CGC 059 : Bradford Werner and This Is Classical Guitar

In this lesson

Bradford Werner joins Simon Powis to discuss the beginnings of This Is Classical Guitar and the teaching experiences behind its videos and scores. A resource first intended for his own students developed into a way to share performances, lessons and sheet music with a much wider community.

Alongside the story of a website, this is a conversation about learning online. How should a student interpret advice taken from a single video? What does an edition’s fingering represent? And how does a teacher build trust over time? The discussion offers useful questions for anyone choosing and using classical guitar resources.

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Originally published in 2018. These listening notes draw on the recorded conversation. Roles, projects, releases and event announcements refer to the time of recording. Practical reflections are suggested applications, not additional quotations from the guest.

Explore the conversation

Use these approximate timestamps to jump to a topic in the recording.

• 3:26 — Good resources begin with a real student need
• 12:23 — An instruction makes more sense in its musical context
• 23:35 — Fingerings are choices to understand and evaluate
• 27:12 — A score, performance and lesson answer different questions
• 37:11 — Trust grows through a continuing relationship

Good resources begin with a real student need

Werner describes a progression from promoting local concerts to sharing material with a broader audience. One early purpose of the site was straightforward: he wanted his students to see professional players making music with a well-developed technique.

Later in the conversation, he explains how pieces being studied in his teaching studio could become scores and videos. The online material was connected to questions and repertoire he was already working through with students.

For a learner, this suggests a useful way to choose the next resource: start with the question you need answered. A performance might help you hear the overall shape of a piece; a lesson might clarify a movement or fingering. Each resource becomes more useful when its purpose is clear.

An instruction makes more sense in its musical context

“there isn’t always one answer”

— Bradford Werner, 13:16

Werner gives the example of a student returning with notes from an earlier lesson and noticing apparently contradictory advice. The musical situation may have changed, even when the instruction sounds similar. A statement made to solve one problem is not always a rule for every passage.

He describes learning as absorbing a broader musical outlook through repeated encounters with music, teaching and experimentation. That makes a sequence of lessons different from a collection of isolated instructions.

When two teachers appear to disagree, first compare the passage, the sound they want and the difficulty they are addressing. Try to understand the reason for the advice before deciding whether it applies to your own piece. This is especially valuable when a short online clip leaves out the surrounding lesson.

Fingerings are choices to understand and evaluate

Werner mentions requests for scores without fingerings, including requests from students in higher education. As a teacher, he also describes changing an editor’s suggestions to suit his own approach.

The point is not that an edition with fingerings is unhelpful. A suggested fingering can make a piece more accessible and communicate an interpretation. An unmarked score, on the other hand, leaves more of that decision-making visible to the player and teacher.

If you change a printed fingering, identify the reason. Does it improve a connection, support a voice, change a tone colour or make a movement more dependable? Comparing two workable choices can teach more than accepting or rejecting an editor’s solution without listening.

A score, performance and lesson answer different questions

Werner explains his interest in bringing sheet music together with performances and lessons. A visitor can then hear a piece, look at the notation and follow an explanation without having to reconstruct the connection between unrelated resources.

The conversation also covers the balance between free material and paid editions as it stood at the time of the interview. Those details describe the development of his project; they are not a current price list or a promise about present-day access.

A productive study sequence is to listen first for the character of a piece, then follow the score and identify a specific question for the lesson. Return to the performance afterwards and listen for the detail you have just explored. This gives each format a distinct role in your learning.

Trust grows through a continuing relationship

“a slow, gradual build of trust between an individual and users”

— Bradford Werner, 38:01

The interview returns to the personal connection between a teacher and an audience. Werner describes readers who primarily knew his work through a newsletter or a video channel, even when those formats were connected to the same larger project.

He also explains how he initially set aside time for online work as though it were another student. That modest, regular commitment is a useful detail: the collection grew through repeated contributions rather than appearing complete at the outset.

For students, a familiar and reliable teaching voice can make a large body of information easier to navigate. Choose material that helps you make progress, return to it with specific questions, and give yourself time to understand the approach behind individual tips.

Ideas to take into your own music

These prompts are reflections on the conversation, rather than a routine prescribed by the guest.

1. Choose a resource for a reason: identify the musical question you want it to answer.
2. Check the context: understand the purpose of advice before treating it as a general rule.
3. Compare fingerings thoughtfully: listen to the difference and discuss it with your teacher.
4. Connect the formats: use a score, performance and lesson together rather than as unrelated browsing.

Original episode notes and resources

The original introduction and resources are retained below. Any time-sensitive announcements belong to the episode’s publication period.

In this week’s episode of The Classical Guitar Corner Podcast, Simon sits down for a conversation with Bradford Werner, who runs the website This Is Classical Guitar, an excellent resource for classical guitarists, as well as a brand new site, Werner Guitar Editions, dedicated to providing high-quality pdfs of classical and fingerstyle guitar editions in pdf format. This is a great conversation we think you’ll really enjoy! Please go visit Bradford’s sites to show him your support, and leave a comment below to join the conversation.

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