Music reading is recognized as a critical component in the educational and professional development of musicians (Lehman & Ericsson, 1996; Kopiez & Lee, 2006; Laverde, 2024). Consequently, the persistent challenges guitarists face in developing fluent reading skills have long been a source of concern among music educators. In the study by Syahril and Arifin (2022) involving 30 university guitar undergraduate students, the majority were unable to read fluently at first sight. This finding raises important questions about how reading is taught for the instrument, and part of the answer may lie in teaching material. Since the 1970s, guitar methods have tended to introduce new notes gradually by teaching them directly through the score, so that learning each note requires reading it (Benoit, 1995). Beyond guitar pedagogy, researchers (e.g., Macknight, 1975; Grutzmacher, 1987) have referred to this as the “note-by-note” approach. Their studies further demonstrate that approaches based on tonal models and “sound-before-symbol” pedagogy are more effective in fostering music reading skills.Tonal models grounded in aural and singing skills were originally ranked by levels of difficulty and served as a framework for singing-based instructional programs (Gordon, 1976; Sinor, 1985; Chosky 1999; Henry, 2001). As Fridley (1993) observed, some patterns that are simple to sing may represent significant technical challenges on the instrument. Unsurprisingly, when these models were applied to violinists, adjustment in complexity became necessary (Alexander & Henry, 2012). We hypothesize that, much like the violin, the guitar’s technical characteristics will impact on difficulty levels and potentially their position within a structured learning progression. The purpose of this study is therefore to classify tonal models according to their ease of execution on the guitar, establishing a ranking from easiest to most difficult for integration into pedagogical materials.Following Henry and Demorest (1994) and Henry (2001) methods, high school guitarist students perform short melodies after receiving the key and first note by recording for 30 seconds to prepare. Performances are recorded, independently evaluated by two judges, and success rates calculated for each tonal pattern, with the highest-scoring pattern identified as the easiest to play. The findings will inform the development of specialized materials for teaching music reading on the guitar as a part of a larger research project.