to put a finger on one guitar in one tuning. Notation says which note and how long, so it works for any instrument, any position on the neck and any tuning, and it is what most teachers, books and ensembles use. Read both: Diesis has a tab track too.
Which clef does guitar music use?
The treble clef, written an octave higher than it sounds, so the open low E string sits three ledger lines under the staff. Diesis draws the staff the way guitar music is printed.
Are there sharps and flats?
Not yet: the four exercises ask naturals only, so you learn the lines and spaces first. A level with accidentals and key signatures is next.
How do I practice sight reading on guitar?
A little every day beats one long session: name notes in a small zone of the neck until they are instant, then widen it. The Sight reading exercise keeps the notes coming and speeds up as you answer, which is what reading in time asks of you.
Does it work on a phone?
Yes, in the browser. The exercise turns sideways on a phone so the staff and the neck have room. On a computer the letter keys answer.
Guitar on your lap?
It opens in your browser. Free while in preview; you sign up with your email.
More in Diesis
- LearnName the noteA position lights and plays. Say which note it is, against the clock if you dare.
- LearnFind the noteYou get a name. Tap every place it lives on the neck.
- PracticeThe neckAny scale on any root, across the whole fretboard. Here, A minor pentatonic.
- PracticeMetronome20 to 300 BPM, odd meters, tap tempo, and a Speed up mode that climbs to your target.
- PracticeBacking tracksJam over tracks in every style, with the key and the scale to play shown on each.
- PracticeFinger independenceFour pads, one per finger, and notes falling onto them on the click. Hit each one as it lands and see how close you were.
- SetupStrings and setupEvery string's tension for your tuning, a balanced set worked out for you, and the setup numbers for your guitar.
- SetupTunerTune through the microphone in your guitar's own tuning. It hears the string you play and shows which way to turn the peg.
- LearnTablatureHow to read tab in four rules, then tab to neck, neck to tab, a riff and the signs.
- PracticeTab makerWrite your own tab from a number pad, the neck or the keyboard, and hear it played back.