Reddit mentions of Sight-Read Any Rhythm Instantly

Great reading exercises and practice pieces:

1. 113 Etudes for Cello
   
2. 15 Inventions, Bach
   
3. 6 Cello Suites, Bach
   
4. Jazz Transcriptions
   
5. Various transcriptions
   
6. Vast collection of classic Funk/Soul Transcriptions
   
7. Rhythm Studies
   
   Transcribe as manny lines as you can. Practice arpeggios and scales (write them out even if you have them memorized) through the entire cycle of fifths (up and down) to help internalize the succession of key signatures. Don't worry about style of music. Just read everything you can get you hands on. Practice reading rhythms separately and in conjunction with pitch. For rhythm, think in terms of beats rather than notes. There is a finite number of ways for a beat to be subdivided. Sight-Reading any Rhythm Instantly is a great book for rhythm reading. Frequent short practice is much better than infrequent long practices. It is hard work, but the work pays off.

I think it really depends what sort of things you do / want to do. You can totally get by with your ear and mouth, and having a good ear is definitely more important.

I like tabs as they are quick / accessible but I dislike them because pretty much they are a way of noting down where you put your fingers.

So if you want to learn / play and essentially arrange songs in a creative fashion then a basic ability to understand / read music really helps.

For example to take a lead sheet, something like Autumn Leaves for jazzier or maybe more poppy, a beatles song Michelle. You can see they dont tell you how to play the song, what they do tell you is what chords go where and it details the melody + rhythm of melody. So you can take this and produce your own version if you can read it.

You could do that through ear, i.e. listen to song, pick out meldoy and chords by ear / rework but its helpful using the sheet, really using both is important.

Sight reading perfectly in real time is more questionable. I think professional guitarist / session guitarist / teacher its almost an essential skill to have, otherwise you can get by.

I've found that arrange enough songs / play with lead sheets then at first its a little slow, (you have to work everything out, i.e. what are these notes, this chord contains what notes and where do I play these notes?) but over time with practice / experience you naturally get faster until you are sight reading it.

I think one of the things its really helpful to be able to sight read are rhythms. You can count out but I found that doesnt translate well, this book I found was really good. Its where though you can start using your ear / feel more tho instead.

As well you mentioned improv. Benefit of lead sheets and being able to read them is you can read what notes or chords are there, it helps you discover possibilities for improv on the guitar. I.e. applying theory. So reading just makes that easier / quicker.