Guitarmania

What happens if I don't understand the guitar fretboard?

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 12:47:00 +0000

If you don't understand the fretboard, you will have to live with:

Very poor sight-reading skills

Having to learn scales & chords by rote, instead of understanding them. This results in choppy, uninteresting improvisation

Uninteresting voice leading (choppy chords and harmony)

Having to learn pieces only by rote (much slower than through understanding). No steadfast knowledge of what you are playing

Poor, uninteresting (not to mention, slow and painful) composition

Plus all and any other problems arising from bad musicianship. The list goes on...

Figuring out the fretboard, step by step...

If you are to succeed at this, you will need to "disentangle" the guitar fretboard, step by step.

The first point is that the guitar, like the piano, is based on the standard 12 tone equal-tempered system. This means that we have only 12 tones to choose from. These tones may repeat an octave higher or lower, giving us a different note, but those 12 tones are all we have. The only exception is when we bend a string, or use a tremolo bar.

On a guitar, if you play two adjacent frets on the same string, you'll hear the interval of a semitone(or minor second). If you skip one fret, the interval is a whole tone (major second).

Once we know this, we can start exploring our first view of the fretboard —along the each string:

Then, we can start looking at scales and modes, and eventually melody:

After we have understood the way the fretboard works along the strings, we need to connect them up by looking across the fretboard, at the relationship between the strings:

Connecting this view -across the fretboard- with the way each string is divided into 12 tones -along the fretboard- gives us a full view —the complete guitar fretboard chart!

How are guitar notes organized along the fretboard?

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 06:34:00 +0000

Notes on the guitar fretboard are preset. The guitar is a tempered instrument, meaning that the notes we have as choices to play are set beforehand. The violin, the trombone, and the human voice are all examples of non-tempered instruments. On these, the player (or singer) has an infinite choice of possible tones and notes to play (or sing).

The piano and the guitar, however, follow the standard 12 tone equal-tempered system. This means that we have 12 tones to choose from. Those tones may repeat an octave higher, or lower, giving us a different note, but those 12 tones are all we have.

The only way to play a tone outside of this 12 tone system is by bending a string, using a trem bar, or detuning your guitar.

On a guitar, each fret is one step in that 12 step system. If you play two contiguous frets on the same string, one after the other, you'll hear the interval of a semitone (or minor second).

If you skip one fret, the interval is one whole tone (major second).

Guitar Notes Image 1: a Semitone and a Whole Tone

If you play any 12 tones next to one another —12 consecutive frets— what you get is a chromatic scale.
We will call the nut "fret 0", as it also counts. This means that if you start on any open string, and go up fret by fret, you'll get all the tones of the chromatic scale by fret 11 . Remember, the open string also counts, so 1 + 11 = 12.

The cycle starts again beginning at the 12th fret, an octave higher.

Guitar Notes Image 2: the full Chromatic Scale

What about the guitar's "height", relative to other instruments?

This is key, whether we play alone or with others. It is especially important whenever we play with other musicians, whether singers or instrumentalists.

Most guitar sheet music shows a treble clef. For this reason, guitarists in general think that they have a very high pitched instrument. But a violin is higher pitched than a guitar! And violin music is also written in the treble clef!?!?

What most editions of guitar sheet music don't say, is that guitar music is not written in treble clef, but in tenor clef. It looks exactly the same as the treble clef, except that it has a little "8" underneath, meaning that all notes on the guitar fretboard are an octave lower:

Guitar Notes Image 3: Piano Notes and Guitar Notes compared

This means that middle C on the guitar is located on the first fret of the second string, NOT the third fret of the 5th string! This simple fact shocks even professional guitarists who have been playing for years. I've met some stubborn enough to deny it altogether (virtuosos, too!). If in doubt, simply go to a piano and see for yourself!

Still unclear? The following diagram shows the open strings of the guitar as written in guitar notation, and standard, non-transposing notation:

Guitar Notes Image 4: The open strings of a guitar, as written in
guitar sheet music and piano sheet music

If, say, you're playing with a keyboard player and you want to communicate with him, you'll want to be able to tell him what your open strings are on his instrument. Or if you want to write an arrangement, you'll need to get all your instruments' parts properly distributed by note range.

Building a Practice Schedule

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 14:00:00 +0000

Building a Practice Schedule

A question that crops up time and time again is whether I have a daily practice schedule or regimen that I can recommend for classical guitarists.
I don't have one single, standard practice schedule that I use for everyone, but instead try and work out a plan to suit each individual student at any given stage, and according to the amount of time they have available for practice every day. However, what I always try to do is include these three main components:

Repertoire
Scales and Arpeggios
Sight reading

Let's look at each of them in more detail.

1. REPERTOIRE

This is basically time spent learning new pieces, but just as importantly, it is about keeping on top of the old ones, too.
One thing I've noticed with many classical guitar students is that left to their own devices they often won't be able to play a single piece of music all the way through at any given time!

Here's the trap: they start learning a new piece and put all their energy into it for a while, and completely forget about their old pieces. Then one day someone asks them to play a piece to show what they can do on the guitar. But they've not yet got the latest piece together, and they can't quite remember how to play any of the old pieces all the way through!

I therefore try and encourage students to get a tune up to performance standard, and then make sure they keep it 'topped up' while they work on the next new tune. That way they always have something they know well enough to play all the way through to a reasonable performance standard.
This useful when it comes to giving impromptu performances to doting friends or relatives. But even more importantly, if you don't spend some time practicing pieces at a performance standard then - guess what? - you'll never be much good at playing anything up to performance standard! You may get quite good at learning how to stumble through bits of new pieces, but playing a complete piece as a coherent whole means spending at least some time practicing doing just this.

For someone with, say, an hour available every day for work on repertoire I might suggest they spend something like 15-20 mins working on new material, 20-30 mins running through tunes they already know, then another 15-20 mins working on new material.

2. SCALES AND ARPEGGIOS

Segovia famously said that if he had only 2 hours to practice every day he'd spend all the time on scales. A bit of an extreme view, no doubt, but it hints at how important scales are for musicians.

Scales and arpeggios are great for warming-up, for giving you fingerboard knowledge and developing general technical ability, but they are also excellent vehicles for practicing almost every other aspect of guitar playing, too.

For example, a lot of people forget about dynamics in music (playing loud and soft), so everything ends up on the same volume level and loses musicality. Try this as an exercise: Choose a scale you know well - any one will do. Now start by playing quietly, then very gradually increase the loudness so that you are playing as loud as possible when you reach the mid point of the scale. Now as you play the second half of the scale start playing quieter and quieter until you play as quiet as possible at the end.
You can also change this round - start out loud, play quiet in the middle then finish loud. You can then invent endless numbers of more complex patterns to practice, e.g. getting louder for 3 notes, then getting quieter for 4 notes, then louder for 2 notes... and so on. You can also practice changing abruptly from playing loud to playing quiet, e.g. 4 notes at full volume, then suddenly play a few notes as quiet as a whisper. The trick is to be able to do it all in a very controlled way.

Other Uses for Scales
You can use scales to work on all kinds of other things. Here are some examples:

Scales can be used for building up speed, especially with the help of a metronome to advance the speed by small increments. They can also be used for practicing rest strokes and free strokes, and for working on different right hand finger combinations, e.g. i m or m i or m aor i m a etc.

You can practice playing scales in quavers - play each scale note twice (e.g. C C D D E E F F etc), or in triplets - play each scale note 3 times (e.g. C C C D D D E E E etc). These exercises are great for increasing speed and for working on right hand fingering.

You can play a scale very staccato (short, abrupt notes), then play it again legato (smooth and sustained notes) to help you develop these different ways of articulating notes. You can also try changing the tone as you play the scale, e.g. start by plucking close to the bridge for a hard, metallic sound (referred to as playing 'sul ponticello' or 'metallico'). Then gradually move your right hand nearer to the fingerboard to produce a warmer, softer sound (called playing 'sul tasto').

By incorporating elements such as these into your scale practice you'll develop a broad palette of sounds that will greatly enhance your musicality when you play a piece.

Which Scales to Practice?
A lot of this depends on which ones you already know, and which new ones you're trying to learn. The Trinity College of Music Guitar Scales and Arpeggios are an excellent free resource that I can recommend, even if you have no intention of ever taking an exam on the guitar.

One good thing about following a syllabus such as Trinity's is that you can learn the scales and arpeggios in a progressive and systematic way, and watch yourself advance through the grades over a period of time.

Cycle of 4ths
One thing I do myself and would recommend to others as a tip is to practice scales going through the cycle of 4ths. I'll explain what I mean.
Imagine you know five different major scales: C, D, F, G and A major Instead of playing the scales in alphabetical order practice them in this order: A, D, G, C and F major This way the keys are moving through the cycle of 4ths (A to D is 4; D to G is 4; G to C is 4; C to F is 4)

This can help reinforce your knowledge of music theory. For example: A major has 3 sharps in its key signature, D has 2 sharps, G has one sharp, C has none, F has one flat. The next key in the cycle of 4ths will have 2 flats (key Bb)...and so on.

Here's the complete cycle of 4ths. It is also called the circle of 4ths, because it can be arranged in a circle, as the notes return to their starting point.

It is also known as the cycle (or circle) of 5ths. This is simply down to which direction you go through the cycle. If you read it left to right (or clockwise for the circle) then it is going in 4ths. Read it right to left (or anticlockwise through the circle) and it is going in 5ths.

Minor Scales
I like to practice minor scales by linking them to related major scales, again because it can help to consolidate knowledge of music theory, and it ties in better with key relationships as they occur in real music.

Every major key has a relative minor key that shares the same key signature. The relative minor key of C major is A minor - they both have no sharps or flats in the key signature. The relative minor of G major is E minor - they both have one sharp in the key signature.

For my major and minor scale practice schedule I do this sequence consisting of a major scale followed by its relative minor:

C major then A minor

F major then D minor
Bbmajor then G minor
Ebmajor then C minor
Abmajor then F minor
Dbmajor then Bbminor
Gbmajor then Ebminor (= F#major then D#minor)
Cbmajor then Abminor (= B major then G#minor)
E major then C#minor
A major then F#minor
D major then B minor
G major then E minor
C major then A minor...and we're back to the beginning.

Notice how the minor keys are also moving through the cycle of 4ths, only starting in a different place from the major keys.

For minor scales the commonest forms are the harmonic minor and the melodic minor. One idea is to practice the harmonic minors one day and the melodic minors the next.

Arpeggios
You can practice the major and minor arpeggios following the same sequence for the scales above. But if you know some dominant 7th arpeggios here's a nice practice sequence I use for combining them with major arpeggios:
C major then C7
F major then F7
Bbmajor then Bb7
Ebmajor then Eb7
...and so on following the cycle of 4ths
It also works nicely with minor instead of major arpeggios
C minor then C7
F minor then F7
Bbminor then Bb7
Ebminor then Eb7
...and so on following the cycle of 4ths

As well as the basic major and minor scales and arpeggios plus dominant 7th arpeggios, there are lots of others you can add to a practice sequence. There are chromatic scales, major and minor scales in 3rds, 6ths, octaves or 10ths, diminished 7th arpeggios and whole tone scales to name the most common.

Beyond this there are countless others. There are the major scale modes (Aeolian, Locrian, Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian and Mixolydian) for each key, and the corresponding modes for the melodic minor (ascending) and harmonic minor scales. There are diminished scales, synthetic scales, multi-octave scales, hundreds of pentatonic sales (and many rock guitarists think there is just one pentatonic scale!)...the list goes on and on.

So if ever you get bored with your scale practice schedule then why not learn an exotic new scale? Here are some suggestions for you to track down and learn: the Enigmatic, 8 Note Spanish, Overtone Dominant, Hungarian Minor, Super Locrian or Altered Hindu Ma-Grama

3. SIGHT READING

There's an old joke in electric guitar circles: How do you make the lead guitarist play quieter?Answer: put some sheet music in front of them!
Let's face it - most guitar players are not great at reading music! Classical guitarists are generally a bit better at reading than those playing other guitar styles - but often not much.

Perhaps this is because classical guitarists are quite self-contained. They don't have to play in ensembles to make satisfying music, unlike bowed string, reed and brass players, who generally have a far higher standard of reading ability as a result. Some argue that the guitar is notoriously awkward for reading music because exactly the same note can be played in a number of different places, unlike say the piano where each individual note can be found in one place only. But violinists and cellists face a similar problem to guitarists, yet they tend to be good readers.

I think the main reason is the culture associated with the guitar. Many (most?) guitarists play other styles such as rock, blues or folk before turning to classical guitar, and bring with them a culture of playing by ear and jamming rather than one of reading music.

The Value of Sight Reading
As a teacher I'm always very keen to develop sight reading skills in classical guitar students. I don't just do this so they will do well on the sight reading part in grade exams, although this is one benefit.

So why do I consider developing music reading skills to be so important? Well, for pretty much the same reasons that we're taught to read words at school - because there's a vast amount of written material available, and being a fluent reader allows us to assimilate a lot of this information quickly and easily.

The entire classical guitar repertoire is available in music notation. It therefore makes sense to develop our music reading skills so that we don't have to labour over a piece for hours and hours just to lift the notes off the page and onto the guitar. That time and energy is better spent on overcoming technical and musical difficulties.

Sight Reading Tips
First of all, try and read new music regularly - do a little bit every day if you can, and you'll be impressed by your progress after even a week or two.

Secondly, try and find music at an appropriate standard for your reading ability. We wouldn't give an average 6 year old a novel by Charles Dickens or Dostoevsky to practice their reading skills. Similarly it's important to read music at the right level: if it's far too easy it won't be interesting, and if it's far too difficult it will be dispiriting.

Thirdly, even if you are reading at the right kind of level, sight reading is hard work and demands a lot of mental energy. Don't set yourself too demanding a schedule of regular sight reading, otherwise you'll find that the lawn urgently needs mowing or the washing up simply must be done just when you planned to sit down with the guitar and begin your 2 hour session of fiendishly difficult sight reading exercises.

Bear in mind that you don't need to buy lots of expensive books and do specially written sight reading exercises - any old music will do if it's at the right standard. In fact, don't just read guitar music: look at music for the violin, clarinet, flute and other instruments as well.

Track down free music: there are public libraries (remember them?) that generally have at least a few shelves of music, and of course there's a wealth of material available on the Internet. Maybe you even have friends with whom you can share music.

You can also recycle music. If you use something for sight reading then there's a good chance that you won't remember much about it a month later, so it's OK to use it a second or even a third time.

Summary
In a nutshell, the practice schedule I'd recommend is based around the three components of repertoire, scales and arpeggios and sight reading. How much time you spend on each of these and the specific ground you cover depends very much on your level of playing ability.

I hope this article has given you some ideas that will help you work more fruitfully on improving your playing.

Best of luck!

Tony Oreshko

This article was written by Tony Oreshko at http://www.oreshko.co.uk.
You may freely reprint it on your own website provided this notice
and the author name and URL remain intact.

Play Classical Guitar by David Braid

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 21 Jun 2012 16:58:00 +0000

From playing the classical guitar, to buying one, to appreciating its unique music and heritage, this fully illustrated tutorial with play-along CD reveals the riches of a distinguished stringed instrument.

Regardless of your experience or playing style, nearly 100 exercises help you enhance your musicianship and instrumental skills. You'll find complete left- and right-hand techniques—from basic finger and thumb patterns and arpeggios to string-damping, legato, and vibrato—and instruction on music notation, keys, tempo, scales, dynamics, and much more. Plus you get a history of classical guitar repertoire, transcriptions, purchasing advice, a glossary, and the CD—all wrapped up in a special spiral binding for easy use and shelving.

Download here: Play Classical Guitar by David Braid

Tango en Skaï - Roland Dyens by Francis Wan

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 06:00:00 +0000

I recently came across this video. Very nice performance by a Hong Kong guitarist

Merry Christmas to all of my friend

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 03:48:00 +0000

It’s a while I have not updated my blog. Super busy for this year. I wish I can spend more time in guitar next year.

Here I wish all of my friends and follower a merry Christmas.

Score of Movie Music

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 14:11:00 +0000

Recently I came came across of the score book and like to share in my blog.

Anastasia
Deep Purple
Hi-Lili, Hi-Lo
Invitation
Mimi
Over the Rainbow
Softly, As I leave you
Spring is here
Star eyes
The bad and the beautiful
The boy next door
The green leaves of summer
The shadow of your smile

Download

Recording Yourself

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 13 Mar 2011 14:35:00 +0000

Recording yourself is one of the best ways to improve your abilities. We often have quite a different idea in our head of what our playing sounds like compared to the scathing honesty of a recording. If you record yourself and hear things that you want to improve then you have already learnt something and gained invaluable objectivity.

Many guitar students rely on teachers to give them advice on what to work on in their playing but armed with a recording device and your own common sense you will be amazed at how many things you can pick up and improve on your own.

Here is an approach that I recommend to my students:

Record your piece and listen back to it several times with the score in-front of you. Mark on the score (you may want to make some extra copies for yourself as they might get crowded!) all of the things that you would like to improve. For example, you might notice that some dotted rhythms are a little sloppy and that you didn't play the dynamics/articulation that is marked in. You might even notice that you are playing some wrong notes!

Then, quite simply, go over those sections that need improving. If it sounds simple, its because it is simple. But then think about what your teacher points out in your lesson... "Your rhythm here is a little sloppy and you aren't playing staccato here... actually come to think of it... isn't that meant to be a G#?"

Be sure to keep all of the recordings you make and every few weeks go over the recordings to track your progress. Consistent errors or aspects of your playing that need fixing become very apparent through this process and the realization and acknowledgement of these problems is one of the biggest steps in fixing them

Nail Care

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 12 Mar 2011 14:32:00 +0000

MENDING A CRACKED NAIL

If you have cracked a nail, my sympathies. It is a huge frustration and can severely hamper your playing. If the nail is still attached you can usually salvage it with the following technique.

Get some nail glue and a tissue. Usually a tissue will have several layers so separate them until you have a single sheet of tissue paper.
Place a small amount of glue over the crack and let it dry
Place the tissue over the crack and wet the area with nail glue letting it dry. Don't go overboard with the glue as nail glue and super glue deteriorate the nail over time so use it sparingly.
Repeat #3 so that there are three layers of glued tissue paper over the crack. Let the glue dry completely each time.

Take care! Nail glue and super glue will bond with skin very, very quickly. If this happens soak the skin in warm soapy water or better yet, use nail polish remover to dissolve the glue. Do not try to pull the skin apart, you will get hurt!

This process forms a very durable shell around the cracked nail and if you are careful with the nail it can last until the crack grows out. If need to take off the glue and tissue paper use nail polish remover. Put the nail polish remover on a cotton pad and place it over the glued area. The remover will dissolve the glue and with a little patience and gentle rubbing the area will be clean enough to start over.

NAILS THAT WEAR DOWN

A very simple but effective trick to stop nails wearing down from practicing is to put tape on them. You may have to experiment with different tape varieties as some work better than others depending on their glue and elasticity. I personally use brown packing tape.

Cut a small rectangle of tape and place the sticky side up underneath your nail. Then, fold it over the top of the nail and press it down. The tape may crease on the top of the nail but as long as it has a smooth surface along the playing edge of the nail you will be fine. You should still be able to get a good tone from your nails and they will last a lot longer!

Curse of the Golden Flower

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 10:56:00 +0000

Classical Guitar Performance of Original Soundtrack of Curse of the Golden Flower by Li Yan Jun, a Classical Guitar student in SanXi, China

Dictionary of Terms for Classical Guitar Sheet Music

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 13:48:00 +0000

Tempo Terms: These are the common terms that indicate the speed of a piece or of a section of a piece of classical guitar music.

Largo Adagio - Very Slow
Andante - Very Slow
Andantino - Medium Slow
Moderato - Moderate speed
Allegretto - Medium Fast
Allegro - Fast
Vivace = lively
Presto - Very fast
Meno Mosso - Slower
Piu Mosso - Faster

There are Terms that indicate a speed modification within only 1 measure or just a few measures.

Ritardando (rit.) Gradually slowing down
Rallentando (rall.) Also indicates a gradual slowing down
Accelerando (accel.) - Gradually speeding up
A tempo - Return to previous speed. You would normally see this after a Ritardando or Accelerando. What it means is that you are playing at the speed indicated by the piece then you are either given a Ritardando or Accelerando for a period of time then when the A tempo comes up you know to return to the pieces normal speed.
The Fermata or Hold symbol is either above or below a note and it indicates you should hold the note longer than is written. How long you hold it is up to your personal discretion.

Terms that Indicate volume or change in volume

= piano, means soft

= Forte, means loud

= Pianissimo, means very soft

= Mezzoforte, means moderately loud

= fortissimo, means very loud

= Forte-piano, means loud then immediately soft again

or cresc. = Crescendo, means to gradually increase the sound

or dim. = Diminuendo, means to gradually decrease the sound

Glossary of Musical Terms

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 13:40:00 +0000

Term	Definition
A cappella -	One or more vocalists performing without an accompaniment.
Accelerando -	A symbol used in musical notation indicating to gradually quicken tempo.
Accessible -	Music that is easy to listen to and understand.
Adagio -	A tempo having slow movement; restful at ease.
Allegro -	A direction to play lively and fast.
Atonal -	Music that is written and performed without regard to any specific key.
Baroque -	Time in music history ranging from the middle of the 16th to the middle of the 17th centuries. Characterized by emotional, flowery music; written in strict form.
Beat -	The unit of musical rhythm.
Cadence -	A sequence of chords that brings an end to a phrase, either in the middle or the end of a composition.
Cadenza -	Initially an improvised cadence by a soloist; later becoming an elaborate and written out passage in an aria or concerto, featuring the skills of an instrumentalist or vocalist.
Cadenza -	Originally an improvised cadence by a soloist. Later it became a written out passage to display performance skills of an instrumentalist or performer.
Canon -	A musical form where the melody or tune is imitated by individual parts at regular intervals. The individual parts may enter at different measures and pitches. The tune may also be played at different speeds, backwards, or inverted.
Cantabile -	A style of singing which is characterized by the easy and flowing tone of the composition.
Cantata -	Music written for chorus and orchestra. Most often religious in nature.
Capriccio -	A quick, improvisational, spirited piece of music.
Carol -	A song or hymn celebrating Christmas.
Castrato -	Male singers who were castrated to preserve their alto and soprano vocal range.
Cavatina -	A short and simple melody performed by a soloist that is part of a larger piece.
Chamber music -	Written for 2 to 10 solo parts featuring one instrument to a part. Each part bears the same importance.
Chant -	Singing in unison, texts in a free rhythm. Similar to the rhythm of speech.
Choir -	Group of singers in a chorus.
Chorale -	A hymn sung by the choir and congregation often in unison.
Chord -	3 or 4 notes played simultaneously in harmony.
Chord progression -	A string of chords played in succession.
Chorus -	A group singing in unison.
Chromatic scale -	Includes all twelve notes of an octave.
Classical -	The period of music history which dates from the mid 1700’s to mid 1800’s. The music was spare and emotionally reserved, especially when compared to Romantic and Boroque music.
Classicism -	The period of music history which dates from the mid 1800’s and lasted about sixty years. There was a strong regard for order and balance.
Clavier -	The keyboard of a stringed instrument.
Clef -	In sheet music, a symbol at the beginning of the staff defining the pitch of the notes found in that particular staff.
Coda -	Closing section of a movement.
Concert master -	The first violin in an orchestra.
Concerto -	A composition written for a solo instrument. The soloist plays the melody while the orchestra plays the accompaniment.
Conductor -	One who directs a group of performers. The conductor indicates the tempo, phrasing, dynamics, and style by gestures and facial expressions.
Consonance -	Groups of tones that are harmonious when sounded together as in a chord.
Contralto -	Lowest female singing voice.
Counterpoint -	Two or three melodic lines played at the same time.
Courante -	A piece of music written in triple time. Also an old French dance.
Da Capo -	In sheet music, an instruction to repeat the beginning of the piece before stopping on the final chord.
Deceptive cadence -	A chord progression that seems to lead to resolving itself on the final chord; but does not.
Development -	Where the musical themes and melodies are developed, written in sonata form.
Dissonance -	Harsh, discordant, and lack of harmony. Also a chord that sounds incomplete until it resolves itself on a harmonious chord.
Drone -	Dull, monotonous tone such as a humming or buzzing sound. Also a bass note held under a melody.
Duet -	A piece of music written for two vocalists or instrumentalists.
Dynamics -	Pertaining to the loudness or softness of a musical composition. Also the symbols in sheet music indicating volume.
Elegy -	An instrumental lament with praise for the dead.
Encore -	A piece of music played at the end of a recital responding to the audiences enthusiastic reaction to the performance, shown by continuous applause.
Energico -	A symbol in sheet music a direction to play energetically.
Enharmonic Interval -	Two notes that differ in name only. The notes occupy the same position. For example: C sharp and D flat.
Ensemble -	The performance of either all instruments of an orchestra or voices in a chorus.
Espressivo -	A direction to play expressively.
Etude -	A musical composition written solely to improve technique. Often performed for artistic interest.
Exposition -	The first section of a movement written in sonata form, introducing the melodies and themes.
Expressionism -	Atonal and violent style used as a means of evoking heightened emotions and states of mind.
Falsetto -	A style of male singing where by partial use of the vocal chords, the voice is able to reach the pitch of a female.
Fermata -	To hold a tone or rest held beyond the written value at the discretion of the performer.
Fifth -	The interval between two notes. Three whole tones and one semitone make up the distance between the two notes.
Finale -	Movement or passage that concludes the musical composition.
Flat -	A symbol indicating that the note is to be diminished by one semitone.
Form -	The structure of a piece of music.
Forte -	A symbol indicating to play loud.
Fourth -	The interval between two notes. Two whole tones and one semitone make up the distance between the two notes.
Fugue -	A composition written for three to six voices. Beginning with the exposition, each voice enters at different times, creating counterpoint with one another.
Galliard -	Music written for a lively French dance for two performers written in triple time.
Gavotte -	A 17th century dance written in Quadruple time, always beginning on the third beat of the measure.
Glee -	Vocal composition written for three or more solo parts, usually without instrumental accompaniment.
Glissando -	Sliding between two notes.
Grandioso -	Word to indicate that the movement or entire composition is to be played grandly.
Grave -	Word to indicate the movement or entire composition is to be played very slow and serious.
Grazioso -	Word to indicate the movement or entire composition is to be played gracefully.
Gregorian Chant -	Singing or chanting in unison without strict rhythm. Collected during the Reign of Pope Gregory VIII for psalms and other other parts of the church service.
Harmony -	Pleasing combination of two or three tones played together in the background while a melody is being played. Harmony also refers to the study of chord progressions.
Homophony -	Music written to be sung or played in unison.
Hymn -	A song of praise and glorification. Most often to honor God.
Impromptu -	A short piano piece, often improvisational and intimate in character.
Instrumentation -	Arrangement of music for a combined number of instruments.
Interlude -	Piece of instrumental music played between scenes in a play or opera.
Intermezzo -	Short movement or interlude connecting the main parts of the composition.
Interpretation -	The expression the performer brings when playing his instrument.
Interval -	The distance in pitch between two notes.
Intonation -	The manner in which tones are produced with regard to pitch.
Introduction -	The opening section of a piece of music or movement.
Key -	System of notes or tones based on and named after the key note.
Key signature -	The flats and sharps at the beginning of each staff line indicating the key of music the piece is to be played.
Klangfarbenmelodie -	The technique of altering the tone color of a single note or musical line by changing from one instrument to another in the middle of a note or line.
Leading note -	The seventh note of the scale where there is a strong desire to resolve on the tonic.
Legato -	Word to indicate that the movement or entire composition is to be played smoothly.
Leitmotif -	A musical theme given to a particular idea or main character of an opera.
Libretto -	A book of text containing the words of an opera.
Ligature -	Curved line connecting notes to be sung or played as a phrase.
Madrigal -	A contrapuntal song written for at least three voices, usually without accompaniment.
Maestro -	Refers to any great composer, conductor, or teacher of music.
Major -	One of the two modes of the tonal system. Music written in major keys have a positive affirming character.
March -	A form of music written for marching in two-step time. Originally the march was used for military processions.
Measure -	The unit of measure where the beats on the lines of the staff are divided up into two, three, four beats to a measure.
Medley -	Often used in overtures, a composition that uses passages from other movements of the composition in its entirety.
Mezzo -	The voice between soprano and alto. Also, in sheet music, a direction for the tempo to be played at medium speed.
Minor -	One of the two modes of the tonal system. The minor mode can be identified by the dark, melancholic mood.
Minuet -	Slow and stately dance music written in triple time.
Modes -	Either of the two octave arrangements in modern music. The modes are either major or minor.
Modulation -	To shift to another key.
Monotone -	Repetition of a single tone.
Motif -	Primary theme or subject that is developed.
Movement -	A separate section of a larger composition.
Musette -	A Boroque dance with a drone-bass.
Musicology -	The study of forms, history, science, and methods of music.
Natural -	A symbol in sheet music that returns a note to its original pitch after it has been augmented or diminished.
Neoclassical -	Movement in music where the characteristics are crisp and direct.
Nocturne -	A musical composition that has a romantic or dreamy character with nocturnal associations.
Nonet -	A composition written for nine instruments.
Notation -	First developed in the 8th century, methods of writing music.
Obbligato -	An extended solo, often accompanying the vocal part of an aria.
Octave -	Eight full tones above the key note where the scale begins and ends.
Octet -	A composition written for eight instruments.
Opera -	A drama where the words are sung instead of spoken.
Operetta -	A short light musical drama.
Opus -	Convenient method of numbering a composer’s works where a number follows the word “opus”. For example, Opus 28, No. 4.
Oratorio -	An extended cantata on a sacred subject.
Orchestra -	A large group of instrumentalists playing together.
Orchestration -	Arranging a piece of music for an orchestra. Also, the study of music.
Ornaments -	Tones used to embellish the principal melodic tone.
Ostinato -	A repeated phrase.
Overture -	Introduction to an opera or other large musical work.
Parody -	A composition based on previous work. A common technique used in Medieval and Renaissance music.
Part -	A line in a contrapuntal work performed by an individual voice or instrument.
Partial -	A harmonic given off by a note when it is played.
Partita -	Suite of Baroque dances.
Pastoral -	A composition whose style is simple and idyllic; suggestive of rural scenes.
Pentatonic Scale -	A musical scale having five notes. For example: the five black keys of a keyboard make up a pentatonic scale.
Phrase -	A single line of music played or sung. A musical sentence.
Piano -	An instruction in sheet music to play softly. Abbreviated by a “p”.
Pitch -	The frequency of a note determining how high or low it sounds.
Pizzicato -	String instruments that are picked instead of bowed.
Polyphony -	Combining a number of individual but harmonizing melodies. Also known as counterpoint.
Polytonality -	Combination of two or more keys being played at the same time.
Portamento -	A mild glissando between two notes for an expressive effect.
Prelude -	A short piece originally preceded by a more substantial work, also an orchestral introduction to opera, however not lengthy enough to be considered an overture.
Presto -	A direction in sheet music indicating the tempo is to be very fast.
Progression -	The movement of chords in succession.
Quadrille -	A 19th century square dance written for 4 couples.
Quartet -	A set of four musicians who perform a composition written for four parts.
Quintet -	A set of five musicians who perform a composition written for five parts.
Recapitulation -	A reprise.
Recital -	A solo concert with or without accompaniment.
Recitative -	A form of writing for vocals that is close to the manner of speech and is rhythmically free.
Reed -	The piece of cane in wind instruments. The players cause vibrations by blowing through it in order to produce sound.
Refrain -	A repeating phrase that is played at the end of each verse in the song.
Register -	A portion of the range of the instrument or voice.
Relative major and minor -	The major and minor keys that share the same notes in that key. For example: A minor shares the same note as C major.
Relative pitch -	Ability to determine the pitch of a note as it relates to the notes that precede and follow it.
Renaissance -	A period in history dating from the 14th to 16th centuries. This period signified the rebirth of music, art, and literature.
Reprise -	To repeat a previous part of a composition generally after other music has been played.
Requiem -	A dirge, hymn, or musical service for the repose of the dead.
Resonance -	When several strings are tuned to harmonically related pitches, all strings vibrate when only one of the strings is struck.
Rhythm -	The element of music pertaining to time, played as a grouping of notes into accented and unaccented beats.
Ricercar -	Elaborate polyphonic composition of the Boroque and Renaissance periods.
Rigaudon -	A quick 20th century dance written in double time.
Rococo -	A musical style characterized as excessive, ornamental, and trivial.
Romantic -	A period in history during the 18th and early 19th centuries where the focus shifted from the neoclassical style to an emotional, expressive, and imaginative style.
Rondo -	A musical form where the principal theme is repeated several times. The rondo was often used for the final movements of classical sonata form works.
Root -	The principal note of a triad.
Round -	A canon where the melody is sung in two or more voices. After the first voice begins, the next voice starts singing after a couple of measures are played in the preceding voice. All parts repeat continuously.
Rubato -	An important characteristic of the Romantic period. It is a style where the strict tempo is temporarily abandoned for a more emotional tone.
Scale -	Successive notes of a key or mode either ascending or descending.
Scherzo -	Pertaining to the sonata form, a fast movement in triple time.
Scordatura -	The retuning of a stringed instrument in order to play notes below the ordinary range of the instrument or to produce an usual tone color.
Septet -	A set of seven musicians who perform a composition written for seven parts.
Sequence -	A successive transposition and repetition of a phrase at different pitches.
Serenade -	A lighthearted piece, written in several movements, usually as background music for a social function.
Sextet -	A set of six musicians who perform a composition written for six parts.
Sharp -	A symbol indicating the note is to be raised by one semitone.
Slide -	A glissando or portamento. Also refers to the moving part of a trombone.
Slur -	A curve over notes to indicate that a phrase is to be played legato.
Sonata -	Music of a particular form consisting of four movements. Each of the movements differ in tempo, rhythm, and melody; but are held together by subject and style.
Sonata form -	A complex piece of music. Usually the first movement of the piece serving as the exposition, a development, or recapitulation.
Sonatina -	A short or brief sonata.
Song cycle -	A sequence of songs, perhaps on a single theme, or with texts by one poet, or having continuos narrative.
Soprano -	The highest female voice.
Staccato -	Short detached notes, as opposed to legato.
Staff -	Made up of five horizontal parallel lines and the spaces between them on which musical notation is written.
Stretto -	Pertaining to the fugue, the overlapping of the same theme or motif by two or more voices a few beats apart.
String Quartet -	A group of 4 instruments, two violins, a viola, and cello.
Suite -	A loose collection of instrumental compositions.
Symphony -	Three to four movement orchestral piece, generally in sonata form.
System -	A combination of two or more staves on which all the notes are vertically aligned and performed simultaneously in differing registers and instruments.
Tablature -	A system of notation for stringed instruments. The notes are indicated by the finger positions.
Temperament -	Refers to the tuning of an instrument.
Tempo -	Indicating speed.
Tessitura -	The range of an instrumental or a vocal part.
Theme -	A melodic or, sometimes a harmonic idea presented in a musical form.
Timbre -	Tone color, quality of sound that distinguishes one verse or instrument to another. It is determined by the harmonies of sound.
Time Signature -	A numeric symbol in sheet music determining the number of beats to a measure.
Tonal -	Pertains to tone or tones.
Tonality -	The tonal characteristics determined by the relationship of the notes to the tone.
Tone -	The intonation, pitch, and modulation of a composition expressing the meaning, feeling, or attitude of the music.
Tone less -	Unmusical, without tone.
Tonic -	The first tone of a scale also known as a keynote.
Treble -	The playing or singing the upper half of the vocal range. Also the highest voice in choral singing.
Tremolo -	Quick repetition of the same note or the rapid alternation between two notes.
Triad -	Three note chords consisting of a root, third, and fifth.
Trill -	Rapid alternation between notes that are a half tone or whole tone apart.
Trio -	A composition written for three voices and instruments performed by three persons.
Triple time -	Time signature with three beats to the measure.
Triplet -	Three notes played in the same amount of time as one or two beats.
Tritone -	A chord comprised of three whole tones resulting in an augmented fourth or diminished fifth.
Tune -	A rhythmic succession of musical tones, a melody for instruments and voices.
Tuning -	The raising and lowering a pitch of an instrument to produce the correct tone of a note.
Tutti -	Passage for the entire ensemble or orchestra without a soloist.
Twelve-tone music -	Music composed such that each note is used the same number of times.
Unison -	Two or more voices or instruments playing the same note simultaneously.
Verismo -	A form of Italian opera beginning at the end of the 19th century. The setting is contemporary to the composer’s own time, and the characters are modeled after every day life.
Vibrato -	Creating variation pitch in a note by quickly alternating between notes.
Virtuoso -	A person with notable technical skill in the performance of music.
Vivace -	Direction to performer to play a composition in a brisk, lively, and spirited manner.
Voice -	One of two or more parts in polyphonic music. Voice refers to instrumental parts as well as the singing voice.
Waltz -	A dance written in triple time, where the accent falls on the first beat of each measure.
Whole note -	A whole note is equal to 2 half notes, 4 quarter notes, 8 eighth notes, etc.
Whole-tone scale -	A scale consisting of only whole-tone notes. Such a scale consists of only 6 notes.

Left-Hand Trouble Shooting

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 10:59:00 +0000

Do Your Fingers Seem too Short?

Problems reaching notes, especially notes on the fourth fret of the 5th and 6th strings, are usually due to poor hand position. Shortness of reach is caused when the palm is held diagonal or perpendicular to the neck, when the thumb is hooked over the top of the neck, or when a finger, often the little finger, is held too far from the fingerboard. Review the diagrams below for the proper hand position:

String Buzzes

Buzzing or muffled tones may be due to improperly set action, worn or defective strings or frets, incorrect neck relief, plucking too hard or poor finger placement. However, most beginners will find that poor finger placement is the most common cause of buzzing or muffled tones. When fretting, place your finger next to the fret, touching it but not directly on top of it. Whenever possible, avoid placing the finger midway between the frets--this position buzzes easily and requires additional pressure to make a clear tone.

If you think something is wrong with your guitar, get the opinion of your teacher or a guitar technician. If your guitar is new, your dealer should be willing to adjust it for you (adjustments are often needed for new guitars, especially cheap ones).

Sore Fingers?

Sore fingers are sometimes due to an improperly adjusted guitar, but more often than not stem from excessive finger pressure. Here's how to find the minimum finger pressure: Place your finger against the string (next to the fret), but don't press it down to the fret. Pluck the string. You should hear a muffled sound. Continue plucking and slowly increase the pressure until the string begins to buzz. Hold the pressure there--let it buzz. The pressure needed to maintain the "buzz threshold" is very small. Now, press just hard enough to stop the buzz and break into a clear tone. This small amount of pressure--a few grams--is all the pressure you need when playing!

Source Materials

Frary, Peter Kun. Beginning to Play Classical Guitar. Book 1. Honolulu: FRM Publication, 1988.

Classical Guitar Tablature – by Thomas Niemann

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 05:46:00 +0000

This is a good starting point for who doesn’t familiar with standard notation and wish to play Classical pieces.

PREFACE
The first music I studied for guitar included folk songs such as Freight Train. Later I tried my hand at classical music. This was a painful experience. Despite much persistence I was unable to read music. At the same time I was easily learning folk music from tablature. As an experiment I translated Étude in D to tablature. Within a month I was playing the piece fluently.

Étude in D is still one of my favorites. Another song I especially enjoy is the Gymnopedie, by Satie. I’m afraid I played this piece obsessively while I was learning it. The other pieces are fairly easy, as I never progressed past the advanced beginner stage. If you study any songs, and want to bring a smile to my face, send me some email. If you can read music, or would like to learn, I recommend Frederick Noad’s book

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Barre Chord Basics | How to Play Barre Chords

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 13 Feb 2011 08:51:00 +0000

Barre chords are the scourge of the beginning guitarist. Like a bum knee, a prison record, the inability of matter to exceed the speed of light; barre chords hold us back. The next time an F minor chord messes with you, mess back with this:

Check your thumb placement. Your thumb should be pressing against the back of the neck, on the fattest part, behind the area where the 2nd finger’s hanging out.
Check your first finger placement. It should be parallel with the fret wire, so close it’s just barely touching the side. Roll your finger a bit toward the nut, so that the bony side of the finger is digging into the strings instead of the strings digging into what my student Casey calls the “chub.”
Stop pressing so hard. That first finger’s only responsible for fretting some of the strings, so don’t try to press down on each string with equal force. For example, when playing a standard barred F chord, press hard with the tip of your finger on the 6th string, and dig your knuckle into the 1st and 2nd strings, but let the finger rest lightly over the other strings.
Take heart. Often you can transpose a song to avoid barre chords. Also, some great guitarists never play barre chords–BB King, for example, played his way to greatness pretty much one note at a time. As he said in the U2 documentary “Rattle and Hum,” “I don’t do chords.”

To Produce Tones of the Masters

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 12 Feb 2011 11:12:00 +0000

Guitarists, you're wondering how to make your instrument to produce the types tones that evoke emotions of listeners? If so, you'll want to look at the technique of classical guitar that the world's best classical guitarists use to make their audiences thrill of music.

A stellar operatic tenor makes his living producing sounds that send chills fans into ecstasy. If his voice was hoarse and rough, he never would inspire his listeners. Good sound is what differentiates the average of virtuoso singer. Likewise, a skilled musician to play classical guitar works to produce the best sound quality possible with the right hand. He attempts to refine your pitch to the point where no rudeness or impurity remains. Thus, the player puts out a beautiful tone in his own mind, then try to duplicate the elusive quality tone on the classical guitar.

In the classical guitar, the musician uses his nails to produce the tone, since using nails shine and creates a multitude of tone colors. The tone of the nail that guitarists produce the best show of course, round, sweet and ethereal in character. It has no roughness, scratchiness beats or clicks. This tone can completely delight both player and listener. Each and every guitarist should point to a sound so magnificent flawless. Do not be satisfied until the sounds coming from your guitar has this elusive quality that you hear from best artists in the genre. Experiment with your tone, to get the sound you want. Remember, even superior dynamic range, the tone should remain fresh and airy.

To produce such a tone, first get a clear concept of an ideal tone in his mind. The best way to get this concept is to hear one of the beautiful tones produced by a virtuoso classical guitarist, whether live, recorded, or classical guitar lessons. Listen again, each time trying to listen more subtle qualities of tone. When you have a clear concept of sound, try to produce the same quality in his own classical guitar. You'll find it easier because you have already heard that the tone should sound, a master of the art. From a technical perspective, performing the hits from the right hand correctly will also improve the quality of its production tone. Use both methods to hone their skills in this most important aspect of the technique of classical guitar.

Since sound quality is so crucial for its development as an artist of classical guitar, makes this exercise so important to your daily routine like practicing scales. You can also have their musicianship to the next level of attention to tone production. Online classical guitar lessons can help, too, can take classes as a studio.

When choosing a studio or a classic line guitar lessons program, make sure that instructors to produce sounds that move the hearts of his listeners. Look for reviews of their shows and listen to their recorded works. In addition, they must have teaching experience enough to have a registration for the quality of students they produce. Finally, make sure that teachers have a friendly way that allows them to explain the material to their students in a clear, using the student's preferred style of learning. Choose wisely and you will be producing the types of tones that moves the hearts of listeners too.

The forgotten finger: Your left thumb

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 02:15:00 +0000

In many routine activities (such as turning a doorknob or picking up a spoon) your fingers and thumb grasp together. This tendency often continues when placing your hand around the neck of a guitar, which leads to tension in the hand and other fingers. Your left thumb should normally rest gently against the back of the neck without squeezing. There are times (such as barring) when the thumb must apply a little pressure, but normally the fingers should do their own work, assisted by the lower arm as needed. Imagine a large rubber band from the back of your elbow to a wall behind you, gently pulling your arm back and helping to keep the fingers firmly against the fingerboard. It's also important to keep the left wrist loose as there is sometimes a tendency to bend the wrist inward towards the fingerboard to help increase finger pressure.

How to Practice Scales

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 14:25:00 +0000

Classical Guitar Scales

Scales are probably the first thing that comes to mind when we think of practice and technical development. The idea that practicing scales makes you a better musician seems to be universally accepted yet in the case of the classical guitar the 'mythology' of scale practice seems a little over-rated. Scales occur frequently in music written for violins, flutes and piano however, they come up rarely in the guitar repertoire. A full octave scale is actually quite hard to come by in much of the literature and when there is a long scale passage in a work it stands out partly because it is so rare. Violin and piano repertoire on the other hand is absolutely littered with virtuosic scale runs that span genres from the Baroque to the present day. It stands to reason, then, that we do not practice scales to be prepared for the occasional scale run in a piece.

The process of running up and down a scale, which is a very common way of practicing scales, is pointless.

So why do we practice scales ?

Scales are tools. They are simple frameworks that we can use to hone in on specific technical elements. Once those elements have been worked on in isolation they can be incorporated into music making, which is the ultimate goal of any technical work.

The process of running up and down a scale, which is a very common way of practicing scales, is pointless. Without a specific focus to practicing a scale then the time is wasted without any goals being reached. The scale itself may become familiar and fluid but seeing as there are few actual applications of a scale in a piece the process really is, pointless.

Scales are incredibly useful, however, if assigned a goal and function. One function might be to practice crescendo and diminuendo another could be to practice staccato articulations yet another is a variety of rhythms. As you may start to realize, the ways to use a scale to work on technical aspects is almost as diverse as your imagination. A more complete list of scale suggestions is written below and I encourage you to come up with your own uses for scale practice.

It could be argued that scales are useful for becoming acquainted with the fingerboard and learning key centers. This could be absolutely true although the common tendency to memorize scale 'patterns' on the guitar prevents any real development of these skills. If you doubt this, ask the next scale wiz that you come across to sight read some Bach ;)

Click here for THE ULTIMATE SCALE BOOK

Here are some suggestions on how to apply your scales:

DYNAMICS

Crescendo
Diminuendo
Terraced Dynamics
pp,p,mp,mf,f,ff

RHYTHMS

Dotted Rhythms
Triplets with duplets
Groupings of 5,6,7

TEMPO

Accellerando
Rallentando
Lento, Andante, Allegretto, Allegro, Presto etc.

TONE CONTROL

Ponticello
Tasto

EXTENDED TECHNIQUES

Pizzicato
Harmonics
Slurs

ARTICULATIONS

Stacatto
Legato
Tenuto
Sforzando
Accents (place accents on different notes)

RIGHT HAND FINGERING

im, mi, ia, ai, ma, am, ami, mia, ima, pima, amip, pi, ip etc.

LEFT HAND FINGERING

Shifts
Fixed fingers

THE ULTIMATE SCALE BOOK

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 13:22:00 +0000

Total Guitar’s techniques team have attempted to cram as much as possible into the 30 pages of this Guitar Scale Ebook you have in your hands. As well as a complete run-down of all the most useful and usable scale shapes in several positions, They’ve included soloing tips, a little music theory, plus some chord sheets and tab exercises to try the scales with. Don’t use these scales in isolation though – the book is primarily intended for reference. The only time a scale becomes worth listening to is when you make a great solo out of it… Enjoy this Free Guitar Scale Ebook.

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Beatles for Classical Guitar (Arr. L.Beekman)

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 07:18:00 +0000

Beatles for Classical Guitar (Arr. Larry Beekman)

More than 25 of the Beatles greatest hits arranged for classical guitar.

Contents:

- Across The Universe

- Ask Me Why

- Come Together

- Cry Baby Cry

- Day Tripper

- For No One

- From Me To You

- Hello, Goodbye

- Here Comes The Sun

- I Don't Want To Spoil The Party

- I Will

- I'll Follow The Sun

- I'm A Loser

- I'm Happy Just To Dance With You

- I'm Only Sleeping

- I'm So Tired

- In My Life

- Long & Winding Road, The

- Maxwell's Silver Hammer

- No Reply

- Nowhere Man

- P.S. I Love You

- Penny Lane

- Something

- This Boy

- Things We Said Today

- Two Of Us

- While My Guitar Gently Weeps

- Yesterday

- You're Going To Lose That Girl

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When Does Interpretation Start?

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 03:08:00 +0000

When does one begin to develop an interpretation of a piece? The common wisdom is that you learn to play it first, then add in the “musical stuff” later.

That’s a flawed conception. It treats a piece as two separate entities: technique and physical movements vs. musical elements and interpretation.

The way we execute a piece physically (technique) is a direct product of interpretation. Playing a diminuendo requires a different sort of technique that just playing at even volume. Forte feels different in the fingers than piano.

So in a sense “learning” a peice first, then adding musical elements is like learning two sets of movements. And considering that most guitarists only interpret as an afterthought to finger wiggling, we’re left with a majority of our practice time devoted to a dry so called “un-interpreted**” version of a piece that comes out on stage because we spent more time practicing that way.

Practice and incorporate musical elements from the start of working a piece, and ingrain those movements from day one. Of course you’ll change things along the way and be able to do more interpretive elements, but it can’t hurt to get a head start.

**There’s no such thing as uninterpreted music. Even the lack of making a choice about a musical element is making a choice about the element, and it still results in an “interpretation” that comes out of the player.

Practice Techniques: Changing the Rhythm

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 02:56:00 +0000

Sometimes there are sections that always sound uneven. Altering the rhythm can give a player more control, and help even out those difficult passages.

It’s as simple as it sounds. Have a passage in fast 16th notes? Try playing in triplets or quintuplets–the notes don’t have to move faster or slower, the accents just shift around. The options are infinite. This technique can work with anything, and it does help expose hidden issues.

For instance: I have a quick chord to play that is essentially rolled, but it’s notated in 32nd notes. The tempo is pretty slow, so the composer obviously meant the chord to be measured and even–the 32nd notes are to sound like 32nd notes. So I tried it with various rhythmic permutations. Here’s the original on open strings, the RH fingering p p i m a:

And here are some of the rhythmic alterations I tried out:

The end result is that I discovered I have the tendency to play m a as a unit. This is not something that happens when I just play a quick ascending arpeggio p i m a. Whenever I have to drag my thumb in time, it throws off my hand position a bit, requiring some compensation. Because I noticed what was going wrong, I can now work on controlling it.

Altering the the rhythm of a passage is a great help.

Practice Techniques: Dynamics

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 20:23:00 +0000

This is a right hand practice technique which works extremely well for nailing down a repeating arpeggio pattern.

Loud and Soft

It feels different when playing loud or quiet. Practicing quietly feels almost like your fingers are floating, and it takes a lot of control to not have certain notes accent; practicing loudly gives the impression of fingers flying wildly and it’s a challenge to avoid crashing. Practicing quietly makes it easy to go quick; practicing loudly* feels heavy, awkward and slow.

In short, it’s a good idea to practice a pattern both as loud as possible and as quiet as possible. It forces your hands to go further than may be necessary on a pattern and makes that pattern more secure at a normal volume.

Crescendo/Diminuendo

The concept is easy. Keep playing a right hand pattern, start quietly, slowly swell to as loud as possible, then take it back down. It’s hard to actually do this. The benefits is the same as above: takes the pattern further than necessary and teaches control and makes the pattern more secure.

Not everyone can jump right into this right away, but it can be built up. Start with just two dynamics (piano and forte) and keep alternating between them every few patterns, being careful not to stop. Then add in another dynamic level: start piano, then play mezzo forte and finallyforte, then step back down. Then mezzo piano can be added in making four steps. Finally try swelling up and down more naturally.

The whole idea behind using dynamics as a strictly practice method is to develop control. The Crescendo/Diminuendo technique is very close to guitar magic (seriously,it’s that good) because it’s develops some extreme control. Try it out! Let me know how it works!

*Loudly and Forte, in this article, mean as loud as possible. In the same way, quietly or pianomean as soft as possible. Sometimes piano can even mean sort of ghosting (barely playing) the right hand.

Slow Fast Alternation

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 31 May 2010 20:13:00 +0000

Slow-Fast alternation is an extremely useful practice technique. And it’s exactly like it sounds: play something slow, then play it at tempo and continue alternating the two ideas. When starting to work on a rough bit, it’s important to spend more time on the slow part. Something like a 4 or 5:1 ratio of slow:fast would work well. Gradually the ratio can be worked down to 1:1. Slow-Fast alternation is best used with small portions rather than entire works.

I like to use this analogy with my students: It’s like a video game. The programmers write the code and design the game making it work exactly as they mean too, then the player executes the program and plays the game. The slow part is the programming, making your fingers do exactly as you want them; the fast is the execution, running the program.

Metronome, friend or foe?

Maybe both. Forcing tempo up with a metronome, even using slow-fast techniques, can sometimes lead to increased tension – especially with beginners. Use the metronome wisely, but if you feel that it is pushing you too hard and tensions enters your hands put the metronome down.

From my personal experience utilizing slow-fast techniques with technical exercises has tremendously improved my speed and accuracy, and I have not used a metronome on a tech exercise for about six months now. Developing good movement patterns seems to be king, and that can be done without a click track in the background.

Discover Your Discomfort! by Jamie Andreas

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 27 May 2010 19:56:00 +0000

Discover Your Discomfort! Why Are So Many Guitarists Masochists? By Jamie Andreas www.guitarprinciples.com

Okay, I’m going to explain some powerful things for anyone who wants to see RESULTS from their guitar practice, and really learn how to play the guitar well. In other words, the guitarist who wants to do what I call CORRECT PRACTICE.

Have you ever had trouble playing something on the guitar? Have you ever seen or heard someone play something, tried to do it yourself, maybe practiced it for a long time, and ended up with only frustration and bad feelings about yourself as a player? Be honest now. I’ve been playing for 30 years, and giving guitar lessons for 27 years, and I have never met a player, including myself, who could honestly answer no to that question.

There are a few things that are always true when we are unable to play something we want to play on the guitar.

One of the things that you will always find, if you look for it, is what Aaron Shearer called, in his first book, uncontrolled muscle tension. Many, many players have in fact commented on this fact, mainly because this fact becomes obvious to anyone who plays for awhile, pays attention, and starts to discover the path to gaining increasing ability on the guitar. Many people mention it. The problem is they never tell you what to do about it!

Oh sure, you’ll hear people say "play S-L-O-W-LY", or "RELAX"! I asked, ordered, screamed, and pleaded with students to do that for probably 20 years, before I realized that almost no one was listening to me, or maybe they didn’t believe me, or maybe they thought I was kidding (well, his face is turning purple, but, nah, I don’t think he’s serious)!

No, it seems most people would rather try to play that bar chord or that scale with their shoulders tensed up to their ears, their pinky tensed up and pulled 2 inches from the neck as they dislocate their shoulder trying to get it to it’s note on time, practice and play that way day in and day out, and then wonder why they find that scale hard to play, that it breaks down at a certain speed. Or maybe they wonder why they have a pain here or there. Hell, they may be really persistent and keep at it till they qualify for this new disease I’m always reading about, Repetitive Strain Injury.

I got a new student about a year ago, we’ll call him Tom. Now Tom had been teaching himself for a few years, is very musical, very intelligent, and managed to learn fingerstyle guitar well enough to attempt some rather challenging pieces, including some classical repertoire. In fact, he would play for friends and often impress them.

However, it was also true that he knew he never played anywhere near his best in these circumstances, and the piece would often break down somewhere. It was also true that he had a growing pain in his left shoulder when he practiced. Tom has two very important qualities that a player must have in order to overcome problems, and make what I call Vertical Growth. Those two things are Desire, and Honesty.

Tom doesn’t have the pain in his shoulder anymore, and his playing is getting better and better. This is because he has learned a few things. He has learned about the incredible state of muscular relaxation that a player must have as they play. He has learned how difficult it is to actually make sure you have that relaxation as you play. He has learned about Sympathetic Tension, how every time you use one muscle, others become tense also, and how if you are not aware of it, and allow it to be there, it becomes locked in to the muscles through the power of Muscle Memory.

Tom is also learning, over time, that by always making the effort to focus his attention on this muscle tension, he can always eliminate some part of it, and by consistently doing this in practice, things begin to feel easier and easier, because he was really fighting his own muscle tension, which made it feel so hard.

Tom inspired me to invent a phrase, something for him to always keep in mind when he practices. In fact, I told him to do what I do. Write it out on a sign and keep it somewhere in front of him as he practices. On the music stand or taped to the wall like I do. The phrase is "DISCOVER YOUR DISCOMFORT". Pay attention, notice what happens in the body as you play. How does it feel. Good players are not experiencing that discomfort when they do the thing you struggle to do. If they had to struggle they wouldn’t be good players!

Now as usually happens, I began to use the phrase myself, and began to discover new levels of my own discomfort. And I began to see my playing improve, I mean fundamentally improve. You see, there is no end to this process.

Why do so many of us allow such discomfort when we practice and play? There are many reasons, I’ll go in to them at another time. What I want to do now is give you some ways of discovering your own discomfort, and begin to minimize it.

Hold the guitar as comfortably as you can.

Allow your left arm to hang limp at your side.

Place your right hand fingers on the strings, keeping them very loose and relaxed. If you use a pick, float the pick in between two strings and keep it there.

Focus your attention on your shoulders, as you raise your left hand slowly. Raise it straight up without extending it, and place all your fingers on the sixth string, around the tenth fret. Keep them on the string so lightly, you don’t even press the string down. (Not easy at first)!

Do you feel anything in your right shoulder as you do this? Do you feel any tightness come in to the pick hand, perhaps you are gripping the pick tighter, or tensing your wrist? Be honest now.

Keeping your left hand fingers on the string lightly, begin to move your hand down toward the first fret. You must do this VERY SLOWLY. Notice what happens throughout your body. As I have had students do this, I have seen everything from tense ankles or belly, to practically falling off the chair!

I hope I have provided a starting point for further investigations and insights for you. Take anything you find hard to do, stop yourself in the middle of it, and check out what is happening in your body. You will be amazed.