Fingering principles for the classical guitar Good fingering on the classical guitar can make a huge difference in both technical and musical aspects. It can completely change the way a passage of music sounds and feels. In the next level we will look at musical fingering vs. technical fingering but right now I want to … Read more
By this stage you are getting into some pretty great repertoire, and the pieces are starting to get more complex. In simple pieces, it might work for you if you just sit down and start digging into the notes but once you get to the intermediate repertoire things need to change. First of all, you … Read more
A shift should move the left hand without interrupting the musical line. In this video, Simon uses a simple chromatic exercise to practise connecting notes across a change of position, with particular attention to the sound on either side of the shift. Lesson notes from Simon’s video · approximately 6 minutes Find a section in … Read more
In some recent guitar classes I gave in Australian universities I found myself talking about phrase structure quite a lot. Phrasing in music is incredibly important, but it is also important to recognize the smaller sections of a phrase. These smaller sections will help you understand how to play a phrase, it will aid in … Read more
This is going to be our first scale and the C major scale is a great place to start. C major has no sharps and no flats and by learning the C scale in first position we can get a really good knowledge of the notes to be found in first position. This scale is … Read more
Study no.8 in Opus 6 in C major by Fernando Sor is a wonderful piece that really tests the refinement of our right hand. Balancing voices and creating long legato lines are two of the hardest musical techniques to master on the guitar, which makes this little study quite challenging. To start off let’s acknowledge that … Read more