Musicianship

Ornamentation on Classical Guitar In this video, CGC Community Manager Dave Belcher walks you through an introduction to ornamentation on classical guitar. First, we’ll look at the three most common ornaments: the appoggiatura, the mordent, and the trill. Then we will introduce you to some basic principles for how to approach ornamentation and answer some … Read more

Ornamentation in the Music of JS Bach In this article we will look closely at ornamentation in the music of JS Bach. First we’ll look at some general principles from the baroque era, focusing on rhetoric and the affects. We’ll then take a look at the most important ornaments in the music of J.S. Bach. … Read more

3 Ways to Improve Your Rhythm In this video Simon gives you 3 ways to improve your rhythm. Because we often play alone as classical guitarists, it’s easy to distort the rhythm. So we need to take a few extra steps to be sure we’re in time. We will look specifically at smoothing out transitions across … Read more

Technique vs Musicality In this article our Community Manager Dave Belcher discusses the topic of technique vs musicality. Are they at odds with one another? Is one more important? Let’s dive in. The process of learning a musical instrument can be an arduous one. It takes time, discipline, patience, knowledge, experimentation, and weathering a lot … Read more

Dynamics on the Classical Guitar In this article our Community Manager Dave Belcher talks about dynamics on the classical guitar. We’ll talk about dynamic range and contrast, especially exploring dynamic extremes, and the relationship between sound and silence. In the silence of the night, interrupted by the whispering aromatic breeze of jasmines, the Guzlas accompany … Read more