Pellegrin H. - Classic Guitar Method [PDF]

Zitiervorschau

CLASSIC GUITAR M ETH O D

Harry George Pellegrin

Copyright 2006 H.G. Pellegrin

PAB Entertainment Group P.O. Box 2369 Scotia, New York 12302

First Edition Copyright Harry G. Pellegrin, 2006. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system without express written permission from the publisher.

PAB Entertainment Group P.O. Box 2369 Scotia, New York 12302 www.pellegrinlowend.com Printed in the United States of America

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Library of Congress Cataloging Cataloging-in-Publication Publication data is available upon request. ISBN 978-1-4116-9442-2 Pellegrin, Harry G., Classic Guitar Method

Second Edition Copyright 2009

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction to the Instrument Introduction to the Second Edition The Purpose of this Method The Classic Guitar The History of the Guitar Parts of the Modern Classical Guitar Common Sense and Guitar Care Heat and Humidity ` Cleaning Stringing the Guitar Tuning the Guitar Tuning the Guitar to Itself Correct Playing Posture Seating and Positioning Footstools Hand Positioning Correct Left-hand Finger Positioning The Thumb and Where It is Placed (left hand) The Right Hand Tone Production and the Right Hand Free Stroke and Apoyando, Two Right Hand Techniques Free Stroke Apoyando The Thumb (right hand) Basics of Standard Notation Pitch and Rhythm Notation of Rhythm Notation of Pitch Accidentals Sharps and Flats and Key Signatures Common Volume & Dynamics Markings Common Tempo Markings Note Relationships (Ties, Slurs, Legatos, etc.) Articulation Markings Ornaments Repeats and Codas

1 3 5 5 11 13 13 14 15 16 17 18 18 18 19 19 20 23 23 25 25 26 26 27 27 27 31 32 34 35 35 35 36 37 37

PRACTICUM (Taking it to the Guitar)

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The First String (E string)

40 41 42 43 45 46 47 48 49

First String Exercises Second String (B string) Second String Exercises Mixing It Up! (First and second strings together) The Third String (G string) Third String Exercises The Fourth String (D string) Fourth String Exercises

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The Fifth String (A string) Fifth String Exercises The Sixth String (E string) Sixth String Exercises The Open Treble Strings The Open Bass Strings Putting Things Together Notes in the Open Position Twelve frets of fingerboard (Notating the pitches) Notes in C Major and A Minor in Open Position Simple Open Position Exercises by String Basic Harmonic Structure (Two Notes Played Together) Open Position Exercises Putting Things Together Number Two Bass and Melody Together Basic Harmonic Structure (Three Notes Played Together) The Tonic/Dominant Relationship Scale Relationships: Relative Major and Minor Keys Three Finger Arpeggios Allegretto by Matteo Carcassi Waltz in C Major by Fernando Carulli Estrellita (A Duet) Duet Performance Notes Theory: Intervals Carulli Method Lesson One Lightly Row (Comparing Positions) Go Tell Aunt Rhody (Comparing Positions) Long, Long Ago (Comparing Positions) G Major And E Minor (Relatives) The Tonic/Dominant Relationship (G Major and E Minor) Andantino by Carcassi Etude in E Minor F Major and D Minor (Relatives) Allegretto by Carulli Prelude by Carcassi The Tonic/Dominant Relationship (F Major and D Minor) D Major and B Minor (Relatives) The Tonic/Dominant Relationship (D Major and B Minor) Waltz in D Major by Carulli Etude in B Minor Theory: Rudimentary Harmony Planting Time Etude Number 1 (Pellegrin) Biography of Mauro Giuliani (1781-1828) Giuliani's Right Hand Exercises (1-10) Progressive Exercises Carulli Prelude Number 1 for the Right Hand Etude Number 2 (Pellegrin) Etude Number 3 (Pellegrin) Etude Opus 60 Number One (F. Sor) Etude Opus 60 Number Two (F. Sor) Theory: Minor Scales

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50 51 52 53 54 54 55 56 59 60 60 61 62 63 64 65 65 66 67 67 68 69 69 70 71 73 74 75 76 76 77 78 78 79 79 79 79 80 80 80 82 84 85 86 87 88 94 95 96 97 98 99

Practicing Minor Scales Easy Piece by Carulli Right Hand Study Why Scales? Daily Survival Scales C Major and A Minor Scales F Major and D Minor Scales G Major and E Minor Scales B flat Major and G Minor Scales D Major and B Minor Scales E flat Major and C Minor Scales A Major and F sharp Minor Scales A flat Major and F Minor Scales E Major and C sharp Minor Scales D flat Major and B flat Minor Scales B Major and G sharp Minor Scales G flat Major and E flat Minor Scales F sharp Major and D sharp Minor Scales C flat Major and A flat Minor Scales C sharp Major and A sharp Minor Scales Piece in C Major by Napoleon Coste Simple Piece Number 1 in C Major (M. Giuliani) Exercises in Thirds and Sixths Barré Chording A Right Hand Technique: Pizzicato Giuliani's Right Hand Exercises (11-20) Tremolo Study (Pellegrin) B flat Major and G Minor (Relatives) The Tonic/Dominant Relationship (B flat Major and G Minor) Prelude in G Minor by Carcassi A Major and F Sharp Minor (Relatives) The Tonic/Dominant Relationship (A Major and F Sharp Minor) Waltz in A Major by Carcassi E flat Major and C Minor (Relatives) The Tonic/Dominant Relationship (E flat Major and C Sharp Minor) E Major and C Sharp Minor (Relatives) The Tonic/Dominant Relationship (E Major and C Sharp Minor) A flat Major and F Minor (Relatives) The Tonic/Dominant Relationship (A flat Major and F Minor) Study Number 3 (Matteo Carcassi) Ornamentation: Grace Notes Etude in D minor (F. Sor) Simple Piece Number 3 in D Major (M. Giuliani) Prelude Number 3 for the Right Hand (F. Carulli) Simple Piece Number 2 in G Major (M. Giuliani) Simple Piece in G Minor Number 2 (N. Coste) When does one change the guitar's strings? Thinking in Position, Sight-reading with Efficiency E Position Barré Chord A Major Moveable Chord Form D Major Moveable Chord Form Major Chord Exercises Alternate Grand Barré E Position Barré Chord (minor form)

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100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 124 126 127 129 130 130 131 131 132 132 133 133 134 134 135 135 136 137 138 140 141 142 143 143 144 145 146 147 148 150 151

A minor Form Barré Chord Half Barré Minor Form Exercises Study Opus 60, Number 16 (Carcassi) Minuet in C Major (F. Sor) Some Thoughts on Tone, Instruments and Performers Alternate Tunings (three new tunings) Five Anonymous Lute Renaissance Lute Pieces Timbre and String Voicing Prelude Number 4 for Right Hand (F. Carulli) Some Thoughts on Practice Time Etude Opus 60, Number 7 (Matteo Carcassi) Piece in A Minor (Napoleon Coste) Piece in A Minor (N. Coste) Andante (F. Carulli) Carulli's Positions Concept of Fourth Position Concept of Fifth Position Concept of Sixth Position Concept of Seventh Position Common Barré Positions (and relevant tonalities) C Major Barré Position (Third Fret) G Major Barré Position (Fifth Fret) A Major Barré Position (Fifth Fret) D Major Barré Position (Fifth Fret) B flat Major Barré Position (Sixth Fret) E flat Major Barré Position (Sixth Fret) C Major Barré Position (Eighth Fret) Chromatic Exercises (Pellegrin) The Stretcher (Pellegrin) Prelude Number 10 for Right Hand (F. Carulli) Piece based on an Allegretto (Pellegrin in the style of Carulli) Biography of Fernando Carulli (1770-1841) Reading, the Guitar Fingerboard & Intervals Reading Overlap Common Intervals and Their Patterns Examples of Octaves Examples of Fourths The Perfect Fifth Greensleeves (attributed to John Dowland) Biography of John Dowland Theory: The Four Common Dominant Seventh Forms Giuliani's Right Hand Exercises (21-30) The Legato (Slurs: Hammer-on's and Pull-off's) Pavan (Luis Milan) Biography of Luis Milan Legato (Slurs) with accompanying harmonies Learning a New Piece: How to approach new music, Etude by Fernando Sor Watch the Attitude! Avoiding Repetitive Stress Injury The Classical Guitarist's Vibrato Harmonics

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152 152 153 157 158 159 160 161 162 165 166 168 170 171 172 173 173 174 175 176 177 177 177 178 179 179 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 187 188 189 191 192 192 193 196 197 199 200 201 202 208 210 211 212

Biography of Fernando Sor (1778-1839) The Marlbrough Variations (F. Sor) Study Number 22 (N. Coste) Giuliani's Right Hand Exercises (31-65) Sor Etude Number 6 Improving Comprehension and Accuracy (Soundboard Magazine, 1982) Giuliani's Right Hand Exercises (66-120) Theory: Diminished and Augmented Chords Lute Tablature Viel Ton Lachrimae Pavan (John Dowland 1562-1626) The Most Sacred Queen Elizabeth, Her Galliard (J. Dowland) Spanish and Italian Tablature Italian Intabulation French Intabulation Pavana 1 (Luis Milan 1500-1561) Guardame Las Vacas (Luis Narvaez) Edition Fingering: Is it right for the hand and the music? Stage Etiquette German Lute Tablature Branle Englese (Emanuel Adriaenssen, circa 1600) Prelude Number 21 for Right Hand (F. Carulli) Biography of Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) First 'Cello Suite in D Major (J.S. Bach) The Plateau (Also Known as The Slump) Weird Reverse (Yet Another Use for My Ubiquitous Chromatic Pattern) Rasgueado (A right hand technique) Four Brief Pieces (Pellegrin) Technique and Musicality Recuerdos De La Alhambra (Francisco Tárrega) Capricho Árabe (Francisco Tárrega) Biography of Francisco Tárrega (1852-1909) Modern Music Still Under Copyright Protection Excellent Material the Guitarist Should Own Appendix One Additional Technical Exercises Appendix Two: Additional Repertoire Brief Waltz (Pellegrin) Leyenda (Albeniz) Snowfall: 12.21.2008 Vals Brevis Number 2 (Pellegrin) Vals Brevis Number 3 (Pellegrin) Vals Brevis Number 4 (Pellegrin)

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213 214 223 228 232 233 242 247 248 248 249 250 251 252 252 255 256 258 259 261 261 263 264 266 277 278 279 280 294 295 299 302 303 303 305 307 311 313 314 321 327 328 329

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CLASSIC GUITAR METHOD

Introduction to the Second Edition As is often the case with any course of action or path to enlightenment, one finds that once upon the journey modification becomes necessary. Small course corrections, possible paradigm shifts, reinterpretation of conditions as new data becomes available: all lead to the need for revision. One may ask the question ‘If the first edition of this method came about as a result of years of teaching, why would you find the need to make changes?’ This may indeed seem a valid point, but it casts a shadow that iss easily illuminated. In recent years I have noticed a definite shift in demographics. My students have arrived on my doorstep, either at my private studio or my public venues—Jay venues Street Music/Mohawk Valley Guitars in Schenectady New York, or at Union Co College, llege, also in Schenectady— Schenectady possessing a greater fluency in basic musical knowledge. I attribute this in the greater part to the excellent music programs that have been incorporated into the Public School systems over the past thirty years. When I attende attended grade school in the early 1960’s, we had a kindergarten rhythm band. After kindergarten this stopped. That was it. In contrast, by the early 21st Century, my children had rhythm training but then began instruction with orchestral instruments soon after. r. Combined with the keyboard lessons they had with me and others, they have grown into musically savvy young adults. This is the norm, not the exceptional case. At the same time I have noted fewer incoming students arriving for their first lessons possess any real knowledge of the guitar! It would seem that the excellent school training has precluded their exposure to my favorite instrument. This has required a major reevaluation of my method. I found myself having to supplement my method book with additional handouts and informational packets and this defeated the original purpose of my method; the Harry G. Pellegrin one-book all-inclusive inclusive guide to the classical guitar. November 2008 Whereas once upon a time nearly all my students could play the rudimentary open position chords at their first lesson, in these modern times, very few ‘first timers’ seem to have even touched the instrument! With this shift in musical knowledge on the part of the student, I realized that I would by necessity have to revamp the first part of my method to include more basic instruction and exercises to teach the student both the basic chord shapes, (shapes shapes which are used in various places along the fingerboard to add harmony as well as for the execution of melodic passages) passages and to teach and reinforce basic sic melodic scalar patterns patterns—material material that many students twenty years ago knew prior to their first lessons! The added benefit to having to create a new edition of my method is that I am also afforded the opportunity to include some new repertoire as well. I have transcribed, edited or composed many new pieces since April of 2006 when the first edition of this method went on sale. I would also like to take this opportunity to acknowledge and thank a few people who have contributed to my life and thereby to this guitar method. First and foremost would be my late mother Veronica M. Pellegrin who nurtured my musical proclivity from the earliest time. I give great thanks to my first guitar teacher Lawrence awrence Silvestro (who maintains a vigorous teaching schedule and resides in Minneapolis, Minnesota) and the late Albert Valdés Blain Blain—two two men for whom my respect will never diminish. Luthier Eric Marczak, the man who builds my guitars, is also deserving of my highest regard.. I also wish to thank all my students ov over er these twenty nine years who have helped me learn how to teach classical guitar. Harry George Pellegrin Scotia, New York March 15, 2009

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A fine Concert Classical Guitar by Eric Marczak Knox, New York Built 2005

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CLASSIC GUITAR METHOD

The Purpose of this Method During the course of teaching guitar over the past twenty six years, I have often noted that no single method book contains all the information I wish my students to have readily available to them on a continuous basis. It has not been uncommon for me to assign as many as three methods to a new student, all very good by the way, but not one of them being all inclusive. This is not an unusual circumstance, and one I should have anticipated in my teaching experience as I distinctly remember Albert Valdés-Blain (10 April 1921—30 January 2002) assigning me a mind-numbing ten books at my first lesson, seven of them methods or collections of studies. I consider myself a disciple of Valdés-Blain. I met him in early 1974, though, of course, I was well acquainted with his reputation before that date. An excellent musician and teacher, Lawrence Silvestro—the educator who had brought me along to the point at which I was ready to undertake a study of the classical guitar at the college level—had admonished me when he'd heard with whom I would be studying. With much the same advice as Mary had given the servants at the marriage feast of Cana, Mr. Silvestro told me "Whatever he tells you to do, just do it!" So I did. When I decided that the time was right for me to create a new method, one that would include all the necessary technical and musical disciplines to lead the serious student from neophyte hobbyist to burgeoning recitalist, I resisted the urge to call the Method something like ‘Maestro Valdés-Blain’s School of Guitar’ as this would imply that my method would accurately reflect his system of instruction and musical nurturing. While I follow his precepts fairly consistently and faithfully, my method reflects his impartation to me and me alone. I did not intimately observe his method with all his other students but what I did witness with my contemporaries leads me to presume that he tailored his approach to each individual, within logical constraints, no doubt. Of no less importance, I had also modified these teaching methods to my own personality and style of instruction over the years. In short, this method echoes the classical approach of a well-known and much-loved pedagogue and student of Segovia, but as filtered through—and expanded by—a respectful devotee. Is my method all-inclusive? In light of what I wrote previously, possibly not. It should be very close though! No method will be absolutely all-encompassing for every student. A good mentor will direct the student to etudes and pieces that focus in on the student’s particular weak areas. I also had to work with the legal ramification that any composition penned during a majority of the Twentieth Century is, of course, protected by copyright. While I can not include any such item here for this reason, I do direct the student to exemplary editions of milestone modern music. All the performance pieces and many of the studies are public domain. In the cases of etudes by Fernando Sor, Ferdinando Carulli, Mauro Giuliani, Napoleon Coste and the other classic masters, I have included my editions of some of their works. I then direct the student to complete (commendable and exceptional) editions from which these gems are drawn. The student can then choose to acquire Albert Valdés-Blain these for further study. circa 1965 What my method does is expose the student to the technical disciplines required to effectively perform on the instrument and give enough basic recital repertoire that when the method is completed, the guitarist will be able to perform a student recital of approximately forty minutes in length. I have included many tips and explanations that should shed light on the correct process of attempting to solve problems. Teach a student a solution and he has one problem solved. Teach a student to be a problem-solver and he or she is on the road to proficiency on the instrument. Included in this book are sections on the correct interpretation of lute tablature in its varieties. Why? The lute enjoys one of the

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largest repertoires of any instrument ancient or modern. Mu Much ch of this lute music remains not yet transcribed for the guitar, its modern de descendant. The guitarist will want to mine this wealth of material for fresh program pieces. Many students have asked me to recount the development of the guitar as the instrument we know today. A remarkable number of people do not even know exactly w what hat a classical guitar is: “Children’s guitars have nylon strings while real guitars have steel strings.” Little do those who make this ridiculously false statement realize that some of the priciest, most desired instruments on the planet are nylonnylon strung classical guitars, so this book includes a section on history as well as instrument care. Music is hard work. Mastering an instrument is an endeavor that requires more years than a lifetime can possibly ever contain. With that said, many will then ask ‘why bother?’ It’s a fair question and if you ask it, maybe playing an instrument is more a hobby for you and less a vocation. For those who begin their journey by considering music nourishment for the soul, it becomes an obsession; a passionate one thatt can never be fully satisfied. If you are fervent about playing the classical guitar—and playing it well— —then then this book, my method, may be the one book you need to make it all happen. Practice is crucial, critical listening is, well, critical. An awaren awareness ess of musicality is more than vital—music music is what it is all about and unless the public performer can impart an emotion that touches humanity-at-large, large, then why bother? Indeed, it can be stated that music is the most sp spiritual iritual of all the arts. It is more fleeting than sand painting as once the sound has been produced, it is over and gone except for the image it leaves impressed on the human heart. Recordings are wonderful, but they can never hope to capture the intrinsic ic veracity of a genuine, intimate live performance. Think of it: the guitar is arguably the most intimate of all Harry G. Pellegrin instruments; you must hug it to make music with it! Its April 2004 relatively small voice requires the listener to draw close to the performer. This double ouble dose of intimacy makes the guitar an incredibly personal and articulate voice for an artist. I wish you great success with music. Music will feed your soul in a way that nothing else can. I wish you equal success with the guitar. Attaining that ethereal ereal pinnacle of proficiency with an instrument is a long road— —a road with many rewards and more than its fair share of frustration. A good tutorial method will help you avoid some frustrations and work through others. There are poor paths and rough roads road to be found. This method of mine, should you decide to let it, will put you on the right road, but this road doesn’t end when you close the book. Should you decide to turn the page, I welcome you to the musical road you will travel for the rest of your life! l Harry G. Pellegrin April 2, 2006 This method has been designed for real real-world world practicality. I assume that most people coming to the classical guitar will have, at the very least; a small knowledge of the basic ‘open position’ guitar chords and possibly some familiarity with playing basic scale passages. Therefore, I have included musical basics—such such as the section on elementary notation notation—since since many early student guitarists are musically illiterate, but have placed less emphasis on rudimentary st studies udies designed specifically for those who have never picked up the instrument prior to formal instruction. For students who have absolutely no experience with the instrument, I suggest the teacher concentrate the student on finger strengthening exercises (see sections on chromatic exercises) and scales to build the necessary technique while instilling good practice habits. Additional graded exercises are located in the appendices. [Please see introduction to this second edition.]

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CLASSIC GUITAR METHOD

The Classic Guitar The History of the Guitar No one knows with any certainty how or when man first learned that the plucked string could produce music. Sociologists, historians and anthropologists surmise that the concept dates to the invention of the bow and arrow. It is felt that primitive man appreciated the twang of the bowstring— possibly having incorporated this sound into a pre-hunt ritual ceremony. This sound has been refined through time, distilled into those modern stringed instruments in use today, in particular for our study, the guitar. The early stringed instruments as known today consisted of hunting bows to which gourds had been attached. These gourds served as resonating chambers, an attempt to amplify the sound produced. Early instruments fall into four main groups: idiophones, i.e. instruments the material of which is able to vibrator without any special tension (sticks and rattles); membraphones, or skin vibrators; chordophones, or string vibrators; aerophones or air vibrators. Until the advent of truly electronic instruments, these four groups remained a constant. Lute-like chordophones date back as far as 2000 BC. They first appear in Mesopotamia where they were known as Pantur. These lutes belong to a family of instruments having long necks. They made their way to Egypt and Greece in approximately 1500 BC and eventually were brought to Persia. In Persia they became known as Setar, denoting a three-stringed instrument, Cartar, four stringed, and Panctar with five strings. (The Greek lute had a sound chest, consisting originally of a tortoise shell covered with stretched leather, made of a vaulted back joined directly to a flat soundboard.) The long necked lutes of this period are still in use today in the form of the Arabic Tanbur and the Indian Tamburi. It was in Persia that lutes with more familiar proportions originally appeared. We know of these through clay figurines dating to 800 B.C. These short-necked lutes have necks formed by the tapering of the body, the division between the neck and the body unclear. The short-necked lute made its way from Persia to India, and from there, to China. Today it is still to be found in China as the p’i-pa. A short-necked lute is also found in Japan. Here it is called a biwa. If any one person can be credited with the introduction of the instrument to India and China during the first few centuries A.D., it would have to be a popular religious sect leader of the time named Mani. Mani was born circa 216 A.D. He was a noble Iranian, born in Ctesiphon. He was raised under the influence of an eclectic Babylonian Christian cult. When he was approximately twenty-five years of age, he claimed to have a new, enlightened religion ‘revealed’ to him. This religion borrowed heavily from Buddhism and Iranian mythology, mixed with Christian dogma. This religion’s main interest to us today is that it was the only religion of its time to cultivate a lively personal relationship with the arts in its practitioners. Mani expressly required that his adherents steep themselves in poetry, music, and painting. An interesting though irrelevant bit of trivia is that St. Augustine was a follower of Mani for nine years. We know that Mani traveled and proselytized throughout Northern India, Tibet, Chinese Turkistan and Khurasan. Soon after, we begin to see the lute gaining popularity in these areas. His followers credit him with the “invention of the lute”. It may be that in preaching his religion, he converted people to the lute. Around 270 A.D., things started to turn sour for Mani. When he returned to his native Persia and the court of Shapur I, he was forced to flee to avoid arrest. In 276 A.D., he was captured by the Zoroastrian Magi, who proceeded to flay him alive. His skin was then stuffed and put on public display. This makes modern music critics seem tame by comparison! An ivory dating from 968, which originated at Cordova and is now at the Louvre, is perhaps the oldest piece of evidence enabling us to establish the presence of the lute in Europe.

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By the ninth century A.D., then, the lute was known in Europe, but it did not enjoy any real popularity outside Spain until the Renaissance. The Moorish invasions of Spain brought many Arabic styles of art, music and architecture to Spain. The Arabic influence on music included the introduction of the lute. It is from the Arabic short lute that the instrument we usually associate the term with evolved. Even the word “lute” itself stems from the Arabic name ‘ud or al ‘ud, from which the Spanish formed the term “Laud”, All the European languages base their word for “lute” on this term. The ‘ud was still far from the instrument we speak of as a lute. For one thing, the neck was still not a separate entity from the body. Also, the ‘ud had two crescent sound-holes, much like viols of the same period. The transformation to a distinct neck and single central sound-hole probably took place in Spain towards the close of the fourteenth century. This is the lute that made its way to the rest of Europe. As the lute won the hearts of musicians and music lovers in Europe, with the final ousting of the Moors from Spain, the lute’s popularity there turned to hatred. The Spanish people acquired a definite distaste for all things Arabic in origin. Historians believe that in order to ease their feelings towards the lute, the Spanish luthiers decided to dispense with the vaulted body, the hard angle of the headstock, and create a new shape for the body. This alteration also simplified construction considerably and one cannot overlook the economic aspect of this move. The instrument could no longer be considered a true lute, although its repertoire and playing technique remained virtually unchanged. The resulting instrument, the Vihuela de mano, probably sounded very much like a lute, as they are both tuned the same and both carry double courses. However, the Vihuela, with its flat back and indented waist, visually resembles the guitar. As justification of this assertion as to the quality of tone, I point out that the Vihuela is tuned exactly like a lute, double courses, et al. Its repertoire alone can be traced back to that of the ‘ud. The guitar does not have the double courses the Vihuela and lute share. The lute was firmly established in the Europe by the fourteenth century. It was used in all music, becoming a favorite in ensemble work and vocal accompaniment. By the early sixteenth century, the eleven-string, six course lute was beginning a metamorphosis that would ultimately bring about its decline in popularity during the next century. By the middle of the sixteenth century, the lute had eight courses. The courses were arranged as follows: the lowest (eighth) course consisted of an octave doubling (the bass string and a string having the pitch one octave above it), the seventh and sixth courses consisted of octave doublings, the fifth, fourth, third, and second courses consisted of unison doublings, and the first, or highest, course was a single string to facilitate playing clean melody lines The performance and enjoyment of what was referred to as instrumental parlor music was an out-and-out fad in all strata of society. Those who could not afford a spinet or clavichord could get hold of an inexpensive lute, which could be had in English barber shops. The most popular instrument of the Renaissance was the lute, analogous to the piano in the 1800’s and early 1900’s and the guitar in our day. During the very late sixteenth century and the early to mid seventeenth century, the lute continued to expand by the addition of bass courses. When the width of the fingerboard could no longer be spanned by the hand to fret the lower courses, they (the lower courses) were strung completely free of the fingerboard and could not have their pitches altered except by retuning them. These instruments with outrigged courses are termed Archlutes. The Theorbo is one of the smaller Archlutes. It possesses thirteen courses, the highest two being single stringed. The Chitarrone is the largest Archlute. It has thirteen courses also; however, it is basically set up like a six course lute to which seven additional single bass courses have been added. These courses are exceedingly long. (Approximately twice as long as the other courses and three times the length of those found on a normal lute. The Chitarrone is an exceptionally large and extremely cumbersome instrument. Its neck has two separate peg boxes.) The lute and the Archlutes lost their popularity due to this excessive complexity and size. The instrument was no longer highly portable and relatively inexpensive. Despite a small but significant resurgence in Germany during the lifetime of Bach, which included such notable and

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CLASSIC GUITAR METHOD worthy composers as Bach, Weis, and Pachelbel contributing to its repertoire, the day of the lute was, for all intents and purposes, over. The V Vihuela ihuela would persist and evolve, moving from comparative complexity to brilliant simplicity – a simplicity from which a high art would emerge. From left to right:

Bow Chordophone (Africa) This bow chordophone consists of a bow and bow string, plus a resonating chamber fashioned from a gourd. The instrument represents one of the earliest instruments capable of producing pitches. Nefer (Egypt) This example of a long-necked necked lute dates to 500 B.C. It consists of a skin stretched over a hollow chamber and a neck, which runs the length of the instrument, passing through slits in the skin. Lyra (Greece) This instrument is of interest in that it demonstrates the use of a tortoise shell in the construction of its resonating chamber. Greek long lo necked lutes shared this construction technique.

From left to right:

Biwa (Japan) This instrument is an unchanged, direct descendant of the Arabic ‘ud. This short-necked short lute features crescent sound holes and a neck formed d by the tapering of the sides. Tanbur (Arabic) The Tanbur is essentially the long-necked long lute that dates back to the time just prior to the lute’s introduction to Europe. It is a direct descendant of the Nefer. Vihuela de mano (Spain) This is a sketch of a 16th.century Vihuela known as the infamous Jacquemart Andre Vihuela, residing in that Museum in Paris. It has accommodations ions for six double course and sports five carved rosette sound holes. Copies of this instrument had been built to its exact specifications causing scholars for decades to declare the Vihuela an acoustically dead design.

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From left to right:

Eight Course Lute (European) This is the instrument of Dowland, Holborne, and the “Golden Age” of Elizabethan lute music. It dates from the 16th. Century. Theorbo (European) This is a smaller Archlute. These instruments had bass courses running clear of the fingerboard in order to increase their range. The Theorbo dates from the 17th. Century. Chitarrone (European) The Chitarrone is one of the largest Arch lutes. It possesses a prodigious bass range. These Archlutes were so cumbersome and complex that they very quickly put an end to the popularity of the lute.

The Guitar Arrives Published in 1855, Friar Juan Bermudo’s treatise Declaracion de Instrumentos Musicales confirms much of our assumptions about the Vihuela’s configuration. He informs us that the Vihuela was strung with six courses (pairs) of strings. He also describes Vihuelas with additional courses but most scholars believe these were proposed instruments of his and that few if any were actually built. What was his main complaint about the Vihuela? The gut frets. The necks of lutes and vihuelas were not fretted with permanently affixed wire as with the guitar. Unfretted, these necks required the performer to tie lengths of gut around the neck in the correct placement and spacing to provide good intonation. This was a tricky art that many otherwise good performers of the day could not accomplish with consistent accuracy. Bermudo noted this to the detriment of the instrument. He did propose a few methods to improve accuracy of tying frets, but these were based on a Pythagorean scale—a scale containing unequal half steps—and not the even-temperament required for ensemble performance. During this time, the terms Vihuela and Guitar were sometimes used interchangeably, the guitar was considered the peasant’s instrument and the Vihuela a more upscale and uptown choice for the nobility. The guitar was a shallow, smaller bodied instrument with fewer courses, sometimes four and later five. Once again, our friend Bermudo describes the guitar of his day, referring to it as a small Vihuela. By the turn of the 17th century, the five-course guitar had surpassed the Vihuela and fourcourse guitar in Europe and it was during this time that the guitar made its way to Latin America via the Spanish imperialistic push.

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CLASSIC GUITAR METHOD By the 1800’s, the guitar had lost its paired courses for the most part and had gone to six individual strings. The body was still a long long-wasted wasted narrow affair with very primitive bracing. The instrument pictured to the lower left (previous page) is an 1800 Jacobus Jany, bu built ilt in Vienna. Small bodied, small voiced, these instruments still had a lute lute-like like tone: a true transition instrument with the layout and tuning of the future coupled with the sound of the past Antonio De Torres Jurado (1817 (1817-1892) is often referred to as the Stradivari of the guitar. His instruments codified the shape, design, and construction of the modern guitar. Torres was born in San Sebastian de Almería,, June 18, 1817. By the age of 12 he was apprenticed to a carpenter. Some time around 1842, Torres appears to have gone to work for José Pernas in Granada, where he began to build guitars. He soon returned to Sevilla, and set up shop. Although he made some guitars during the 1840s, it was not until the 1850’s that he took the advice of guitarist and composer omposer Julian Arcas, that Torres made it his profession and he began building in earnest. Julian Arcas offered Torres advice on building. He then began experimented in earnest with bracing, top shape, thickness and material. Torres reasoned that the soundboard soun was the critical factor in tone production. To increase its volume, he made his guitars not only larger and deeper, but fitted them with thinner, lighter soundboards that were arched in both directions, made possible by a system of fan bracing for sstrength. trength. To prove that it was the top, and not the back and sides of the guitar that gave the instrument its sound, in 1862 he built a guitar with back and sides of papier-mâché. mâché. (This guitar resides in the Museo de la Musica in Barcelona and it is no longer long playable.) In 1868, Torres met Tárrega for the first time. Tárrega then a young lad of seventeen had come to Sevilla from Barcelona to buy a Torres from the maker of Julian Arcas' instrument. Torres offered him a modest guitar he had in stock, but on hearing him play, offered him a guitar he had made for himself a few years before. About 1870, he closed his shop in Sevilla, and moved back to Almería where he and his wife opened up a china and crystal shop. About five years latter, he began his "second epoch" as he refers to it on the labels of his guitars, building part-time time when not busy in the china shop. After the death of his wife, Josefa, in 1883, Torres began to devote increasing amounts of time to building, making approximately twelve guitars a year ear until his death. Torres guitars are divided into two epochs, the first, belonging to Sevilla from 1852 18521870; the second, during the years 1871-1893 1893 in Almería. (Pictured at right: Francisco Tárrega [circa 1880’s] playing a Torres instrument built in the truest

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‘Torres Style’, one can readily see the more voluptuous body shape and almost modern proportions.) The guitars Torres made during the second epoch are so vastly superior to those of his contemporaries that their pattern changed the way guitars were built worldwide. Although they are not particularly loud by modern standards, they have a clear, balanced, firm and rounded tone, which projects very well. To this day, the Torres guitar pattern and design is a benchmark for guitar technology, utilized as a model or as a ‘jumping off place’ for many builders. While there are a small number of designs that are considered the norm for guitar construction, each new year brings new luthiers with novel ideas to the marketplace. Some of these ideas have been incorporated into the standard repertoire of guitar construction; more often than not, they go the way of outrigged strings or multiple necks. With Torres, the bar had been pushed higher. Builders such as Vicente Arias, Manuel Ramirez, Santos Hernandez, Francisco Simplicio and Domingo Esteso propelled the development of the instrument in various ways, none can be said to have contributed as much or more than Torres, and the builders who most religiously followed his principles and practices before imparting their own instinctive and intrinsic modifications have continued to influence others and stand out as the masters. (Typical Torres-Hauser bracing pattern to right, consisting of seven symmetrical fan braces.) José Ramirez II modified the bracing system of Torres to include a transverse brace further stiffening the top to produce a distinctive tone that was further enhanced and focused by José Ramirez III who moved from spruce to cedar for his top wood. Hermann Hauser, father and son, both based their output on the Torres pattern and so enamored of the 1937 Hauser he played that Andrés Segovia declared it “The Greatest Guitar of the Epoch.” Hauser’s guitars have also gained almost mythical status being considered a pattern to build from as evidenced by the beautiful Kenny Hill Munich pictured at left. This instrument is patterned after Hauser, which implies a Torres influence but incorporates some of Mr. Hill’s unique and excellent ideas as well. Its tone and voice are very Hauser-like.

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CLASSIC GUITAR METHOD

Parts of the Modern Classical Guitar Pretty basic, but many people are fuzzy on the exact definitions of some of these terms mistaking frets for fret wire and the bridge for the saddle. The nut? They often think that’s the person behind the instrument! The head or headstock is the end of the neck where the strings are tied to the tuning machines. The head is usually capped with a thin rosewood veneer. The shape of the head is often a maker’s signature. The neck attaches to the body at the twelfth fret joint and is comprised of a neck proper often carved from Mahogany and an ebony fingerboard. The fingerboard is fretted with fret wire. The area between the fret wires is called the fret. It is not the wire itself. The Body is a hollow box with internal bracing (see photograph of soundhole area which shows a back brace.) The body’s shape gives rise to some anatomical names for the various features. The shoulders are more commonly called the upper bouts. The soundhole is one of the more prominent features of the soundboard or top. The soundhole allows the air excited by the vibration of the strings and top to escape to the listener’s ears. The waist is the narrow central portion of the body.

The strings pass from the tuning machines and pass over the nut—a plastic (inexpensive), bone (better), or ivory (on the absolute best maker’s models) rectangular block. The nut not only keeps the strings spaced correctly, but is adjusted so that the open strings ring cleanly and clearly when plucked. Nuts do wear from the strings’ rubbing through the grooves. They must either be shimmed up and readjusted or replaced. The Rosette surrounds the soundhole and much like the headstock shape, is often a signature of the guitar maker. Less expensive or student model instruments will have mass-produced rosettes used to keep production costs down. Even so, most guitars’ rosettes are beautiful and intricate inlaid marquetry, enhancing the visual aesthetic of the instrument.

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The Label is where the maker lets you know when, where and who made the instrument as well as its model designation and serial number. Most handmade guitars will have this information handwritten on the label. Although built in a large factory, the instrument in this photo was hand built by a single craftsman whose signature can be seen on the lower right of the label. The bridge is a block of hardwood, usually rosewood, which consists of a tie block and a slotted portion that carries the saddle. Strings are tied to the tie block and pass over the saddle on their way up to the tuning machines. The saddle is crafted from plastic (on inexpensive models), bone (a very good choice on many fine instruments) and ivory (the finest material reserved for only the most expensive and highly-valued recitalist’s instruments. Ivory can be difficult to obtain due to trade embargos and WWF restrictions.) Some makers feel morally obligated not to use ivory for various environmental and ethical reasons even when it might be available. Choice of saddle and nut material can make a very large difference in the tone quality of an instrument. Plastic sounds dull in most instances. Upgrading to bone can clean up the tone of a muddy or dark sounding guitar by heightening treble output and increasing sustain. There are several man-made nut/saddle materials on the market as of this writing including carbon graphite, MicartaTM and even CorianTM. A man-made ivory called Tusq® can be worked just like bone or ivory and yields tone very similar to ivory. A new nut and saddle is a relatively inexpensive way to upgrade a playable but lackluster sounding student instrument. The saddle is angled slightly to decrease string length to the treble side. This is done in an effort to correct intonation difficulties. While not a perfect means of producing an instrument that plays in-tune in even temperament for the entire length of the fingerboard, an acceptable state of tune is achieved. Gross tuning difficulties are all but nonexistent on guitars these days. Any problems usually are associated with either old, dead strings or physical damage to the instrument The bridge is glued to the top without any other means of attachment. (There was a builder in New York City in the 1980’s named Jack Kirk who inserted small dowels through the bridge at the tie block, capping the block to disguise his technique. The author has never seen a Kirk lose its bridge. Bridge failure is not common, so it is not a major issue, that is, unless it happens to you ten minutes prior to a performance!) The wings of the bridge protrude towards the bass and treble sides of the guitar and are intended to transmit string energy to the top over a broader area—and spread the string pull over a broader area as well. Some guitars have used asymmetrical wings to contour the bass and treble response, but it has been the author’s experience that variations in top wood and internal bracing make the most dramatic differences in frequency response. Tying the strings to the tie block is an easy to master technique. Failing to learn the technique prior to one’s first restringing can result in damage to the instrument and possible personal injury. This subject is discussed in greater detail in a later section.

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CLASSIC GUITAR METHOD

Common Sense and Guitar Care When you are not playing the instrument, keep it in its case with the latches closed. Unattended instruments are often sat upon, knocked over or scratched. Guitars in unlatched cases are just as vulnerable if not more so as people will pick the case up and toss the guitar to the floor. Even a carpeted floor can snap a headstock or crush a soundboard. Never wear clothing with large buckles or buttons. My suit jackets that are used on stage have had all the buttons removed. Large rings will damage the side of the fingerboard. Don’t tap your nails on the guitar’s soundboard. Never hand your instrument to just anyone who wants to play it. These people cannot be expected to show your valued instrument the same respect that you would. Worse, they might not even understand just how costly the instrument is and cause damage through horseplay. There is nothing worse than having some yahoo ‘El Kabong’ someone with your $80,000 irreplaceable Ignacio Fleta and then laugh and say “Sorry” as they walk away.

Heat and Humidity Wood is a living thing. Yes, the tree has died, but the wood itself still responds to changes in temperature and humidity just as it did when it was alive. In the fall trees shed their leaves when the overnight temperatures drive the sap down into the root ball for warmth. To permit this action, the cellular structure of wood is comprised of little chambers that can absorb and release moisture. When the wood gains moisture it swells, when the wood looses moisture, it contracts. Wood maintains this ability to absorb and release water and this is a critical piece of knowledge when considering the prolonged useable lifetime of your guitar. Guitar makers build guitars in all manner of construction, but the aspect of the build that most concerns us here is whether the instrument is built from solid wood or from a laminate—plywood. Even student instruments can be found built from solid wood, but in the lowest price ranges, plywood is more desirable. Why? Solid wood offered on an inexpensive instrument will be either of low quality or of low quality as well as being insufficiently dried or aged. Wood that is used to build a guitar before it has time to stabilize will tend to warp and split quickly. Plywood is more stable and preferable in the economy range. While it will never offer an improved tone and character with age, it will also never split, warp or fall apart unless submerged or baked. Solid wood on a well-built instrument will continue to improve tonally with age—to a certain point. It has been suggested that a good spruce top will continue to improve for fifty or more years. Segovia had retired his famed 1937 Hauser in the mid 1960’s, it is doubted that this was due to tone loss considerations, as he switched to a José Ramirez 1a which, due to its construction materials and techniques, is just a totally different sound. In brief, he didn’t opt out of the Hauser because it went sour; he went for new tonality. The cedar tops Ramirez commonly uses are said to peak at ten years and last twenty years. This has not been the author’s experience. The 1976 Ramirez 1a in the author’s collection is still a robust, rich-voiced instrument as of this writing in 2006. Regardless of the tonal qualities, solid wood—even of the highest quality and from the best builder—requires more care than a more proletarian instrument. Heat and humidity are a guitar’s worst enemies after outright physical damage. Humidity will cause the wood to expand and as it is forced to maintain a certain dimension through glue joints and reinforcement to other components, this expansion results in warp. Warp may manifest as a backbowed or forward curved neck, a fingerboard that has pulled loose from the neck, a bulge in the top, a bulge in the back, snapped braces, and in some cases, a detached bridge. If the instrument has been subjected to very high humidity, glue joints will fail and the instrument can quite literally reduce itself to component parts within a relatively short period of exposure time. What humidity level is too high? If you live in the North Eastern United States or Great Britain, you will want to have a dehumidifier running during the spring, summer and fall.

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High humidity is bad—above 65%. Low humidity—below 40%—must be good. Wrong! When the wood’s moisture content drops below its moisture content at the time the guitar was built, the wood will shrink. When this happens, tops split, fingerboards, braces and bridges come loose and finishes check and crack. How does humidity drop low? In wintertime, cold air—even if it’s snowing—carries very little moisture. Furnaces then warm this air, further drying it. If your sinuses bleed in the wintertime, it is because your environment is much too dry. Your guitar will suffer as well. Where your guitar was built will affect how prone to damage the instrument will be in your native environment. Guitars built in England will be quite happy and trouble-free in a slightly more humid locale such as Upper New York State. An instrument built in Arizona should probably be happy in Arizona, but would turn into a sponge in Florida. Most builders store their wood in a climate-controlled environment for aging and construction, but even so, a guitar will probably be happiest in an environment close to that of its creation. So, just what humidity level is just right for a guitar? About 47% relative humidity is ideal. Buy a hygrometer for your case as well as the room in which your guitar is most often played and/or stored. Don’t scrimp here, buy a good one. Use a dehumidifier in the summer and a humidifier in the winter to maintain 47% in the room in which your instrument is stored. A product such as a Dampit®, which is a rubber tube filled with a spongy material that is soaked in water, wrung out and placed inside the instrument or case, works very well. The beauty of this device is that the guitar is not only humidified while in its case but, if installed in the guitar, when it is out of the case in a dry environment. In-case humidifiers are also a good choice. Any help you can give the instrument is a wonderful thing. Low relative humidity, below about 40%, can cause cracking in both the wood and finish. Lacquer checks will develop along the bindings and at glue seams. Any place where two dissimilar woods or grain patterns meet have the potential to become cracks. Fingerboards shrink, leaving the fret ends protruding beyond the edge of the binding. Keep the humidly between 45 and 55 percent and the guitar should remain stable. Rapid changes humidity and heat do the most damage. Whenever you transport the guitar, leave it in the case with the top closed until the outside of the case has reached the same temperature as the new environment. Never open the case immediately after you’ve brought it in from the car on a cold day. Ideally, the guitar travels in the passenger compartment and not in the trunk. Even so, equalize temperature and humidity inside the case before opening it. This is just as critical on hot days as well. NEVER leave a guitar in the trunk OR passenger compartment on a hot day.

Cleaning Most modern instruments have extremely durable lacquer or acrylic finishes and require very little care. Wipe with a slightly dampened lint-free cloth to remove dust and finger oils. French Polish finishes (a mixture of alcohol and shellac as found on high-end recital instruments) should never be exposed to either finger oil or perspiration and on a French polish absolutely no cleaning compounds should be used. French Polish is the most fragile of all finishes, only slightly less untouchable than raw wood. The sonic excellence and clarity of this finish mitigates for its use on an instrument that receives human contact. A soft, lint free cloth should be all that is used to wipe the surface. A sock should be worn on the arm if it is short sleeve shirt season. Be sure to get no sweat on a French Polished guitar. Never wipe any finish with the same cloth you use to wipe down your strings. Avoid the use of guitar polishes with silicone compounds. These polishes render finish touch-up impossible and refinishing difficult. The fingerboard should be cleaned on every total restringing, removing all finger oil and dead skin deposits with a damp cloth. Lemon oil can be used to rejuvenate the wood every year or so. Don’t use large quantities or oil the board often. Although you don’t want to throw the stuff around, a small amount of lemon oil touching a French Polished top will not destroy anything. Don’t make it a habit though.

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CLASSIC GUITAR METHOD

Stringing the Guitar The classical guitar string is a plain plain-ended ended string. There are usually no balls or loop ends to affix the string to any part of the guitar. The guitarist relies on simple knots to hold the strings in place and accept tension.

Treble Knot: Two loops, string end points to bass side Bass Knot: One loop, string end points to treble side

String the guitar starting at the bridge tie block. Insert the string from the neck/soundhole side of the tie block. Come out through the end block side, bringing the string back up towards the saddle. Pass the string UNDER the string where it enters the th neck/soundhole side of the tie block.

At the tuning machine, things are just as simple. With the string hole facing straight up towards the headstock veneer, insert string into hole. Pull the string through with no slack in the string. Loop the string around itself and tighten the tuning machine in the counterclockwise direction so that the string winds over the top of the str string ing roller (white shaft in photo.) As the loop approaches the hole where the string enters the string roller, make sure the loop drops into or sits on that hole. This is seen in the photo. Bring string up to pitch. Trim surplus string at about an inch or so of length from knot. The sixth string loop will not seat into the hole; allow the loop to clamp itself on the string roller. Treat trebles and basses identically. For bass strings, pass the end of the string through the loop being certain the stri string ng crosses itself on the rear (vertical) face of the tie block – see photograph for clarification. With the treble strings, one loop will not hold the string. After going through the tie block and passing the string under itself, pass it under it under once nce again. Then make sure the last cross is situated on the rear face of the tie block. If done correctly, the string end will point towards the bass side of the instrument. See photograph for clarification. Be particularly mindful of the number of lloops oops and where the last crossover is on the tie block and the string will remain affixed to the bridge; not hard to do, but imperative to do correctly! Bring the two E strings up to pitch first, then tension the A and B string and finally the D and G string. ng. This applies tension to the bridge and top evenly. When changing strings, neither remove all the strings at once, nor remove more than one at a time. Maintain as constant a tension on the instrument as much as possible. Remove one string at a time and nd bring the new string to concert pitch before removing or detuning any other strings. This prevents excess stress (tension/release) to the instrument.

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Tuning the Guitar The guitar is tuned using A 440 (440 cycles per second) as a benchmark. In some locales a telephone dial tone contains the A 440 and can be used for tuning by the experienced ear. The dial tone usually contains a secondary pitch, so the new student might wish to find a piano, electronic tuner or piano/keyboard first! About Pitch Notation: As you will note in the accompanying diagram of the guitar’s open strings compared to the piano keyboard, the instrument is notated one octave higher than actual pitch. [Obviously, the E above middle C is notated on the first (lowest) line of the staff, not the top space.] This notational adjustment was made to accommodate the range of the instrument to the staff. Without this adjustment, guitar notation would be mostly relegated to ledger lines and would be difficult to read accurately on the fly. The diagram has been adjusted to reflect this difference between the actual pitches to the notated pitches on the guitar-adjusted staff. About the strings themselves: Nylon strings are much more stable and durable when compared to the gut strings commonly used prior to the Second World War. They do present issues—especially for those who may have become accustomed to steel or bronze/steel guitar strings. Nylon has a wonderful tension memory. This means that when you bring a string up to pitch, it has a tendency to return to its original tension and go flat. Similarly, once the string has become settled in at a certain tension, it will try to return to that tension if loosened. In simple terms, once you have brought a new set of strings up to correct concert pitch, they will immediately go flat, or if you drop tune a string, it will creep sharp. Plain trebles take quite a while to settle in at pitch. On a positive note, they last a long time. The wound basses tend to adjust and stay ‘in tune’ more readily. Due to their construction (metallic windings over a nylon floss core) they also wear more quickly than the trebles.) Many concert artists

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CLASSIC GUITAR METHOD replace the basses and leave the trebles in place in a ratio of two or three to one—two or three sets of basses to one set of trebles. In response to this, some manufacturers sell the strings in nine packs and as half sets. There are many excellent strings on the market and it is important that the student find a string set that is compatible with both his playing ability as well as the particular instrument he or she is playing. Some strings are sonically neutral and while many luthiers prefer this characteristic, a neutral string may seem lackluster to the user. Some string manufacturer’s products are bright and tend to be more ‘at home’ on a spruce-topped guitar. A darker string—to a point—may be just what a cedartopped guitar demands. Experiment! Ask your teacher! What does your favorite artist use? Of course, the favorite artist has spent years perfecting tone. Changing to the artist’s brand of string will not make the student sound just like the artist, but if the artist plays a guitar similar to yours and you like the tone produced, using their string might help the student find his or her tone. Strings come in various tensions. The higher tension (or HARD) string will project more, produce more volume, and be harder to play. EXTRA HARD is the macho string and can even damage some instruments, especially older ones designed in kinder, gentler times. There are MEDIUM and NORMAL strings that are more suited to the new student. Of course, a MEDIUM string will feel like a HARD string on a longer scaled instrument.

Tuning the Guitar to Itself The A on the fifth fret of the sixth (E) string is the same pitch as the open fifth (A) string. Similarly, the fretted pitch at the fifth fret of the fifth (A) string is the same pitch as the open fourth (D) string. The fretted pitch at the fifth fret of the fourth (D) string is the same pitch as the open third (G) string. The fretted pitch at the fourth fret of the third (G) string is the same pitch as the open second (B) string. [This is the only string-to-string relationship that requires a fret change.] The fretted pitch at the firth fret of the second (B) string is the same pitch as the open first (E) string. By comparing these pitches, fretted pitch to open string, one can tune the instrument without an electronic tuner, pitch pipe or piano. This method of tuning only will work if you are fairly certain the sixth (E) string is close to the correct pitch. If the pitch of the sixth string is questionable, check all the strings and see if any of the matched pitches are correct and work out from that string pair. Damage to the instrument can result if it is tuned above correct concert pitch. Use of this tuning method is better for maintaining or checking tuning rather than as a standalone tuning method, but is quite handy for solo performance and practice. It is also useful in an ensemble setting when an A can be secured from an instrument of fixed pitch. A Brief Note: If traveling with your guitar by commercial airline, loosen the strings considerably. Temperature and altitude changes will place undue stress on the instrument and can result in damage. An approved flight case is a necessity. Baggage handlers will destroy a regular hard-shell case through either roughness or genuine contempt. The strings will once again require settling after retuning. Keep a hygrometer in your case and check it regularly!

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Correct Playing Posture Seating and Positioning The classical guitar is always played in a seated position. Recitalists in performance will often use a piano bench, however, any sturdy, comfortable chair will do. Metal folding chairs are acceptable, but will often click and creak if the player moves while performing. This may render a metal folding chair useless in a performance setting where small noises detract from the listeners’ enjoyment by intruding upon their concentration. Also, the seat-height height of the majority of these chairs is too low. Regardless ardless of seating, the guitarist will require either a footstool or one of the thigh supports that have become popular recently. An elevated left leg (or elevated guitar) is required to attain a correct position for playing. Please see my old publicity photo from om 1980. (Photo: right.) Styles certainly were different… but at least the guitar is aligned correctly. Regardless of how the leg is elevated, the nut of the guitar should be level with the player’s left shoulder. This allows the right hand to ffall all into playing position naturally, without a huge wristwrist bend. The guitar rests upon the left thigh. Once again, see another old photo photograph graph of the author. (Photo: left.) This demonstrates near near-perfect perfect positioning: left leg elevated, guitar resting on left thigh, and the nut at shoulder-height. height. Note that the legs are parted to accommodate the lower bout of the instrument. Ladies should consider their attire accordingly. The body should be relaxed, the back relatively straight, leaning slightly forwar forward d into the instrument, shoulders not slouched. The arms will naturally fall into the correct position, right forearm resting on the lower bout of the instrument so that the right hand falls just over the trailing edge of the rosette. The left wrist is cu curved naturally.

Footstools Footstools come is a variety of styles and ranges of adjustability from wooden non-adjustable non models, suitable for home use by one player player—it will either work or it won’t—through through adjustable wooden stools to metal stools with a wide range of adjustability (height and angle) which are most suited to the traveling recitalist. The two footstools pictured here are both adjustable for height as well as angle. Either one would be an excellent choice. My personal choice would be the t beautiful mahogany stool at left for home use, where it would not slide on carpet and is very attractive to look at. The metal unit with the rubber feet is lighter and more compact and would not slide about on the typical hardwood stage surface. What, two footstools? Yes. Many more styles are available and can be found online or at most music retailers. As of this writing in 2006, expect to pay between fifteen and thirty US dollars for a stool.

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CLASSIC GUITAR METHOD

Hand Positioning Correct Left Hand Finger Positioning Ideally, the fingers would apply pressure to the strings (and fretboard) at an absolutely perfect ninety degree angle. Well, that would be ideal in a perfect world. In case you hadn't noticed... Here in the real world, we work within the constraints given us. Take a look at the picture to the right. This is what is considered just about the best that one can hope for. Note that the thumb is placed behind the fingerboard, not draped over the top and impeding the sixth string. Nor is it crawling around the opposite side of the neck—it is right on the centerline of the neck. The second and third fingers are each covering a fret, in this case the sixth and seventh fret. In the aforementioned perfect world, the first finger and fourth finger would also be perpendicular to the fretboard whilst doing a manly job of covering the fifth and eighth frets, but it is plain to see they are beginning to lean over as they do their job, the lazy sods. This is typical to a greater or lesser extent with every guitar player's hand. Don't expect too much more. What is important is that the fingers are properly arched and not impeding the vibration of any adjacent strings. You can't tell by the photo but the fingers are all on the fourth (or D) string. The third (or G) string can be plucked and will vibrate cleanly even though the entire hand is camping out on the fourth string. Okay? When a new student tries to form the open position F major chord, what will often happen is that in the attempt to flatten the first finger to cover the C and F on the first fret second and first string, the other two fingers (second and third) collapse or lose their arch. In the picture to the top left you will note that although the third finger is successfully depressing the F on the fourth string, third fret, the fat little finger pad is also leaning all over the third string which will result in that fretted A on the third string making little (or muffled) sound. Chances are, repositioning the thumb a bit lower on the back of the neck will increase the arch of the second and third finger allowing the chord to sound more cleanly. BUT this is only the case if the first finger can still remain nice and flat on the second and first strings! This is why guitar teachers will harangue a student about finger-independence. Alright, now we've seen what it looks like when done poorly. The photo to the lower left shows a C chord from the same position, and even though the third finger is stretched further across the neck, the fingers are arched enough to result in a clean chord from stem to stern. It is not all that much of a difference that takes one from chump to champ. You've got to really study the image to see the difference—and it isn't merely the slight variation in camera angle and chord. What will it look like from the driver's seat when executed with aplomb? Here—to the right—we see that F major chord again

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from the player's vantage point. Trust me; the second and third fingers are arched. You can plainly see that the first finger is flat. This chord will ring with all the beauty that an F chord in the open position can muster. Hey, have a look at this beauty! Nice pink nail beds, no fungus infections, nothing ingrown, fairly new set of strings... No, that's not what I want you to notice. The T fingertip is cleanly depressing the fourth string, while the fifth and third strings are not being affected at all. And with those huge food-hooks, hooks, if I can do it, anyone can. Well, you can note one item regarding the fingernail on that zeppelin for one piece of fatherly advice. Please notice how far down I've cut my nails. I don't bite them, but people think I do. Long nails (sorry ladies, they have to go if you are a player) aare re a hazard to clean fretting. Not only do they force you to exert greater pressure to get your finger pad onto the string, you'll also dig little pits in your fingerboard that will require major surgery to correct at a later date, plus you'll sound all tickti tacky to boot. Here is a d minor7 chord played at the fifth fret. It's a Grand Barré form. Note the flat first finger, the second and third more or less on on-axis axis for a perpendicular approach, the fourth finger is a bit splayed to catch the C on the first rst string. Remember what I said about an imperfect world? The fourth finger can slack it here as it isn't interfering with any fretted pitches. Looks like crud though, doesn't it? Look at the ideal position in the first photo in this section. You will see that the fourth finger is also a bit skewed. Look at your own fourth finger. I can guaranty that the actual callous on the finger is off to the trailing edge side of the finger pad. Am I right? It's like this for everyone I have ever met. Correct finger position osition is an ideal that we seek and search for with the full knowledge that we will never attain our goal goal—but we must continue in the direction of perfection. And how about that burly, ugly brute those fingers hang around with?

The Left-hand Thumb and Where It is Placed The thumb is curiously misunderstood in the scope of guitar playing. Some really good players and all new students think that the thumb is there to squeeze the neck of the guitar into the fingers—it’s it’s a vise, a clamp, and can usually be used to force oneself through a program, but that muscle between that thumb and first finger bulges and burns and turns into a big lump on the side of the hand. So—what what is the thumb's role or best use? Yes, it is used to hold the guitar neck, but it is more mo a guide than a clamp. There is no need to grab the guitar by the neck and strangle it. Most pressure should come from the large muscles of the fore and upper arm pulling the fingers of the hand into the neck rather than the little thumb pushing the neck out to those same fingers. Once you've gotten the feeling for using the arm muscles in the correct manner, your thumb will float along the back of the neck—and and not end up hurting after a long play session. Aside from releasing the pressure, the little mis miscreant creant must be positioned correctly to allow the fingers to position themselves and move correctly. Good thumb will often correct bad finger position.

20

CLASSIC GUITAR METHOD Here are two typical incorrect positions for the thumb.

This is typical new student stuff. The player play wraps the thumb up around the bass side of the fingerboard. Note that the wrist is cocked upward. The tendons running through the carpal tunnel are now rubbing vigorously against each other with each and every movement of the fingers. Justt as bad as the impending carpal tunnel syndrome is the musical result: the fingers are not able to cleanly fret notes on the fifth and sixth string. At best they are curled over to one side and just can't move with speed and/or accuracy. If you see your hand and in this positioning—even positioning momentarily in a piece—re-think think your hand position and make sure you never see this picture again! Okay. The student is sitting next to me at a lesson and I've just corrected the problem pictured above. Ninee out of ten times, the student's thumb has twisted around to the position you see here. Although comical, it is considered keeping the thumb from wrapping around the neck to the new student! Trouble is, nothing has changed for the wrist or the fingers except maybe there'll be a bit more pain just a bit sooner We've just gone from bad to worse. The wrist should ld not be humped up in a way that is opposite the nature of its normal range of motion. The wrist should be bent slightly so that the palm rises, not falls. Get it?

Let's look at the right way this should be done. The first knuckle of the thumb is touching the imaginary centerline of the neck. The wrist is slightly bent, the arm is pulling the neck back to the thumb, and the thumb is NOT pushing on the neck. In this position, the fingers can be arched, ninety degrees to the fingerboard on attack and be able to cleanly and accurately fret notes on all six strings. This is ideal.

Even in open position, the thumb remains on the centerline of the neck. Don't get stuck with your thumb some place where it shouldn't be! The fingernails of the left hand should be very short. Reference the close-up up photo of the fingertip a one page previous. This is ideal length. How about the right hand?

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Take care to ensure your left hand fingertips are depressing the strings in the most efficient manner Thee simple act of misplacing one's finger on the fret can result in vastly increased buzz as well as the need to exert greater energy to produce any pitch whatsoever. The best possible place to fret a note is directly behind the next highest fret wire. All too often, the guitarist will position his finger as seen in the following photograph. While it is possible to cleanly fret a pitch with the finger placed thusly, I urge the player to pick up his or her instrument and try it! Usually a buzz will accompany any the note produced -- and that's only if the player depresses with extra force. You may say "Well, the note was played cleanly, so what's the problem?" Remember the guitarist is an athlete much the same as a long-distance runner. Do the best maratho marathoners sprint away from the starting line? No, they conserve energy until required. In much the same manner, the guitarist should try to conserve as much energy and motion as possible as well. In the next picture we see where the note should be fretted -- directly behind the fret wire of the next higher fret. Here is what I ant the guitarist to try: Play the note as shown in photograph two. Now without increasing pressure, slide the finger to the position in photograph one and once again play the note. If the player has honestly not increased pressure, the note will buzz. Similarly, play the note as seen in photo one and slide the finger up to the position in photo two. If the note buzzed at first, it will cease to do so. I have noted even among rat rather her advanced students that they will often expend more energy than necessary or buzz a bit due to inaccurate finger placement. If one is playing a single note, it is easy to correct this issue. However, when playing scale passages it often becomes more ddifficult ifficult for the student to make this adjustment. Why? I believe it comes from not stretching the hand as far as is necessary to cover the frets in whatever portion of the scale stays in one position. In other words, the student finds it 'easier' to not spread the fingers far enough apart to cleanly and accurately depress the string at the fret wire and compensates by pressing the string harder. It is easier (or so the student thinks) to do this rather than stretch a bit. The following is an exercise that at I believe will help the student stretch those fingers out so that they cover more fingerboard naturally. This is a simple chromatic style exercise such as those found in my accuracy article, but the exercise is only played at the first through fourth ffrets. Keep every finger planted (i.e. don't lift up the first finger in any measure and leave the third or second down when playing finger four.) Use a mirror to watch exactly where the fingers are depressing the string and adjust accordingly. As always,, slow and loud practice will produce the greatest benefit from this exercise. Note: The student will be directed back to this exercise by his or her instructor when necessary. The student should not attempt this exercise now. I have included it in the section on proper playing technique as a reference.

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CLASSIC GUITAR METHOD

The Right Hand Right hand technique begins with an understanding of the basic nomenclature. Teachers, performers and music transcribers and editors will invariably use the same indicting symbols for the fingers of the right hand. Based on the Spanish terms for the fingers, ers, the abbreviated nomenclature is p for thumb, i for first finger, m for the middle finger and a for the ring finger. These correspond to the Spanish words Pulgar, Indice, Medio, and Anular. Transcribers will often indicate a fingering if it facilitat facilitates the performance of the piece or if a particular right hand finger will color the tone. For example, it may be more difficult to play a passage with the thumb, but when combined with a left left-hand fingering that maintains a melody on the fourth string, pl plucking ucking with the thumb adds an additional warmth and power to the timbre. Teachers will often mark a student’s exercises with a right hand fingering in an attempt to keep him or her from repeatedly using one finger to perform the exercise. Nails? No nails?? There has been a century century-old old debate regarding right hand technique and fingernails. It is assumed that the lutenists of ages past did not use fingernails to pluck the instrument. Assessments of the instruments of the day conclude that most were of sma small ll voice and volume. Even so, nails were not required and probably not desired. There were no planes, trains, cars or hip hop radio stations to drown out the lutenist. Use of nails both increases the volume output as well as the treble content of the tone. e. Most modern guitarists concur that these issues can be addressed through proper technique and critical listening. At time of this writing, the vast majority of guitarists incorporate the slightly lengthened nails of the right hand into their technique technique. These two drawings indicate the maximum fingernail length that can be used effectively. Also note the taper. This taper is what most guitarists and pedagogues consider ideal. The nail should be rather short at the point of immediate string contact and taper per longer to guide the fingertip up and away from the string. Nails should be filed every other day or as necessary to correct damage, wear or growth. A crosscut steel file will remove the most material the quickest, but will leave a rough edge. A diamond ond file wears and will require replacement, but leaves a smoother edge. Emory boards are good but require very frequent replacement. A diamond file followed by 400 grit wet/dry sandpaper is ideal. Right Arm Positioning: The right arm and hand should naturally turally drape over the lower bout of the guitar with the wrist having a slight bend to allow the fingertips to touch the strings. [See first photo on page 16.] The arm should simply rest upon the instrument, not squeeze it to the body. The position should ld feel natural to the student, not uncomfortable.

Tone Production and the Right Hand It is always said that ideally the right hand should be positioned so that the fingers are plucking the strings even with the rosette immediately to the bridge side of th thee sound hole. See the picture to the right. Notice that my fat hand is pretty much in this 'ideal' starting position. This is not the place where the hand MUST stay at all times. It is a good all all-around around point at which we can begin to make tone. Also notice that Fu Manchu thumb nail. That's too long folks; I filed it after I saw this picture!

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With the hand in this position you can get a decent enough variety of sound by altering the nails' angle of attack as well as the usual volume changes. Yes, you can plu pluck ck soft and loud and everywhere in between. There is so much more available though. Pity if we don't explore all the possibilities. On a spruce-topped topped guitar such as the one in the picture (a 2004 Kenny Hill Munich)) the tone is more round and full when co compared to a cedar-topped topped guitar. The cedar has what I would consider more extremes—more more treble and more bass. The spruce has more warmth and is sort of biased towards the mids. The Hill does have an awesome bass, but I believe that is a credit to Mr. Hill' Hill's construction technique as well as his adherence to the design of Hermann Hauser. What does this mean to me when I play the Hill as compared to when I play a Ramirez? Just this: The Hill is going to require me to do something to heighten the treble output—when when required. The Ramirez is going to require me to back off a bit and concentrate on bringing up the mids mids—when required. Of course, that is with all things being equal.. Contemporary performance practice would seem to indicate that Bach sounds best on sp spruce ruce and Albéniz sounds best on cedar. I think both can be performed with artistic merit on either instrument. What is needed is a good knowledge of how to get what you want out of a particular top wood, be it spruce, cedar or redwood. Let's look at some absolutes. You're sitting behind your guitar which just happens to be built of that new redsprucedarwood that has the most even tone production of any guitar ever conceived by the mind of man. So all one needs to do is produce the tone he or she wants wit with h no consideration of the instrument's inherent characteristics. Your hand is in that perfect position we see in the first photo up above. You're playing a piece and suddenly in the music you see the marking ponticello. 'Pluck it by the bridge' So your hand and moves back to the position we see in the second photo. On a Ramirez, this sounds like a screaming banshee banshee—aa bit much except in very specific circumstances. On the Hill, this position has a nice trebly ring, not 'over 'over-the-top' top' at all. Please notice the position of my hand for future reference. There is something going on with the nails that we'll touch upon in a little while. The piece you are playing now requires a darker, more somber sound to heighten the dramatic and emotional intent you feel the composer poser intended. It's time to slide up from way back there at the bridge, but you don't necessarily want to attain that 'perfect' position we looked at first. Pluck the strings up by the end of the neck -- and try not to totally block the sound hole unless you have one of those new guitars with ports in the upper bouts bouts—and dip into your instrument's extreme bass range. Look at the accompanying photo. The hand is partially blocking the sound-hole, hole, but this can be dealt with by digging in and pulling more sound out. Okay, we've got the extremes covered covered—you you are playing tone ranging from a screaming stainless steel angel with a chromium heart to the smoky sound of a humid summer dawn. How evocative I am! But your tone can be even more evocative. It's not just wh where ere we place our fingers; it is how we attack the string as well. Coupling attack with position will yield about ten million different tones more or less.

24

CLASSIC GUITAR METHOD Seen here to the left is my first finger—the fingertip is touching the string and the nail is about to strike it absolutely perpendicularly. The nail is not angled in any direction, it is straighton. This will impart all the pluck's energy to the string more or less at once. Like pulling and releasing a bowstring, it'll all be over in a nanosecond. I liken the tone to that of the entire frequency response available at that position along the string being used all at once. You've just written a check for the balance of your account. Still, some variety can be achieved even with this attack. If more of the fingertip plucks the string and less nail, the tone will be a bit warmer. [As an aside, fingernails should never be so long that you can't get the fat of the finger onto the string without tearing the label in your guitar. Invest in a file. Long nails sound ticky-tacky and break really easily. They are a true liability, despite the ability to mimic a harpsichord with them.] To the right: Note that the fingernail is all that is coming into contact with the string. The nail is also slightly angled so that it will not simply pluck the string, no, it will almost bow it. The string will travel along the nail until finally being released. The resulting tone is less bite and has more apparent duration of attack. It is less BOING! and more Whaaaaaa... It is less trebly. Using this technique on a Ramirez down by the bridge will eliminate the scream and give you more of the ping you want when playing ponticello. Also, by using these two plucks, one needn't move one's hand to shade a note or passage. Cutting down on unnecessary motion is a good thing. It is a wonderful thing in a recital! Variety of tone. It is a noble goal that is readily accomplished with a little thought and a critical ear—that and a good command of right hand technique. This technique will be addressed throughout this method.

Free Stroke and Apoyando Two Right-hand Techniques Free Stroke Free stroke is the basic right hand pluck technique. With the Free Stroke, the fingers of the right pluck the intended string and pass by any and all adjacent strings to complete its travel in a neutral position about half way between the string and the palm. By necessity, the finger must bend slightly during the execution of the pluck to avoid the other strings, usually at the second knuckle back from the fingertip. The photograph to the right shows the free stroke. In this stroke, the finger strikes the string at an upward angle allowing it to pass the adjacent string without touching it. Because the finger is expending energy to curl up towards the palm as well as (some would say) having to lose impetus through increased accuracy to miss that adjacent string, the free stroke is a thinner sound, less volume being the most obvious difference. Place your right hand in the position demonstrated in the photograph to the right. Rest the thumb on the sixth string. Pluck the second string with the index (i) finger observing the motion of the finger and the action of the knuckles as the string is plucked and immediately after.

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Apoyando Referred to more commonly as the 'rest' stroke, it is easily understood by thinking of the rest stroke or apoyando as a right hand plucking technique whereby the plucking finger travels past the string as it is plucks and comes to rest on the string adjacent to it. [For example: when plucking the G string, the finger comes to rest on the D string.] The photograph at left shows the apoyando or rest stroke. Think of it sort of like the way a bass player plucks the strings. Please note that the right hand has not rotated away from proper position. Some players often rotate the wrist to switch to apoyando mode and I believe it is this unnecessary movement that had pushed some players and instructors away from the apoyando back in the 1970’s. Please note that in the photo the finger has just completed plucking the G string and is resting on the D string. The finger is straight; the entire weight of the finger has been used to produce a fat, round and loud tone. There are some fine players who have eschewed the apoyando and do play at good volume and with full tone. They have expended years of extra effort to do so. Why not use a tool that works? Apoyando is not evil!

The Thumb The thumb is positioned as seen in the photograph to the left. The outboard edge of the thumbnail is ready to strike the fifth (A) string with the arrow indicating the direction of travel. The thumb remains straight and pivots from the palm knuckle, there should be no bending of the other knuckles. Upon completing the stroke, the thumb is still straight. It may rotate very slightly to return to the prepluck position in the first photo. Being the largest digit on the hand, the thumb carries quite a bit of weight, both physically and tonally. The thumb will produce the heaviest tone and the most volume. Control is the key to not having a thumb that overpowers the fingers. This matter will be addressed later in this method.

Classical Guitarist’s Survival Tip: Always carry a good diamond nail file (preferably with both a coarse and a fine side) as well as some 400 grit wet/dry sandpaper (that’s the gray stuff.) Nails will chip or break at the worst moment –such as five minutes before a recital. I once broke a nail on the way to a television studio for a live broadcast. Artificial nails are great in an emergency however one of my students has had his natural nail deteriorate beneath the artificial nail requiring a complete re-grow of the nail once the artificial one was removed. Keep a kit handy, but don’t rely on them!

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CLASSIC GUITAR METHOD

Basics of Standard Notation I feel it is essential for the student-guitarist to learn how to read standard musical notation. Although much of the repertoire is available in guitar tab, so much more isn’t. [It is also a very wise endeavor to learn the various forms of lute intabulation. Much lute music is made available as scholarly researched editions, transcribed to standard notation—but to pitch, not in a format readable to guitarists, but it is much easier to find lute music in original editions and work from that to generate unique transcriptions. This topic is outside the scope of our discussion at present.] Guitar tab is acceptable for very new players, but a solid understanding of standard notation is more valuable in the long run. There are no concert-quality classical artists who do not read standard notation.

Pitch and Rhythm All forms of musical notation deal with two factors. These two factors are pitch and rhythm. The notation of rhythm is basically identical in lute and lute tablature and standard notation. It is where pitch is concerned that the two differ. Tablature tells us where we are to place our fingers on the fingerboard. Standard notation tells us what pitches we are to produce on the instrument. Tablature is a much more precise system for stringed instruments since there are certain ‘duplicate’ notes that can be played on different strings (and different positions) but would be written as the same note in standard notation. However, they are represented by different symbols in tablature. Tablature's major drawback then is that it cannot be directly read from on another instrument. You cannot sit down at the piano and easily read from lute tablature unless you have an intimate knowledge of the lute. However, a pianist can read a piece of violin music on the piano with no difficulty at all. This is because both instruments use the standard musical notation.

Notation of Rhythm Musical time is divided into equally spaced units of time called pulses, or beats. These beats last from the beginning of the first beat until the beginning of the next. When written as music, these beats are organized into groups of beats. Vertical Bar lines divide the staff perpendicularly, dividing the staff into measures. The measures contain predetermined numbers of beats.

Measures mean nothing unless we know how many beats are contained in them. For this reason we call certain rhythms meters, which are designated by time signatures. All meters can be reduced to two basic meters known as Duple and Triple meters. Duple meter uses groups of two beats. They are organized as strong and weak beats, which are like marching feet. The foot placed forward first is the strong beat, the other foot the weak follower. V = strong, - = weak. V-V-V-V-V-V-

27

etc.

Triple meter is based on a unit of three beats and is basically a dance rhythm. The waltz is a triple meter. V = strong, — = weak. V - - V - - V - - V - - V - -

etc.

The most common Duple meter is 4/4 time. (It is sometimes called Common time.) 4/4 is a symbol known as a time signature. It represents: 4 4

— beats to the measure — the quarter note receives the beat

In the meter known as 4/4, there are four beats in the measure (Or one whole note, or two half notes, or four quarter notes or eight eighth notes.) In 4/4 time, the Duple meter is arranged: V -v- V-v-

V-v-

etc.

Beats one and three are the strong beats. One is the strongest beat. Beat three is stronger than two and four is the weakest. That brings us to notes and how they tell us what durations they have.

  

This is a Whole note. It has a duration of four beats.

This is a Half note. It lasts half as long as a Whole note; it has a duration of two beats.

      quarter      as long    as a whole      note.   It has   a duration       of one  beat.  This is a Quarter note. It lasts half as long as a half note, one



This is an Eighth note. It lasts half as long as a quarter note, one quarter as long as a half note, one eighth as long as a whole note. It has a duration of one half of one beat.

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CLASSIC GUITAR METHOD

We have seen how pitch duration is notated. However, music is made of silence as well as sound. Rests notate when and how long the silences in the music last. Rests show beats or parts of beats that remain silent in performance, where no pitches are assigned to a beat. Rests correspond exactly to note values in duration:

The whole rest represents four beats of silence, the half rest represents two beats of silence, the quarter rest indicates one beat of silence and the eighth rest divides the beat into two equal parts and represents one half beat of silence.

In 4/4 time, there can only be one whole note in a measure, two half notes in a measure, only four quarter notes in a measure, and only eight eighth notes in a measure. Of course, any combination of half, quarter, and eighth notes can occur, as long as they don’t exceed or fall short of having four complete beats in the measure. TIME SIGNATURES ARE NOTATED AS FRACTIONS AND ARE REFERRED TO AS (PER EXAMPLE) ‘FOUR FOUR’, ‘THREE FOUR’ AND ‘TWO FOUR’. THERE ARE OTHER TIME SIGNATURES SUCH AS 6/8, 12/8…

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The Tie Often in music a pitch will have a duration lasting longer than either the eighth, quarter, half or even whole note—even even lasting over the bar line into the next measure. This situation is notated with a device we call a tie. The tie is a curved line linking two notes of the same pitch. pitch It lengthens the duration of the note to equal the value of the combined of the tied notes.

These six samples show correct use of whole, half, quarter and eighth notes, ties and rests in 4/4 time.

Along with the tie, another device is used to lengthen the duration of a note on the printed printe page. This tool is known as the dot.. The dot is placed to the right of the note to be lengthened. This dot increases the duration of that note by one half its duration value. In other words, a half note followed by a dot will be held for three beats (2 beats of the half note, plus one half the half note’s value or one beat.)

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CLASSIC GUITAR METHOD

Notation of Pitch Pitches are notated on the staff—aa structure consisting of five lines with four spaces. Each line and space indicates a single pitch. The Pitches on the Treble Clef Staff:

Remember the names of the line by thinking: Every Good Boy Deserves eserves Fudge

The spaces spell the word ‘face’ (F, A, C, E)

The Pitches on the Bass Clef Staff: The Bass Clef is depicted with this symbol. The curl of the clef loops around the ‘f’ line on the staff and two dots frame the same line.

The lines from bottom to top are: G,B,D,F,A or Good Boys Don’t Forget Anything nything The spaces are A, C, E, G.

Bass clef is not of primary importance to the guitarist aside from the fact that it is useful to have good working knowledge of this clef for transcribing keyboard music (Albéniz and Scarlatti spring to mind.)

Ledger lines extend the staff past its five line capabilities. Middle C is one ledger line below the treble clef, one ledger line above the bass cclef. lef. Ledger lines are interpreted exactly as the staff, with each line and space representing one half half-step.

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Accidentals (Sharps, Flats & Naturals) The c major scale is composed of the following pitches: c, d, e, f, g, a, b, and c. Even though the note names follow in complete alphabet sequence, there are still gaps.

These gaps are where the accidentals are located. To understand the logic of this, we must first look at how the diatonic major scale of Western music is fformed.

C D E F G A B C (Whole) (Whole) (Half) (Whole) (Whole) (Whole) (Half)

In this chart, the term “Whole” refers to a Whole step and “Half” to a Half step. A Whole step is made up of two Half steps. There is no smaller interval in Western music than the Half step. The guitar fretboard is fretted in half steps. In other words, to make a Whole step, one must skip a fret from the original tone to the next tone forming the interval. The interval from the third fret to the fifth fret is a whole step. The interval from the third fret to the fourth fret is a half step. In order to make major scales starting from pitches other than c, we have to use sharps and flats to insure that the intervallic relationships between each step of the scale is correct. Here is a g scale without any accidentals:

G A B C D E F G (Whole) (Whole) (Half) (Whole) (Whole) (Half) (Whole)

This scale is not a correct major scale because the last two intervals are transposed. To make the scale correct, we must add an f sharp to the scale. The symbol for the sharp is: #

G

A B C D E F# G (Whole) (Whole) (Half) (Whole) (Whole) (Whole) (Half)

Now the Intervals are in the proper order. Rather than continually writing f#’s throughout a piece that is in g major, we put one # at the beginning of the piece, right after the clef, and before the time signature. We call this the key signature, as it tells us what key the piece will be in. F#’s are then just written as f’s in the piece. We understand them to be f#’s from the key si signature. gnature. If the piece should require an f in its natural form due to a transposition, etc., a symbol called a “natural” is placed before the note. (See next page.)

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CLASSIC GUITAR METHOD







As far as flats are concerned, they are the same pitches as sharps, that is to say c# is the same pitch as d flat (d ), d# is the same pitch as e flat(e ), f# is the same pitch as g flat(g ), g# is the same pitch as a flat(a ), and a# is the same pitch as b flat( ). Flats are used when a sharp would obscure the true nature of a scale. ale. Observe the following f scale.





F G A B C D E F (Whole) Whole) (Whole) (Whole) (Half) (Whole) (Whole) (Half)

The intervals are out of order. We could straighten it out by spelling the scale as F G A A# C D E F. This scale is correct as far as pitch in equal temperament is concerned, but how could we possibly have a key signature with both an “a” and an “a #” in the scale? Instead of this awkward spelling, we use a “b” flat instead.

F

G

A

B

C

D

E

F

(Whole) (Whole) (Half) (Whole) (Whole) (Whole) (Half)

Now we can use a single flat as the key signature for the key of “f” major. Of course, like a sharp, a flat can be removed by a natural sign. The intent of this section has not been to teach the student everything there is to know about standard notation, but to allow him to figure out and understand what is being presented to him in this graded format.





About the NATURAL : The natural sign is used to raise a flatted note one half step or lower a sharped note one half step, or in other words, the natural cancels a sharp or a flat. All sharps, flats, and naturals (not noted in the key signature itself) remain in effect throughout throug the measure in which they first appear and are nullified by the next bar line.

33

Sharps and Flats & Building Key Signatures

34

CLASSIC GUITAR METHOD

Common Volume & Dynamics Markings 

Fortissimo

very loud



Forte

loud



Mezzo Forte

medium loud



Mezzo Piano

medium soft



Piano

soft



Pianissimo

very soft

Crescendo (increase volume gradually) Decrescendo (decrease volume gradually)

< >

Common Tempo Markings Indication in Music:

Meaning:

Largo/Adagio/Lento Larghetto Andante/Andantino Moderato Allegretto Allegro Vivace/Presto Prestissimo

Very Slow Fairly Slow Moderate Slow Moderate Fairly fast Fast Faster Very Fast

Metronome Setting:

42-66 50-66 66+/60-100 100+/100+/100-140 184-200

(as quick as possible)

Note relationships Tie The tie lets us know that the two notes tied (joined together by the marking at left) are to be played as one note. The note’s value can be extended within a measure or overt a bar line into a second measure.

Slur Indicates to the guitarist that the two notes joined by the slur are to be played with one pluck, either a hammer hammer-on or a pull-off off depending on the relative position of the notes on the staff. Slurs and ties are similar in appearance. A tie is distinguishable inguishable because it always joins exactly two immediate adjacent notes of the same pitch, whereas a slur may join any number of notes of varying pitches.

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Legato I usually refer to the slurring of two notes as a simple slur. When more than two notes are slurred, I will often refer to this as a ‘legato’. In the grand scheme of things, any slur is a legato.

Glissando Think of a finger slide on one string from one note to one a few (or more!) frets away, all performed as a continuous, unbroken glid glidee from one note to the other including all the pitches between.

Arpeggiation A ‘broken‘ chord with each note played individually, either ascending or descending m pitch ascending.

Articulation marks Articulations (or accents) specify how individual notes are to be performed within a phrase or passage. They can be fine-tuned tuned by combining more than one such symbol over or under a note. They may also appear in conjunction with phrasing marks listed above.

Staccato This indicates that the no note te is to be played shorter than notated, usually half the value, the rest of the metric value is then silent. Staccato marks may thus appear on notes of any value, thus shortening their actual performed duration without speeding up the music itself. Not to be confused with the method of identifying a right hand ‘I’ fingering in some German editions.

Dynamic accent The note is played louder or with a harder attack than any surrounding unaccented notes. May appear on notes of any duration.

Tenuto This symbol has several meanings. It usually indicates that the indicated note should be played for its full value, or slightly longer. It is usually considered in the same vein as a legato,, in contrast to the dot of staccato.

Marcato Same as a dynamic accent, but with more force and deliberation. The note is played much louder or with a much stronger attack than any surrounding unaccented notes. May appear on notes of any duration.

Fermata (Pause of performer performer-determined duration) This indicates to the musician that a pause can be made to the musician’s taste and interpretation. It can be placed above or below the staff. But is usually written above the staff on chords or single single-note note melodies of above and below if there are two melodic lines present – obviously both voices will pause simultaneously.

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Ornaments Ornaments modify the pitch pattern of individual notes. Trill A rapid alternation between the specified note and the next higher note (according to key signature) within its duration. When followed by a wavy horizontal line (like a side-wise wise glissando marking), this symbol indicates an extended trill. Depending on the scholarly consensus of performance practice then current at the time and period the piece was composed, the trill can begin on the upper auxiliary note or the indicate pitch.

Appoggiatura A grace note. The first half of the principal note's duration has the pitch of the grace note (the first two two-thirds if the principal note is a dotted note).

Repetition and codas Repeat signs Either follows or enclose a passage that is to be played more than once. If there is no left repeat sign, the right repeat sign sends the performer back to the start of the piece or the nearest double bar.

Volta brackets (1st and 2nd endings) Denote that a repeated passage is tto o be played in different ways on different playings.

Da capo Tells the performer to repeat the music from its beginning. This is followed by al fine,, which means to repeat to the word fine and stop, or al coda, which means repeat to the coda sign and then jump forward. Dal segno Tells the performer to repeat playing of the music starting at the nearest segno. This is followed by al fine or al coda just as with da capo.

Segno Mark used with dal segno.

Coda Indicates a forward jump in the music to its ending passage, marked with the same sign. Only used after playing through a D.S. al coda or D.C. al coda. coda

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PRACTICUM Taking it to the Guitar

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The First String (E string) Many methods and tutors begin by teaching the student in open position. It has been noted that even after years, these students often read acceptably in open position but their skills diminish as they progress up the neck. It has been found that teaching the student to read at the fifth through ninth frets brings the student to terms with the entire fingerboard more efficiently. Proper finger placement is essential. The fingertip must depress the string cleanly just behind the next higher fret. If fretting the A note on the fifth fret, the fingertip must be positioned directly behind the sixth fret wire. Centering on the wood is incorrect placement and will result in buzzing. The fingertip should never be placed directly on the fret wire. Pressure is applied until the note sounds cleanly. Any additional pressure will result in the note sounding sharper than desired resulting in poor intonation—a tuned guitar will sound out of tune. Practice the exercises that follow keeping this in mind constantly.

Basic Tones from the Fifth Fret, Maintaining Position

A: Place the first finger on the first (E) string at the fifth fret. [Note proper finger placement, behind the sixth fret wire, not centered between the fifth and sixth frets.]

B: Place the third finger on the first string (E) at the seventh fret. When practicing this note and the following exercises, keep first finger planted on the fifth fret A. This is important to develop ‘position’ feel – finding one note from the other.

C: Place the fourth finger on the first string (E) at the eighth fret. Keep the third and the first fingers ‘planted’ on the fifth and seventh frets as much as possible. New students will probably not be able to make this stretch.

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Practice these exercises slowly keeping the first and third fingers planted as much as possible—and where applicable. Right hand fingering is a simple alternating i,m,i,m. Make certain that the notes are played evenly and that the overall tempo remains constant, at approximately  = 90. Transitions from note to note should occur without changes in tempo or gaps. Practice for accuracy and consistency. These are, obviously, not the most beautiful melodies the guitar is capable of producing, however the student must learn to walk before he or she can run. Mastering these simple (and simply boring) exercises will allow the player to tackle more complex and artistically rewarding pieces later on.

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The Second string (B String) There is nothing magical, mystical or frightening about the second or B string. It does pose a problem to the new student (as will every additional string learned) for two reasons. First, the hand must be trained to ‘find’ the new string and not automatically gravitate to the first string that has been learned. The right hand must also pluck the second string as much as it will want to pluck the first string although the left hand is fretting notes on the second! Second problem? The student now has to know an additional three notes. We’ve just doubled the information the student must recall instantaneously! As much as the new student will not believe this, it can be done. The student will look back to these hours of pain and chuckle months from now when he or she is making real music on the instrument. While learning the notes on the second string as used in the next series of exercises, the student should be aware of the first string and make certain to arch the fingers of the left hand so that the first string can ring cleanly at any point in the exercises. Left hand technique now becomes a real issue. Look at the left hand once the notes are memorized and check for correct finger arch. (Please refer back to section on left hand placement.)

E: Place first finger on the second string at the fifth fret. Maintain finger arch. The first string should be able to be plucked cleanly with finger on second string.

F: Place second finger on the second string at the sixth fret. Keep the first finger on the fifth fret and keep those fingers arched.

G: Place fourth finger on the second string at the eighth fret. Keep all three fingers down when performing the following exercises. Keep fingers arched!

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Please note measure four of exercise Number 4. The measure introduces the dotted half note as discussed previously in the section on standard notation. As a brief refresher, the dot increases the duration of the preceding note by an additional one half of the note’s basic value. Simply put, a dotted half note has a duration of the half note (two beats) plus one half of a half note’s value (one beat) for a total duration of three beats. To reiterate what has been written previously, practice these exercises with the goal of accuracy in both tempo as well as pitch. Transitions between notes must be even and within the structure of the beat. Count out loud. Once again, the right hand is performing with the i, m alternation. Be certain that neither right hand finger plays two notes consecutively—no i, i or m, m repetitions. Even volume between right hand fingers is a goal to attain. Once again  = 90

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Finger this exercise using the exact same fingerings for the first and second string as used in the preliminary exercises. Fingerings have been added to the first two measures appearing as fractions. The first number of the fraction indicates the string the note is top played on, the second number indicates the left hand finger to use. Also note: measure five into measure six six— —the E note is played with the first finger as is the A note. Students who know the open E note on the first string must not use this note in this exercise. Us Usee the first finger on both notes making sure the transition is clean and accurate.

qwerty represent the strings, q = 1st string (high ‘e’), etc.

Numbers without

surrounding circle are the left hand fingers used to fret the pitches. The right hand should alternate between i & m as in the previous exercise. This is the student’s first experience with switching both right hand fingers as well as strings. Care must be taken to avoid repeating right hand fingers as the string transitions are made. It is pa particularly rticularly easy to do this when moving from a note on the first string to a note on the second string. No, this melody is not inspiring. However, the student should be able to hear that as the melody evolves past the range of one position and merely one string, new possibilities appear. At this point the student should be listening for good tone from the instrument along with simply performing the correct pitches at the correct tempo and rhythm. Go back and re-read re the section on tone production and thee right hand.

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The Third String (G string) The guitar is almost entirely tuned in fourths (as discussed previously E to A, A to D, D to G, and B to E – all fourths.) But there is one string-to-string relationship that ‘ruins’ the perfection for the player. The G string is tuned a third below the B string. Because of this, the intervallic relationships between fretted notes all along the G and B string are different than the intervallic relationships between the other strings (which includes the D and the G and the B and the E strings as well, even if the third string is involved.) Because of this different interval, our exploration of the third string begins with the second finger not the first.

C: Place the second finger on the third string at the fifth fret. Once again, make sure the arch of the fingers allows the second and first strings to vibrate freely. If the arch of the fingers is insufficient, moving the thumb down on the neck (towards the floor, not the box or nut) will increase the arch. No one’s fingers are so short that the third string cannot be played without impeding the second and first strings.

D: Place the fourth finger on the third string at the seventh fret. Nothing new here, the D note is played with the fourth finger which should be arched and placed behind the eighth fret wire. Despite the skew of the fourth finger in the photograph, this is correct positioning for this hand position (second finger still fretting the C on the fifth fret.)

B: Place the FIRST finger on the third string at the fourth fret. As you can see now, we have moved out of position for the notes on the G string. Our study of all the strings will begin on the fifth fret except when we learn the third string – all because of that intervallic third relationship with the second string. Incorporating this knowledge early will allow the student to read printed music and correctly perform this music no matter where on the fingerboard the printed music may indicate. Now notice this. You will recall that we have studied a B note on the first string. The distance intervalically between these two B’s (the B on the third string and the B on the first string) is one full octave. This allows us to make the following conclusion—the distance of one full octave can be spanned in one hand position between three strings. This will be further explained later. This fact

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CLASSIC GUITAR METHOD will allow us to begin practicing a very simple scale at this early stage of the student’s development. (Pg. 83 from C on third string on.) In the following exercises, the student will be following the same guidelines as discussed with the other two strings. Correct finger arch, thumb placement, right hand finger alternation, rhythm, tempo and good tone. Focus on these things; they all must be incorporated to gain full benefit from the exercises.

Third String Exercise

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The Fourth String (D string) Left hand finger arch is becoming an issue by the time the student reaches the fourth or D string. He or she will now be experiencing the sensation of muscles stretching in ways never before encountered—no matter the size of the student’s hand. The student will note the difference in texture from the plain first, second and third string and the wound fourth string. The plain strings are designated commonly designated trebles and the

wound strings basses.

G: Place first finger on fifth fret. Finger arch is now a real concern. Careful practice with the eyes fixed on the fingers will help. This is one instance where it is acceptable to look at one’s fingers rather than the music.

A: Place third finger on seventh fret. Keep the thumb correctly positioned on the neck. Go back and re-read section on thumb placement.

B: Place fourth finger on ninth fret. The student will note the stretch between the third and fourth fingers. Practice the following exercises with the first and third fingers planted as the fourth finger note is played.

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What’s new? In the rhythm department we introduce the triplet figure for the first time. Three eighth notes are performed in the rhythmic space of two eighth notes—one beat. Paired eighth notes are present with the triplets so that the student will have a ready comparison. In exercise 3, More Mixed Strings, the student is presented with notes on adjacent strings. However, because of hand positioning, the fingerings have been altered. For example, the student has previously played the D on the third string with the fourth finger. In measure four, the student is directed to play this note with the third finger as indicated by the asterisk. On the last beat of measure four and the first beat of measure five the G note is played on the fourth string. The fingering switches from the second to the first finger. This is done to prepare for the notes to follow, which would have been made more difficult if the G notes hadn’t been fingered this way, preparing the hand for the notes to follow. Care should be taken when performing these exercises. The student must follow the fingerings carefully. It is not necessarily a good thing to memorize the notes by hand position. The student must develop an intimate knowledge of where the notes are along the fingerboard. This head-knowledge is more important than muscle patterning. Head knowledge is the goal.

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The Fifth String (A string) Left hand finger arch is a critical issue on the fifth or A string. Unless the thumb is absolutely in the correct position, thee student cannot effectively and easily play fretted pitches on the fifth string.

D: Place first finger on fifth fret. Note the finger arch evident in this photograph. Practice playing the notes on the fifth string with both the fingers as well as the thumb. (Re-read read section on right hand thumb technique.)

E: Place third finger on seventh fret. The other four strings (1, 2, 3 & 4) should be plucked open assuring clarity to ascertain that the fingers are arched correctly.

F: Place fourth finger on eighth fret. Make sure this note is fretted cleanly and can be played without buzz while the other three fingers are planted on the fifth and seventh frets as the fourth finger note is played.

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Note: Exercise 3 contains a new note—the open A string, written on the second ledger line below the staff. New pieces from this point forward will contain bass notes plucked with the thumb. Practice these exercises with both an i,m fingering as well as a straight thumb pluck (p). Thumb plucks are indicated by the letter p which is the abbreviation of the Spanish word pulgar which means—you guessed it—thumb. Pieces in the series entitled Putting Things Together will introduce the student to reading and playing polyphonic compositions, polyphonic referring to multiple melody lines—such as bass and upperregister parts—being played together.

A Note on Practice: Volume and Tone Control How does one practice these rudimentary exercises? First one must practice slowly. Rapid practice obscures errors and commits them to memory. The faster errors go by, the less the student hears them. Practice these exercise at a loud volume level—however do not ‘overplay’ the instrument (play so loud that the tone is distorted, harsh or in any way unpleasant.) This will take some mental exercise and will develop the student’s musical ear as well as physical stamina, strength and technique. Quiet practice once again leads to error concealment. If you can’t hear it, you can’t fix it! Loud, clean and slow practice builds the necessary musculature and finesse that eventually gives the recitalist the tonal and dynamic palette to perform on stage for a discerning audience. In a nutshell: SLOW, CLEAN, LOUD & ACCURATE.

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The Sixth String (E string) The vertical stretch of the fingers will get no worse than this, so students take heart. The thumb may actually slide to a spot slightly below correct position, but clean fretting is critical with the sixth string. These notes can and will boom out, plucked with the thumb and carried by the heaviest string on the instrument.

A: Place first finger on fifth fret. Note the finger arch evident in this photograph. Practice playing the notes on the sixth string with only the thumb until directed otherwise.

B: Place third finger on seventh fret. The other fiver strings (1, 2, 3, 4 & 5) should be plucked open assuring clarity to ascertain that the fingers are arched correctly.

C: Place fourth finger on eighth fret. Make sure this note is fretted cleanly and can be played without buzz while the other three fingers are planted on the fifth and seventh frets.

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Sixth String Exercises

The student must play exercises slowly, very slowly. When the student feels confident that the notes are all ringing clearly, cleanly and evenly, then tempo can increase. Use the thumb exclusively on these exercises unless otherwise noted. Wound strings produce a much different tone when compared to the plain nylon trebles. Nail angle, the ratio of nail-to-fingertip making contact with the string and, as importantly, the length of time the string has been in service will have to be addressed when considering the type of tone the student wishes to produce.

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The Open Treble Strings The three highest, plain or unwound strings on the guitar are commonly referred to as the trebles or treble strings. It can be assumed that this understanding has evolved from the fact that these are indeed the highest pitched strings on the instrument. The trebles most often carry the melody and upper chord voicings, though melody and chords are by no means limited to the trebles. The trebles are crisp, clear, and can be pushed to the point of stridency. It is critical to practice the exercises on the treble strings keeping tone and clarity in mind.

The Open Bass Strings The three lowest, wound strings of the guitar are commonly referred to as the basses or bass strings. It can be assumed that this understanding has evolved from the fact that these are indeed the lowest pitched strings on the instrument as well as the fact that the bass line of most pieces will be, for the most part, performed upon these strings. Of course, melodies do dip into the range of these strings and quite often a composer or transcriber will write a melody line executed on the upper frets upon these strings for their characteristic tonal color. When bass lines are performed upon these strings, it is quite often executed with a right hand thumb pluck. The thumb differs from the fingers of the right hand in that it is the most physically massive of the digits. It also rotates downward towards the strings rather than upward as do the other digits. This is readily apparent as the thumb pivots from the wrist rather than from the palm. Despite its size, mass and positioning, the thumb is no less effective and expressive and therefore no less useful to the guitarist. It is crucial to producing interesting contrapuntal (multi-voiced) music. [A section has been included on right hand tone production and should be accessed at this point.]

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Bass notes add an extra dimension to the music. Harmonies previously implied by the melody are now reinforced by the addition of a lower register. The bass notes in this exercise are all open strings plucked with the thumb. For the first time the student must be aware of the balance between two distinct voices—bass and melody. The bass should not overpower the melody, and the student will note that this admonition is not as easy to heed as it may at first seem. The thumb generates a more powerful output than the fingers do in free stroke. Make sure the bass notes do not exceed their whole note durations. This is easy for the student in measures one, two, three and four. It is more difficult when transitioning between measures four and five—the open sixth string will continue to ring through the open fifth string unless care is taken to stop it. Balance and blend. These are two considerations that will follow the student-guitarist from now on. It is a basic factor for any stringed instrument capable of delivering two or more pitches simultaneously—or for the single-line instrument played in ensemble.

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Notes in the Open Position Open string notes have been covered previously. Review the sections entitled “Open Treble Strings” and “Open Bass” Strings for more information. The student will observe that some of the notes shown in open position duplicate notes learned in the fifth fret position. Reference section entitled “Reading Overlap.”

First string, first fret. Note: F It is usually played with the first finger.

First string, first fret. Note: F It is usually played with the first finger.

First string, third fret. Note: G It is usually played with the third finger.

Second string, first fret. Note: C It is usually played with the first finger.

Second string, third fret. Note: D It is usually played with the third finger.

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Fourth string, second fret. Note: E It is usually played with the second finger.

Third string, second fret. Note: A It is usually played with the second finger.

Fifth string, third fret. Note: C It is usually played with the third finger.

Fourth string, third fret. Note: F It is usually played with the third finger.

Sixth string, third fret. Note: G It is usually played with the third finger.

Fifth string, second fret. Note: B It is usually played with the second finger.

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Sixth string, first fret. Note: F It is usually played with the first finger.

Have you ever met a violinist or violist who was a bad sight-reader? Me neither. Many of the same issues that cause guitarists to be poor sight readers— pitches that can be played in more than one place, correct fingerings of double stops—do not seem to be fatal foibles for the violinist. Why? Orchestral string players are taught to play in position. If one returns to the pedagogical works of the early masters, one finds that the guitar was also taught in position. How did guitarists corporately forget this basic training? The problem lies with the instrument itself. When one begins to play the violin, everything is difficult! Intonation is a major problem. Each time you put your fingers on the neck, the notes seem to have gone somewhere else! Bowing. Now there's an interesting concept! All these difficulties with producing a clean pitch with consistent intonation forces the student to slow down and actually learn where the notes are and how to read. Flash to the guitar. Once the student learns to tune the instrument, pitch production is relatively easy. The notes are easy to grab accurately. Tone production, while a bit tricky at first, is not as insane as it is with a bit of horsehair and a stick. The guitarist sounds good almost immediately—with little time spent actually learning the notes and where they are played. The student then moves on to the recital repertoire and with much trial and error, memorizes a number of pieces that can then be performed adequately. The hours a student violinist spends struggling with finding the actual pitches and producing them cleanly and musically while staring at sheet music just do not exist for the guitarist. The guitarist has no personal need to face hours of tedium, in a few months of picking up the instrument; he or she is wowing his or her friends. Reading? What's that? Who needs it? Ferdinando Carulli (1770–1841) did not see life this way. He was a string teacher and pedagogue of the guitar. Peruse his method some time. He challenges the pupil right up front. His first lesson would be considered murder today. [I reproduce it within the next two pages.] We will look at the open position—the only place where most guitarists can sight-read accurately. Then we'll move on and learn from this master. Note how Carulli utilizes the thumb and first two fingers in an alternating pattern from the start. Does Carulli compose an easy one-string exercise? Nope, the student plays all six strings from day one. Is this cruel and brutal? Yes. It also puts the guitarist in the same boat as the student violinist. The brain is forced to work to perform the lesson. What a concept. Aside from separating the players from the wannabes, the student is forced to really think. Tone production on wound and unwound strings, left hand fingering (and a rule applies here: in open position, the first finger plays all notes on the first fret, the second finger frets all notes on the second fret, the third finger third fret etc.) Some preliminary exercises precede Carulli’s.

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What is different: Melodic Prominence. The first six measures are what could be interpreted as an accompaniment style with neither voice requiring prominence over the other. Measures seven through ten contain a walking bass line that might require a bit of the spotlight. How is this accomplished? The student must decrease volume on the upper voice and/or increase the volume of the bass line. The upper voice has usurped prominence in a way due to its repetitive pattern. This must be rectified. Suggestion: build volume on the bass line in measures seven through nine and drop volume on measure ten. This is called crescendo and decrescendo. Technical Issues: Getting the fingers of the right hand to find the correct strings to pluck the notes the left hand is fretting will be the main difficulty the student may find with this exercise. Though a relatively simple piece, the student may be flustered by the quantity of notes—dazzled by the spots! This is expected and practice and experience with reading music will eliminate the ‘dazzle factor.’ As always, accuracy and consistency in both rhythm as well as pitches will be attained through careful and slow practice. It is essential that the student gain proficiency with reading ahead in the music. Much the same as one doesn’t spell out every single letter of every single word in a sentence before comprehending the words, so the student should, with time and practice, see measures as ‘words’ and accurately reproduce the musical intent without having to look at each individual note and find it on the instrument.

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The student should learn both parts and perform it with the teacher or another student. With that said, the teacher should be the judge of when the student should learn this second part. If the student is using this book without a teacher, then the second line should not be attempted until he or she has successfully completed the ‘Bass and Melody Together’ and the ‘Putting Things Together Number 2’ exercises.

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Theory: Intervals

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The next three pieces are intended to review the notes learned at the fifth fret, compare them to the identically written pitches in open position—plus position give the hands a bit of training with familiar melodies. Practice these pieces with smoothness and dynamic control as goals. Violinists training with the Suzuki Method play these pieces very early in their studies.

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Theory: Rudimentary Harmony The harmonization of the major scale is a cornerstone to understanding the analysis of chord structure in most compositions of Western music. Students are often mystified that certain chords are major and some minor in a piece they are learning. If the piece is in C major, how can there be an F major chord and a C major chord? Surely G major has an f sharp in its key signature, F major a B flat? This is a reasonable assertion, incorrect as it is. But how does this work? Music is purely logical – at least from the theoretical aspect. Once the basic concepts are understood, the mystery is removed. To understand how the scale is harmonized, one must understand how chords are constructed. To have a true chord, one must have no less than three individual and discrete tones or notes. This construction is known as a TRIAD; triad obviously based on the root word ‘tri’ signifying ‘three’. Two notes can, and often are, used to imply a harmony. Implication though is not a definitive statement. The tonality of the simple triadic chord (i.e.: major, minor, diminished or augmented) is arrived upon by the quality of the intervals contained therein. So we must identify what intervals are present and how they are arranged or “stacked.” First let us look at the C major scale. By now the student should know exactly where the whole steps and half steps fall in the scale. This knowledge is crucial as it tells us what intervals lie between each note and each spread of notes. Steps are included by way of review.

As one can readily see, if one jumps from C to E, the interval created is comprised of two whole steps. An interval of two whole steps is most commonly referred to as a MAJOR THIRD. Similarly, if one starts on A and jumps to C, it is readily apparent that the interval created is comprised of a whole step and a half step. This interval is one half step smaller than a Major Third; it is referred to as a MINOR THIRD. Knowing the quality of thirds; major or minor, allows one to determine the major or minor tonality of a chord without hearing it. A picture is worth a thousand words; let’s build a chord. Two whole steps, the intervallic distance from C natural to E natural, most commonly referred to as a Major Third. Although these two notes can imply a major tonality, they do not necessarily guaranty it. Three and one half steps is the intervallic distance for C natural to G natural and denotes the interval known as the Perfect Fifth, the most tonally stable intervallic relationship after the unison and the octave. These two notes can often imply a tonality depending on their treatment, but can never unequivocally denote a major or minor chord. One and one half steps, the intervallic distance from E natural to G natural, most commonly referred to as a Minor Third. Once again, although they can imply a minor tonality, they cannot guaranty it.

Spanning three and one half steps, with a minor third stacked atop a major third, these three notes, C natural, E natural and G natural are universally accepted as a C Major triad.

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Building a Minor Triad, we start with the interval of One and one half steps, the minor third.

Placing a major third, an interval of two half steps, above this minor third (left) once again results in the intervallic span of a perfect fifth (right).

The minor third/major third stack—adding up to a perfect fifth—results in the correct assembly of a minor triad, in this case E minor.

Let us go back to the scale, this time harmonized by stacking thirds:

major

minor

I

ii

minor iii

major

major

IV

V

minor vi

?

major

vii

I

Above we see the most common harmonization of the major scale. The Roman numerals denote the shorthand most musicians use to indicate the standard harmonization of the scale step; I being the tonic of the key signature, V being the dominant chord, etc. Please note the question mark at the seventh scale tone. Why have I noted this chord in such a manner? Count the intervals. B to D is a minor third (one and one half steps) and D to F is a minor third (one and one half steps) adding up to three steps: not the three and one half steps required for a perfect fifth. We have a fifth that is short by a half step. What is this? A diminished fifth (called a tritone) some consider one of the most dissonant intervals in music. For this reason, the chord is named for this dissonance and is referred to as a diminished chord.

major tonic

minor

minor

major

major

supertonic

mediant

subdominant

dominant

minor submediant

diminished

major

subtonic (leading tone)* tonic

*Chord is referred to as the subtonic if the root of the chord is a major second below the tonic. If the chord’s root is a minor second below the tonic, it is referred to as a leading tone triad.

Western music revolves around the tonic/dominant relationship and the overwhelming majority of pieces can be analyzed and distilled down to the I – V – I progression of chords. This is a stable to tension, release-to-stability arrangement. By understanding this simple principle, it is easy to guess that a piece in the key of C major will contain a C major chord/tonality that is offset by a G major (dominant) or G major dominant seventh chord that will ultimately resolve to C major regardless of what other tonalities may be visited or even implied by the other structural elements.

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Planting Time! Harry G. Pellegrin Beginning players (and beginning readers) will often come up with interesting hand positions, fingerings, and all manner of technique concepts that they will then use when they are telling me that ‘this is the only way’ they can play the piece to MY satisfaction! One ‘technique’ often applied is the moving of the left hand for just about every note. This is a waste of effort, strength and brain-power that will ultimately result in poor stamina and a choppy performance. What is the correct technique? PLANTING. Planting means almost exactly what it sounds like. If you have a melody that captures, say. All the notes in a C major chord (and we’ll be looking at an example in a moment) then the left hand should be placed in that C major chord shape on the fingerboard and NOT MOVED until all the notes have been played and it is absolutely time to move on. Practice the exercise below with the express intent of not moving the left hand. Any motion aside from that which is an absolute necessity is to be eliminated.

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This piece is played entirely in open position. Students may encounter difficulties in measures 14, 21, 22 & 35. Measure 14 contains the first of two rhythmic variations in the etude. The student must be careful that the quarter note on beat three of the melody is played in time with the quarter note of beat three in the accompaniment. Players often lock into a rhythmic pattern and when something even as small as this change takes place, it throws them off. In measures 21 & 22, the student needs to find the G# (first fret, third string, played with the first finger.) Measure 35 contains the other rhythmic variation, iation, a rest. The melody only sounds on beat three of the measure. The accompaniment holds on a half note from beat two. This may look strange to the student; a note is sounded on each beat, the durations of the notes are differing. Follow right hand fingerings precisely.

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Mauro Giuliani (27 July 1781 – 8 May 1828) Giuliani is reckoned by many to be one of the leading guitar composers and virtuosos of the 19th century. Although born in Bisceglie, Giuliani's center of study was in Barletta where he moved oved with his brother Nicola. His first instrumental training was on the cello—an an instrument which he never completely abandoned—and and he probably also studied the violin. Subsequently he devoted himself to the guitar, becoming a very skilled performer on itt in a short time. In Vienna he became acquainted with the classical instrumental style. Giuliani would propel the guitar away from the simple accompaniment of folk songs. In 1807 Giuliani had begun to publish compositions in this style. His concert tour tours took him all over Europe, and wherever he went he was acclaimed for his virtuosity and, as importantly, his musical style and sophistication. He achieved great success and became a musical celebrity, arguably equal to the best of the many instrumentalist instrumentalistss and composers who were active in Vienna in the opening years of the 19th century. Giuliani defined a new role for the guitar in the context of European music. He was well acquainted with the brightest luminaries of Austrian musical culture and with such noted composers as Rossini and Beethoven, and often worked and collaborated with the best active concert musicians in Vienna. While in Vienna Giuliani some had minor success as a composer. He worked mostly with the publisher Artaria, who published the lar large ge part of his works for guitar, but he had dealings with all the other local publishers, who spread his compositions all over Europe. He developed a teaching reputation as well. In 1819 Giuliani left Vienna, mainly for financial reasons: his property and bank accounts had been confiscated to pay his debtors. He returned to Italy, spending time in Trieste and Venice, and finally settling in Rome. There he did not have much success; he published a few compositions and gave only one concert. Four years later he returned to Naples to care for his seriously ill father. In Naples Giuliani would find a better reception to his guitar artistry than he had in Rome, and in Naples he was able to publish works for guitar with local publishers. Toward the end of 1828 the health of the musician began to fail; he died in Naples on the 8th of May, 1829. As a guitar composer he was very fond of the theme and variations form form— a musical device that had been extremely popular in Vienna. He had a remarkable ability to weave a melody me into a passage with musical effect while remaining true to the idiom of the instrument. One example of this ability is to be found in his Variations on a theme of Handel, Op. 107. This popular theme, known as "The Harmonious Blacksmith", appears in th the Aria from Handel's Suite No. 5 in F for harpsichord. Giuliani completed 150 compositions for guitar with opus number. These compositions constitute the core of the guitar repertoire during the 18th century. He composed extremely challenging pieces for solo guitar. Notable pieces that stand out from his body of works include his three guitar concertos (Op. 30, 36 and 70); six fantasias for solo guitar, Op. 119 119-124, based on airs from Rossini operas and entitled the "Rossiniane"; several sonatas for violin and guitar and flute and guitar; a quintet, Op. 65, for strings and guitar; some collections for voice and guitar, and a Grand Overture written in the th Italian style. He also transcribed many symphonic works. Even in the Twenty-first first Century, Giuliani's concertos and solo pieces are performed by professionals and still demonstrate the guitarist’s mastery of technique and musical eloquence, as well as G Giuliani's iuliani's stellar compositional gifting for the guitar.

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Etude Number 2

What is new? Denser rhythmic patterns over bass notes, dissonance and resolution. All bass line notes, including the three D’s and three C’s in measures 23 & 24 are played with the thumb (p). Care should be taken in these two measures that the melody note rings out and that the bass notes do not impede the clarity of the melody. This etude can and should be performed in the open position.

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Etude Number 3 Harry Pellegrin

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Etude Opus 60 Number Two

Remaining in Position: See measure 9. From measure 9 through measure 12, the third finger need not be lifted from the fingerboard. This is called planting, which we have discussed before. The other fingers of the left hand should be more than capable of moving independently at this stage. While not a blindingly virtuosic piece, it has a quaint 19th Century parlor charm that can be quite effective in a first recital setting.

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Theory: The Minor Scales, Natural, Harmonic & Melodic We have previously discussed the theoretical explanation of why a major scale is a major scale—the fact that it is a series of eight pitches that span an octave comprised of the following sequence of steps: whole, whole, half, whole, whole, whole, half. As our ears have already told us, prior to any theoretical instruction, there are other tonalities than major. Often referred to as a ‘sad’ tonality, the minor keys are naturally occurring scales built upon the following precepts: The minor scale possesses a whole step and a half step between the tonic and the third of the scale, resulting in a minor third interval between tonic and the third. This is the defining feature of a minor scale, No other arrangement of intervals elsewhere in the scale influence the basic minor tonality once the third is established. You will see that there are three minor scales in the examples on the following page and their minor quality is defined by the first three notes, whatever follows defines their other state; natural, harmonic, or melodic. As one can gather simply from the name, the natural minor scale is the relative minor to the key of c major, built upon the sixth scale degree, a. There are no sharps or flats in the key signature of a minor, just as the identical key signature of C Major. This results in the following series of steps: whole, half, whole, whole, half, whole, whole. The natural minor’s most distinguishing feature aside from the minor third between tonic and third is the lack of a leading tone—the half step between the seventh scale tone and the tonic. This lack of leading tone creates a modal tonality, one slightly foreign to Western ears. In fact, this scale is a mode, the Aeolian mode. It is this modality that leads us to the obvious ‘fix’ – the harmonic minor scale. The harmonic minor scale is distinguished by one particular feature, the addition of a sharp (or possibly a natural) that raises the seventh scale degree by one half step from the natural minor and creates a true leading tone to the tonic. The name ‘harmonic’ comes from the fact that the raised seventh degree not only results in a leading tone, it also raises the third of the V chord (dominant triad) so that we also have a true dominant triad (major triad) rather than a slightly more ambiguous minor five chord. Hence, the harmonic minor scale works best in the realm of harmony. This is a great fix for the modal nature of the natural minor, but it leads to an interesting phenomenon when used in a melody line. Because the seventh has been raised, we now have a whole step PLUS a half step interval (1.5 steps) between the sixth and the seventh scale tone. Once again, this lends the harmonic minor scale a flavor that is, while not unappealing, not always desirable Once again, a fix was required. The melodic minor scale is this fix. Named for the concept that the arrangement of steps and intervals results in a more pleasing melodic flow, the melodic minor scale is named for its prime reason for existing—melody. I always think of the melodic minor as a spliced scale, much as one grape vine is spliced to the root of an older vine to create a new plant with qualities of both vines, so the melodic minor scale is structured. The scale is a perfect minor scale up through the fifth scale degree. From that point on UP to the octave, it is a major scale of the same tonic, the sixth and seventh scale degree raised by sharps (or naturals) to create the standard end to a major scale: whole, whole and half step. This leads to a clean, sonically easy to understand scale—upwards. Descending is a different story. Play a melodic minor scale, but keep the sixth and seventh scale tone raised on the descent. Now what happens sonically? The ear is lulled into thinking the scale is major, despite what the ear has gathered on the ascent. When we get to the minor third on the descent, it sounds bizarre—a minor third scale tone in a major scale! So for the sake of tonal clarity, theoreticians (who were probably only explaining an existing practice rather than defining a new technique) crafted the melodic minor scale to be the natural minor scale on the descent, lowering the seventh and sixth scale degrees on the descent So we have a major scale sixth and

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seventh grafted onto a minor scale on the ascent. The scale returns on the descent to the natural minor scale.

Practicing minor scales Conventional instruction (and wisdom) should not be despised in this instance. I find no real added value in the daily practice of either the natural minor or the harmonic minor scales. The natural minor is modal and not all that commonplace in the standard repertoire (aside from very early music and probably some very modern compositions.) The harmonic minor scale is just that—harmonic in nature and suited to chord construction and voicing. It is rarely used in melody aside from when a composer wishes to evoke a Middle-European feel to a piece. I feel scales are melodic in nature, despite their repetitive tedium in practice; the melodic minor scales are the most obvious choice for a melodic exercise. I have included the natural and harmonic minor scales in my scale encyclopedia so that the student can see how they are constructed in every key and so that the student can get a feel for playing them— feeling the intervals under the hand. I recommend that the student (and indeed the accomplished performer) practice the major and melodic minor scales daily as a warm-up exercise

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. The student and teacher may sit down together and figure ways to modify this study as well as any of the 120 Right Hand Studies by Mauro Giuliani to form a more musically pleasing exercise that combines the pedagogical and technical benefits of the originals with a more harmonically pleasing aesthetic. Both student and teacher should feel free to compose, modify, or re-finger any of the technical studies to either reinforce the lesson or to improve on the technical aspects. These exercises are not etched in stone! Be creative!

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Why scales? Scales are useful for a number of purposes. First, scales reinforce the concept of key and tonality as they relate to the fingerboard. Knowing scales helps the sight-reader anticipate what notes he or she may encounter and where they might be played. Second, scales serve as a wonderful daily warm-up drill. What better way to invigorate the hands while the mind is still rebelling against discipline? Why are they a wonderful warm-up drill? Scales allow the guitarist the time and progressive resistance to limber the muscles of the hands and arms gradually. There are very few (if any) players who can jump out of bed in the morning and play a blindingly quick-tempo’d virtuoso piece. Muscle strain will result from the attempt. By playing scales very slowly, one allows the muscles to loosen up and blood flow to increase. Once warmed up, the virtuoso piece flows easily and the muscles do not rebel. Practice with a metronome. This strictly regulated practice should not be initially intended for speed. Indeed, it is easier in many ways to play scales quickly. Practice slowly—it is then that you will hear any inconsistencies in tone and volume between right hand fingers AND have the opportunity to correct sloppy or incorrect left hand placement and fingerings. Slow metronomic practice of scales will also offer the opportunity to work methodically on vibrato. (See section on vibrato in this volume.) I have grouped the scales together by key signature, giving the three forms of minor scale in each instance. Is it recommended that the student practice the natural and harmonic minor scales on a daily basis? Not necessarily. Hence the simple ‘cheat-sheet’ entitled “Daily Survival Scales.” These scales are simply the moveable (sliding) forms of the major and melodic minor scales that will cover all the key signatures. It is rather brainless and repetitive, but this is just the ticket for an easy warmup! Right hand fingering is simple. Alternate first and second fingers (i, m), then repeat the scale reversing the fingers (m, i). Proceed to the second and third fingers and repeat similarly. It has been noted that most students’ second and third fingers are weaker than the first and second combination. I strongly recommend repeating the two arrangements of the second and third fingers for a total of six repetitions of each scale. This practice will build up the weaker fingers. Do this with free stroke first. Repeat the entire scale regimen with apoyando (rest stroke). It is imperative that the student should be as strong as possible with both types of stroke.

What is a good warm up routine? Start with the chromatic exercises found elsewhere in this volume. Include ‘The Stretcher’ and the exercises in ‘Improving Left-Hand Accuracy…’ Practice the legato (slur) exercises next. After these have been completed, practice the Daily Survival Scales in all possible keys and right-hand fingering combinations. When these tasks have been accomplished, the student may wish to perform a quantity of the Giuliani 120 Right Hand Studies as well as some Carulli Studies. Now the student will be ready for repertoire. Recitalist and recording artist David Russell told me that he begins his daily practice with slow chromatic exercises played with a slow vibrato. He feels this limbers all the muscles of the left hand gently and evenly, unlike simply jumping into a piece cold. For the right hand, Mr. Russell plays scales with one finger. He then plants his right hand fingers (p, i, and m, for instance) and plucks with one finger (a). This is intended to develop independence. Throughout these exercise he is constantly aiming for the quality of tone be likes. Mr. Russell then plays Tárrega’s Recuerdos De La Alhambra with a two-finger tremolo: p i m i, p m i m, p i a i, p a i a and p m a m. Three-finger scales, slurred and non-slurred ornamental figures complete the warm-up. On musicality: Practice the scales and other repetitive exercises slowly so that each note can be heard clearly, the student striving towards equal volume, even tone and perfect pitch duration and transition from pitch to pitch. Once these valuable skills have been mastered, the student should play the scales with crescendo, decrescendo, accelerando and decelerando and all combinations thereof. The key skill is an ability to control all the factors one may encounter in a ‘real’ piece. Another gifted performer, Costas Cotsiolis, recommends the following in his master classes: He suggests that the player develop a great sense of security with his right band. For this be recommends practicing scales (or any exercise in which the left band repeats patterns) slowly and forte, gradually increasing speed as confidence increases.

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This piece is played mostly on the lower frets, but does make one or two forays up the fingerboard. The student should follow indicated left hand fingerings as they have been designed to ‘set up’ for what follows. As is the case with all these ‘simple’ pieces, it is important that the student allows notes to ring for their full durations and to make sure nothing rings longer than written. Edited from the Sor-Coste Method, these short pieces are not professional recital material, but they do not lack a certain musicality that the student can use to hone his or her interpretive skills.

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Mauro Giuliani was one of the brightest musical lights of the early 19th Century. A superb technician, scholar, and renowned educator, he was also a fine composer. Even when composing with such little pretense as the illustration of a technical point, he could write a simple melody that would benefit pedagogically and please the ear musically. This simple piece is performed in the open position and is designed to challenge the student slightly while inspiring through a sense of musical accomplishment. Pay attention to the right hand fingerings.

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Are you practicing SLOWLY, WITH GOOD STRONG VOLUME, CLEANLY AND ACCURATELY?

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Barré Chording The Barré is used by the guitarist to artificially create an ‘open position’ anywhere along the neck. Play an E major open position chord. If you slide this chord up the neck so that your second and third fingers are at the fifth fret and your first finger is on the fourth fret, the fretted notes will sound as a G major chord. However, the remainder of the strings will not sound with the chord aside from the B string. If we re-finger the chord so that the second, third and fourth fingers fret that G major chord and place the first finger across the fingerboard at the third fret, we have duplicated all intervallic relationships as they were when we played the E major chord in open position. BUT, we are now at the third fret and are playing a G major chord. Think of the Barré as a natural capo. This simple and elegant solution to chording (and melody) is daunting to most new students. They have been taught hitherto to keep the fingers arched. Now the student is directed to flatten the first finger. As difficult as it was for the student to maintain the arch, the flat first finger is almost twice as hard to execute. The simplest way to get a feel for the Barré technique is to start with the Half Barré. Only used to fret three strings, most new students find the Half Barré relatively simple to incorporate into their technical arsenal. The first finger is placed across the first, second and third strings at a fret (let’s use the third fret, as in the photograph.) In classical guitar playing, the slight majority of barring will fall into the partial category. Barrés are most often indicated in music as the capitol letter C followed by an Arabic numeral indicating the fret or a simple roman numeral (V, VII, etc.) indicating the fret. The following small exercise should be played using the Half Barré, as indicated by the ½ before the C. Beginning on the fifth fret is always easiest for the student as the pressure required to execute the barré increases as one approaches the nut. The student should try to keep the half notes ringing as whole notes. These notes are notated as half notes to allow the student a bit of a rest if needed.

The Grande Barré is more difficult to execute cleanly and will require a serious effort on the student’s part in both practice and patience. Grand Barrés are most often used to play six string chords, though many examples of Grand Barrés used to facilitate melodic structure can be found in the standard repertoire. The right-hand photograph shows the Grand Barré at the third fret, a position that would facilitate playing in either C major or G major, as an example. (Photo at left shows G major Grand Barré at third fret.) Most students find difficulty in cleanly fretting the third and fourth string in this finger position. Finger arch keeps those notes (here an F and B flat) from sounding. This cannot be stressed enough – practice and patience are required. The following exercises demonstrate how to practice this barré in a way that will gradually build the student’s ability and confidence without undue stress, physical or mental.

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The student must practice these exercises with clarity, evenness, volume paying attention to the planted first finger. The fifth fret portion of the exercise will seem simple when contrasted to the first fret exercise. Do not attempt the first fret portion until the fifth fret has been mastered. Most students begin to feel a burning in the muscles of the left hand at this stage in their development as guitarists. The student should never attempt to ‘play through’ this sensation. Rest when discomfort occurs. For future reference: At left is a photograph of a C major barré chord played at the third fret. This chord is based on the open position A chord, which is commonly played as a half barré on the second fret. Many students approaching the classical guitar from the popular music genre often have learned this chord as we see it in the photo below left. While this works well in popular genres, indeed, it is required for the type of chord comping associated with rock and blues stylings, allowing the fourth finger to play short bass ‘walks’, it forces the third finger to bend in an unnatural way at the second and third joints and is not really necessary in the classical genre. Most college and university music professors will subtract from a student’s grade if he or she uses this chord fingering unnecessarily while sitting a jury. Please use the fingering as shown in the photograph to the right. Do not use a fingering and hand position as demonstrated in the photograph to the left.

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A Right Hand Technique Pizzicato Effect Orchestral stringed instruments have little to no natural sustain. For a note to be played for any significant duration, the bow must continue to move, imparting vibration-energy to the string(s). For delicate short duration notes, orchestral string players use a technique called pizzicato. With the pizzicato, the string is plucked with the right hand fingertips. On the guitar, a pluck results in a sustained (more sustain than a violin) note that does not capture the same feel as a pluck on an orchestral stringed instrument. So, to emulate this effect, the guitarist must modify his plucking technique to mimic the short ‘decay’ of the orchestral pizz (pronounced ‘pits’), as it is referred to most often. Basically, what the guitarist does is eliminate the natural decay of the guitar string when plucked by absorbing vibration form the string. Guitarists coming from the electric variety of our instrument use a technique called palm muting. This is advantageous on an electric guitar as its strings can (and often do!) sustain longer than desired due to the inherent nature of its construction as well as a side-effect of amplification. So those students familiar with the electric guitar will acquire the pizz technique rapidly. To pizz on the classical guitar, one rests the fat portion of the base of the palm on the bridge saddle. There is a narrow window of acceptable placement: too far forward and the string will be totally muffled; too far back and the string will ring naturally. Photo to left: Note how sixth string is partially dampened (muted) by the flesh of the palm. The thumb has just plucked the sixth string and rest on the fifth string. Photo to right: Same thing, different angle. Note the hand position in relation to all the strings and the bridge.

Photo to left: Here we see the hand rotated away from playing position to illustrate the point that all six strings are muted. Julian Bream utilizes an interesting muting technique when executing the opening passage of La Maja de Goya. He plucks the string with his thumb, then drops his palm onto the string. The initial attack is bold, vibrant, possessing good volume, and then it is stopped dramatically. Find a copy of his ¡Guitarra! Series on DVD and watch his performance of the aforementioned piece. Obviously pizzicato is played with the fingers of the right hand as well. The technique remains the same; the palm partially dampens the strings. The fingers must adjust their angle accordingly. This is a technique the guitarist will have to grow accustomed to. Practice scales using pizzicato.

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Right Hand Fingerings: Exercise 11:

p, m, i, a, m, i p, m, i, a, m, i

Exercise 12:

p, i, p, m, i, a p, i, p, m, i, a

Exercise 13:

i, m, a, a, m ,i p p

Exercise 14:

m, i, a, m, i, a p p

Exercise 15:

m, i, m, m, i, m p p

&

m, i, m, a, i, m p p

Exercise 16: i, m, a, i, m ,a p p Exercise 17: a, m ,i, a, m ,i p p Exercise 18: a, p, i, a, p, i m m p p Exercise 19: p, a, i, p, a, i m m p p Exercise 20: p, p, a, p, p, a m m p p

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By way of review: This etude mixes open position and the notes we’ve covered at the fifth fret in an appealing piece, once again capturing the flavor of 19th Century parlor music. Students must follow the left hand fingering precisely as Sor is a master of writing guitar music requiring careful preparation to make sure notes ring for their intended values—or can even be played at all! His music is never as easy as it would appear on first casual inspection. Couple this piece with one or two of the other short Sor Etudes for a student recital selection.

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Not as easy as it looks. At first glance, this seems easy, if a bit busy. Critical to good performance is to make sure that the bass notes do not ring through rests. Left hand fingering is also an issue as a fingering that works well in one measure may leave the student ill-prepared for the next. Know what lies ahead! Rely on the eighth note bass line to keep the triplets even in measures 20 through 23. Practice slowly.

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INSTRUCTIONS FOR NEXT PIECE: Student Assignment: Work out a right hand fingering that does not repeat fingers. Thumb may be used for bass lines and scales passages in the bass such as in measures 8 and 15. Make sure the melody line “sings”. It is altogether too easy to lose the melody in the arpeggiated accompaniment. What can be done to make those arpeggiated chords more expressive? Accent the first and fourth beats with one (the downbeat) being strongest. There are many things to think about in such a small and “simple” piece of music!

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Matteo Carcassi (Florence, Italy, 1792 - Paris, France, January 16, 1853) Carcassi originally studied the piano, but took up guitar while still a child. He quickly gained a reputation as a virtuoso concert guitarist. Moving to Germany in 1810, he was met with almost immediate success. By 1815 he was living in Paris, earning his livelihood as a teacher of both the piano and the guitar. A famous guitarist as well as a publisher, Antoine Meissonier published many of Carcassi's works at his Paris publishing house. From 1820 on, Carcassi spent the majority of his time in Paris. In 1822, he performed an extremely successful series of concerts in London that earned him great fame as a performing artist. This sparked a teaching career. However, back in Paris, a long time passed before his talents were truly recognized, partly because of the presence of Fernando Carulli, who, it is to be noted, was 'adored' by his audience. Carcassi was in Germany again during the Fall of 1824; but soon returned to London, where his reputation now gave him access to the bigger, more lucrative and more prestigious recital halls. He made Paris his permanent address. For several years, he made concert trips from there to the most important cultural centers of Europe, including London. After a short return to performing in 1836, he abandoned his concert schedule around 1840 passing away in Paris in 1853. Carcassi wrote a method for guitar (Opus 59) that remains valuable, relevant and interesting. His most famous works are collected in his 25 Etudes Opus 60. In these, he managed to blend technical skills and brilliant romantic music. This is the reason his music is still played by so many classical guitarists today. Two of these etudes appear in this volume.

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Challenges: Knowing where to play chord figures so that the bass notes ring for their notated duration. Many newer students will also 'forget' to maintain the key signature, converting e and b flats into e and b naturals—with the expected and associated loss of harmonic structure and integrity!

When does one change the guitar’s strings? This is a question that few students can ascertain for themselves. Sure, if and when a string breaks, it must be replaced. Any professional guitarist (or savvy hobbyist) will tell you that strings have a definite lifetime and even without breakage they need to be replaced to maintain good tuning/intonation and tone. Worn strings do not produce the correct fretted pitches. They sound muted or ‘like rubber bands’. So, when is a good time to change? Mine are replaced once a week. One can estimate how many hours of practice and playing a certain brand of string will endure before tone and intonation begin to suffer—and some brands last longer than others. However, there are some hallmarks one can look for to determine when a string is past its prime. First, the wound strings will appear tarnished or have a crust of finger oil and dirt. Strings that have indentations where they cross the fret wires are past dead. Tone-wise, old wound strings sound muted, muffled and lack sustain. Trebles are a different beast. They have no windings to fray, dimple or tarnish. They last in a ratio of two sets of wound strings to one set of trebles. They do suffer intonation issues when past their prime and I have found that they tend to make buzzing sounds when truly dead. Keep an open ear and eye and your strings will tell you when they should be retired!

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Open position base chord Shown as c minor at the eighth fret.

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The student should feel free to go back to the chord charts at the beginning of the section and pencil in the fingerings for the exercises. What he or she should not do is indicate which form of the chord should be used. It is acceptable to include the chord names however. The key to these exercises is to develop quick recognition of where the printed notes fall on the fretboard thereby increasing accuracy in sight-reading.

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Note measures nine and ten and contrast to measures eleven and twelve. There is a melodic and harmonic mirroring that brings us from G major to B flat major through c minor and F major, then through a D dominant seventh chord to g minor on our way to the dominant of the key (D7). It's an attractive and period-typical way of moving though a progression. This is a rather short but thoroughly charming little exercise. A handful of pieces of this type make a good classical period selection for a student's first longer recital. It is important to play this study using an apoyando stroke with the a finger where indicated by an asterisk (*). The a finger is often the student’s weakest finger and this study is presented to address this issue. As always, practice slowly and be certain that all chord figures are performed cleanly with smooth transitions and careful attention to rests. Carcassi’s study is a pleasant little piece that students will often use as part of a first recital and can be quite effective when played with the appropriate feeling and bit of panache.

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Some Thoughts on Tone, Instruments and Performers As is the case with most anecdotal stories handed down in the oral tradition, I can’t swear to the veracity of this tale, but it rings true enough with me that I will relate it here with all the correct names. Regardless of whether or not this actually happened, the moral of the story is valid. One afternoon the noted British teacher and transcriber John Duarte invited Andrés Segovia to his London flat for tea. As the time for the Maestro’s arrival approached, Duarte wondered whether Segovia would bring an instrument with him – maybe even his fabled 1937 Hauser! Soon enough, the doorbell rang and Duarte opened the door to reveal Segovia on the doormat with guitar case in hand. After all the normal customs had been observed, Duarte left Segovia in the sitting room and ran to the kitchen to retrieve the refreshments. As he worked in the kitchen, Duarte heard Segovia tuning up and was overjoyed to hear him begin playing one of Duarte’s favorite compositions. (The exact composition was not made known to me.) Duarte was mesmerized by the sheer beauty of the sound emanating from the other room and happily began guessing as to what instrument the Maestro had brought with him. Duarte rapidly loaded a tray and hurried to get himself closer to the wondrous sound. As he rounded the corner in the hallway and looked into the room where Segovia sat playing, he noticed the Maestro’s case—with his scarf still draped over it as he had seen it when he left the room. Perplexed, he glanced towards the source of the beautiful music and to his great wonderment saw Segovia happily playing Duarte’s own instrument which had been out on a stand in the sitting room. It had been Duarte’s own guitar whose sound had enraptured him from the other room! What can we learn from this story? An instrument can have a very distinct voice that can help the performer produce the tone he wishes, but ultimately it is the performer who gives voice to the guitar. Duarte heard Segovia’s trademark tone coming from Segovia. The guitar, while it may have helped or hindered Segovia, still did not keep a master from plying his craft. Please do not rush out to buy a guitar simply because your favorite recitalist plays one. Your tone will be your tone regardless of what make or model of instrument is in your hands. You are the tone producer. A good player can make a mediocre instrument sound good. A fine instrument will not make a mediocre player sound like a master!

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Alternate Tunings: Sixth String to D Indicated as

y= D

Much of the Classical Guitar repertoire is culled from the body of works composed for other instruments. The largest number of these transcriptions comes from the massive body of work penned for the lute and its siblings the Theorbo and Chitarrone. Being that the lute, even in its varieties with fewer courses, had a greater pitch range (mostly to the bass register), transcribing these pieces will often require low bass lines to be compressed up into the range of the guitar which can result in obscured mid-voice melody lines in contrapuntal settings. One method used to increase the range of the guitar and render this repertoire playable is to retune the guitar to improve the pitch range to an extent. By lowering the pitch of the sixth string to D and transcribing the actual pitches of the lute tablature up a fifth, one can reach an acceptable compromise. Of course, reading music transcribed and arranged in this manner will require the guitarist to adjust his or her reading skills. The F three ledger lines below the staff is no longer found on the first fret of the sixth string. Now it is on the third fret (one octave below the fretted pitch of the fourth string, third fret. Some guitarists use this as a guide—playing the sixth string by imagining they are reading the fourth string, but one octave lower. Whatever your means of adapting, this new tuning opens up a great deal of possibilities. Our first piece in this new tuning is a lute piece; but the remaining pieces in this book utilizing this tuning are not. The Bach ‘Cello Suite is a piece written for another instrument and transcribed for the guitar (obviously) while Sor’s Marlbrough Variations and Capricho Árabe were written in this tuning specifically for the instrument.

Alternate Tunings: Third String to F# Indicated as

e = F#

We will see later that the lute is tuned very similarly to the guitar – for the most part in fourths. There is a major third relationship between two strings of the guitar, the b and e (second and first) strings. On the lute, the third falls between the fourth and third courses which indicates to us that to accurately play much of the lute repertoire, we should tune the guitar so that the third relationship falls between the fourth and third string. This requires nothing more than detuning the third string to an f#. [For more information on lute tunings, tablature and other lute-lore, please consult the table of contents to access the section on lute tablature, starting with Viel ton.

Alternate Tunings: Fifth String to G Indicated as

t=G

This tuning is most often utilized concurrently with a dropped D as well. Many guitar-specific composers (and those composers commissioned, petitioned or inspired to write a piece or pieces for the guitar) will use a G fifth string to capture a tonal flavor or sonority not available in a “normal” tuning. Of course, the guitar borrows from many an instruments’ repertoire, not least among them the piano. Isaac Albéniz’ great piano masterworks are often transcribed as they were composed to capture the sound and vibrancy of particular regions of Spain and often mimic the sound and techniques of the flamenco guitarist . While excellent on the piano, these pieces come to life in a way no pianist can possibly hope to imitate when “returned” to their “proper” instrument! Many of these beautiful Albéniz pieces are transcribed for t= G and y= D tunings. Agustin Barrios Mangoré composed a number of pieces specifically for the guitar in this tuning.

When tuning the guitar to any alternate tuning, remember that the nylon guitar string has tension memory and will creep sharp after being detuned and go flat after being adjusted back up to normal pitch. This is critical information to remember and consider when playing for an audience! 160

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Timbre and String Voicing Six strings + notes that are written on one specific line or space but can be played in two or three different places on the neck; and on different strings = confusion to the new student. Segovia said the guitar was like an orchestra looked at through the wrong end of a telescope. I used to wonder about this. Critical listening reveals the reason. Think of the guitar as an ensemble of six single-stringed instruments. Each instrument produces a different type of sound: the soprano clarity of the first string; the warm cello-like lyricism of the fourth string; the deep, dark and luxurious bass of the sixth string. Am I romantic? Well, at least about guitar music! Certainly a melody can be played in first position on the treble strings, but if it is something other than a happy, snappy bright little melody, it will sound wrong – like the piccolo trying to be a viola. Not evil, just not right. The first Lute Piece has been fingered carefully to produce an effect. The sonorous melody of the B section of this piece could (and probably was) originally played in open position such as this:

It sounds decent enough, but by moving the melody to the second string (and the attending harmonies to adjacent strings) the melody can be rendered with a more plaintive feel. Play the sample phrase above utilizing the indicated fingering, then play the following. Note the difference in ‘feel’.

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Some Thoughts on Practice Time "Sure I practiced... I played at least an hour every day this week." Yes, this student did indeed have the instrument out of the case for at least an hour each day during the previous week. He even had the thing in his hands and made noise with it. So why did his lesson sound just as lame as on the first read-through the week previous? Is he a bad player? Did he suffer a sudden catastrophic injury to his hands? Did his truss rod pop out? Nope, nope, nope. Practice and playing are two very distinct beasts. As soon as the student realizes this, the happier the teacher will be. Yeah, the student will be a happier camper as well. Practice is how the instrument is learned. Wait, I thought going for lessons is how it's done! Now every teacher on the planet will be all over me like a wet diaper—at least those who wish their students to think that that particular teacher is the only true path to enlightenment—but the lesson time is not the most important aspect to a musical education. Lesson time is when a new concept or technique is introduced. Lesson time is when the previous week's assignments are heard, critiqued and problems corrected. Lesson time is when good practice habits and musicality are instilled. Practice is when the student takes these concepts and attempts to incorporate these into his actual being as well as into his skill sets on the instrument itself. Playing is a totally different beast. Playing—performance—is when you take everything you've learned through instruction and practice and put it into… into... Well, I was going to say practice, but that is too redundant! Playing is why you learn and practice. It is not how you improve on the instrument. You can improve through playing, but only in gaining poise and performance savvy, but that is another tale for another day -- and only if you are playing in front of people, not just playing on the sofa to your cat. So what is practice? How should one practice? Is there a formula? Practice time should be regimented, structured and adhered to religiously, a solid practice routine will grow a student faster than master classes with Segovia... while he was alive, naturally. Yes, there is a formula for practice. I can tell you mine, but a practice schedule is as varied as the individuals doing the work. Here is my practice schedule while I was in college. I DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS SCHEDULE TO THE STUDENT; I MERELY USE IT AS AN EXAMPLE: Hour One: Ten minutes: Chromatics, Slurs, Stretches and Barrés (see some of the early weeks' sessions and the left hand accuracy article for details.) I even would run through a portion of the Giuliani 120 Studies. Forty minutes: Diatonic Major and Minor Scales (The Segovia Edition: The man may be gone but his scales remain with us to this today, a valid, living thing.) Played with all combinations of right hand fingerings that I could muster, including some rapid thumb work. Ten minutes: Cool down. Hour Two: New assignments and read-through’s. This is where I took new studies, preludes and concert pieces assigned by my teacher and read them through for the second or third time, looked for the underlying technical difficulties/lessons and tried to glean the most benefit from them. By doing this fairly early in the day, I could give my best and brightest moments to the most strenuous mental tasks. I would use the entire hour for this without cool down as there would be quite a bit of starting and stopping anyway. Hour Three: Pieces I was in the process of committing to memory with a school jury, recital performance or the looming graduation recital in mind. These were usually stuff that I had been using in hour two a month previous. Now they were no longer technically difficult—or at least as difficult as they had

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been—but were now no longer the "News of the Day." Hour three would incorporate a cool down if I were proceeding to hour four. Usually, on a weekday, I had begun this process at 6:30 AM and would have to be off to classes at this point. During the school day, there would be numerous opportunities to play—even practice. I had a schedule with some gaps where I would either be running through ensemble pieces with others or would be playing old pieces in a closet by myself. I didn't count this time as practice, to me it was playing. Hour Four through Six: After dinner, I'd be off to my room to resume the practice schedule. Written homework was completed on the subway train. (And if you want to know genuine fear, try riding the NYC subway system through the South Bronx in the mid 1970's with a Jose Ramirez 1a between your knees.) The after dinner practice was more 'playing' in one respect—I used this time of the day, a time when my mental levels were beginning to run low, to run through pieces that I knew I would be performing soon. Be it a student recital, a restaurant gig, or that aforementioned graduation recital, I needed to keep a solid 90 minutes of music ready to go. So I used this time to run through the pieces, ever mindful of places where I'd fumble through memory lapse as well as looking for new interpretive ideas while I played the established ones. I'd often read through a piece I had already committed to memory to make sure I hadn't locked something down incorrectly. If it was before midnight and I still felt like it, then I would play for my own entertainment. I'm glad I did that all when I was young. A month of that type of work now would probably kill me! So... How should you set up your time? Let's say you are at the point where two hours a day is all you have to work with. You don't want to do two hours straight. It isn't as much 'how long you play every day', but how often you had the guitar in your hands. It is better to do four half-hour sessions spaced out evenly than one marathon two hour hand-bash. First, you need to warm up effectively. Schedule about a quarter of your time to scales, slurs, arpeggios, and chromatics, whatever you do to get limber. The next and most profitable time is spent going through your weekly lesson material. Do this while your mind is fresh. It doesn't pay to play all day and then try learning new material in the evening. You will be throwing things in no time through frustration. Spend at least half your remaining practice time on that— practicing new stuff, reading new pieces, copping new technique. This is development. Any time remaining should be used to run through memorization and older material. After that, play. Sounds like work? It is—if you love the instrument and want to do well, it is work you'll gladly do. If you get discouraged at your inability to sound like Eliot Fisk after six months of lessons, maybe you're a hobbyist, not a recitalist. That's not condemnation, not everyone who feels compelled to offer a band aid is destined to be a cardiac surgeon! I am truly sorry if that sounds harsh, but music is not a neat way of attracting members of the opposite sex or a guaranteed route to money and fame. You have to love music, not the accoutrements of the rock star.

The Golden Rule of Practice: You do not practice until you can play a piece perfectly; you practice until you simply cannot make a mistake when playing the piece.

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This short piece in A minor presents a number of interesting little lessons for the student. The melody is played on the first string from the first measure to the repeat. From the repeat to the end, there is an interesting play between the two voices that pose some musical questions. Which voice should be prominent? Did the composer even intend one voice to be of greater importance? The student should play the piece with these questions in mind, accenting one voice then the other to see what he or she can conclude. There is no wrong answer! It is a question of taste coupled with knowledge of contemporary performance practices. As the student is not necessarily aware of the 19th Century performance styles and practices that Coste would have lived and breathed, he or she can feel free to experiment.

___________________________________________________________________________ For the Following Piece, Complete this Student Exercise: Create a left-hand fingering that 1.) allows for good preparation for the notes to follow, 2.) allows all notes to sound for as long as indicated, 3.) is comfortable for the hand. Hint: examine the previous short piece for fingering suggestions.

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In September of 2008 I had one of those Epiphany moments you hear of or read about people having. I wasn’t looking for a revelation, but I guess that is how life works—you get what you need when the time is right, not when you think the time is right. I spend many a morning, weather permitting, sitting on a small wooden chair outside Mohawk Valley Guitars on Jay Street in Downtown Schenectady. Jay Street is a narrow street that, for one block, was converted to a purely pedestrian thoroughfare. Nestled between turn of the century buildings (19th to 20th), it is a cobblestoned, tree-lined little oasis and the heart of the area’s cultural renaissance. The ground floors of all the buildings are homes to quaint bistros, art galleries, antique shops and, of course, the area’s premier Lutherie. So there I sit on the cobbles and play my guitar in the cool of the day. Across the street from MVG is a three story building that the pigeons particularly love. Intricately corniced and decorated with 1890's scrollwork and ledges, the pigeons roost there in the early morning before the sun rises high enough to bake them on their perches. I finally fully realized their existence that morning and marveled. I am one of those people who are afraid of heights. Morbidly so. I can fly an airplane, but I can’t ascend to the giddy heights of a stepladder. I guess it’s a control issue and being ‘out there’—one is encapsulated and enclosed in an airplane, in control of one’s destiny. On a stepladder, well, one good sneeze might send me careening into the pavement! Those pigeons stood, sat and slept there on ledges that, to scale, would be like me standing, sitting or sleeping upon the ledge at the top floor of the Chrysler building. I would faint from fright. Not the pigeons. They cooed and stood on one leg, preened under their wings, walked past each other – all manner of death-defying stunts that I would never attempt more than one foot off the ground. How could they be so casual? The answer you will have no doubt already ascertained. The can fly! One slip up and they’d simply drop a foot or two, spread their wings and merely regain their perch, with, no pun intended, hardly a feather ruffled. Business as usual. The knowledge of the fact that they can fly and therefore are in no immediate danger lets them do what I could never do. So I sat and watched and marveled. Playing music is a terrifying affair for many musicians. How so? Well, a guy who can play really well on his sofa at home turns into a puddle of twitching Jell-O when pushed out from the wings onto the recital stage. I have been there and have that proverbial tee shirt—a closet full. I am sure you know the feeling. So how did the birds help? They forced me to think about myself in a way I hadn’t before. If one has studied for years, carefully built a program or programs and judiciously practiced until the music is totally ingrained and have a solid grasp of the emotional story the composer wished to convey, then there is no need to stand on that stage and worry about falling off! One CAN fly! You are doing what many in the audience can’t. Let the audience gasp at your ability to stand on one foot on that ledge, metaphorically speaking. And what happens if you ‘slip’ (brain-fade or whatever)? Well, if you are really comfortable with your pieces and not so freaking nervous that your central nervous system is in dire risk of collapse, you simply find your way out of your error and continue what you were doing. Sure, those pigeons on the ledge may not have meant to step backwards into thin air, but their recoveries where spectacular – flight. So too, a good recovery will leave people thinking “cool, he/she pulled that one back from the brink!’

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[Left-hand fingering is included for a starting reference.]

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Okay, here is the point. As we have discussed previously, the guitar is basically tuned in fourths. This leads to certain intervallic relationships that the guitarist needs to know in order that he or she may be able to quickly ascertain tonality structure in the middle of performance/sight reading. What does this mean? Most music in Western culture is based on one simple tonal key—the tonicdominant relationship, most often called I to V (and back to one.) The second most common tonal key is a progression from I to IV to V (and back to one.) Being that the guitar is tuned in fourths, one can see by these previous chord/scale examples that I and IV in a key grounded on the sixth string (let us say A at the fifth fret.) If the performer then wished to move to the IV tonality, all that is required is a move to the fifth string, which, when following the exampled patterns, will place the left hand in the D Major position. Similarly, if the player were already playing in D at the fifth fret (rooted on the fifth string) a move to the V tonality (A Major) only requires shifting to the sixth string! Of course, if the guitarist is on the A Major and wants to go to the V tonality (E Major) he or she need only move to the fifth string AND up one whole step (two frets) to be in E Major. I, IV and V are all close together. I chose the keys in the previous example as they represent the keys guitarists will most often find themselves in. Any other keys should be an easy permutation for the student.

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The Stretcher As you can plainly see, this exercise uses the infamous chromatic pattern once again. You must understand this: a brainless exercise that the student can work and benefit from—even while watching television—is an exercise that will be repeated often and to great advantage. Actually, there is no need to create a beautiful melodic passage that forces the student to concentrate on something other than the lesson at hand. It's nice, but not necessary all the time. Plant the first finger on the fifth fret and begin your workout. It is critical to the exercise to leave the fingers planted at all times whenever possible. If the student is performing measure one using the first line of left hand fingering, the first, second and third fingers stay down as the two notes played with finger four are being executed. Why? Without planting, the stretches won't happen! Obvious. The first line of left hand fingering is a 'gimmee'—the exercise doesn't get interesting until you've got the stretch between the second and third finger and the first and second finger. The fourth finger seems to naturally want to get away from the third finger for most people. It is guaranteed that this exercise will get the second and third finger of the left hand moving more independently and the student will not have a hard time committing this little brainless exercise to memory and using it at odd moments when the brain wants to shut down but t fingers need to move! Please go to Four Brief Pieces and learn the piece Elaine to reinforce this technique.

With any exercise, accuracy, articulation, tone, volume and CONFIDENCE are the watchwords, NOT speed. With the Stretcher as well as the legato exercises (hammeron’s and pull-off’s) found elsewhere in this book, the slower, louder and more articulate one practices the exercises, the more profound the impact on the student’s technique. Play these exercises in the converse manner one would work scales (slow to fast.). Start at a moderate tempo and work towards a slower performance speed – and always remain mindful of tone, volume and rhythmic accuracy. 181

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Ferdinando Carulli (1770-1841) Ferdinando Maria Meinrado Francesco Pascale Rosario Carulli, noted pedagogue, authored one of the first complete classical guitar method, one that is still in use today. Carulli was born in Naples, Italy on February 9, 1770. His father was the secretary to a delegate of the Neapolitan Government. He received instruction in musical theory by a priest, who was also an amateur musician. Carulli's first instrument was the cello, but when he was twenty he discovered the guitar and devoted his life to the study and advancement of the guitar. As there were no professional guitar teachers in Naples at the time, Carulli developed his own style of playing. In 1801 Carulli moved to Paris, then the center of musical activity in Europe, and remained there until his death. In Paris Carulli became a very successful musician and teacher, and it was there that he published most of his works, eventually becoming a publisher himself and printing the works of other prominent guitarists. Many of the pieces now regarded as Carulli's greatest were initially turned down by the publishers as being too hard for the average player, and it is likely that many masterpieces were lost this way. Undeterred, Carulli started publishing his pieces himself. However, the great majority of Carulli's surviving works are those that were considered 'safe' enough to be accepted by other publishers, mainly for the teaching of certain techniques or for beginners. Although he had many students and supporters, Carulli began to believe he didn't deserve his impressive reputation because most of the great works that he had composed were never published. Confined to mainly simple pieces, Carulli wrote his method of classical guitar, "Harmony Applied to the Guitar", a collection of pieces that are, as written previously, still studied today by students of the instrument. Carulli died in Paris on February 17, 1841 at the age of 71 years.

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Reading, the Guitar Fingerboard & Intervals The guitar fingerboard is laid out in half steps end to end. If you can count, you can read. If you can recognize the pattern that the intervals definitely form, you can read anywhere on the neck! Radical statement? Not at all.

Let's start at the fifth fret. Any guitar student who can tune the guitar to itself (or at least has been shown how to tune the guitar) using the overlap tones at the fifth fret, knows the pitch names of the notes located on the fifth fret. (See the example above.) As a recap, here is the process. Depress the sixth string at the fifth fret. The pitch produced is the same pitch as the open fifth string. Okay. You know full well that the open fifth string's pitch is the A below middle C (two ledger lines below the treble clef staff.) So far so good. The fifth fret of the fifth string produces the same pitch as the open fourth string. Ditto until you get to the third string/second string. The second string open is tuned to the fourth fret of the third string (a major third above the fourth string.) Things return to normal when tuning the first string from the second. The fifth fret of the second string produces the E note that is the top space of the treble clef staff, which is also our open first string. Knowing this yields the following chart:

We can draw a few decent conclusions simply using common sense. Look at the chart of notes on the following page. The odd number measures show the open string stuff we learned in volume one. The even measures show these same notes on the corresponding strings from the fifth fret up. In other words, that E, F, and G played on the open first and third frets of the first string are played on the fifth, sixth and eighth fret on the second string. The same half and whole steps are present with E, F and G no matter where they are played. The author uses the term Reading Overlap to describe this principle. The guitar (as well as the other stringed instruments) has a distinct disadvantage when compared to the piano. On a keyboard, a note can only be played with one key. When the pianist sees an E three ledger lines above the staff, he or she immediately places a finger on one key and there is no confusion. The fretboard of the guitar has a number of areas of overlap so that the same written note might be played in three different places. Depending on what chord or melody surrounds the note (as well as tone-color considerations) will decide where the note will be played. The following is a very basic diagram of the notes in “open” position contrasted to the fifth through tenth fret notes the student has learned already.

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Now let's assume that the student has learned his Grand Barré chord based on the E major open position chord -- the Barré chord that makes an F major at the first fret, a G major at the third fret, an A major at the fifth fret and so on. Here's the point. If the student knows this chord and can use it to generate chords up and down the neck, he or she already knows the pitch names of the notes of the sixth string. See the following example. The student may not have realized that these pitch names were notated as follows, but now he or she does! As the author explains to his students, if you can tune your guitar to itself using the fifth fret/open string method, then you already know the notes of the fifth fret across the neck. See the A note on the fifth fret in the diagram? That's the A open string note as well— notation-wise as well as pitch-wise. If the student knows the pitch names of the notes of the sixth string, the first string is readily understood and memorized. Of course, it will be notated two octaves above the sixth string. See the example.

The student should now know the first and sixth string notes. "But," the student asks, "I can't read the strings in between! What do I do?" As mentioned previously, for the most part, the guitar is tuned in fourths. Let us look at intervals as they help us read precisely.

Common Intervals and Their Patterns The most resolved interval (the ear sense no need for any type of resolution such as with a seventh or second) is the unison or the same exact pitch played on two different strings such as the E on the fifth fret of the second string and the open first string. The Octave, two pitches separated by five whole steps and two half steps, is the next most resolved interval. To play an octave, one places the first finger on a note on any string and the third finger on the string two strings higher, two frets above the first fretted note.

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The Perfect intervals, the perfect fourth and perfect fifth are the next most resolved, with the fifth being the more resolved of the two. The perfect fourth is the interval between the open E and A, A and D, D and G, and B and E strings. The perfect fourth can also be found across the fret on adjacent strings, in other words, the note fretted on the sixth fret of the fifth string is a perfect fourth above the note fretted on the sixth fret of the sixth string. To play a perfect fifth, one places the first finger on a note on any string aside from the third string and the third finger on the next string higher, two frets above the first fretted note. See photograph. Play a fifth and listen to the two notes and their interaction.

Now, as you'll remember, the perfect fourth interval is the intervallic relationship between the sixth and fifth, fifth and fourth, fourth and third, and second and first string. [The fourth is 'less perfect' than the fifth, being a little less stable theoretically.] I have generated a chart (to be found on next page) showing the notes on the fifth string adjacent to our root notes on the sixth string. The thing to remember is this: If your finger is fretting the C note on the ninth fret of the sixth string, the F note one perfect fourth above will be located on the exact same fret on the fifth string. (See chart.) Here is the basic rule for intervals of the octave, perfect fourth and perfect fifth—aside from the relationship between the third and second string, if your first finger is on a fret, the perfect fourth above will be on the same fret of the next adjacent string. If your first finger is on a fret, the perfect fifth will be two frets higher (played with the third finger more than likely) on the next adjacent string.

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If your first finger is on a fret, the octave will be two frets higher (once again, played with the third finger more than likely) skipping a string. In other words, the octave is sixth string fifth fret and fourth string seventh fret. It is simple.

To play a Major Third, place a finger on a note and another finger on the note one stringer higher and one fret lower than the first note (except, as noted elsewhere, with the third and second string. With the third and second string, the major third falls on the same fret.)

To play a Minor Third, place a finger on a note and another finger on the note one stringer higher and two frets lower than the first note. (On the third and second string, the minor third is fingered like a major third on any other two strings.)

The following page of examples illustrates the Perfect Fourth and Major and Minor Thirds on the fourth and third string. The student should play through these listening to the interval simultaneously getting a feel for the pattern and to accustom the ear to the sound of the interval.

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Patterns: The key to unlocking the guitar’s fingerboard is to realize that all intervals and chords are patterns. Once the guitarist has determined where the composer or transcriber has placed a chord or melody, he or she can generate the pitches by knowing where intervals are situated on the fretboard. Look at the examples above. Let’s examine the perfect fifth. If one were to see an E (first line of staff) and then see the B note (middle line) written either above or adjacent to it, the well-studied guitarist should put his first finger on the E on the third fret of the fourth string and third finger on the third string at the seventh fret. It should be almost instinctive. Similarly, the perfect fourth is simply formed by utilizing the two notes at the same fret on adjacent strings (except between the third and second string which we will look at later.) The interval of the third comes in two varieties—a major and a minor. The major third is built by placing one whole step atop another whole step. (C to D = one whole step, D to E = one whole step, so C to E = two whole steps or a major third.) The minor third is one half step smaller, in other words, it is built from a whole step with a half step placed atop. (A to B is one whole step, A to C is one half step, so A to C is one whole and one half step and therefore a minor third.)

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John Dowland (1563-1626) It is not known if Dowland was of English or Irish heritage, but he was born in London. Although he initially failed to gain a court position in England due to his Catholic faith, he did wind up as the court lutenist to King James I after spending many years in the royal court of Denmark. He made a pun of his name John Dowland, Semper Dolens, Latin for Always Sad. His musical output possibly reflects his inner melancholy, probably due to his deep professional frustrations. This piece, often referred to as Greensleeves, is of unknown origins, though many scholars have attributed it to Dowland. It is said that Henry VIII even claimed authorship! Through the years it has been used and abused as a secular tune, a Christmas carol and even in radio and television commercials. Obviously over-used, still, it is hauntingly lovely melody. The harmonization is fairly traditional, though unlike early lute tabs. Some additional and distinctly non-period harmonies have been incorporated to keep the student from using too much of his or her preconceived notions of what this piece should sound like and thereby forcing the student to read each note and chord.

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The Legato (Slurs: Hammer-ons and Pull-offs)

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The use and benefit of the Legato are twofold for the guitarist. First, the legato allows for smoother tone production and adds more elements of dynamic control. It also gives the guitarist another tool to manage strength, endurance, and stamina in the right hand. It also allows scale passages to be played more rapidly than might otherwise be possible if all notes were to be plucked, Pluck first note of tied group first. DO NOT pluck the following note(s). Ascending slurs (often known as ‘hammer-ons') are generated by using a combination of the energy generated by the initial pluck plus the impact of the finger fretting the next note. The volume of the second note should be very close to that of the plucked note. This is one of the very few times where practice should begin at a slightly quicker tempo. A moderate tempo allows the student to get a feel for the technique -- slurs are harder to accomplish at a slower tempo. The energy of the first plucked note decreases and more of the sound of the second note will have to be generated by the second finger impacting the string. Descending slurs (often known as ‘pull-offs') can be slightly easier to perform correctly at first. Both the plucked note as well as the notes to be slurred are fretted by the left hand. The first note is plucked and then the finger fretting that note is removed from the neck in a slight plucking motion. Practice slurs ascending and descending until they can be performed at a very slow and EVEN tempo with consistent, controllable volume between the plucked and slurred notes.

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Luis de Milán (1500 – 1561) was a composer and vihuelist of the period known as the Spanish Renaissance. He was the first composer in history to publish music for the Vihuela de mano, an instrument that enjoyed great popularity in Spain and some other European states during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. He was most likely born in Valencia and it is implied by historians that he probably lived his entire life there. It is agreed by most sources that he was a musician in the ducal court until around 1538. In 1535 he published his first book entitled El juego de mandar; in the next year he published what was to be his most important book, Libro de música de vihuela de mano intitulado El maestro. This book was dedicated to King John III of Portugal; this dedication, and the existence of six villancicos which Milán wrote in Portuguese, suggest that he may have traveled to that country and spent some time there. The book is the first collection of vihuela music as far as we know. Most likely an instructional treatise, the music is presented in grades from simple to complex, so that a beginning vihuelist can proceed from elementary to gradually more complicated pieces as he progresses. It contains more than forty fantasias, six pavans (one of which I have included here, Number Five, and one elsewhere in this book Number One), twelve villancicos, as well as sonetos and other pieces. Many are of considerable virtuosity despite the fact that not all the ornamentation is provided in detail. The style of the compositions varies from simple homophony to polyphony and virtuoso passagework; unusual chromaticisms also occurs, including strange double-inflections which were quite rare in music from other parts of Europe at the same time.

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Learning a New Piece Students as well as professionals all face a common event on a regular basis—the inevitable new piece. This is the piece of music that the guitarist has never played and possibly may never have even heard beforehand. There it sits, a white sheet of foolscap covered by lots of dots; that is what most players see. What they don’t see is the harmonic structure or familiar scale patterns and chord shapes. New students will begin to make sound (note: I didn’t say play) without even checking the key or time signatures! The more experienced student will check this data—and if he is truly astute, may even ascertain whether the piece is in the major or relative minor variant of the key. My students also scan the music to make a mental note of pitch range. (Does the piece cover the instrument’s range or does it contain itself to a specific area of the fingerboard?) They also analyze how the piece is structured. Is the piece an A/B form? A/B/A? Are there any modulations or mutations? Where is the melody? Is it carried upon the higher pitched strings or does it run on a bass string – such as the melodic line in the Villa Lobos Prelude Number One? Does it hug the first string – as it does in the theme of the Sor Magic Flute Variations? My best students look at the music longer than the rest – they find similar chord patterns, scales, etc. These students spend the most time just looking at the music but also produce the best initial read-throughs! Preparation is everything. So there are many avenues one must explore as one approaches that new piece of music as it stares back from the music stand. I have been working with two of my students using the Sor Etudes as compiled by Andrés Segovia. They are both working on Etude Five (which is Opus 35 Number 22.) This piece is remarkable on a number of levels. First it has a depth of emotional content that belies its humble ‘Etude’ aspirations— it is a lovely piece. Second, the left hand remains fairly static throughout the piece. If you’ve played the piece, you will remember that the basic harmonic structure hovers between the tonic and dominant harmonies for most of the piece with a brief sojourn into the subdominant tonality (including one of my favorite preparations of a C major chord in first inversion in the repertoire) and then Sor throws those last two lines at the student…always the student’s least favorite part of the piece. Here is the A section of Sor’s Etude Opus 35, Number 22.

What would one of my students say about this selection? First they would tell you it is a triple meter piece (3/4 time) and it is in the key of B minor. Why B minor? Why not D major? The key would be correctly determined because they would look at the first and last measures and note the B minor chord outlined therein. This would be coupled with the A#’s in the piece (the harmonic minor leading tone that produces an F# dominant (or dominant7) chord. Then the student would look at the piece and find the melody line. This is always more difficult when a piece or selection thereof is built on arpeggios. Segovia was kind enough to edit the piece with upward stems on the melody notes and one

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CLASSIC GUITAR METHOD should ‘bring these notes up’ when playing the piece. Apoyando works nice, but I am getting ahead of myself. Let’s look at the first two measures:

It is necessary for the left hand only to find the B minor chord shown at right to produce every note (and hold them for the correct duration) in the first two measures of the Etude. Six beats down, zero left hand motion. Then we move. Measure Three: When transitioning to measure three (the first change of hand-shape) the third finger remains in position on the F# on the fourth (D) string. The third finger will be used as a ‘planting’ finger – a finger upon which all changes are rooted – in much of the piece. In the accompanying photograph, you will note my second finger is fretting the A# on the third (G) string. I do this merely because this is a chord shape that will be used later in the piece and I find it easier in my own playing to keep my hand/chord shapes consistent when possible. The student need not follow my example; however, the planting of the third finger is critical. So finger 3 stays down when transitioning to measure four. Measure Four: Measure four returns to the tonic chord, but not the Grand Barré form found in measures one and two. In the photograph, I have extended my first finger to allow the reader to more clearly see the other fingers. I do not recommend holding the left hand like this in performance. Please note: the third finger has not moved since the initial placement in measure one. Measure Five returns to the dominant of the key of B minor (an F# major triad.) and is fingered thusly: Please see photograph for measure three for an example of how this looks in execution. As one can readily see, not much has really happened harmonically–just the very

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definitive assertion of the B minor tonality through the use of the I/V relationship.

Measures Six, Seven and Eight commence by presenting the resolution of the dominant chord in arpeggiated in measure five with (naturally) a tonic b minor, only to quickly return via a passing chord and a passing tone to the dominant to end the first phrase of the A section:

Measure Eight is shown in the accompanying diagram and photograph: The half barré is a personality quirk of mine. This chord could be played much the same as a threefingered open-position F major chord that all students learn early on. As I have written previously, I try to use identical hand shapes for similar chords to keep the changes easy to remember. The end of this phrase, as stated previously, lands upon the dominant tonality of F# major. Sor begins the second phrase of the A section with a very familiar melodic/harmonic motif in measure nine: Measure nine relies upon the same B minor chord hand shape as seen in measures one and two. Measure ten incorporates a new wrinkle on the old formula by including the F# on the second fret of the first string which is fretted with the first finger but omitting the B note played on the fifth string (and held as a tied note in measure two.) One can use the same barré chord as used in measure ten as was used in measure nine—in fact one should. Measure eleven is identical to measure three and needs no further illumination. Measure Twelve: Departs from what we have become familiar with in the first phrase. Rather than following the tonic/dominant chord change with a tonic chord, Sor moves us to a G major chord (the VI chord of B minor) which leads to a C# diminished chord in measure thirteen (one that is often read as an A7 chord—an honest, though erroneous, interpretation based on the chord shape produced by the edition fingering. In measure twenty-seven, the left hand will perform the same fretted pitches and the result will be an A7.) The C# diminished resolves to a tonic chord in measure fourteen identical in construct and fingering to measure four.

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CLASSIC GUITAR METHOD Measure fourteen moves to the identical dominant in measure fifteen as is present in measure five. Measure sixteen is a new form of that same chord found in measure one (and elsewhere) and an identical fingering produces all the pitches required to correctly complete the measure. At this point we can stand back and say that the A section of the piece is comprised of two phrases, each eight measures in length. Phrase one leads us from tonic to dominant (having once established the tonal center) and phrase two leads us back to the tonic. The B Section:

This section is contains the measures that cause the student the most difficulty: measures forty-two through forty-six, give or take a measure at the end of the run. As in many pieces (read: most) fingering is critical. Poor choices in left hand fingering can paint the student into a corner “you can’t get there from here”-type fingerings will render whole phrases unplayable mine fields. The chord forms/hand shapes remain consistent with the two phrases in the A section until measure twenty-one where an extra F# is added (using the first finger on the first string, second fret) to the basic B minor form. See the photograph in the paragraph regarding measure four. This is the basic hand shape. Simply place the first finger seen wagging in the aforementioned photo and place it on the F#. Measure twenty four is the dominant chord and leads us to a surprise in measure twenty five. This chord is used to very briefly (just one

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measure) modulate to a new tonality—E minor. I particularly enjoy this portion of the piece. Note the placement of the third finger in the B7 chord. Sor then moves the piece through an A7 tonality used as a dominant of D major to a beautiful C major chord in the first inversion (measure twenty-nine) with the open low E string supplying the lowest pitch. Please note fingering for measure twenty eight. The D major chord is arpeggiated with an open string and a fretted note on the same string.

Note: on the first beat the first finger is fretting the D on the second fret, B string. The D one octave below is played as the open string. On beat two, the third finger comes into play, fretting the F# on the fourth fret on the D string. In measure twenty-nine Sor gives us a lovely change-up to the expected harmonic progression and writes a C major tonality in the first inversion. This is prolonged in measure thirty as a continued arpeggio figure completed with the fourth finger of the left hand.

Please note that the notes fretted in measure twenty-nine remain down throughout the two measures. The open E is also tied into measure thirty, so nothing changes with the left hand until the fourth finger drops in at measure thirty to execute the G note on the third fret.

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CLASSIC GUITAR METHOD Measure thirty one contains an interesting harmony. The E# is a passing tone to the dominant that arrives in the next measure, measure thirty two (E#? Yes, a theoretical note even though it is an F in execution; think of it as you would an A# and a G, the same pitch, but capable of assuming an alias!) The chord itself? Think of it as a transitory assembly of passing tones—the E# passes to the F#, the G# passes to the A#, the D to the C etc. Treat it accordingly—I particularly like to accent the interesting quality of the chord by approaching with a bit of rubato and dynamics changes. Measures thirty three through thirty nine are identical to the first phrase of the A section of the piece. The performer should determine how to phrase this section so that it doesn’t sound merely like a repeat of the original theme, but a reiteration of that theme leading to the finale of the piece. Consider dynamics, rubato, tone shading and any other color on your musical palette. Measure forty is nothing new, but it does contain the seventh of the chord making the chord not just a dominant, but a dominant seventh (dom7.) Sor did not use this harmony to complete the first phrase of the A section. I believe he did this so that when he reiterated the phrase in the B section it would be even less stable than the plain dominant and would really pull the ear to seek resolution. Now begins the phrase that stymies students – a chord progression that leads to the final cadence.

The Barré IV C#7 chord is no big deal, but fingering is critical in preparation for the next measure. The next measures, forty three, forty four and forty five contain the hand shapes with which the student invariably has the most trouble. Correct fingering (as I always say) is crucial. With correct preparation through correct fingering, these measures are not as daunting as they first appear. Please note the similarity in fingering between measures forty-three and forty-four. The right hand fingering pattern remains exactly the same which sometimes perplexes students as there is the funny feeling of reading a chord with an open string in its midst in forty four. In forty three the second eighth note is higher in pitch than the third, In forty four, this relationship changes—the source of the perplexity.

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Measures forty-six, forty-seven and forty-eight contain no new material and are reiterations of familiar hand shapes from earlier in the piece. Overall, what have we at this point? Etude Five is a seemingly straightforward exercise with good examples of Sor’s lovely compositional hallmarks. What the student must do is to complete a twofold mission. The first mission is to master the technical aspects of the piece. Now I say ‘first’ and ‘second’ but the intent is to complete these missions simultaneously – or as close thereto as possible. The second mission is to create a pleasant musical experience for the listener (and performer!) which is what I will often call bringing something to the party. This piece is fairly repetitive so it is important that the student formulate a plan to make each phrase a unique musical statement and that there are musical climaxes where required and/or applicable. The B section contains a phrase that begins on a B7 setting up a brief sojourn into E minor. That phrase is a good place to build the drama and the student should consider both volume/dynamics as well as rubato and tone to focus the listener’s ear onto what the student wishes to accentuate. After this phrase resolves, the piece returns to a phrase that mimics the A section. That final progression that leads to the final V7 – I resolution should be the height of the emotional experience and should be planned for. It is not simply “the end”.

If the student has progressed to this point in the book, he or she is ready for the following ‘adjustment’!

Watch the Attitude Who turned music and art into a competitive sport? A fellow guitarist made a comment regarding still another player. ‘You went to Mannes and he went to Manhattan School of Music, the competing school…’ This rubbed me the wrong way. I would have said I had gone to Mannes and he studied at another school, Manhattan School of Music, a school which also has a fine guitar program. Competing and competition – what a great concept for art! What the…? Does this make me a superior person? No. Well, maybe not. Since I was a young kid and first learning to play there was this ridiculous notion going around the neighborhood that there was this idiotic hierarchy of players. ‘He is really good; he is the best.’ Or “That guy can’t play—he’s even worse than so-and-so. Sure, there were guys who had been at it longer; there were guys who had more determination and practiced more. There might have even have been guys with more innate ability. But did all those variables make someone more a musician and someone else less so? I could never see it. The worst ones were the guys who thought they were superior to everyone else because they owned the most expensive guitars! Pathetic. Yet most everyone bought into all this crap. If you have been around people who claim to be musicians, I am sure you’ve met this fellow. Sure. He’s the guy who attends a recital by a well-known artist and when asked about the experience he begins his critique with ‘I play those pieces much better…’ This fellow compares every musician to his standard—himself—and, of course, musicians like Bream, Williams, Fisk and Barrueco all fall far short! See yourself as a musician. A musician is a person who expresses emotion to others through music. Technical ability is wonderful in that it allows you to ply your craft effectively—if you have soul and heart. Technical ability does not allow one to create a memorable musical experience if one possesses no heart or simply has nothing to say! I have heard amazing technicians who have left me cold. Do I say they are bad players? No! Why? I will give anyone a bit of leeway for a bad night. Now if I hear a player express nothing— but with technical brilliance—through many, many performances, then I will say that their playing is not to my liking. Still, I do not say they are BAD players. They simply just might not be talking to me! Some technically lacking players have touched my soul deeply with the 208

CLASSIC GUITAR METHOD quality of emotion they convey. No, I do not enjoy painfully inept performance due to lack of practice, but a newer, younger player with little technique but lots of heart will entertain me! So how do I see myself in this competitive universe that has been created? Well, I will tell you what I tell every student I have who falls for this ‘rating’ system. In life you will always attain your maximum capabilities. If you have the drive, determination, time and energy, you will become the best you can be. If you never practice, don’t invest time and effort, you will also become the best player you can be as well. It is all in what you bring to the party; how much you are willing to give yourself to the instrument. In life you will meet guys who are less technically proficient than you are. For every player you meet who falls into this category, you will meet ten players who blow you into the weeds! I don’t care if you are Segovia, this holds true. Even Segovia was humbled by Agustin Barrios to the point where he did all he could to squash his career! The guitar world is full of petty jealousy and competitive nature and is therefore, for the most part, contemptible. It reminds me of a bunch of guys hanging around telling each other how large their manhoods are, or women strutting around with their store-bought breast enhancements before their friends. This is one of the main reasons I had dropped from the music business (hanging with other guitarists, etc.) before my accident forced me to stop playing altogether. I couldn’t stand the petty nonsense that went along with it. Now, at this late point in my life, I realize that I can play, make music, touch peoples’ emotions and avoid ninety-nine percent of the guitar-playing Romper Room crowd who want to drag race Recuerdos de la Alhambra! I don’t care what the competitors say about me; I refuse to be in the race! I refuse to compete so I don’t judge myself against other guitarists. I may say “I need to play my tremolo as evenly as so-and-so’ or ‘I really wish I could bring as much feeling to this piece as fill-in-a-name does’. I refuse to look smug in a crowd of my students and tell them how great I am when compared to another player. It’s just cheap. I don’t believe it anyway. We all have our unique personalities and our own set of life experiences that lend shading and nuance to the emotion we bring to our music. Every guitarist with heart brings their emotional something to the music and it is not right or honest to belittle someone else’s effort. Your adversaries, if I can use the word, should be the guitar and its repertoire, not some other musician. It is the guitar you must conquer. It is not your prerogative to be the judge, jury and executioner of anyone— especially not those who aren’t up to your lofty criteria (self.) Play music. Touch lives. Avoid competition. It has the potential to cripple the ‘losers’ and really cripples the self-perceived ‘winners’!

Keep your guitar clean! Why? A clean guitar is guitar whose fingerboard is not covered with dead skin and finger oil (or the grease from fried food.) A clean guitar’s finish remains intact longer as perspiration and other bodily fluids haven’t etched into it. Result? The wood underneath that finish isn’t compromised. Clean strings last longer as acids from perspiration etc. don’t have as great a chance of tarnishing and corroding the windings of the bass strings. The simple act of cleaning the instrument allows the player to examine every part of the instrument on a regular basis. The player may note the beginnings of a separating bridge/top glue joint saving a costly repair job. (It is easier for a luthier to remove and reglue a bridge than it is to replace divots in the top from where the bridge has ripped chucks of the top as it flew from the instrument. Small cracks can be cleated before they have expanded past the point of easy repair. A clean guitar also looks so much better under stage lighting! 209

Avoiding Repetitive Stress Injury You are an athlete. Yes, it is true you haven’t done a squat-thrust or jumping jack since grammar school and the Knicks are definitely not beating your door down to sign with them. However, you are still an athlete and governed by the same physical limitations and regulations that any Olympian is. Once you have realized that music isn’t merely a mental workout, but is most definitely an athletic regimen, you are on the high road to avoiding sports-related injuries. And that is exactly what many of us suffer from. In my case, I thought ‘Well, you are getting older…’ and made all manner of excuses for the burning in my elbow, the numbness in my thumb and the shooting pains in my fingers a few years back. “No pain, No gain!” Yeah. It’s said all the time, right along with “Feel the burn!” Supposed to be a good thing, but these can actually be the harbingers of a ruined career. Don’t be fooled, pushing through the pain is not in your best interest. In my case, I figured my symptoms were somehow related to age and maybe a touch of arthritis. I was 46 when I first noticed the symptoms listed above. I tried Tylenol and then Aleve (both awesome medications for arthritis and inflammation) but these masked the problem. If I’d rested a bit, the drugs would have helped to fix the damage, but no, I wasn’t going to give anything a chance, I was going to be a man and play through the issues. I was being very foolish. Aside from playing guitar, believe it or not, the following activities can exacerbate the tendon/carpal tunnel damage: 1. Gripping and squeezing. Repetitive usage results in damage. 2. Leaning on a desk edge with the wrists, palms, or elbows. Sit up like your mother told you to. 3. Holding a phone with your shoulder. It looks stupid anyway, so cut it out. 4. Carrying a shoulder bag. We all did that in school. Get a brief case, it looks more professional anyway. 5. Bad posture. (And how many of us—even the ladies—have copped that bad-boy slouch from time to time?) Typing at a computer for a great portion of your waking hours is another red flag on the road to trouble. A man I know who has lost use of his hands has a program that allows him to dictate to his computer—no manual keystrokes necessary. This might be a boon to guitarists and other musicians who use their fingers in their art and often find themselves trapped behind the keyboard. As you move your fingers, the tendon flexes and moves within its sheath. This generates a certain level of friction that eventually leads to inflammation. If the inflammation is ignored and further aggravated, scar tissue will build around the tendon. In the case of carpal tunnel syndrome, this scar tissue builds up on the tendon where it passes through the carpal tunnel. There isn’t a lot of room in their folks. There are also nerves and blood vessels sharing the space and as the tendon swells, it cuts off blood supply to the muscles of the hand and pinches the nerves. These muscles and nerves need the blood and without it, they will die. This is more or less permanent. Musicians take these foibles and elevate them to an art form by the awkward stuff we do with our hands. We bend our wrists into strange, tendon/nerve/blood vessel choking angles and then move those fingers and arms rapidly for hours at a stretch without coming up for air. Add to this the fact that we do this under great emotional stress at times—try sitting a college-level jury some time—and what I said about air is literal, as we often hold our breath through strenuous passages. It’s a formula for trouble. Now I (of all people) understand the need for thorough practice. Heck, I write exercise and stamina building pieces all the time. That’s why I feel it is my duty to let you know not just what to do to work those muscles, but how to do it safely. I was listening to a guitar player discussing his health issue just recently. He said “I’ve been having a lot of surgery lately, fixing the vertebrae in my neck— I play too much guitar.” Give the guy the buzzer. Yeah, he may have played too much, but more likely he played too much INCORRECTLY.

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CLASSIC GUITAR METHOD Okay, so how does one play correctly, not burn out those tendons, nerves and muscles? FIRST: Stretch out and warm up like any athlete. Grasp you hands together in front of you. Apply light isometric pressure and lift you arms up over your head. Bring your clasped hands down behind your head. Return them to a position in front of your torso. Stretch out to the left, then the right keeping those hands pressed gently but firmly together. If you are a classical guitarist or one who sits extensively when practicing and performing, stretch out your legs. I know you wouldn’t be able to do floor stretches in a suit or gown if about to perform a recital, but you can always warm up a bit earlier. SECOND: Don’t jump right in and play your speed metal licks, your Bach violin partita or Scarlatti harpsichord transcription. Use those simple chromatic exercises and some slow scales THIRD: Don’t do what I did to almost burn up a tendon. If you practice for a solid hour, take a twenty-minute rest. Hey, if you were playing an extended recital, you’d have an intermission. Treat yourself as well as a promoter would! In the real world, you would never play three hours straight. Why should we practice that way? Oh, so you haven’t been doing these things like warming up or giving your arm and fingers a break? So you’ve felt pins and needles in your fingers at night… Your hand goes numb when you play… You get sharp stabbing pains in your muscles… You can’t feel the guitar neck… You’re already in trouble. Okay. There is hope. You will need to stop what you are doing immediately. Yes, that means guitar playing as well. Find a sports-medicine doctor and/or a physical therapist. Some GP’s will recommend splints, cortisone injections, and maybe a surgical procedure. I know guys who have had the surgery. I also know some guys who will never play again. Don’t play games with your art. If you’ve pushed through to these symptoms, you will not be playing for a few months. That’s at best. Do some research online about Repetitive Stress Injuries. Don’t be a manly-man and wind up on the bench permanently. Life is short, but it will become very long without music!

The Classical Guitarist's Vibrato The classical guitarist’s traditional vibrato is very similar to the vibrato you have observed the orchestral string players use. The hand rocks back and forth with the finger pad remaining within the fret, the string is not bent. A slight vibrato effect is generated, although on the guitar there should not be too much 'slop' in intonation available within a fret, wire to wire. The violinist can actually roll the tip of his finger enough to raise or lower the pitch because this player is not limited by fretwire. The hand rolls with a motion parallel to the neck. Make the motion with your wrist as large as possible to guarantee a nice, slow vibrato. Speed here will render the vibrato indistinguishable. Once again, the metronome will help. LISTEN and observe—then correct your motion until you make a musical sound. It's that simple—and that hard. I remember watching an otherwise wonderful recitalist whose vibrato was so fast that it was both annoying to listen to and almost comical to watch. Vibrato should never look like a blur or sound like a gnat. In fact, the finest thing one can say about this vibrato is that you should not be able to hear a distinct change in pitch, merely a certain ambiguity. You will be raising the pitch of the fretted note but only a miniscule amount. How about actual bending of the string—like blues and rock electric players do? The fingertip is used to physically move the string, thereby increasing tension on it and raising its pitch. This is accomplished by both pushing the string slightly towards the adjacent string and releasing it—

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smoothly and with slow control—or by pulling the string down towards the adjacent string and releasing it, once again smoothly, slowly and with great control. Should you decide to use this technique remember that it is a technique that must be carefully practiced to ensure that you are not just bum's rushing your way through it. Speed is your enemy here. You want deliberate controllable action of the left hand. Some say the motion is all in the wrist, but I have found that while the majority of the motion is there, the finger itself should contribute some motion in the form of a bending at the first joint as well. Practice it with all the fingers of the left hand. This vibrato works well with all fingers, pinky included. Why different fingers? You are going to want to have a decent vibrato available no matter what fingering you're using depending on where the melody has been and where it is going. Regardless of which type of vibrato you are learning or using, practice slowly. In fact, the best way to do this is with a metronome, counting your number of cycles per beat of the metronome. Why did I make a statement above that the classical guitarist can use a small amount of string bend to heighten his or her vibrato? It's because the violinist, not restricted by fretwire, can indeed raise and lower the pitch by wiggling the finger pad during the execution of vibrato. The guitarist is hindered by the fretwire and can't hope to generate the depth of vibrato the fiddler can. I have caught myself using a slight amount of actual pitch bending a la string bend on the classical guitar. It doesn't sound bad, but would have made my teacher cringe. My motto is 'Make Music and if you have to alter technique to do it, well, do it!' Practice vibrato in this manner: Start with a two octave scale. Play the scale slowly using the traditional classical guitar vibrato (rolling the finger within the fret) making sure the thumb is not pressed too tightly against the back of the neck. Play very slowly with a metronome and make sure that you can count the number of times you roll the finger within each beat. If you can’t count, you are vibrato-ing (is that a word??) too fast. Slow build consistency. Speed will come with practice. Remember, there is such a thing as too fast. Once scales are mastered, use the legato exercises for vibrato training.

Harmonics Harmonics is a term used to describe a phenomenon whereby a pitch is created by plucking a string while lightly holding a finger against that string so that it doesn't touch the fretboard. The resulting note (or notes) will be a different pitch than would otherwise be produced—in the case of twelfth fret harmonics (a natural harmonic) the pitch produced will be one octave higher than the open string—by the unaltered string. The term comes from the theoretical realm of acoustical science. The harmonic series is a mathematical definition used to explain the generation of frequencies from a root pitch. The harmonic series is important in musical applications because most instruments (including guitar) produce sounds that contain harmonic frequencies. The natural frequencies of the string form a harmonic series. Consider the harmonic series in terms of musical intervals. The first harmonic is the fundamental. The second harmonic is an octave above. The third harmonic is an octave and a fifth above the fundamental. The fourth harmonic is two octaves above the fundamental. The fifth harmonic is another major third higher, the sixth is another minor third higher, etc. Guitar 'harmonics' are created when you lightly touch the string with your finger at specific positions and then pluck the string. This causes both sections of the string, to the right and left of the spot you're touching, to vibrate simultaneously, giving a bell like quality to the note. It works only if the finger is removed quickly as you pluck. What is being accomplished is that the fundamental is being subtracted from the note and only the harmonics remain to be heard. Natural harmonics are the easiest to produce. A good place to begin is the 12th fret of the first string. With your fretting hand, lightly touch the finger against the string directly above the 12th fret. Do not hold it down, just touch it. Then pluck it. Release the string with your fretting hand. If done

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CLASSIC GUITAR METHOD correctly, the result should he a high-pitched, ringing E, the same note as normal fretting will produce. There are three points that are easiest to produce natural harmonics along the string: the fifth, seventh and twelfth frets—all directly above the fret-wire, not the wood between the wire. At these points, the string is divided exactly into fourths, thirds and halves respectively. At the 12th fret, they are the same note, at the 7th fret, the harmonic is one octave higher than the fretted note, the 5th fret, the harmonic is the 'fifth' of the fretted note, but 2 octaves higher. In other words, on the E string, the fretted note at the 5th fret is an A note, but the harmonic played at the 5th fret is an E note two octaves The purity of sound comes from these perfect fractions of string ringing together. If you try it anywhere else on the string, you hear a very slight harmonic or nothing at all useful! Execute this technique at the 7th, 5th, and 4th frets, as in the list of natural harmonics: each will produce even higher sounds, much higher than can be produced on the guitar without using harmonics. Artificial harmonics are those created on a string that is fretted by the left hand. The right hand must do the light touch while plucking it at the same time twelve frets away from the fretting hand. Fret the note normally, and place the picking hand index finger on a natural harmonic relative to the fretted note (just as in tapped harmonics). Pluck the string with another finger and release the index finger, just as if producing a natural harmonic. See the two accompanying photographs. The note being played is the octave harmonic one octave above the fretted ‘a’ on the fifth fret of the first string. Photo to left: PREPARATION. Photo to right: RELEASE.

Fernando Sor (Circa February 1778 – 10 July 1839) Famed Spanish guitarist and composer, born in Barcelona. There he is referred to as the 'Beethoven of the Guitar.’ Born to a fairly affluent family, Sor was descended from a long line of career military, and anticipated continuing that legacy, but was diverted from this when his father introduced him to Italian opera. He became obsessed with music and discarded a military career. Along with opera, Sor's father also introduced him to the guitar, which, at the time, was little more than an instrument played by lower-class citizens, thought to be far inferior to orchestral instruments. It is interesting to note that Segovia found the instrument in much the same condition seventy years later! Sor studied music at a monastery where he began to write his first music for the guitar. When his father passed away, Sor was withdrawn from the tutelage of the monks since his mother did not have the finances for his studies. In 1808, when Napoleon Bonaparte invaded Spain, Sor began to write nationalistic music for the guitar, often accompanied by patriotic lyrics. After the defeat of the Spanish nationals, Sor accepted an administrative post in the occupying French government. After the Spanish repelled them in 1813, Sor and many other artists and aristocrats who had befriended the French left Spain for fear of reprisal. He went to Paris, never to return to his home country again. He gained fame and recognition among the members of the Paris art community for his skills at composition and for his virtuosity on the guitar, and in due course began to tour across Europe. In

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1827, he went into a semi-retirement and settled down to live out the rest of his life in Paris. It was during this retirement that he composed many of his most famous and often-played works. His last work was a mass in honor of his daughter, who died in 1837. Her death sent the already ailing Sor into severe depression, and he died a miserable man in 1839. According to historians, the cause of death was throat cancer. The Introduction to this theme and variation was rarely played by guitarists in the 1950’s through the early 1970’s. Even Segovia dropped this intro in concert and in the recording studio. I believe we can trust Sor’s musical sensibilities and include the introduction in performance!

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Marlbrough Variations Theme Fernando Sor

Measures of concern: Preparation of the thirds figures in measures ten through thirteen. It is important to follow correct right hand fingering or the student will find him or herself in a "You can't get there from here..." mode. Make sure that all notes ring for their notated duration. It is all too easy to stop a note from ringing its full written value in an attempt to simplify the right hand fingering. Sor does not require a student's re-write! This is the theme of a set of variations that any student will be proud and happy to use as a second-half opener in a longer recital. While not one of Sor's benchmark composition, it is highly effective when played skillfully and with the late Classical Period's stylistic characteristics

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Clean and accurate sixteenth note runs make this little jewel an audience pleaser. Not overly complex, still it sounds precocious. The open E note in the run grants the player enough time to jump down to the D and C in open position. Follow fingerings precisely in measure nine and use the same fingering in measure eleven.

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Measure 16 fingered as measure 3. The minor keyed variation is a chance to rest after the rapid scale work in the last variation.

Slow the tempo and milk the emotions. Measure eleven contains a slow trill-like figure. The fourth string is used here. The A major triad on beat one is an eighth note in duration, freeing the left hand for the aforementioned figure

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A simple piece... or is it? There are a few minor finger-twisters, but the trick to proper performance of this piece lies in melodic accent. The bass carries the melody and with the repetitive sixteenth figure that runs through the piece, the bass can become obscured. Considered a "concert etude" during the early 20th Century, it is still fun to use as an encore piece. Play it fast, play it accurately and have fun with the bass line.

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The scale is played utilizing a five-fret spread on each string, until the octave has been reached. Actually, the scale should be played in two octaves since the exercise would be too short in the single octave form. Watch the fingering carefully.

The scale is fingered so that a stretch of a whole-tone falls between the third and fourth fingers ascending, and between the first and second finger descending. (Exercise Seven) The student can make his own exercises by playing scales consisting of stacked intervals. Using the perfect fourth as an example, try this scale: c, f, b flat, e flat, a flat, d flat e, a, d, g, c. The student can make as many exercises as there are keys and intervals. The Chromatic scale is a good exercise for shifting the left hand in seemingly contrary motion to that of the scale. Notice the way I have fingered this scale. This fingering is movable in 'that this scale can be played beginning on different sixth string notes along the neck. (Exercise Eight.) I have found these exercises useful for my students and for my own technique as well. I sincerely hope that you, the reader and student of the guitar will find them helpful towards fulfilling your goals in music. I would like to thank my classmates at The Mannes College of Music in New York (1976-1980) who contributed exercises and helped by letting me observe their arms and hands during performances.

It has been reported that famed Paraguayan composer and virtuoso guitarist Agustin Barrios (1885-1944) kept a bag containing one hundred pebbles. Why? It was a practice aid. When he wished to learn a new piece he would practice until he could perform it without error. The he would sit down with the bag. After the first perfect completion of the piece, he would remove one pebble and place it on the table beside him. Then he would perform the piece again. If perfect, he would remove another pebble from the bag where it would join its companion in the table. He would continue this until the bag was empty. If he failed to complete the piece to his satisfaction on any of the one hundred performances, all the pebbles went back from the table into the bag! He would then begin the process all over again. What can we learn from this? I cannot imagine what this type of practice regimen would do to either my brain or my hands even if I were to perform the piece perfectly one hundred times in a row. Despite pain and fatigue, he forced himself to keep going. First we can surmise that Barrios was a perfectionist. Only the need for perfection could have spurred him on. Secondly, Barrios understood just how rehearsed one must be to perform on the recital stage. Thirdly, he had a dedication I have rarely seen in any performing artist to be excellent – disappointing an audience was simply not an option. Should the student find a bag and fill it with pebbles? Possibly. One hundred pebbles? Well, how hot does the fire in your belly burn to be a truly consummate artist? The report of Barrios and the bag may be an exaggeration that has grown to legend, but the basic concept is sound. (No pun intended.) What are you prepared to do to succeed?

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Theory: Diminished and Augmented Chords Diminished Chord The student will recall that the diminished chord is created by stacking a minor third on top of another minor third resulting in a chord that spans a diminished fifth (tritone). The diagram to the left shows the simplest way of demonstrating the intervallic relationship using the fretboard. Please note that the chord tones are duplicated every four frets. In other words, the diminished chord four frets up from another diminished chord is an inverted construct of the first chord.

In Practice: The most used form of this chord is pictured here at the right. It is a Grand Barré form and is moveable. No exercise is included with this example.

Augmented Chord The augmented chord is the theoretical ‘reverse’ of the diminished chord. The chord is constructed by stacking a major third on top of another major third. The resulting chord is characterized by its span of an augmented fifth. Neither the diminished nor the augmented chord contain the interval of a perfect fifth. Please note that the chord tones are duplicated every four frets. In other words, the augmented chord four frets up from another augmented chord is an inverted construct of the first chord.

In Practice:

A frequently used form of this chord is pictured here at the right. It is a Half Barré form and is moveable. No exercise is included with this example.

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Lute Tablature: Viel Ton The staff consists of six horizontal lines, representing the six upper courses of the lute, the top line being the highest or first course (g’). A course intended to be plucked “open”, that is without the left hand fretting, is marked as an “a” on the line corresponding to that course in the tablature. A course intended to be plucked fretted or stopped by a finger of the left hand at the first fret is marked “b” on the line corresponding with that course in the tablature. A “c” indicates the second fret, “d”, the third, and so on up to the highest fret alphabetically. These letters have no correlation to the pitch names of the tones produced.

Rhythmic values are notated above the staff. The symbol for a whole note. The notes written below this symbol have a four beat duration.

The symbol for a half note. The notes written below this symbol have a two beat duration.

The symbol for a quarter note. The notes written below this symbol have a one beat duration.

The symbol for an eighth note. The notes written below this symbol have a duration of one half of one beat.

Add flags for sixteenth and thirty-second notes

The rhythmic value written above the staff is meant for all pitches indicated below it, until the next rhythmic value is reached.

All the pitches indicated in this example are eighth notes. Note the e minor chord on the first eighth. (This is a g minor chord on the lute.)

First chord is a quarter in duration, the next four pitches are sixteenth notes until the final e minor chord, which has the duration of a quarter note.

Right hand fingering is sometimes included in the tablature. When it is present, one dot indicates the first finger; two dots indicate the middle finger. The thumb is considered understood and left blank. (Not indicated in the tablature.) The Lute tablatures do not include key signatures, as they are not required for understanding the pitches of the music. The lutenist need never know the names of the notes he is playing. Time signatures are also missing from tablatures, some early tablatures even lack bar lines. Careful observation of the ways in which the rhythms are grouped should guide the guitarist towards an understanding of the rhythmic flow of the piece. As a guitarist transcribing from Viel Ton, one needs to have a grasp of both period-correct performance techniques as well as period correct styles of embellishment and harmonization. Only by understanding these concepts (and obeying what they demonstrate to us as far as what was considered musical at the time of the original composition) can the guitarist generate faithful and artistically valid renditions from the vast lute repertoire.

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Spanish and Italian Tablature Spanish Intabulation In both methods of intabulation, six horizontal lines represent the six courses of the lute (courses one through six on an instrument with a greater number of courses.) Arabic numbers are used to indicate the fret at which the courses are intended to be stopped. 0 indicates an open or unstopped course, 1 indicates first fret, 2 indicates second fret, and so forth. The numbers are written on the line. For example:

Rhythm is notated above the staff, each note, or group of notes in vertical alignment representing a chord, receiving a symbol.

Sustained pitches in voices occurring simultaneously with a voice or voices containing pitches of shorter duration cannot be notated leading to a certain level of ambiguity. Scholars have concluded that the standard tuning for the Vihuela and lute in Spain was the ‘g’ tuning previously described. We do not know whether the 16th century g was the same pitch as g in modern concert pitch. We do know that intervalically the strings were arranged Perfect fourth, Perfect fourth, Major third, Perfect fourth, Perfect fourth. (G, c, f, a, d’, g’)

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From these open courses, we can generate the following table by “going by the numbers!” COURSE: 0

1

2

3

I

g’

g’#

a’

a’#

b’

II

d”

d”#

e’

f’

f’#

III

a

a#

b

c”

c”#

IV

f

f’#

g’

V

c

c#

d

d#

e

f

f#

g

g#

VI

g

g#

a

a#

b

c

c#

d

d#

g’

4

5

6

c” g’ d”

g’#

a’

7

c”# g’ d”#

8

d”

d”#

g’# e’

a’#

b’

a’ f’ c”

Italian Intabulation Italian tablatures differ from Spanish works in that the horizontal lines graphically representing the courses are meant to be interpreted in reverse compared to the Spanish. The line representing the highest pitched course (the first) is the bottom line of the tablature staff. Willi Apell in The Notation of Polyphonic Music writes “The lutenist playing from such a book [Italian tablature] consequently connects the signs written on the top line with the highest string of his instrument which, in sound, is the lowest.” Rhythmic considerations are arranged similarly to Spanish tab.

French Intabulation Probably the earliest example of French lute tablature we now possess, Tres breve et familiere introduction pour entendre et apprendre par soy mesme a iouer toutes chansons reduictes en la tabulature du Lutz avec la maniere daccorder dict Lutz... published in Paris, 1529, appears to have been designed as a self—instruction manual for the lute. It contains highly detailed explanations of the features of this intabulation system. Another book, Dixhuit basse dances garnies de hecoupes et Tordions..., le tout reduyt en la tabulature du Lutz was also published in 1529 by Attaignant in Paris. These two books give us a wealth of information on both tablature and typical repertoire for the instrument during the seventeenth century in France. In the French intabulation system, the fingerboard’s eight frets, touches in French, are marked as o for first, c for second, d for third, e for fourth, f for fifth, g for sixth, h for seventh and i for eighth. The letter ‘a’ marks an open course. This is identical with English intabulation. The courses of the lute, orders in French, were tuned G, c, f, a, d’, g’, lowest to highest. The first single string course was called the chanterelle. The 1529 books contain works for the six course lute. As the instrument gained more courses, the notation required no alterations except the addition of lines below the staff resembling the ledger lines of standard notation to indicate the additional courses. ( _ , _, etc.) a _ a

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CLASSIC GUITAR METHOD The French system uses the same metric symbols as the English, written above the staff. Metric symbols written on the staff indicate rests of corresponding value. This system of intabulation described in the previous paragraphs was known as Vieil Ton after circa 1640, when Denis Gaultier (1600 — 1672) made popular a new tuning, called Nouveau Ton (a literal translation of New Tuning). This tuning yielded a broad d minor chord across the open courses.— A, d, f, a, d’, f’. All symbols remained the same, although some earlier tablature used capital letters while Gaultier used lower case. This system, with some slight modifications—each composer having his own favorite “tricks” and quirks—remained in use until the eighteenth century. Nouveau Ton used many other tunings, known as Scordatura, in certain pieces to facilitate their performance, or to add an unusual effect. Tunings varying from the norm are indicated at the start of the piece of a notation such as the following:

This indicates that the eighth course is tuned one octave below the pitch made when the fourth course is stopped or fretted at the first fret, and the eleventh course is tuned one octave below the pitch made when the sixth course is stopped at the fourth fret.

The possible bass courses in Nouveau ton are notated as follows:

Returning to the first six courses in Nouveau ton, we can construct the following chart of produced pitches:

Tuning was not the only difference between Nouveau ton and the older Vieil ton. In Gaultier’s works we find the following symbols for the indication of pitch duration:

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In the seventeenth century, a book of lute music was published in England. The tablature contained therein possessed in certain instances a diagonal line drawn underneath (or above) groups of intabulated notes. As Thomas Mace explains in this book, Musick’s Monument (London, 1676): “it is also necessarie to give thee to understande, to what purpose the barres that be drawen bias, under letters or passages doe serve for, and for thy better understandying, I have here drawen thee an example at large, and very familier, in whiche thou shalt not finde one example, trimmed or measured, that thou shalte neede to remove any of thy fingers, from the said measure: the knowledge of the said oarre is so necessarie, that havying founde out, and exercised the same, thou shalte not neede to remove but those fingers whiche thou shalte be forced, whiche we call close or couert plai.” (This passage is as quoted in WilIi Apell’s The Notation of Polyphonic Music.) Example:

The diagonal oars indicated sustained tones or chords, a technique called “close” or “covered” play. In this way, sustained bass notes, as in the previous example, can b indicated. Between 1620 and 1650, there was much experimentation with tunings and number of bass courses. we have touched slightly upon this fact already. The following is a list of some of the composers one will most likely encounter when researching music of this period, and their peculiar methods of notating bass courses. Primo Libro d’intavolatura di liuto — Michelangelo Galilei (Munich 1620), in descending order of courses, a, 8, 9, X. Tablatures of Fridevici — 7, 8, 9, 10. Tablatures of Dusiacki (Padua 1620) — composed for seven additional bass courses, a, 8, 9, X, XI, XII, XIII. Lute book of ~Virginia Renata von Gehema —

This may seem to be more information than the guitarist really wants or needs, but as there is probably more music available in lute tablature than in standard notation, to not read lute tab virtually cuts the guitarist off from a vast unexplored musical resource. The following pieces were originally written for the Vihuela and intabulated in the Spanish system of intabulation. Volumes more exist—volumes not performed by modern guitarists. Research these works available in most college and university music libraries. Your transcriptions contribute to and build the instrument’s repertoire.

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Edition Fingering: Is it right for your hand? Is it right for the music? In any guitar music, be it a piece specifically written for the guitar or a transcription from another instrument’s repertoire, there will be suggested/recommended/required fingering added by the composer, transcriber or an editor. Some players treat these as sacrosanct; others disregard them and follow their own ideas of physical comfort, their belief re the intent of the composer/transcriber. Most guitarists beat a path somewhere in the middle ground whereupon they follow the fingerings in their chosen edition making changes only if absolutely necessary – if they believe there is a mistake in the edition or if a facsimile edition of the composer’s work indicates a different fingering. Please see the short article on voicing and timbre elsewhere in this method. Often none of these considerations make the ‘change’ in the fingering. Most often it is a fault of memorization. When one memorizes a piece, there is always the possibility that although something sounds right, it is being memorized incorrectly. This is why it is critical to memorize any pieces with the music on the stand in front of the guitarist. It is also critical to go back to the printed page every so often to ascertain whether the performer has unintentionally changed things—including actual notes – with the fingerings. Of course, there are times when the guitarist immediately discounts an indicated fingering on the initial read-through and proceeds to use this fingering to the detriment of the performance. How? I will use the following example from Albéniz’ beautiful piece Sevilla.

I have played this piece for a number of years. I use a combination of the Francisco Tárrega and Manuel Barrueco transcriptions. The first measure of the particular phrase above is fingered per the Barrueco transcription. The second measure is how I played it. Note the only difference—a half barré at the eighth fret rather than the full barré. I would always become apprehensive as this phrase approached during any performance. Sometimes I’d execute it cleanly, sometimes not. After many times of checking the actual notes played, I finally went back to look at the music carefully paying particular attention to the fingering. The photograph to the left shows my version of this chord utilizing a half barré at the eighth fret. To jump into this formation, my wrist had to change position rotating towards the heel of the neck. This is where my difficulty came in. Unless I rotated my wrist correctly, the half barréd notes on the fourth, third and second strings would often be muffled. Hence my apprehension when this measure approached. Well, after years of this aggravation, I looked carefully at the fingering and tried the full barré. See photograph to the right on next page. Instantly, I could jump up into this chord and nail it cleanly, perfectly, forcefully – every time!

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CLASSIC GUITAR METHOD Of course, I had to know why this remarkable miracle was occurring. When I first learned Sevilla, I was more concerned with making sure I had the correct harmony/chords in this passage. It is a critical passage, very dramatic, as a turnaround into the original motif. Being a fond proponent of using as little energy as possible to execute a piece, I probably figured the half barré was more than adequate to take care of three notes on adjacent strings on the same fret. I did not factor in the wrist motion and committed my faulty fingering to memory. On consequent read-throughs, I made certain the notes were correct, but never looked twice at the fingering. So in this instance a fingering that seems to force one to expend more energy is actually more comfortable to execute. In this instance it is more productive to invest a bit more energy to get an easily replicated phrase than to save a bit and waste a clean performance!

Stage Etiquette Demeanor on stage is almost as important as the actual musical performance. Not only does a professional and confident attitude let the audience know you are both competent and prepared, it convinces the performer the he or she possesses these attributes as well! If the guitarist shuffles out onto the stage looking disheveled, carrying an instrument with strings ends whipping in the breeze, shoulders slouched, nervously glancing from side to side, the audience will immediately assume, whether correct or not, that the performer will be just as lackadaisical about the program about to be preformed. On the other hand, if the recitalists strides out from the wings confidently, neatly dressed, guitar shining in the lights, a smile on his or her face, then the audience knows they are in the presence of a professional. I will list some Do’s and Don’ts for the recitalist. Please take them all to heart.

1.) Dress the part. An evening recital requires formal attire. Gentlemen, wear a dark suit, ladies should consider a longer dress of simple pattern or solid color. A longer dress ensures that proper playing posture does not include an underwear display. In any case, clothing should be appropriate for the tone of the evening. The last things one should be wearing for a night on stage at Carnegie Hall are ripped tee shirts and jeans. For an afternoon casual recital—such as an impromptu performance in a college or conservatory performance class—one can wear normal street clothes, though I would still caution against looking totally scruffy.

2.) Be prepared. This has nothing to do with the program performance pieces. Have your footstool and music stand (if you are using one, naturally) set up on the stage prior to the time when audience seating is permitted. You will look odd carrying in a bunch of equipment and your guitar and noisily setting up. Do these tasks beforehand!

3.) Don’t waste time. Spend a few seconds arranging your chair and stool, checking tuning, composing yourself. Don’t come out on stage with a hideously out-of-tune guitar and loudly tune it, spend five minutes marveling at the mechanism of a piano bench, or staring into space. An audience expects you to get down to the business at hand in a timely fashion.

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4.) Never let them see you sweat. What do you do when the inevitable mistake or “brain fade” occurs? Of course you have prepared your pieces, you have played them flawlessly even when awakened at three in the morning. Even so, even the finest recitalists slip up occasionally (read: rarely. It does happen.) What do you do? A fatal error is to stop playing altogether when the memory goes away. As the music peters out to silence, even those totally unfamiliar with the piece will realize something has gone terribly wrong. It is imperative to keep something happening sonically. Be as intimately familiar with the music as possible. Know the structure. If the piece is in e minor, you know that the VI chord is a minor and the V chord is B or B7. If your brain fade comes in an e minor section of the piece (and please be aware of modulations) you know that you can end up a phrase with a B7 to e minor tag end. Do that rather than fall silent. Those in the audience who know the piece will realize that you’ve gone off the music, but at least everyone won’t know of your foible. Remain calm and, if applicable or possible, resume the piece from the next phrase or section. Often one nerve-shattering error can cause the entire remainder of the piece to literally disappear from the mind or from under the fingers, so remain calm! Never let facial expressions clue anyone in to the error. Never frown, shake your head, grown, or throw the instrument at the wall! This is key: keep a poker face. 5.) Be prepared: Didn’t I say that before? Yes, but that was about a different aspect of stage etiquette. It relates to the comments above. Are your pieces thoroughly prepared? As I have written elsewhere, you don’t practice a piece until you can play it perfectly; you practice the piece until you simply cannot make a mistake no matter what. A friend of mine relates how he was often dragged from his bed at any time of the night and made to play a difficult piece from his program. Despite grogginess, being ‘cold’ and all the other pitfalls inherent to the situation, he eventually was able to accomplish this task. This is the kind of perfection one requires to be a recitalist. Still, errors will occur—they will be easily disguised utilizing the techniques discussed in item 4. 6.) Acknowledge Applause. Okay, you’ve had a brain fade and totally rewritten the end of a painfully universally loved and comprehensively over-played program piece. You didn’t let on by screaming, frowning or throwing a hissy fit. The audience applauds. I have seen players dissatisfied with their own performance scowl at an audience who applauds at the completion of the piece. This is just not right! Be gracious—smile and do a head bow, no matter how poorly you feel you performed. How about this scenario? You are playing a five movement piece or a set of variation. At a movement end but prior to the end of the piece applause breaks out. Do not feel it necessary to squash the outburst. Acknowledge the applause and resume the composition as soon as is feasible. At the true completion of the piece, look up and smile, remove your left hand from the instrument and enjoy the applause. Proceed as if nothing ever went wrong. In the grand scheme of things, nothing fatal has. What we do is a vocation and a passion for us and we are justifiably intense about our art. To the audience, we are entertainers. It isn’t blowing a piece that wrecks a recital, it is when we do not entertain due to a bad attitude, then we have truly failed as performers.

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German lute tablature German lute tablature is probably the most sophisticated tablature the lutenist will encounter. The system utilized a different symbol, both letters and numerals, for each fret/string junction on the instrument. Each pitch had its own unique symbol. At first glance the arrangement of the symbols appears without continuity. When laid out in table format though, a pattern is readily noticeable.

It is readily apparent that this system has been modified from an earlier system devised for a five-course instrument. The upper case letters representing the sixth course obscures the linear fashion of the symbols at each fret. minus the sixth course, the open courses run 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 from lowest to highest. The first fret runs a, b, c, d, e from lowest to highest. After the fifth fret, the alphabet has been exhausted, two numerals which cannot be confused with any letter or number previously employed have filled the remaining, holes not covered by the alphabet. The sixth fret resumes with the alphabet with the addition of a line above each letter to differentiate them from those used on frets one through five.

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Johann Sebastian Bach (born in Eisenach, 1685; died in Leipzig, 1750) Born into a musical family, Bach received his earliest instruction from his father. J.S.’s father passed away in 1695, so he moved to Ohrdruf, where he studied organ with his older brother Johann Christoph. Bach's first positions as a paid musician was as organist in Arnstadt (1703-1707) and Mühlhausen (1707-1708). During these years, he performed, composed and taught. From 1708-1717 he was court organist for Duke Wilhelm Ernst of Weimar and in 1714, was elevated to concertmaster. Here he composed many of his best organ compositions; in his capacity as concertmaster, he was also expected to produce a cantata each month. Bach's next position, as Music Director for the Prince Leopold of Cüthen (1717-1723), involved entirely different activities. As a Calvinist, the Prince required no church compositions. Bach’s works here were primarily for instrumental solo or ensemble, to be used as court entertainment or for instruction. Among the important compositions at Cüthen were the Brandenburg Concertos, the first volume of The Well-Tempered Clavier, the "French" and "English" Suites for harpsichord and most of the sonatas and suites for other instruments. Bach also composed a few cantatas for special occasions (birthdays and New Years). After 1729 Bach no longer concentrated so completely on composing sacred vocal music. For services, he re-used his own substantial repertory of cantatas, and turned increasingly to the music of his contemporaries. In 1729-1737 and 1739-1741, he was director of the Leipzig Collegium Musicum, an organization which had been founded by Telemann in 1704. During the 1730s, Bach renewed his interest in keyboard compositions, and prepared the first three volumes of his Clavier-Übung (Keyboard Practice) for publication (1731, 1735, 1739); the fourth volume appeared in 1741-1742. In the 1730s, he also showed considerable interest in the royal court at Dresden, and was named "Hofkomponist" (court-composer") in Dresden in 1736. During Bach's last few years of life he completed or revised several large-scale projects which he had started earlier. The Well-Tempered Clavier, Vol. II; a manuscript collection of chorale preludes (known as the "Leipzig 18", comprising revisions of Weimar pieces), and the B minor Mass. Other new works showed an increased interest in fugal and canonic writing: Musikalische Opfer (Musical

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CLASSIC GUITAR METHOD Offering); the canonic variations for organ on "Vom Himmel hoch"; and Die Kunst der Fuge (The Art of Fugue).

Bach on the guitar: Instrumental music is the medium through which Bach demonstrated his greatest genius. Most of Bach’s instrumental music was written for organ and harpsichord, but one can not fail to mention his wonderfully polyphonic sonatas for unaccompanied violin and the suites for unaccompanied ‘cello Bach wrote two suites expressly for the lute. Of the Lute Suite Number 1 (BWV 996), there is, unfortunately, no surviving autograph. A copy made by a relation of Bach’s, named Johann Gottfried Walther, carries the title “Praeludio con la Suite da Gio : Bast : Bach auff Lauten Werck”, which may mean that it was intended for performance on the Lute—harpsichord Bach had had built for himself circa 1740. However, the piece seems more “at home” on the lute than on a keyboard instrument. The Second Lute Suite (BWV 997) in c minor has no surviving autograph either. There are several authentic contemporary copies available to us today, one of which being an intabulation by Johann Christian Weyrauch, one of Bach’s friends. The suite was probably written in Leipzig, in 1740. Lute Suite Number 3. in g minor (BWV 995) is an adaptation of the ‘Cello Suite Number 5 in c minor. We have, today, an autograph manuscript of this suite entitled “Suite pour la luth par J.S. Bach”. I feel this suite is an improvement on the ‘cello version, as the lute version presents the polyphonic intents Bach had wished to convey and yet could not, due to the technical limitations of the instrument. The last lute suite, Lute Suite Number 4 (BWV 1006a) is another of Bach’s adaptations, this time Partita No. 3 in E major (BWV 1006). This version was probably made in 1720. Bach never specified for which instrument this arrangement had been intended, however, music historians agree that it was most likely the lute. Again, this arrangement allows us to see Bach’s harmonic and contrapuntal intent which is sometimes obscured by instrumental limitations in the solo violin version. The Prelude, Fugue and Allegro was composed in 1740, in Leipzig. The autograph manuscript of this, piece is inscribed “Prelude pour la luth o cembal par J.S. Bach”. This piece, therefore, can be ascribed to either lute or harpsichord. The last two pieces scholars feel Bach may have composed for the lute are the Fugue in g minor and the Prelude in c minor. The Fugue in g minor is an adaptation of the second movement of the first violin sonata (BWV 1001). As in the case of the second Lute Suite, this fugue is found in a manuscript of J.C. Weyrauch. The lute suites are commonly played on the guitar as are the Prelude, Fugue and Allegro and the d minor Chaconne. The First and Third Suites for unaccompanied ‘Cello were very popular guitar recital staples in the 1950’sand 1960’s but became over-played and dropped from site in the recital setting. I particularly enjoy the First ‘Cello Suite for its rich implied harmonies—please examine as many transcription as you can find and compare them to the original Gesellschaft score—you will see the vast range of harmonies transcribers have heard in their minds’ ear over the years!

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The trill (marked tr with a squiggly line after the letters) is executed like a hammer on and a pull off one after the other. Only the initial pitch is plucked. The student should practice trills as soon as the legato exercises for one half-step can be completed accurately. Practice trills slowly at first building speed gradually. Control and evenness are the goal. First trill encountered will be in measure four of the next piece. Another type of trill is referred to as a cross-string trill. This is a plucked trill. The most common example would be using the fretted d# note on the second string and the open e string to produce a half-step trill. I often finger this with p and m of the right hand.

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The Plateau (Also Known as The Slump) Yup partner, we'd ridden uphill for quite a while, and we finally came to the top of the mesa. Now a broad vista of flat ground appears before us. This is good, isn't it? No more climbing! No more climbing; no uphill motion. Good? Not on the guitar—or any musical instrument or athletic endeavor. It happens to us all. For months you practiced hard, worked at pieces, strained through technical studies, really felt as if you'd been progressing. Then what? Then it seems as if you put in the same effort—more effort even—and nothing happens. You even feel like your playing is getting worse! There is only so much the human brain and the human body (in the case of athletic work) can assimilate. A period of absorption is necessary. This is the plateau—the time that is required to take what you've gained and digest it, incorporate it, have it become a stepping block to the next level. Once the player comes to this realization—that the plateau is a necessary (hopefully brief) sojourn, how do you get passed it? Whether it is a brief sojourn or a minor occupation of the land, it always seems to take too long! We are all going to come to this plateau; there are things that can be done to get moving upward again, break the slump, what-have-you. Here are some suggestions : First. New repertoire. How does this help? First, it gives the player some fresh emotional input. I'm not suggesting finding pieces way above your abilities to break the plateau mindset, no, you want pieces from a fresh viewpoint—a new or unusual style, music from a period you've not explored before. Been playing lots of Bach? Try some romantic Spanish stuff. Just mastered the Britten Nocturnal ? Well, how about some Anthony Holborne!?! You get the idea. Second. Old stuff. Was there a piece that you played a year or so ago that you never really mastered? Chances are that a year or two later—after you've learned and mastered more complex pieces, you can go back to those old difficulties and master them now. A minor victory! These minor ‘victories' can reignite a flagging desire to practice. You should be keeping various pedagogical works alive. You do play the Giuliani 120 at least once a month, don't you? No? Do it! Go back to the Carulli and Sor Etudes. Chances are you didn't glean all the benefits from these gems the first time through. You'll be surprised at what you'll learn even as an experienced performer. Third. LISTEN!!! Yes, you own three different artists' recordings of the Lute Suites. Pick up another two. Hearing familiar music through fresh interpretive thought can open up new interpretations in your brain. What? Use the other guy's interpretation? Not necessarily. You can learn what NOT to do as well as what to do, you know? Fourth. AND MOST IMPORTANTLY don’t stop! Sometimes it seems like a good deal to take a day off when you're in a slump. Don't do it! One day can lead to two, then more, and suddenly you are losing both strength and stamina as well as repertoire memory. A vacation is NOT the way to get past a slump. At the very least, maintain your same practice schedule. Pundits tell us that it takes 21 days to establish a habit. To me, it would seem that two days without practice will eliminate the practice habit! It may seem that you are treading water to simply making the motions, but coupled with the first three suggestions, the plateau of the slump will eventually be passed.

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Another Use for the Chromatic Pattern Okay, this is another of my strange chromatic exercises. Rather than make you figure out what I am trying to accomplish with this exercise, I will tell you right up front. TWOFOLD PURPOSE: Purpose 1.) Gets the fingers planted and moving. What??? I'll explain later. Purpose 2.) Jumping up to position. What??? Ditto on the later stuff.

There it is above. I've given you just the 1, 2 and 5, 6 strings. 3 & 4 are in pattern. You can easily see how this pattern is executed. Purpose One: Plant those fingers. Put all four fingers down at once and pick one up at a time. No 'fourth fingers first' stuff. When the first finger has been played, shift the whole thing in one plant. Purpose Two: When each string is completed, you must jump QUICKLY back to the starting position on the next string. Play the exercise slowly enough that this can be accomplished in the allotted time -- one eighth note! Purpose Two with a Twist of Weirdness: Start the exercise on the eleventh fret on each string. This will make the jump between strings harder as you'll not be able to just plow back up until you hit the box. Then tenth, ninth and eighth frets to start. This will give you good practice in jumping with accuracy to these frets from 'open' position.. This type of exercise will help. Work with this bad boy and you'll notice an increase in accuracy rapidly. TRUST ME.

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Rasgueado Probably one of the most guitaristic effects you can use—no other instrument can do it, it's a staple of the flamencist's arsenal of sonic weaponry. Do classical artists use it? Sure, you knew that. The rasgueado is basically a strum pattern that consists of rapid finger strokes of the right hand. The ear is tricked into hearing a lavish, strenuous, lengthy and full arpeggio. The technique is most often executed as a rapid succession of down strokes. The pattern of fingers is ALMOST unimportant though the most natural is to start on the a, then m, then i. Rasgueado is totally a guitar technique and derives from the flamenco school. As flamenco is a folk style, although richly documented, it still hasn't been accepted by stodgy old classical music circles to the point that its peculiarities have been codified into notation. Sure, flamencists have their shorthand, but you'll often find a lack of consensus. Most often when you find a rasgueado notated in a piece of guitar music you'll have a little line like a lightning bolt next to a chord and somewhere nearby you'll find rasg. printed. Long rasgueado passages will often have a rhythmic pattern notated, but the content of each strum is up to the performer to interpret. There are many permutations of finger, string, volume, duration that the guitarist will need to consider -- what is correct? Well, unless you know the composer and have that insight, or you are copying the style of one of the master performers, it's up to you as an artist to bring your own flavor to the piece. I've heard guys play piano transcriptions and use a rasgueado to fill in for a large keyboard arpeggio. If the piece is Spanish romantic, well, go to town! So, we know the how and the why of the rasgueado. Let's put it into performance. 1.) Preparation: Many players plant their thumbs on the sixth string during the majority of their performance time (unless it's in use, naturally) and I have seen a rasgueado performed from this starting point. For the most part, the rasgueado is performed across all six strings -- the intent is to be loud and percussive and what better way to accomplish this than to use all six strings? So the first thing one need do is to un-plant that thumb from the sixth string. Keep the right arm loose, you want to drive the strum from the shoulder as well as the fingers. Back to the thumb—it can be used as a.) a plant to keep an unwanted string from ringing or b.) use it to rasgueado! 2.) Execution: Volume and percussiveness are the key words and you're going to be starting with the weakest finger of the right hand!!! The weight of the forearm helps drive this strum. The shoulder isn't moving in a great arc, but the arm should be free to move up and down, the elbow more so. The fingers brush the strings in turn, first a, then m, then i. 3.) On Accuracy: Guess what? For one time only you are not going to hear me bellyaching about accuracy! Now that your heart has resumed beating—here is why. What is important here is NOT that each string is plucked or strummed with equal volume, in rhythm, or with perfectly balanced dynamics. No, I'm not saying be sloppy and careless, but think of flamenco as the punk rock of classical music (at least for the guitar player) -- he is there as a percussive instrument, not just to carry a tune or comp chords. This is manly music played with vigor and intensity and your rasgueado should be the same. What you do want to do is be certain that you are getting the result you want and that the rhythms notated in the music are being adhered to. Please note the rasgueado marking in measure 23 of the following piece. Perform this rasgueado with the index, middle and ring finger of the right hand. (i, m, a).

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The eighth note sixth patterns (see measures 24 through 26) are returned to at various points in this piece. Be careful of the accidentals on the grace notes, and mind the fingerings.

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This short piece was composed in 1980 as part of a final project for a composition class. I tried to cover a number of ‘guitaristic’ compositional techniques – tremolo, sliding chord forms, and use of open strings to name a few. I used it two seasons as an encore selection with good result, but had dropped it from my rehearsed program pieces by 1983. I rediscovered it when I became involved with the reissue of the recording of my college graduation recital. Written in a modern style, it does not flirt with atonality although there are some somewhat less than traditional harmonic elements. Is it high art? No, probably not. It does make a good exercise and a decent short program piece.

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Technique and Musicality William Pleeth, one of the twentieth century’s benchmark cello pedagogues, discussed the aspect of the musician’s preoccupation with technique in the volume Cello by fellow Briton, Nona Pyron. It would seem that the guitarist’s preeminent dedication/obsession and psychosis with being faster, louder and busier than other players is not endemic to our instrument. Cellists battle with the need and desire to constantly play with more technical perfection as well. Mr. Pleeth made some observations for the cellist that are simply beautiful and apply to any instrumentalist or vocalist. We have spent many hours so far mastering Giuliani, Sor, Coste, Carcassi and Carulli studies since page one of this book. How obsessed should the player be? Here are some concepts that Pleeth advanced in the early 1980’s. The basic emotional content of the music is its most important aspect. In fact, the music is meaningless if it does not convey the emotion that the composer intended—I will add that the music needs to convey emotion or it is not even music. What occurs when technique supplants emotion as the prime directive of the music? Add it up. We no longer have music! Pure technique can be exhilarating for an educated audience, but the dazzle factor will wear off when nothing is conveyed to the soul of the listener. Music requires a soul contact between performer and listener, not a technical tour de force. Is technique detrimental to true music? In no way! Without good technique, the ability to convey the emotional content of the music is drastically hampered. However, technique should never dictate anything to the piece in regard to the intent of the composer or the emotional content of the music. The student should approach each piece as if it were a statement of an event or the recount of a story. The piece should never be approached as a vehicle for the performer to ‘show off’. As an aside, the player should also judge any fingerings or dynamic markings that have been added by an editor and determine whether or not these indicators serve the underlying intent of the music. Remember, the editor is not some sacrosanct authority on what is musical and what is not; he or she has only committed his or her opinion of what the composer desired upon the score. Your opinion is just as valid as the editor’s! Weigh the fingerings for their intrinsic musicality. Do not fear taking a pencil to the printed page. In the case of transcriptions, it is useful—indeed it is necessary—for the performer to seek out the original version of the piece on its original instrumentation and determine what is correct in his or her eye. It is real education to have both the transcription as well as the original score on the music stand when learning a piece. The guitarist sees not only how the transcriber worked certain passages—thereby learning a valuable technique—but also sees where the limitations of the instrument lie. The guitarist will also find where the transcriber’s limitations are! There are many instances where a transcriber will over-simplify a passage to render it playable for a student. On Scales and Exercises: I have often written that an exercise or series of scales and chromatic studies are good because the student can play it without thinking. Yes, this is good in that the student need not be overly bogged down with a number of technical issues simultaneously. I do not mean to imply that the student’s brain should shut down. When a scale becomes ‘easy’ for the student, focus should shift to other technical issues. Use a scale to practice changes of dynamics, use of vibrato, accenting particular beats, as a vehicle for slurs practice—whatever can be done to alter the scale to make it an exercise of value once again.

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Recuerdos De La Alhambra

Ed. H.G. Pellegrin

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Francisco Tárrega (November 21, 1852 - December 15, 1909) Spanish composer and guitarist. Francisco Tárrega was born in Villarreal, Spain, where, as a child he fell into an irrigation channel. Illness brought on by this accident rendered him nearly blind. Partially due to this accident and ensuing sight loss, the family moved to Castellon and enrolled him in music classes. In Castellon both his music teachers, Eugeni Ruiz and Manuel Gonzalez, were blind. Then in 1862, guitarist Julian Arcas heard the young prodigy and brought him to Barcelona, a hub for musicians at that time. However, Tárrega was soon fetched back by his father. Young Tárrega entered the Madrid Conservatory in 1874 where he studied composition. By the end of the 1870s, he was teaching the guitar (Emilio Pujol and Miguel Llobet were pupils of his) and giving regular concerts. He was considered a virtuoso on his instrument. As well as his original works for the guitar, which include Recuerdos de la Alhambra, Capricho Árabe and Danza Mora, he arranged pieces by others for the instrument, including works by Beethoven, Chopin and Mendelssohn. As with several of his Spanish contemporaries, such as his friend Isaac Albéniz, he had an interest in combining the prevailing romantic trend in classical music with Spanish folk elements, and transcribed several of Albeniz's piano pieces to guitar. His health suffered again in later life when an illness caused left-side paralysis. After a long recovery he once again played recitals. He settled in Barcelona, and died there in the early morning hours of December 15, 1909. Tárrega is considered to have laid the foundations for 20th-century classical guitar and for increased interest in the guitar as a recital instrument. The great Andrés Segovia used much of Tárrega’s pedagogical work on technique as well as many of his compositions to take the classical guitar into concert halls of Europe.

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Modern Music Still Under Copyright Protection Five Bagatelles Guitar By William Walton. Arranged by Julian Bream. For Guitar. Published by Oxford University Press. (3594072) Nocturnal After John Dowland By Benjamin Britten. Published by Faber Music. (12-0571500056) Suite Espanola Op. 47 By Isaac Albéniz. Edited by Aaron Stang. Fretted instrument method/supplement (Guitar). 36 pages. Published by Belwin. (EL02800) Five Preludes By Heitor Villa-Lobos. Editions Durand. Size 9x12 inches. 5 pages. Published by Durand. (50562223) A must for technique building. Twelve Etudes For Guitar By Heitor Villa-Lobos (1887-1959). With standard guitar notation and introductory text. 40 pages. Published by Durand. (HL.50562207) See comments above. Choros No. 1 Guitar Solo. By Heitor Villa-Lobos. Editions Durand. Size 9x12 inches. 4 pages. Published by Durand. (50562381) Suite Populaire Bresilienne - No. 2: Schottish-Choro Guitar Solo. By Heitor Villa-Lobos. Editions Durand. Size 9x12 inches. 4 pages. Published by Durand. (50561692) Cavatina (1951) Guitar Solo. By Alexandre Tansman. Arranged by Andres Segovia. (Guitar). Schott. Size 9x12 inches. 7 pages. Published by Schott. GA 165 (49010727) Contents: Preludio * Sarabande * Barcarole * Scherzino. There is also a ‘Danza Pomposa’ that Segovia demanded from Tansman to complete the piece. Tansman wasn’t overly thrilled to comply, but gave in to Segovia. I prefer to perform the piece as Tansman originally intended it, minus the Danza. Agustin Barrios Mangore: Guitar Works of Agustin Barrios Mangore, Vol. 1 through 3 By Agustin Barrios Mangore, edited by Richard Stover. Guitar solo songbook for solo guitar. With fingerings and introductory text. 31 pages. Published by Warner Brothers. (WB.EL02602) A comprehensive publication of the works of Agustin Barrios Mangore, the first guitarist/composer from the New World of truly universal importance. Anything by Barrios is a must-play. Suite Venezolano By Antonio Lauro. Edited by Alirio Diaz, Broekmans & Van Poppel, Amsterdam, Netherlands B 793 Quatro Valses Venezolanos By Antonio Lauro. Edited by Alirio Diaz, Broekmans & Van Poppel, Amsterdam, Netherlands B 794

Excellent Material the Guitarist Should Own The Guitar Book, The Guitar Grimoire Series By Adam Kadman, Carl Fischer New York, NY USA GT 101

Pumping Nylon By Scott Tennant. Edited by Nathaniel Gunod Alfred Publishing Co., Inc. Van Nuys, CA, USA 088284721X

Twenty Studies for the Guitar By Fernando Sor, edited by Andres Segovia, Hal Leonard Milwaukee, WI USA

HL00006363

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Lachrimae Pavan and Fantasy By John Dowland. Edited by Karl Scheit, Universal Edition, Austria UE 14480

Variations on a Theme by Handel, Opus 107 By Mauro Giuliani. Edited by Karl Scheit, Universal Edition, Austria UE 16713

Variaciones Brilliantes para Guitarra By Dionisio Aguado. Facsimile Edition, GFA Publication Series, Garden Grove, CA, USA F-5

Suite Espanola By Gaspar Sanz. Edited by Narciso Yepes, Union Musical Espanola, Madrid, Spain 21354

25 Estudios para Guitarra Opus 60 By Matteo Carcassi. Edited by Miguel Llobet, Ricordi Americana, Buenos Aires, Argentina

BA 10659

Sonatas and Partitas for Unaccompanied Violin By Johann Sebastian Bach. Edited by Eduard Herrmann, G. Schirmer New York & London

Vol. 221

Suite Number 4 in E Major (BWV 1006a) By Johann Sebastian Bach, Edited by Richard Provost , GFA Publication Series, Garden Grove, CA, USA F-4

Sonatina By Bartolomeo Bortolazzi, GFA Publication Series, Garden Grove, CA, USA F-6 Sonata in C Major, Opus 15 By Mauro Giuliani. Edited by Frederick Noad, Ariel Publications London, New York 149960

Variations on a Theme of Mozart, Opus 9 By Fernando Sor. Edited by Frederick Noad, Ariel Publications, London, New York 149962

60 Sonatas in Two Volumes By Domenico Scarlatti. Edited by Ralph Kirkpatrick, G. Schirmer, New York & London

Vol. 1774

Rossiniane Opus 119 By Mauro Giuliani. Edited by Thomas Heck, Belwin Mills, Melville, New York USA

FAC 2

Rossiniane Opus 120 By Mauro Giuliani. Edited by Thomas Heck, Belwin Mills, Melville, New York USA

FAC 3

Rossiniane Opus 121 By Mauro Giuliani. Edited by Thomas Heck, Belwin Mills, Melville, New York USA

FAC 4

A Modern Method By Pascaul Roch, School of Tarrega, G. Schirmer, New York & London OUT OF PRINT

700 Years of Music For the Classical Guitar By Albert Valdés-Blain, Charles Hansen, Miami Florida OUT OF PRINT

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Appendix One: Additional Technical Exercises

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Appendix Two: Additional Repertoire

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