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Basics Of Classical Guitar Revisited
As many of you know, last week I relaunched my Patreon page for support in working towards a doctorate (still looking for my first supporter by the way). Every Monday my goal is to write a reflection of last week’s work and brief you on the work scheduled for this week. And, as the title suggests, it’s time for me to return to the basics of classical guitar.
There is a notion in sports that when a decline in performance begins to happen, then it is time to return to the basics. I believe this also has some truth in guitar playing. This past week I returned to basics.
My Resource For Basics Of Classical Guitar
You may, or may not, be familiar with Christopher Berg’s book Mastering Guitar Technique: Process & Essence. This book is my “back to basics.” I believe the twenty-four lessons and more than 150 exercises are timeless and will always need constant work on my part.
Coordination between the right and left hands is the bedrock to playing anything on the guitar. These exercises (Lesson Nine) may seem easy but their implications on playing cannot be ignored. These lead to the exercises in Lesson Ten on string crossing. I found that my technique with rest strokes on these exercises was more difficult than with free stork. This was made more evident when starting on my “back” finger (i.e. on m for an m-i alternation).
Finally, I turned my attention to descending slurs using fingers 3 and 4. This weakness became apparent when working on Vals Venezolano No. 2 by Antonio Lauro. Exercise no. 117 and its variations are great for this shortcoming. I hope tomato a video describing my issue later this week.
Don’t Forget The Études!
On top of this technical back to basics work are three études that I feel highlight areas of weakness in my playing. Two of them are arpeggio works (Studio en Arpegio by Barrios and Prelude No. 8 by Tárrega) and a slur study (Studio del Ligado by Barrios). As these get closer to completion you can expect videos to follow.
Upcoming This Week
As far as this week is concerned, I plan on continuing the above. I have several reference videos for students to finish. Also, the time-consuming process of typesetting and fingering. Thanks for checking in and for the support!
I have two degrees in guitar performance and was privileged to study under Aaron Shearer, Tom Kikta, David Skantar, Ken Karsh, Tim Bedner, and currently Christopher Berg. Outside my editorial work on this blog, I teach full-time across many genres including classical, jazz, blues, rock, funk, and metal.
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