Reading music is a valuable tool in learning guitar, but it can also be frustrating because it takes time, study, effort and practice. There are many paths to learning guitar, and the academic way is one (learn your notes, learn your scales, learn to read music, and so forth). The hands-on way is to learn a simple chord progression (2-3 chords) and you're playing a song (or at least key parts of a song) in no time at all (which is very satisfying). Both have their place for guitar students and it's really a matter of balance between textbook learning and having fun. If you just want to learn some songs for around the house or at the campfire then learning (memorizing) chords might be a good way to go (at least initially). On the other hand, if you want to transpose a song to a different key or understand which strings to strike for a given chord, etc. then reading music is a must. I bought my 1st guitar in the 1970's and just wanted to play with my buddies. Kept building my repertoire of chords as they showed me new songs. Then I bought songbooks and played the chords shown (I often avoided the more difficult chords, which excluded a lot of songs). My 1st guitar lesson was a gift for my 65th birthday and my jazz pro instructor took me back to basics, reading music, playing scales, and learning some of those jazz chords that made my carpal tunnel flare up. While I only took lessons for about 6 months, the learning serves me well to this day as I transpose songs on the fly, write a song here and there, and enjoy learning the musical nuance in songs. It's all good!! Have fun playing guitar ! Cheers!
