Mauro Giuliani(1781-1829) was a leading guitar figure of the Classical period. He was a prolific composer and virtuoso guitarist and teacher. His music forms an important part of the classical guitar repertoire and his studies are an essential repertoire for students. Unfortunately, Andres Segovia, who helped revive interest in the classical guitar in the early […]
To create more focus and mimic some of the pressure you will feel when performing I suggest trying the 4-Times Rule. It’s a simple process: 1. repeat the passage 4 times without making a mistake 2. If you make a mistake, restart the process 3. If you get stumped and can’t get 4 times in […]
Here are some practice patterns for the first three strings in the first position. Many guitarists are not great readers. The guitar is an instrument you can learn by ear and through playing with others, reading music generally happens when you have formal guitar lessons or classical guitar lessons. So why work on your reading? Well, […]
This is an iconic and popular guitar pice that uses 4 main techniques: Position Changes Bass plus Treble notes arpeggio style accompaniment Barre Chords In this video, I’ll take you through each element of technique and give you suggestions on how to practice this piece.
This is a great way to start your practice or lesson. These are simple exercises which allow you to concentrate on what your hands and fingers are doing. The first two exercises focus on right hand walking, then left hand position and synchronisation. The finger ladder will help you develop strength and independence in […]
Today I’m going to do a follow up video of Concerto De Aranjuez, the previous video was on the rasguedo opening passages. This is the following 8 bars. Let’s discover it together. The end of the introduction, which includes some thumb work and scale work. I’m going to use my thumb to play the […]
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 […]