Attitude

Attitude is an important factor when you learn to play classical guitar. When learning there are a few things you need to do before you start. You must be prepared to let go of all of your old habits, and be able to accept new habits and instruction easily. Many people fail at classical guitar because they cannot let go of old habits learned with modern guitar.

The art of classical guitar

Classical guitar is an art form that goes back many centuries. The traditions and history involved in classical guitar are wonderful and interesting. It is important when you first learn to play classical guitar that you take the time to research the history and beginnings of the classical guitar to give you a full understanding on the instrument.

Become one with your guitar

When you learn to play classical guitar you need to understand your guitar and make it an extension of your body. Movement should be smooth and fluid. Playing classical guitar should feel natural and spiritual, this will be displayed in your music and the way you appear when playing. Become one with your classical guitar and you will find everything else will come easily to you.

Relaxation

When you learn to play classical guitar relaxation is important. Learning to relax your body and move with the instrument will ensure you move through chords and notes easily. Sometimes it can be hard to let go of the stiff rigid stance we are used to when playing modern guitar, but once you let go and relax you will find your music will improve.

Teachings

Many teachings have been written for people who want to learn to play classical guitar. Finding the right method for you can be a long process. The best way to find the right teaching method for you is to research and try different teachings until you find the one that works best for you.

Basic principles

Understanding the basic principles when you first learn to play classical guitar is important to future success. Basic principles will provide you with a good foundation for success in the world of classical guitar

Classical guitar is a fun and rewarding instrument. When you first learn to play classical guitar it may seem as though you will never improve or become as good as the professionals. The thing to remember is the professional classical guitar players all started where you are. They were all once beginners too and they achieved success by practicing and mastering their craft.

About the Author
Christopher Buckley is owner of one of the internet’s largest guitar learning resources.To find out more about learning classical guitar, visit Learn Guitar Blog

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Learn To Play Classical Guitar

The guitar certainly has been, and probably always will be, one of the most popular instruments. Why? I imagine it is because a classic guitar can be taken just about anywhere. You can always play a few strings and soon have a circle of people join you in singing. Even young people join in, especially when some of the classic rock songs are being played.

Ask yourself, or your child, the question what you/they ultimately want to achieve. Will guitar palying be for your own personal satisfaction, where you can play for yourself for hours, and don’t really care what it sounds like to other? Or do you want to be able to play for others, join a a band? Will you be fully committed to practicing?

Your choice of guitar and how you plan to learn to play guitar will depend on your ultimate goal. Getting started with playing the guitar can be expensive, and it does not have to be. If you are unsure, check in the classified ads about buying a used guitar. You can always upgrade later. Call a guitar teacher or talk to the folks at the local music store in your area and ask them a few questions.

Electric guitars require a higher upfront investment, becasue they need an amplifier. It also might require some soundproofing for the room you plan to play in, unless you live in a very remote location. Neighbors generally do not appreciate a group of teenagers jamming at full volume at 10 pm or on a Sunday afternoon. And it is amazing what sound effects can be created with guitar and amplifier. It opens up a whole new avenue of creativity.

Learning how to play the guitar requires a good teacher or good learning program (book, video, audio) and commitment on your part to hours of practice. You can find a good teacher in your local area and you can find good programs on the internet. Many of these programs offer a combination of books and videos. Some include free newsletters or free sample lessons. Check the different avenues out so you can determine what works best for you. It might be a combination of learning with a teacher in person, supplemented by a downloadable program.

So before you run out, buy a guitar and sign up for lessons, ask yourself if you will dedicate several hours each week to practicing and playing the guitar. If you do, you will be able to enjoy many hours of enjoyment playing this wonderful instrument.

About the Author
Christiane Perrin is the mother of 2 teenagers who play guitar and drums. She herself plays the recorder.Playing The Guitar

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Is Playing The Guitar For You

How can you learn to play guitar by not playing? Is it really possible to develop as a guitarist without touching the instrument?

In weight training it is an established fact that muscle growth takes place during rest, for example when you sleep. It doesn’t mean that you will become a famous muscle builder by sleeping. Sleeping is just a part of the overall picture called muscle growth.

Don’t ever think that you will become a good guitarist by not playing guitar at all!

But I define a good guitarist as a good musician. A good musician can convey his musical emotions to somebody else and this ability takes more than just practicing moving the fingers among all those guitar strings.

What can you do to become a better guitarist and a musician when you don’t play? Let me give you a few suggestions:

1. If you play classical guitar, get into the habit of often reading guitar sheet music without your guitar. This practice gives you training in the art of hearing the sheet music in your head and also gives you a better chance to really learn notational symbols in the music and rhythmic subtleties.

2. Take a week off from your guitar playing every now and then and use all your musical energy listening to good music or just being a good citizen. Learn to spot musical and artistic heights in the music. Listen to all types of instrumentalists. With concentration. My best listening position is laying flat on my bed with headphones on forgetting the rest of the world. Maybe you have another approach.

If you feel and enjoy musical and artistic expressions in the music these will probably be implemented in your own guitar playing sooner or later.

3. Be a good musical friend by helping somebody else to play. It will help you become more unselfish and like people more. Well, maybe you already like people sufficiently but to learn to like people is part of our development as musicians as we are supposed to give of ourselves to others when we play.

4. Prepare your body and mind for playing guitar by learning the art of relaxation and stretching your muscles. You can of course find articles on these subjects on the net. Performing in a relaxed manner will help you enjoy your own music more and will help your public to relax and enjoy your music too.

5. Take time to sit down, or stand up if you like, and ponder about what guitar playing means to you. Is there something that you would like to develop in your guitar playing that will give you more joy and happiness. Set a realistic goal and write down what you can do every week to accomplish that goal.

I believe in practicing on my guitar of course but I hope that these pieces of advice concerning not playing guitar will increase your love for your guitar and the art of playing and giving musical joy to others!

About the Author
Peter Edvinsson is a musician, composer and music teacher. Visit his site Capotasto Music and download your free sheet music and learn to play resources at http://www.capotastomusic.com

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Guitar Learn Guitar By Not Playing Guitar

The quality of an acoustic guitar can be tested in the following way. Hold a lit match in front of the sound hole and tap the top of the guitar. If the tap on the top of the guitar produces enough air to extinguish the match stick, the guitar is well made and is likely to produce a good tone.

There are various designs and types of acoustic guitars.

1.Flat Top: This is a very popular kind of guitar. It has a flat back. The tones of these guitars depend on the method used to manufacture them.

2.Classical: A classical guitar shares some of the features of a flat top guitar. These guitars have wider finger boards. As these guitars do not support steel strings nylon strings are used.

3.Bass: This type of guitars is similar to flat top guitars but they produce deeper sounds.

4.Archtop: This type of guitar has a curved top with a flat or rounded back. The curved shape of the top increases the amplitude of the sound waves by excluding the standing sound waves that are formed inside the body of the guitar. This increase the volume of sound produced by the acoustic guitars.

The variations in acoustic guitars are in terms of shape, size, tuning and the number of strings. You can choose from acoustic guitars with 12 or 6 strings, child size guitars for your kids etc. Value packages that include all the different accessories in one kit are available in markets. There are many well known brands to opt for. You can also shop through the internet and some websites allow you to browse through models so that you can choose the right guitar according to your personal preferences.

About the Author

At World Music Supply, we offer acoustic electric guitars in all your favorite models and styles. Buy beginner drum sets, bass guitars, wireless studio microphones, dj lighting & recording equipment online. We’ve got something for everyone, in top brands like Fender, ESP, B.C. Rich, and Jackson.

Try these. Start out slow and build…

For instance, the major scale is defined by the following pattern of intervals:

W-W-H-W-W-W-H

(Where W=whole step and H=half step)

So, if you take the C major scale as an example (C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C), you will see that it follows the pattern above. If you take a look at your guitar fretboard, you will be able to determine whole steps because they are two frets apart. Half steps, on the other hand, are adjacent to each with no fret between them.

So let’s compare the C major scale with the major scale intervallic pattern: C and D are a whole step apart. D and E are a whole step apart. E and F are adjacent to each other and so, are a half step apart. F and G, G and A and A and B are each a whole step apart. Only a half step separates B and C. So we have demonstrated to ourselves that the C major scale conforms to the major scale intervallic formula.

To form major scales in other keys, we simply start with a new root note and apply the intervallic formula. The key of the scale is determined by the root note. So, for instance, to form the D major scale; we start at D and apply the W-W-H-W-W-W-H major scale formula.

A whole step up from D is E.
A whole step up from E is F#
A half step up from F# is G
A whole step up from G is A
A whole step up from A is B
A whole step up from B is C#
A half step up from C# is D

So the D major scale is D, E, F#, G, A, B, C#, D

The natural minor scale is defined by the following pattern of intervals:

W-H-W-W-H-W-W

As you can see, this pattern is different from the major scale intervallic formula. It is these differences in interval placement that give these two scales different characteristic feels or sounds from each other.

The major scale tends to create a lighter, happier mood. It is often used in country and folk music.

The natural minor scale has a darker, edgier sound and is frequently used in heavy metal and rock music.

The type of scale e.g. major, minor, diminished, augmented, etc. is determined by the intervallic pattern of whole and half steps. Altering the intervallic formula changes the scale type. The key of the scale is determined by the root note of the scale. By starting the same intervallic formula on different root notes, we retain the scale type buy change the key.

Scales are the fundamental building blocks of music. We all know this—although, the more educated musician recognizes this fact at a much deeper level than the beginning student. Scales are also the fundamental building blocks of a good practice regimen for (at least) two reasons.

1. Playing scales is a great way to develop physical technique.

   By controlling speed, picking patterns, and other factors; the guitarist can make scale practice as demanding as they wish. For the beginning student, simply “getting through” a particular scale with no dead or buzzing tones may be a paramount challenge.

   Whereas, playing a particular scale may be easy at 100 BPM (beats per minute) for the accomplished musician, it may become a challenging task for that same guitarist at 220 BPM. Or a scale played “at speed”  with the root note on the lowest F may be require much greater effort and hand-stretching than the very same scale played in the ninth fret where the frets are closer together.

2. Scales are also used musically to aid improvisation and composition.

   As we said earlier, scales are the fundamental building blocks of music. What we really meant was that they are the fundamental building blocks of all music theory. And the major scale is the most fundamental building block of them all.

   All other scales, all intervals, all chords, all phrases and melodies can be tied back to the major scale. This is not an especially profound statement. In fact it is essentially analogous to saying that all books, magazine articles—in fact—all written material originates from the 26 letters which form our Roman alphabet. So, on the surface, neither statement seems that profound; they both seem rather obvious. However, if we take the time to contemplate either statement for a moment, only then do we begin to realize the amazing potential which is bound up in that seemingly innocuous collection of 26 symbols or that compact musical package called the major scale.

The seemingly-simple scale is, on the surface, merely a collection of notes arranged in a specific order with a defining intervallic pattern. Not only does the “lowly” scale form the foundation for all music and musical knowledge, it also should form the foundation for your practice and study strategy.  It may be used to improve your physical technique. And it should also be used as a major tool in advancing your musical education.

Well, it’s not like that at all. Learning classical guitar can be fun and rewarding if you keep in mind the things we will be discussing in this article. and no, it’s not mandatory to wear your tuxedo, pull out a monocle and start speaking in a “highbrow” tone.

Jumping straight into complicated material is one of the biggest mistakes that beginners make and it leads only to frustration. Imagine for a second that you are trying to work on your car’s engine with the blueprint in front of you. Now, if you have never taken an auto mechanic course and don’t know much about how engines work you won’t get very far. You might be able to figure out where certain parts are by looking at the blueprint but you’ll have no idea what exactly they do and how you should fix them.

If your car engine would be your guitar playing, then your blueprints would be the sheet music. But there is another component that must be brought into the mix for things to work. Either take classical guitar lessons or teach yourself using a classical guitar method such as the one by Mateo Carcassi or Sagreras.

These books have been written in such a way as to gradually give you tangible results. Because they are method books, they teach the student in a progressive and correct way, and as a result you may find yourself tackling your favorite piece easily and with great results. They use exercises as well as “studies” (musical pieces devoted to teaching you a certain technique) to build your technical as well as interpretative skills. Besides teaching technique, methods also facilitate intimate knowledge of your instrument, which is just a fancy way of saying that you will know your guitar inside and out. But can you really teach yourself classical guitar? Yes, you can. Two of the greatest classical guitar players ever, Tarrega and Segovia, where self taught.

In the beginning it is a good idea to spend at least half of your practice time doing exercises. This will help you become more limber on the guitar and you will also see great progress in the pieces you’re working on.

After you get a classical guitar method and you start working it, the next step is getting some material so you can build your repertoire. Pick carefully so that you balance your own personal taste with the level of the piece. In other words, the piece you choose should be one that you like and at the level that you can handle technically.

You may go to a gym wanting to be Arnold Schwarzenegger, however trying to weight lift 250 pounds when you can barely get 70 pounds off the ground isn’t the way to do it. If you do attempt it, instead of bigger muscles you will probably end up in the hospital. It’s the same thing that’s happening when you attempt to play pieces that are way above your current level. Having said that, it should be noted that it’s good to get pieces that challenge you a little bit. This makes you grow. You will have to use your good judgment as to what constitutes challenging. Just like getting a hernia isn’t a muscle building technique, playing way above your level will only lead to failure and frustration.

Because of the nature of baroque music and of his compositions, Bach’s works are extremely conducive towards gaining great balance and technique on the instrument. Therefore, any student would benefit immensely by learning from the master’s material. Bach’s pieces are also great for developing great tone and they are fun to play. For example: Prelude BWV999 (originally for lute), while incredibly beautiful in its sound is also great for working with the fretboard hand because it is based on a series of chord progressions combined with a loosely melodic bass line.

If you don’t own a metronome, GET ONE! Learn to play slow and in time with it. This way you will form all the right reflexes and once you move the material up to speed the difference will be clear. Arguably, mastering rhythm with a metronome is an essential quality that will separate the amateur from the pro. To the people that may scoff at this and not understand the true importance of working with a metronome, think of it this way: imagine something as simple as a person walking across a hallway. If I ask you to describe them you would probably tell me what they looked like, what they had on and so forth. Now imagine another person walking across the hallway, but this guy is very shaky on his feet, he sometimes double steps, stumbles and flails his hands about trying to keep balance while walking. If I asked you to describe this guy, you’d probably tell me that he had a crazy walk, and he couldn’t walk straight etc.. That would be the impression that would stick with you. Same with your rhythm skills. If you don’t master them, people won’t be able to remember or appreciate your playing because their attention will constantly be distracted by the tempo stumbling and bumbling about.

If you follow the steps noted above you will see great improvement in your overall classical guitar playing. Not only will this affect your playing but also your enjoyment of the instrument. As you follow this route you will see results and feel satisfaction. Like a veil being lifted, you will be able to see the path you must follow and pretty soon you will be tackling with great ease and elegance the piece that seemed so hard a while back. As always, if you need some advice as to the material you should be pursuing, or what book you should get, feel free to drop me a line.

By: Ben Dressen

Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com 

Ben Dressen has studied classical guitar, performed and taught in both Europe and the United States. He brings a wealth of information that is based both on classical principles that have stood the test of time and modern real-world techniques that give results. For an example of the Bach’s Prelude BWV999 go here: rezzonator.com/ba.html

Let’s start by defining what we are after, what we are trying to accomplish. When you are admiring your favorite guitarist playing fast you will probably notice that there is a clarity of execution and a rhythmic stability that makes whatever they are playing very easy to comprehend. So it’s not just about playing fast, but playing fast and having a clean execution of your musical idea on the instrument.

The myth of speed

In musical lingo speed is expressed as tempo. Let me give you a little tip that’ll get you on your way to playing fast: slower crystal clear playing is perceived as faster and better than up-tempo unclean mumbling on the guitar. You will always give your audience the impression of playing faster by being clean in your execution.

So how do you do it? Where do you start? I am going to give you the secret to playing fast on the guitar, and I am going to do it with a one-word: SLOW! Yes, I said SLOW. If you’re sitting there dumbfounded, you are not alone. How can slow be the secret to fast? Any guitar teacher worth anything will understand the value of what I just said. Very few however can explain clearly why this is the case so let’s take some time and understand this principle:

Slow is the key to fast!

When you are playing fast it’s the reflexes that are taking over and doing the job. It’s more like being on autopilot. You can think of it like this: a computer program can do millions of computations and get you the result in a split second. However, you first have to write the program which is always a slow process. Putting in all the information of what makes up the program and, if you’ve written a program well it will do what it was designed to do in a second.

In much the same way you must slowly put in the information needed so that your brain can create the right reflexes. The slower you do it, the clearer and stronger you will build your reflexes. This in turn leads to greater speed on the guitar while at the same time retaining clarity.

Start by playing slow and with great care for clarity. Keep in mind that you are learning material that will ultimately be played at much higher speeds. As such it is very important to think ahead. For example, use alternate strokes instead of down strokes only if you’re picking or alternate the fingers if you are fingerpicking. Now we come to our next point:

The Gameplan

The reason why most beginners seem to get stuck in their quest for speed is their lack of understanding of the gameplan. In most cases you will be using alternate strokes when playing fast material. The up-down-up-down pattern must be constant. Any little stutter or hiccup in this pattern is akin to a runner tripping and falling face down during a race. Playing slow will allow you to see where you unconsciously put in two down strokes for example and correct it.

When you play the material at very slow speeds make sure your movements are smooth, even and don’t present any jerkiness or stuttering in them. As you play the material you’ll start to feel where tension points exist. In most cases this is because the alternate stroke principle was not respected. Correct this at slow speeds and make sure things becomes smooth before moving on to higher speeds. Make sure your freatboard hand is playing and making the position changes as smooth as possible.Increase the speed gradually and don’t move on to the next tempo until playing at that tempo you are at feels natural.

Raise the roof

In most cases the guitar players you admire perform on stage below their speed limit. This means that they work of the material past the speed you see them play onstage. By not playing at their terminal velocity on stage they allow themselves a little headroom. This is why they seem so relaxed when performing. You can also use this little trick to your advantage. Rehearse the material at higher speeds than you will be performing on stage. Once you “raised the roof” you will feel much more comfortable playing at the normal tempo.

If you put all that was discussed into practice it won’t be long before you’ll see that speed barrier crumble as you push through on your way to becoming a monster guitarist.

By: David Barton

Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com

David Barton has been teaching guitar for over 20 years and has extensive experience both as a teacher and performer. Outside of teaching, David runs an online guitar sheet music and classical guitar tabs store. www.rezzonator.com