Nocturne, First Duet for Beginner Guitar from my Free Classical Guitar Method Volume 1. This one uses only open strings for the student and is the first duet in the book for absolute beginners. I’ll play the duet and then play the teacher part so you can play along. Make sure you’ve covered Etude No. 1-2 first. Using the YouTube Link might be easier for skipping back for retries. Big thanks to my friend Natasha for helping with the duets in the book.
- 1st Time: Duet with Natasha
- 2nd Time: Teacher Part with Counting
- 3rd Time: Teacher Part without Counting
Here’s the older video with just the duets on their own.
Hello, Professor Bradford! I really loved the experience of playing this duet—it was great fun, and I had never taken a lesson quite like this before. I’m really enjoying the book and your teaching method. One thing that helped me during the lesson was following along with the video on my phone while placing the phone on the music stand next to the book; that made it very easy to follow both at the same time while looking straight ahead. On my second day of practice, I noticed that many of the notes in the student part sound at the same time as the lower notes in the teacher part; this helped me synchronize my playing better, too. It’s interesting to see how the more we practice, the more we learn. Thank you so much for making these lessons available, and thanks to Natasha as well.
Great to hear!
My left hand fingertips hurt badly after only a few min of playing and are sore for days after. Playing is painful. Is this normal for a beginner?
It is very likely that you are pushing the strings too hard. If you play very close to the frets and curve your fingers you should barely have to push to get a clean sound. It certainly shouldn’t hurt, especially after playing. This might be a bit too advanced but check out this lesson: https://www.thisisclassicalguitar.com/lesson-left-hand-tension-relaxation-exercises-guitar/
Thank you so much for creating these play-along lessons. I can now proceed with my duet lessons in the safety and comfort of my home! All the best.