Help me learn how to sight read

[Ralph124C41]

Originally Posted by mr. beaumont

I'm sorry, I wasn't clear in my question--

Not genre, but are you going to be looking at single note melodies, solo guitar pieces with chords, etc...

I would say to start with ... the single note melodies.

[mr. beaumont]

I edited my previous post to be more helpful.

[Gitfiddlemann]

Originally Posted by Ralph124C41

What exactly would be the difference between sight reading and standard reading?

Sight reading is a specialized skill, a sub-set of being able to read notation. It's used mainly so that you can play in groups or ensembles and follow along, in time. That's the crucial aspect, and what makes it challenging. It's OK to play a wrong note, it's OK even to skip whole measures if you get lost, but the cardinal sin is messing up the timing and rhythm. That will mess everyone up.
From reading the thread, it sounds like that is what you want to learn to do. If you practice it, just take a simple piece of music along with a metronome, as slow as you need to go, and make sure you get through without messing the timing. Even if you play a wrong note here and there, it's OK, you will have been successful as long as the timing was fine. You might even get away with the wrong note, as long as it wasn't too dissonant. But you won't get away with stopping, or speeding up, or slowing down. That's the big no-no that will get you fired from your group!
You said that you did a lot of hunting and pecking though. You might have to first sharpen up your knowledge of the fretboard. If that's the case, that's what I would do first. When you can reasonably find all the notes, then go back to apply this new knowledge in your sight reading skill development.
It's all doable. But there are no magic bullets. It will take devotion and practice, preferably daily. Good luck!