How do you play a song on a guitar from traditional sheet music?

I know how to read tablature, and as a pianist I've been able to sight-read sheet music for going on 15 years. However, I've been playing a guitar for a couple years but I'd like to learn how to play from sheet music instead of tabs. Basically, I'm just looking for how sheet music relates to the guitar; I have a whole stack of sheet music books and I'd like to be able to play them on something other than piano.





Thanks in advance!How do you play a song on a guitar from traditional sheet music?
First, you need to know the notes on the strings, from thinnest to thickest, they are e B G D A E.





Your thinnest string translates to the 4th inside space from the bottom of the staff (see below)





Imagine this is a staff:


------------------


e


------------------





--------B--------





--------G--------





------------------


D


underscore





underscore %26gt; A





underscore


E


underscore











Since you've been sight-reading for such a long time, you should be able to pin-point the rest of the notes as well as the step relationships between notes (ie B to C = 1 half step = 1 fret, C to D = 1 whole step = 2 frets, ect)





One note on sheet music - remember you only have 6 strings, any giant chords will need to be shortened down to 6 notes. You also have to keep in mind that you have a very limited range - You can only use a maximum of about 3 octaves to work with at once, so you will have to transpose to play large range songs like Rachmoninov's Bells of Moscow (Prelude in Csharp minor).





Good luck,


Best wishes,


CharlieHow do you play a song on a guitar from traditional sheet music?
The difficulty with sheet music and guitars is there's no way to indicate where exactly to play the particular note?





Of course, the F-A-C-E spaces, one can say the E corresponds to the open E string. (Thinnest string), but even so....did the guitarist play this E with a first string open? A second string at the 5th fret? A 9th fret on the 3rd string? A 14th fret on the 4th string?





See where I'm going?





The thing is, knowing exactly where the original guitarist played that 'E' note can make all the difference between making a difficult piece much easier to play.





It will help you, as a guitarist, to go through these sheet music books in standard staff, but it will help you even more to be able to hear the piece of music in question, and compare notes to any corressponding tabulature you find on the internet.





You don't really have to choose one over the other...use both.