Performance nerves can be a real issue for guitarists, especially because of the nature of how we create sound on the guitar. Nerves can manifest themselves as shaking of the hands, sweating, memory slips, loss of focus and more. There things can amount to technical breakdown, buzzing, wrong notes, and many more unwanted effects. There […]
Here is an excellent documentary about Andres Segovia and his life. Filmed in 1968 when Segovia was 75, the documentary features interviews with the Maestro and a number of performances. Segovia plays beautifully and has an amazing tone, there is a nice quality to this film. This is an informative and inspiring video about Segovia. […]
Here’s a video I came across in which Sharon Isbin talks about how she uses and applies vibrato. Vibrato is given to a note by applying and relaxing pressure to a string in a lateral direction. Lateral direction along the line of the string. The pressure towards the bridge with the hand motion coming towards […]
Here are a couple of nice guitar arrangements of the popular Brasilian Bossa Novas: Girl From Ipanema and Mas Que Nada performed by Milos. Milos has exploded onto the classical guitar scene in recent years helped by heavy promotion by Deutsch Gramophone. Much of the music he plays is Spanish and South American and his […]
Many players are taught to keep their left hand thumb in a fairly stationary position behind the neck of the guitar whilst playing. In some ways it makes sense that in order to stay in position you need to have a reference point which is usually the thumb. The reference point refers to the lateral […]
Rodrigo’s Concerto De Aranjuez is an very well known spanish guitar work, though it’s the Adagio theme which people are most familiar with. Today we are going to be looking at the into to the first movement. The concerto starts with a series of rasguedo chords which are played in a 6/8 and 3/4 time […]
Here is the next instalment of the Segovia Guitar Scales, G major and E Harmonic Minor (3 Octaves). There are many ways to practice these scales, I would recommend a variety of Right Hand fingerings. Here are some suggestions: im, mi, am, ma, ia,ai, ip, pi, imam Rest Stroke or Free Stroke
Matteo Carcassi Summary Born in Florence, and lived in Paris, and Germany. Virtuoso guitarist and composer. toured Europe extensively Friend Meissonnier published many of his works. Wrote an important method The Carcassi Method Op 59 (Paris 1836) Op 60 : 25 studies are popular classical etudes. Contemporary of Carulli, Sor and Giuliani.
I spend a lot of time explaining my take on correct right hand classical guitar technique. In truth there is no one correct way but here we can go over the basic ideas. I will also show some examples of different players’ right hands and what I like about them. 1. The arm sits on […]
It’s as important to think about how to practice is what to practice. You will become efficient at learning new guitar music if you follow a simple and effective process. I have outlined below the one I use with many of my guitar students. Be sure to have a metronome with you and give yourself […]