Question: How does sitting position affect my classical guitar technique? Your sitting and guitar position affects all aspects of your classical guitar technique. It is essential to succeeding in classical guitar studies. Whenever I examine any technique skill in a…
Question: How can I improve my tremolo technique on classical guitar? You are not alone in finding tremolo technique challenging. Many players, even fairly advanced ones who can play most late-intermediate to advanced techniques, still have trouble with tremolo. First,…
The GFA Community Orchestra with Check Hulihan conducting, perform Folds by Ryan Ayers at the 2024 Convention in Fullerton, California. This comes via the Guitar Foundation of America and the GFA YouTube channel. Great to see such a coherent group…
Antonio Rugolo performs the Complete 24 Exercises (Studies) Op.48 by by Mauro Giuliani (1781-1829). This comes via Rugolo’s YouTube channel (go subscribe). It’s amazing to hear these etudes performed by such a great musician. This is a wonderful example of the musical potential…
Music Theory Lesson No.2a: Why do we use music notation? In this lesson I discuss the reasons for using music notation and break down each element that that makes up the definition. This is an important discussion before we start…
Pièces caractéristiques pour guitare, Op.123 (1964) by Belgian composer Jean Absil (1893-1974). Performed by Bradford Werner. I’m trying to feature more music by modern and contemporary composers and external publishers on the site and this is a great piece to start…
Question: How can I deal with performance anxiety in music and guitar? Before I give you practical tips and step by step approaches, let’s first look at some misconceptions about performance anxiety. People can often perform a piece well at…
Vladimir Gorbach teaches a technique lesson on practicing scales with a focus on planting and timing as a way to build control, speed, and tone quality. Framing the discussion is maintenance of tension and reflexive relaxation in practice at slow…
Question: What notation software do you use for creating classical guitar scores? I mainly use two software programs for creating music notation: MuseScore and Sibelius, but Dorico by Steinberg is my recommendation to anyone who wants to start using a…
Paul Bizot performs Quatre pièces pour la guitare by Sir Lennox Berkeley (1903–1989). This comes via Siccas Guitars and their YouTube channel (go subscribe). Great performance by Bizot filled with nice motivic delivery, articulation, and orchestration of the guitar soundscape. Emmanuel Sowicz sent me this note…
Music Theory Lesson No.1b: Musical Time (Pulse, Beat, Tempo, Meter, Rhythm). In this lesson I discuss some terminology for musical time including: pulse, beat, tempo, meter, and rhythm. This is an important discussion before we start discussing music notation and why…
Canadian guitarist Drew Henderson performs Suite for Lute, BWV 995 by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) on a seven-string guitar. This comes via Henderson’s YouTube channel (go subscribe). Henderson’s sheet music edition will be coming soon via his website. Brilliant and refined performance by Henderson with…