The jazz player needs a vast and extensive range of tools, because the music they play is based on sophisticated scales, and those scales are used to generate extremely complex chord structures. There are hundreds if not thousands of chord forms to learn, and a great number of scale forms all over the neck, in every key.

From a musical standpoint, Jazz soloing is about as complex as it gets for improvised styles. A very large number of scales, in all keys, and all positions, must be learned and absorbed into the mind and the fingers. A high level of refined technique, in the left hand and in the pick hand is required to play the scales and all the licks that come from them.

For the jazz player, scales, chords, and arpeggios are all one thing, and all of these tools in their seemingly endless forms are firmly in the head and hands (and heart!) of a great jazz player.

All of this knowledge of the harmonic potential of the fingerboard also gives you the tools for arranging music on and for the guitar, including playing chord melody style. Many players earnestly wish they could do something other than just strum chords, or just play single notes leads. This type of study is the path for them.

Although there is going to be repetition of patterns as we go about learning all this musical material, there is still a tremendous amount of material to study. Many great players have filled large volumes with the material they practice, and have published it for other players to study (i.e. Ted Greene, “Chord Chemistr). You can fill a room with such material, and have a lifetime of study ahead of you, which is very fortunate for you if you love this kind of thing. You will become an awesome player with a very large knowledge base, and never have to worry about having nothing to do!

Of course, we learn to use all these tools as we acquire them, step by step, and song by song. There are a large number of “standards”, songs and pieces that every jazz player knows, and can play and improvise on. All of these must be learned, although there is a “core” of material that you are going to find yourself playing in the majority of professional situations you find yourself in.

A subset of the jazz player is the “pop player”, and many jazz lovers will make a part of their living by playing in bands where pop music and standards are required. The setting will often be club dates, weddings, and social events.

Five years of study, averaging around 2 or more hours a day (hopefully more!) are required to get up and running as a player in the jazz/pop genre. Then, it takes about ten years of 3+ hours a day to fully acquire the use of these tools, and a lifetime of continuing study and refinement if you want to be among the greats. A high degree of refined technique in both hands must be developed as well.

So, you have to decide – do you want to be a brain surgeon, or a jazz guitarist? Probably becoming a brain surgeon will be a bit less of a commitment!

The Bottom Line on Jazz Guitar Playing:

Time Required: 3-5+  years of 3 – 6+ hours a day

Tools: extensive  knowledge of scales and associated modes and arpeggios, advanced ability in special techniques associated with the style. Advanced picking technique.

Recommended Resource:

Our free fingerboard harmony course

Scales and Modes by Arnie Berle

GuitarPrinciples “The 6 Six Essential Major Scales With Modes & Arpeggios”

The Classical Player

People often consider the classical guitar as the most difficult and challenging style to learn and master. I am not sure if that is true, but it is certainly a contender!

The term “classical guitar” is simply the name given to the first and original style of guitar, which began about 200 years ago, when the guitar took its present form as the six string instrument we know today. It had grown out of a long tradition of plucked instruments going back to ancient times, and, whether as the lyre or the lute, always extremely popular in the cultures where it appeared.

Because of its long tradition in so many forms in so many cultures, a very wide range of music from many centuries is played on the “classical guitar”. Renaissance, Baroque, Classical, Romantic/Spanish and Modern are the main genres of music played on what is known as the “Classical Guitar”. So, one of the distinguishing features of playing the classical guitar is the fact that our repertoire spans many centuries, rather than the relatively limited time frame encompassed by the repertoire of other styles of guitar.

However, you do not have to love or desire to play classical (or “serious” music as it is sometimes called) in order to desire or benefit from classical training. The study of any style adds something precious to the depth of our artistry, and many people study classical guitar simply for the advanced use of the right hand fingers it gives you, as well as the intimate knowledge of the fingerboard’s musical potential, an asset in any style. Howard Morgen, who I studied with to learn jazz and fingerboard harmony, is such a player, having studied classical guitar so as to apply the right hand abilities to his 7 string Jazz guitar and the jazz standard repertoire.

The classical guitar has always pushed the limits of what is possible on the guitar in a musical way, and the technique required to play its repertoire is precise and unforgiving. You can get away with imperfect or homegrown technique in many styles, but not with the classical guitar.

Because the physical technique required to play the repertoire is extremely precise, getting that technique requires either an intuitive knowledge of how to do correct practice to develop technique, or exposure to an effective pedagogical system that will teach you how to do that.

The highest levels of ability in both hands are required by an advanced player, and even for the beginner and intermediate student a firm foundation is essential, or playing will be a struggle and progress will be impossible. A correct approach to practice and an absolutely relaxed and comfortable technique must be developed from the beginning, and this is very, very often not the case, especially with the adult student.

In my own experience, I never found a teacher who could do much more than give me music to play, and perhaps tell me which fingers to use. There is more information available today, but the real information for how to develop to the highest levels of ability is lacking in every method I know of – most methods are merely collections of pieces and exercises that would sound great if you knew the secrets of mastering them.

That is why I created the “GuitarPrinciples Classical/Fingerstyle Foundation Course”. It contains concepts and methods not found anywhere else, and they have been proven to work for the average student, of any age. You can see students from this course here.

A moderate practice schedule of 30min, 5 times a week can get you on the path of playing classical guitar. You will be playing nice sounding pieces within a few months, and, if you follow my methods, you will continue to develop nicely for as long as play and practice.

To play the classical guitar at a high level, meaning, being able to play the more complex repertoire well, requires 3 to 6 hours a day for about 10 years. However, anyone can enjoy playing the classical guitar as a richly rewarding hobby that they CAN be good at (just like tennis or golf), playing the pieces they have developed with a professional polish IF they learn the methods professionals use.

The Bottom Line On Classical  Guitar Playing:

Time Required: Adult Student – 30 min/day, 1 to 2 years to acquire solid foundation and playing ability through beginning level, ready and able to make further progress.

Tools: note reading, a solid foundation of technique in both hands, a firm understanding of how to practice effectively, a developing ability to play in a completely relaxed way.

Professional Level: 3 to 6 hours a day for 10 years.

Recommended Resource:

The priniciples

The classical course

How to master a scale

The Learning Curve of Various Styles of Guitar (Part 4: Jazz and Classical) was written by Jamie Andreas for Guitar Noise. A good guitar player you will be if you visit the above site. © 2012 Guitar Noise

I speak about the metronome with such reverence because it is such an indispensable tool in the quest for complete mastery of our instruments vast array of techniques. Many get frustrated with it because they do not know how to use it properly. The aim of this article is to help you learn how to use it and grow to love it.

The first exercise does not even involve the guitar, so put it away. We, I believe, are not rhythmic creatures – yes, we breathe rhythmically and walk rhythmically, and our hearts beat rhythmically. But we are not rhythmic beings. The beating of our hearts, and our walking and breathing are done on a sub-conscious level. We do not think about it. Since we do not think about it, it is not a natural part of our thought process and this is why beginners and even some advanced players have a hard time with rhythm.

So, for the first exercise, turn the metronome on and set the tempo to 65 BPM (beats per minute). Now count aloud and move your body back and forth with the pulse. This helps to internalize the pulse on a conscious level. There are several things going on here:

1. We are feeling the pulse because we are moving our bodies to it.
2. We are hearing the pulse because we are counting it aloud and that pulse is being reinforced by us hearing the metronome.
3. We are forcing our bodies to move to it and we are counting it so we are forced to “think” about it.

All this helps to internalize the beat. When 65 is mastered move up in increments of 10 BPM, if 10 proves to be too much too soon then try 5. The important thing is not how fast you go but how much you can correctly “feel” a pulse.

Another exercise you can do is to play a piece you are working on and vary the rhythm. Let’s take the opening bars to the Bach Prelude in D Minor:

It’s a steady flow of 16 th notes. Steady 16 th notes can be a very difficult thing to play evenly; the brain understands it but the hands sometimes do not.

One thing to do is vary the rhythm. The first alternate rhythm involves a dotted 8 th note followed by a 16 th .

The next rhythm involves a 16 th note followed by a dotted 8 th .

If you notice, the benefit to studying the opening measures to the prelude is that it’s one measure of material, followed by a measure of literal repetition, and then a measure with new material with the following measure a literal repetition of the one before it. This presents us with a great opportunity to practice it as a speed burst exercise:

The key to this exercise is to set the metronome pulse as slowly as you need to in order to play it correctly, even if you have to set the metronome at 65 and each click represents a 16 th note. Whatever it takes to train the hand the right way.

Another thing to do is to play what is written but vary the accent from finger to finger. For example the first time through the thumb will be accented, the second time through “i,” or index finger will be accented, etc…Again set the metronome as slowly as you need to in order to play everything smoothly.

This is by no means exhaustive of metronome techniques and I will do a future article on metronome techniques. This article was meant just to get your feet wet and to get your brain thinking. The thing to remember is that the key to playing fast is playing slow, but playing slow correctly . And the key to playing slow correctly is using a metronome.

The Metronome – A Love/Hate Relationship was written by Logan L. Gabriel for Guitar Noise. A good guitar player you will be if you visit the above site. © 2012 Guitar Noise

First, try this experiment. Go out on the street then ask the first ten people you see to name three classical guitarists. Go on, don’t be afraid. Well ladies and gentleman the chances are that none of the people you asked could name three let alone probably one. One can only ask themselves why is the classical guitar in such a state of equivocalness. The reason is that we have alienated ourselves from the masses. Let’s look at it this way: classical music is viewed as stuffy and if you listen to it you will 1) fall asleep or 2) have an uncontrollable desire to wear 500 dollar Polo shirts and walk around with your nose in the air. When was the last time that you went to a rock concert and the guy next to you said “Hey dude, did you hear the new Stepan Rak disk?” Chances are this has never happened to you. This is sad because popular music has taken so much from our genre. However, because of our holier than thou attitude we have failed to borrow from it and therefore have suffered the consequences.

Let’s have a little history lesson. The year is 1530. You are walking through the center of town and you come across a band of musicians. There playing a version of the Folias. Guess what you call it? You don’t call it classical music. You just listen contentedly, then when they’re all done you say nice Folias and keep on walking. The guitarists of bygone eras such as Sanz, Giuliani, Sor, Mertz, Coste, Pujol, Tarrega, Regondi, and Ferranti, were the back street boys of their time. So what happened? What happened was that people changed and we refused to change with them. Priorities in culture shifted. The industrial revolution brought the factory, and a factory needs to be manned, and guess what? We began to have no time for the arts. The arts are no longer viewed as a necessity. What the children are taught is that happiness is found in a 9 to 5 job, a cute little house with a picket fence, two cars in the driveway and a wardrobe consisting of Abercrombie and Fitch ( please do not think I am bashing these companies, because on the contrary I am a big fan of capitalism). What we fail to give our children is an understanding of the inner workings and the esotericism of life, a lesson that only the arts can teach. Music I believe is the most powerful of all the arts. I dare you to sit through a Chopin Nocturne or a Sor Sonata and not feel the hair on the back of your neck stand on end or feel the soul scream for release from the limitations of the physical body (if you do not feel that way about music than chances are you should not be a musician).

So enter Pop culture. With the introduction of industry and the advent of the factory worker, very few had time for learning to master an art (However music was still needed in order to help pass the time). Since every one was working very few were becoming educated on the collegiate level. What this meant that music had to make the shift from appealing to the intellect of a person to appealing to the carnality of an individual. Rock and roll is a prime example of this. Rock is all about sex. Watch Elvis sway his hips to thousands of prepubescent teenage girls, the same way N’Sync does it today. The music is not intelligent. So why is it so popular ? It’s so popular now because it appeals to that they know, and when you are dealing with vastly uneducated people they like what they know, and what they know is sex. After all, sex is one of the strongest impulses in a human being. I am not saying that because you listen to rock music you are stupid. Please do not misunderstand. When I say uneducated I am not referring to one’s level of intelligence but one’s level of awareness. I Love rock music and even play in a band, so please do not be offended. I only mean to raise your level of awareness.

Okay. So what does this mean for you as the classical guitarist? What it means that you need to be in touch with the times in which you live. The 18th and 19th centuries are over. Here’s the second part of our history lesson. Does any one know what Grieg and Mertz and Giuliani and countless other composers based their music on? Yes, you third row…That’s correct. All those guys based their music upon Folk melodies. And what is Britany Spears and Back Street Boys, Mettalica, Kid Rock, Korn and Limp Bizkit? Yes, Folk Music. Now I’m not saying go right know and compose a set of variations on the theme from Creed’s Higher (although that would be kind of cool). What I’m saying is make yourselves more accessible to the masses by learning what they like and try to reflect it in you music. I’m not saying drop your level of performance or compositional quality but just like Beethoven take something good and make it damn good. Learn to appeal to your audience in a way that they can understand. After all they don’t understand music the way you do because if they did they would be on stage as well.

Please think about what I’ve said and please feel free to e-mail me with questions or comments they would make an excellent follow up article.

Why the Classical Guitarist should embrace popular music – Or Get With The Times Man! was written by Logan L. Gabriel for Guitar Noise. A good guitar player you will be if you visit the above site. © 2012 Guitar Noise

To perform this technique let’s first learn to fight our natural tendencies. Natural tendencies? It is a natural tendency that when you first begin to use rasgueados that you lead with the i finger. Here’s what I mean. First rest the thumb of the right hand on the low E string. Next, flick out c ( pinky), a, m, then, i. Do not worry about hitting all the strings with each finger, the strumming effect of the rasgueado is more percussive than anything else. But as you can probably tell it does not feel natural to lead with the c finger. The i wants to be the one to go first.

This is the basic four stroke rasgueado. It should be done slowly at first in order for the strokes to begin to feel natural then and only then should the speed be increased until it becomes lightning fast. This brings me to the next point. When doing the rasgueado, even at lightning speeds there should be four distinct strums heard. Try this experiment. Using your two index fingers like drumsticks as fast as you can tap 4 times on the table. If you did it right you should have heard four distinct taps not just one. The same is true with the rasgueado you need to hear those four distinct strums not just one big one, we are not using a pick.

As you have probably seen by now that there is a very important technical exercise to be found in the study of rasgueados. The first being right hand finger independence, this will aid us in the quest for the perfect arpeggios. The second important technical aspect of the rasgueado is that it trains the extensors. In my very first article (Rock Guitarist as Classical Guitarist) )(at least I think it was that one) I discussed that from the time we were born we have always grasped things, thereby training the flexors, but we have never had the opportunity to train the flexors. Weak flexors are the reason fast scales seem to elude us. It’s not the flexing that we have a problem with but our inability to prepare the finger again to execute the next stroke. Rasgueados can and do help.

The four stroke rasgueados are not the end to a great technique. There are three stroke rasguados, two stroke, five stroke, six and seven stroke. There are even rasgueados that incorporate thumb strokes. Below is a list that incorporates the easiest rasgueados, practice these and next week we shall talk about the notation of rasgueados and I will give you some of the more difficult ones.

Four stroke rasgueado: c, a, m, i
Three stroke: a, m, i
Two stroke: m, i

Rasgueados was written by Logan L. Gabriel for Guitar Noise. A good guitar player you will be if you visit the above site. © 2012 Guitar Noise

Firstly let’s look at the traditional way that everyone views improvisation. Here it is, picture this. The room is filled with smoke and dimly lit. For, whatever reason the guitar player feels that he still needs to where sunglasses. The bass player starts to lay out a groove over a smokin’ beat being tossed off by the drummer. All of a sudden the guitar player starts to throw off these lines from nowhere and it all falls into place for one of the most memorable jams in a long time.

Okay now let’s wake up and look at reality. Nothing is ever thrown off the cuff. There is one universal law in physics that all must adhere to, and that is: “You can not make something out of nothing”. All those licks that a guitar player throws off are like words, an entourage of licks form what is called an “improvisational vocabulary”. Where the improvisation comes in is stringing these licks together to form a solo.

I once had the opportunity to attend a seminar with the classical guitarist Frederick Hand, who is widely known for his ability to improvise. During the class he had the audience call out three at random and he would improvise using those three notes,as the basis for his harmony and then would improvise over that. What he played was great. How does he do that? Actually it is quite elementary.

First of all let’s take three notes A, F#, and Eb. Then let’s look at the root chords we have to work with A: Major, Minor, Diminished, Augmented, Maj 7, Min 7, Augmented 7, Dom 7, as well as 9 ths, 11ths and 13 ths, and their inversions. This can be done as well for the F# and Eb. Then we have to establish some kind of key. it is important to remember also about enharmonic tones. For instance these three notes cannot work in a “traditional” key. The reason they cannot is because in order for it to be in Eb the A would have to be Flatted as well in order to keep with the order of falts ( B E A D G C F ). It will not fit in the key of A either. However, if we think of enharmonic tones like I mentioned earlier we can view the Eb as D# thus, making all these tones present in the key of E major or C# minor. You might be saying to yourself that You could not possibly make up an intersting harmonic progression out of these chords. Oh yes, you can! Think inversions. More specifficaly think 7th chords because they have the possibility of three inversions rather than triads which only have two. This particular arrangement of tones provides us with an easier way to end the whole thing bacause we can use a D# diminished chord (VII) to a E major 9 with an F# on the bottom to end it all. However some progressions are not that easy to figure out a final cadential formula. This is why we must study our theory boys and girls. We have become so familiar with the authentic cadence that other cadential possibilities seem to elude us. One of the cadences that is overlooked is the Plagal cadence (IV-I).

What I have just spelled out is easy when you can sit down and think it out on paper. The real test comes at a moments notice, when we are bombarded with notes that we have to take and mold into a musical coherence. How do you do it? There is only one answer. Use it! practice these techniques, at first on paper then on the fretboard. The real trick is to be able to recall this information at the drop of a hat. This is why it must be practiced on a daily basis. Here is a list of things that you should work on to improve your improvisation:

1. Scales. You should practice all your major and minor scales in all of their forms and positions, as well as diminished scales, whole tone, pentatonics ( yes even classical players should know their pentatonics).
2. Chords. You should be able to play a chord for every tone in the chromatic scale. For each note you should be able to play a Major, Minor, Diminished, Augmented, Major 7, 9, 11, 13 and all of it’s inversions, in several positions. Do the same thing for minor 7, 9, 11, 13, so on and so forth. Leave no chord unturned. And do not buy a chord book. Chord books are evil because they suppress the analytical thought process. Figure it out for yourself! Use your gray matter.

After a while of doing this you will begin to build up your own “improvisatory vocabulary” and you will begin to transpose things into different keys, that you will use depending on what notes you have with which to build your harmony.

The above method is only one way in which to think about it. There are many ways to go about improvising. The other way is based around improvising within a set score of music. This way is geared towards the classical guitarist who is playing the set repertoire. As you know when your playing something like a Bach cello suite, or The usher waltz by Nakita Koshkin you are bound by the written note. However, you are not bound by any type of phrasing or dynamics or color. These boundries are set only by you personal taste. One way to practice these different effects is to use scales.

Try playing a scale straight through with no dynamics, no color. After that now try a crescendo on the way up and a decrescendo on the way down. Then while doing the crescendo ascending try moving the hand to ponticello, then when decrescendo on the way down move the hand to tasto. Then add some phrasing. When ascending while you crescendo and move your hand ponticello. Ritard and do a small decrescendo beginning on the fifth scale degree, pause slightly on the seventh scale degree to hang on the tension and build excitement. Then, release the tension and hang on the tonic to accentuate the arrival point before we descend again. Don’t forget to descend with a decrescendo while we move our hand tasto. Also, begin a ritard on the third scale degree so that you can create a feeling of coming home. When you finally play the tonic play it so that it is barely audible and really lay into some vibrato to really warm it up. This is only one way to think of a phrase. There are an infinite number of ways you can play scales. The key is to never just play scales, play them with a purpose. By doing this you begin to facilitate a technique with which you can express you inner most thoughts and desires. What is so improvisatory about this is that just because you felt on way about a passage in the practice room doesn’t mean you will feel the same way about it on the stage. We have a tendency to be swallowed up by the moment and if you are prepared you can open the doors and let that spirit of spontaneaty in rather than suppress it.

Next time I thought we might discuss rasgueados and dive into a little flamenco! Until then God speed and keep the fingers moving.

Improvisation in Classical Music (Part 2) was written by Logan L. Gabriel for Guitar Noise. A good guitar player you will be if you visit the above site. © 2012 Guitar Noise

Well I’m not. Way back when the famous English lutenist John Dowland was known for his improvising, and back in his time it was common place for an ensemble to have a lutenist or vihuela player that broke off into a lead, off the cuff. Of course the melodic and harmonic structures were much different than they are today the moment was still the same. Why has this been abandoned in today’s modern classical guitar world? In my article I will attempt to answer this question by laying on the proverbial table a couple of hypothesis of my own.

The first hypothesis is that When guitar began to be taught in universities there was a lot of emphasis given to what we call the “standard repertoire”. What is the standard repertoire? Well grab yourself the Segovia discography and that’s pretty much it. A lot of emphasis was given to the works of Bach, Sor, Giuliani, Villa-lobos, and Tarrega. The fore mentioned composers are by no means exhaustive but this was pretty much the reigning champs. This is why if you pick up a cd of classical guitar music the program on the disk is pretty much made up of music by these composers. Hence, the first problem people have been hearing the same thing for so long we are doomed to play what they like or we do not get gigs. This in effect stifles the classical guitarists creative thinking because we spend so much time studying and preparing these standard works. My teacher the wonderful Cuban Guitarist Jose Lezcano attended a master class in Spain over the summer in which he had the opportunity to play for Leo Brouwer and Roland Dyens. In a Question and answer session, Jose offered the following question to Roland Dyens: “why is there not A lot of emphasis on teaching and learning the standard repertoire anymore?” Mr. Dyens offered the following answer: “There is no urgency!”

I would have to agree with Mr. Dyens WHAT IS THE URGENCY! This music we call the standard repertoire is not going anywhere. It has been around for hundreds of years and is not in danger of becoming extinct. With all the recordings in existence of these works they will always be heard and enjoyed. The emphasis needs to be on new works. If we do not discover the new music we are doomed to overlook the next generation of Mozarts and Beethovens.

The second hypothesis Is that because we study the structured repertoire our spontaneous musical tendencies fall by the wayside. We rely to much on what we know and spontaneous creation dies. We as classical guitarists fail to remember that A lot of what that has been discovered in the way of new styles and sounds has come by way of freakish and radical, spontaneous creative thinking, that was recognized and developed.

One of the problems is that perhaps we have taken tonal music to the highest levels and it’s time to branch off into different realms of creativity. Arnold Scheonberg thought so and in the 1920′s developed the twelve tone row and the technique we now call serialism. What seems to be the logical route today is not so much attempting to create completely new styles out of nothing but the creating of new styles by the marriage of different styles. For example Paco de Lucia’s fusion of Jazz and Flamenco to create the “Nuevo Flamenco” movement, that brought us such artists as Tomatito, Strunz and Farrah, and Jesse Cook to name but a few.

One of the most neglected arts in the world of the Classical is that of improvisation. Improvisation can however mean different things to different people. In the next article we will discuss the many different applications of improvisation. Until next time Keep the fingers moving.

Improvisation in Classical Music Part 1 was written by Logan L. Gabriel for Guitar Noise. A good guitar player you will be if you visit the above site. © 2012 Guitar Noise

A speed burst is taking a small portion of a scale and playing it ascending then descending with the eighth note as the rhythmic value for each note. Without stopping play the same portion of the scale ascending and descending, this time using the sixteenth note as the rhythmic value for each note. These are very helpful in isolating certain trouble spots in a scale, such as shifts and string crossings.

As always my advice on practice does not change. Practice these exercises with a metronome, slowly at first to “feel” each movement and help get it into muscle memory, then as it becomes more familiar to the body, increase the tempo. Remember that the illusion of speed can be achieved by playing the notes evenly. Sometimes people are not playing as fast as we think that they are, what they are doing is playing with strict, even rhythm. Use different finger combinations. Use i-m, m-i, i-a, a-i, m-a, a-m. The examples I have given you are only a scratch on the surface of rhythmic possibilities.

Also, in parting for this week remember scale speed is a most coveted aspect in ones technique, but in and of itself it is useless.

Playing ones scales at warp speeds can be likened to a poet that can say his abc’s at light speed. In the end neither does any good to bring out the true feeling of the word.

Speed Bursts was written by Logan L. Gabriel for Guitar Noise. A good guitar player you will be if you visit the above site. © 2012 Guitar Noise

The first things we need to develop are our knowledge of scales in general. As a guitarist you have probably noticed that the guitar favors certain keys (C maj., D maj., A maj., E maj., Fmaj and all their relative minor keys). The reason we favor certain keys is because of the resonance of open strings and other strings sympathetic vibrations to some notes within these keys. Also, the most popular reason is that excessive barring ( in such keys like Db major) can be quite exhausting. Even though we hardly play in those keys, you do need to know them, they will improve your musicianship, and increase your knowledge of the fingerboard. Being, familiar with scales however is not enough, you must know them cold. Practice your visualization techniques with scales, it’s a really great way to get them firmly planted in your brain. If you are not familiar with visualization techniques see my article on practice, The Art of Practice.

The key to fast scales? The key is not only to practice flexing the finger (what the finger actually does to pluck the string) but practice extending the finger as well. From the time we were born our hands have grabbed things, and we have held on to them tight, thus, developing the flexors. It is our lack of strength in the extensors that need the catching up. One of the best ways to develop this is to practice Rasgueados ( Raas-Gee-ah-doe). I have a full article on the rasgueado coming so for now I’ll keep it brief.

Rest your thumb on the sixth string, be sure to rest it lightly. Now, strum the strings with your fingers in the following order: c, a, m, i. Doing this over and over again is a sure way to develop the extensors. If the Rasgueado gets a little to monotonous try practicing your scales with a prepared stroke, for the purpose of getting your fingers to prepare on the string as fast as possible (the act of preparing the finger is an extension movement). Just remember strive for good tone, even rhythm, and balance between the notes.

Also, you have to develop what Ben Verdery calls your “big guns”. In order to play scales fast you have to really develop a finger combination that you can really rip your scales at any time. For some people that is i and m or i and a, some people use three finger scales using a, m, and i. Whatever your combination you need to work it free stroke and rest stroke, with a metronome.

One of the biggest hindrances when it comes to speed is excessive position shifting. The first is an example of two different ways to finger a two octave C Major scale. If you look at number 1 you will notice the shifting that occurs on the third string is what is called an open shift (any position shift of two or more frets). The open shift is tricky because it forces the hand to jump around to much, for example when the second finger must jump up to the c on the third string crossing over the 3. In The second scale between the fourth and third strings we see what is called a pinch shift (a shift of a half step). While it is still a shift (they are unavoidable) it is easier on the hand because it allows the natural succession of fingers to occur, and the moving of the hand is kept to a minimum. In the first scale we have two shifts, the open shift and a pinch shift, and the natural order of the fingers are interrupted. In the second scale we have two pinch shifts and no interruption of the fingers natural order. So, keep the fingers moving and next week we will discuss speed bursts.

Scales Warp Factor 10 was written by Logan L. Gabriel for Guitar Noise. A good guitar player you will be if you visit the above site. © 2012 Guitar Noise

The first thing you need for your ultimate playing position is the ultimate chair. Many people just grab a chair and go for it. The ultimate chair however has to have a few key characteristics. The first is that the chair should have no arms, the last thing you need is the arms of the chair interfering with the movement of you left or right arms. The second is the height of the chair. When choosing a chair stand in front of it so you are to the side. The seat of the chair should fall right in the middle of your knees. Another way to test it would be to sit on it, if you feet are flat and your lap is flat, then it is the right height. However, if your lap angles to the floor it is too high, or if your knees end up pointed to the ceiling it is too short. Your personal chair will depend on your height, and vary person to person.

The second thing you need is a foot stool. This is so that you can elevate your left foot to rest the guitar on the elevated thigh. One of the things that has become quite popular ( and what I use) is an “A” frame. The “A” frame attaches to the guitar by suction cups (although some clamp on) and elevates the guitar to the proper height while allowing you to keep both feet on the floor. Some people even use a combination of “A” frame and foot stool to achieve maximum support. The foot stool is the most secure thing to use as far as guitar support but the fact is is that by having that left foot elevated, it causes a lot of stress on the lower back. If you use a foot stool try to keep it as low as possible, this reduces lower back strain.

Thirdly, sit on the edge of the chair and do not slouch when you sit. Sit with your back straight, it is okay to look at the guitar and your hands, it is not okay to lean over and look at your hands. Keep your shoulders level, and don’t lean to the left or to the right. However, there will be times when you will lean to the left in order to reach those notes above the twelfth. Make sure you recover your posture after playing those types of passages. Many people don’t know what to do with the right foot, it just seems to be there. You must be careful in which position you place the right foot because it is an easy target for excessive tension build up. I like to keep the right foot relaxed and sometimes in a position when it is almost fully extended and on the heel, some like to keep it bent back under the chair on the ball of the foot.

Whatever your preference keep in mind the mid range principle, which was advocated by Aaron Shearer. All of our joints can function within three realms of movement. The first is to the extreme left or up. Try this: Hold your hand out in front of you and curve your wrist to the extreme left. Now try to wiggle your fingers. Not very comfortable is it. Do the same experiment but this time curve your wrist to the extreme right, which is the second realm of movement. You will see that this is not so comfortable either. Now, hold your arm out straight without deviating the wrist to the right or left. Now, wiggle the fingers, this should present no discomfort or awkward feeling. This is the mid range, or the range between the extremes. This is where the most comfort and economy of energy reside. The same is true with the waist. This is why you want to avoid leaning too far forward or too far back.

Your hands should fall very naturally to the side of your body, then raise them to the guitar. You want to avoid the “chicken wing” syndrome of shooting out the left elbow at certain points of a work. The reason to avoid this is excessive tension. As you go through and look at your posture you should eliminate everything that causes excessive tension. I say excessive, because you will have some tension. After all, you are using various muscles to play guitar, and support yourself and the instrument, and all muscular exertion causes tension. There is though, a difference between wanted tension and unwanted tension. So in conclusion, go through your posture this week and really be honest with yourself about what is good about your seating position and what is bad, and do not be afraid to really be truthful, about the bad. After all, once we have eliminated all that is imperfect, what remains is perfection.

Posture was written by Logan L. Gabriel for Guitar Noise. A good guitar player you will be if you visit the above site. © 2012 Guitar Noise

The Tools

The tools of the trade are simple in theory but difficult in practice. The first of our tools in the belt are dynamics, these are crescendos and diminuendos. A crescendo is a gradual increase in volume, a diminuendo is a gradual decrease in volume. Simple enough, but play a scale and crescendo up to the highest note, then on the way down diminuendo making the lowest note the quietest. The key here is to start VERY, VERY, quiet. The problem with the guitar is that it does not have a wide variety of volume, like the violin and piano. As guitarists we tend to always play loud to be heard, so in a way, we kind of desensitize ourselves to varieties of volume. Also, the rise and fall of sound must be even, it is a gradual increase in volume, not a sporadic one. There are sudden volume changes for suddenly loud and suddenly soft, subido forte, which is suddenly loud and subido piano which is suddenly soft.

The next tool is tone color. Tasto, is when you play near the fretboard to produce a nice silky tone. Example 1 is the first few measures of the D major section of the Bach Chaconne. All the dynamics are marked accordingly. Try to balance the voices do not make one louder than the other. The tempo is slow and hypnotic and even though you get loud keep playing tasto. We have the habit of playing loud as we move the hand; resist this tendency.

Ponticello is when you produce that brassy tone by playing near the bridge. Example 2 is an excerpt from El Colibri by Julio S. Segreras. Don’t be afraid to lay into the notes for some metallic like tone El Colibri means “the hummingbird” so be descriptive.

Tambora is a great technique. It is accomplished by striking the strings with the side of the thumb near the bridge. Example 3 is a few measures of Clear Night Sky by Logan L. Gabriel. The tambora is written out under the chord that utilizes the technique. Try to balance the notes and don’t get carried away with the action of striking the strings. It is very unbecoming to have a nice lush arpeggio section and then SLAM a huge tambora.

One of the most descriptive techniques a guitarist can apply is that of rubato. Rubato is the borrowing of time from certain notes in order to give to others, and then slightly rushing through the next passage in order to make up for the borrowed time. This is called strict rubato. Remember that you are borrowing time in order to alter note values not the beat. You could employ rubato in example 1, on the second measure you could borrow time from the second half of beat three in order to hold beat two in order to accentuate that note before the rise to the high point in the phrase which is the a in the second half of beat three. The second type of rubato is free rubato. With strict rubato you borrowed time but always replaced it. With free rubato you borrow as much time as you like without paying it back. This technique can be quite dramatic and effective, but it must be done at the choicest of moments otherwise it can sound out of place and very tacky. One place you might employ free rubato is when you have an arpeggio on the dominant, encompassing several octaves, and you hold the highest note before resolving to the tonic (in English that would be in the key of A minor, an E7 arpeggio holding the highest note indefinitely, then concluding on an A minor chord).

Vibrato is a technique that all guitarists must learn and employ on a regular basis. There are two ways to execute vibrato. The first is by a pendulum motion. Play a b on the third string (that would be the fourth fret) and imagine your thumb and first finger are joined through the fretboard and create a pivot point. After doing this, sound the note and rock the hand rapidly on this pivot point to set that waivering of the tone in motion. This type of vibrato may also be used on chords. The second type of vibrato is done by rapidly bending the string in and out of pitch. A master of this kind of vibrato is B.B. King. The second type of vibrato is very difficult to do on the classical guitar because the thickness of the strings make them difficult to bend.

These are just a few of the many things that a guitarist can use to bring out the quality of the music. One of the best things you can do is to listen. Listen to other guitarists and other instrumentalists as well as orchestras and listen to people talk; how their voice rises and falls with their intent. Music as well as talking is a description of environment, it is a series of sound used to conjure images of description.

Molding and Shaping was written by Logan L. Gabriel for Guitar Noise. A good guitar player you will be if you visit the above site. © 2012 Guitar Noise

First, we must define practice, it is a word that teachers throw around quite a bit but do not often elaborate. Now let’s put an end to popular myths surrounding practice.

MYTH: Practice makes perfect.

FACT: Practice makes permanent. In the words Al Woods (Tiger’s Dad), “Practice makes permanent, PERFECT PRACTICE makes perfect.” The fact of the matter is that if you let mistakes work their into your playing you practice the mistakes not the proper material. You are now probably saying, “Well of course i’m going to make mistakes that’s why I’ve got to practice!” Yes, you are going to make mistakes but they can be minimized. The way to minimize is to play slowly.

MYTH: In order to play fast I have to practice fast.

FACT: You need to be able to think while you play. Aaron Shearer, a famous classical guitar pedagogue was an advocate of “aim directed movement”, which is having a clear understanding of where the fingers need to go before you move them there. Aim directed movement can only be accomplished by slow practice.

One very important part of practice that a lot of players overlook is that of visualization. Some of the most constructive practice can be achieved without even touching a guitar! The best thing about visualization is that it can be done almost anywhere.

Try this:

1. Sit down and close your eyes.
2. Picture yourself playing a guitar from your normal point of view. In other words do not picture yourself as though you were watching in the audience, but that you are looking down at your hands as the actual player.
3. In your mind “feel” yourself playing just open strings. “feel” i and m prepare and follow through as you play the open high e string.

After a while of doing just the open high e string try moving through the rest of the strings, paying close attention to detail. After you have gotten the hang of the open strings try playing a simple first position scale like C major. this is a little harder because now you have to visualize the right and the left hand. This is a little tricky but no more trickier than syncronizing the two hands, in actuality, it will happen it just takes time.

I believe it was Elliot Gould who was infamous for memorizing works of music while in transit to his next concert and then being able to play those pieces in concert from memory.

MYTH: I don’t need to warm up.

FACT: Would a football player ever dream of taking the field without first stretching, same for a gymnast, he or she would never dream of it. The question is, why do so many guitarist and instrumentalists in general perform or practice without first warming up? My teacher Ben Verdery told me that his doctor who specializes in “musical injuries” said that out of all musicians the guitar has the most. What can you do? The first thing you can do is to do things like touch your toes, stretch out your arms, do some shoulder rolls, do some wrist rolls, anything to get the blood flowing to all the individual body parts.

Musically you must warm up as well. You should have an arsenal of easy etudes and preludes to play through before you tackle your major repertoire. Maybe some Carcassi etudes or Sor studies, Tarrega, Giuliani, Coste, Aguado, Carulli, all these composers wrote some very effective and useful etudes and easy pieces that are great for getting the fingers moving. Also, do not neglect the importance of DAILY scale and arpeggio study. The study of scales and arpeggios does not have to be in the form of monotonous position scales and Giuliani’s 120 studies for the right hand. They can take the form of etudes. Carcassi 1 from 25 melodious etudes by Matteo Carcassi edited by Emilio Pujol, contains tons of C major scale runs, while etude 1 by Heitor Villa-Lobos is great for arpeggios. There is an incredible amount of works to be found on practicing scales and arpeggios so explore what’s out there.

MYTH: I don’t need to practice reading music.

FACT: You better believe you do! The way to practice sight reading is to have various collections of easy pieces at your disposal (pieces that are well below your technical abilities) and just sight read them. As your sight reading gets better you will be able to read harder pieces and at an increasingly swifter pace. Remember that reading music and becoming proficient at it is difficult, there is no magic pill or formula and no esoteric teaching that will make you become a great sight reader overnight. The only thing that will make you become a great reader is to just DO IT! Also use visualization as a tool for sight reading. Get a piece of music and read it as though it were a newspaper or book and picture yourself playing the piece as you read it.

One of the most overlooked things pertaining to practice is that you must have a game plan. Don’t think that you need to practice for 10 hours a day in order to have a successful session. The truth of the matter is that you can have a very successful session in about 20 minutes. Remember you do not have to practice everything at once. when you sit for practice have a clear vision of what it is that you want to improve. For instance, If you want to work on a certain position switch in a certain scale then take that time (after warm up of course) and work on just that problem area. JUST THAT PROBLEM AREA, is the key. Stay focused, don’t let your mind wander, there is a difference between practice and doodling. Don’t get me wrong doodling has it’s place, I’ve stumbled across some of my favorite themes that way, but there is a time and place for everything. Beethoven said it best, “a musician must have the heart of a Gypsy and the discipline of a Soldier.”

The Art of Practice was written by Logan L. Gabriel for Guitar Noise. A good guitar player you will be if you visit the above site. © 2012 Guitar Noise

So, let’s begin with finger placement. The question that is probably on everybody’s mind is, from which point on the finger do I strike the string? First let’s address several issues. The first issue is that, if, you have ever shaken hands with a classical guitarist or seen a close up picture of his/her right hand, you would have seen that they have long nails on just the right hand. The nail is 50% responsible for, Tone, volume, and aids in accuracy, and speed.

If you don’t have long nails better start growing them, or if your natural nails are brittle try using fake nails. The fake nails are a little weird looking but they get the job done. The nail does not have to be very long. When you hold your hand up in front of your face with the palm towards you the tip of the nail should just peek up over the fingertip. Nail shape is very important and there are a lot of different ideas as to what shape works best. I shape my nail to the contour of my finger tip, rounded. It is also important to invest in some 600 grit sandpaper in order to keep the nail nice and smooth and snag free.

If you have ever played tennis or know someone who does you might have heard about hitting the ball from the “sweet spot” on the racket. As a guitar player it is your task to strike the string from the “sweet spot” on the nail. The sweet spot is the place where the nail meets the flesh. This is where you get the best tone and volume. Most guitarists will tell you that striking the string is a combination of flesh and nail. The truth of the matter is that striking the string is all nail. Put your i finger to the string and make sure that the string is in the crevase where nail meets flesh and notice that when the string is properly placed the only thing that is going to touch the string when you pull back is the nail. Try this experiment:

1. place the finger on the string so that the flesh touches.
2. Strike the string, notice that the tone is harsh.

Finger Preparation

Finger preparation is done to train the fingers to go the proper spot each time it’s also trains the fingers for proper movement and timing. The first use of preparation is with scales. Let’s take a first position Major scale. Here it is in tab.

Here is the sequence of finger preparation:

1. Prepare both the left hand finger and the right hand finger. Make sure that the left hand fingers play on their tips and that the fingers remained arched. Make sure that throughout the scale that you are playing from the sweet spot of the finger.
2. For the sake of argument let us begin the scale with the i finger of the right hand. As soon as i plays m will shoot onto it’s respective sting and await your command to play.
3. As soon as m plays i will shoot out and prepare and wait to play it’s note.

This sequence between i and m will occur throughout the entire scale. You should notice that if you are playing this properly the notes will be stacatto ( short and quick). Staccato notes during this exercise are good it shows that you are preparing the fingers quickly and accurately. As you master this placement of the fingers try using what is called a continuity stroke. This is when you still prepare the notes but instead of right away it is at the last possible second. The continuity stroke results in a legato ( smooth and flowing) sound which is the desired end result of the training. The preparation will train the fingers to go to that “sweet spot” each time.

The second place we will use a preparation stroke is arpeggios. There are two kinds of preparation strokes when it comes to arpeggios, the first one is, Full preparation, the second is sequental preparation. Full preparation is used when arpeggios are ascending. Using open strings prepare you fingers like this:

• p on the sixth string
• i on the third string
• m on the second string
• a on the first string

The order and sequence of preparation is as follows:

1. p plays the sixth string
2. i plays the third string
3. m plays the second string
4. a plays the first string, the instant that a plays it’s string p should immediately go to it’s string and prepare
5. The instant p plays its string i, m, and a immediately go to their respective strings and prepare.
6. i plays its string
7. m plays its string
8. a plays its string, the instand that a plays it’s string p should immediately go to its string and prepare, where the whole process repeated over and aver again until it is mastered.

The sequential preparation is done when arpeggios are descending. Here is the sequence for sequential preparation:

1. p plays the sixth string, immediately a goes to the first string and prepares.
2. a plays its string, immediately m goes to the second string and prepares.
3. m plays its string, immediately i goes to the third string and prepares.
4. i plays its string and immediately p goes to its string and prepares.

From here the process is repeated over and over again until mastered.

Just like in the scale section of preparation strokes you eventually want to abandon the prepared stroke in favor of the continuity stroke, which will give you that smooth legato sound. For now though really work that prepared stroke in order to train the fingers to move. If this is all a little overwhelming remember slow practice is the key, concentration and focus are essential.

Rock Guitarist as Classical Guitarist (Part 3) – Finger Placement and Finger Preparation was written by Logan L. Gabriel for Guitar Noise. A good guitar player you will be if you visit the above site. © 2012 Guitar Noise

There are two different ways of sounding a string. The first is called the Free Stroke, the second is called the Rest Stroke. The free stroke is what we will concentrate on first, since it is the stroke you will use the most. The free stroke is executed by preparing the finger on the string then playing the string allowing the finger tip to come into the palm of the hand. The following is a list of questions you should ask yourself.

1. Did I keep my wrist relatively flat?
2. Did I keep my wrist in line with my forearm?
3. Did I follow through?

Follow through? Follow through is the natural expulsion of muscular energy without opposed muscular force to stop the motion. This is clarified by an analogy. Let us say that you and a friend are rolling a ball. You roll the ball and it stops on it’s own without any outside interference. That is proper follow through. Now, your friend rolls the ball and you jump in front of it stopping it before it has had a chance to stop on its own, this is not following through. To apply this to the free stroke, if you strike the string you must allow the finger to stop on its own without any opposable muscular force to stop it. The finger must go into the palm of the hand and stop because it has naturally expelled the energy that originally set it in motion.

This is important because if you fail to follow through, you are using excessive muscular energy, first the energy to set the finger in motion, secondly to stop it. Using proper follow through we expel energy once and that is to set the finger in motion. If we fail to observe proper follow through, this will lead to muscle fatigue, which results in lack of control, tone, balance, accuracy, and speed. Remember to keep the knuckles of the hand over the strings being played.

The second way to sound a string is by the rest stroke. To execute the rest stroke, the same hand position should be kept as far as the alignment of wrist and forearm, and arch of the wrist. The only difference is that the fingers should extend a little more. As a result of extending the fingers the knuckles will be slightly offset to the strings being played. Now we get to sounding the string. Strike the string, and this time instead of allowing the finger to come to the palm of the hand, the finger should come into the string directly behind it. For instance, if you strike the first string with i, after striking the first sting, i should come into the second string.

There is a major difference between the rest stroke and the free stroke. The free stroke has more of a gentler tone whereas the rest stroke is louder and fuller in tone. The free stroke is what we use to play arpeggios and multiple voiced passages. The rest stroke is primarily used for fast scales. That’s not to say that you will never play scales with free stroke, because you will. For example if you are playing a composition and you have a passage you are playing free stroke because it is multi voiced, and there is a quick scale passage thrown in then a quick return to free stroke, it would be unwise to make the switch from free to rest because if it is a short enough passage the switch would use to much energy. Plus, rest stroke being the stronger of the two might unbalance the line and upset the phrasing. The rest stroke will be used in the context of free stroke an example might be that you are playing accompanying arpeggios with p, i, m, and the melody is with the a finger. By, playing the melody with the a finger using free stroke would make the melody indistinguishable from the accompaniment. In such a case a would use a rest stroke which would clearly set it apart.

To practice these two strokes, run through scales, using free and rest strokes. To practice arpeggios there is no better way than by obtaining a copy of Giuliani’s 120 studies for the right hand (this can be purchased at any music store, and if they don’t have it they can order it for you.)

Well I hope you enjoyed this lesson. I look forward to next week when we will be talking about finger placement.

Rock Guitarist as Classical Guitarist (Part 2) – Finger Movement was written by Logan L. Gabriel for Guitar Noise. A good guitar player you will be if you visit the above site. © 2012 Guitar Noise

The first thing we must address when conditioning the right hand is it’s position to the strings. Firstly lay the hand flat over the strings. It is important to keep the hand parallel to the sound board, for reasons which I will explain later. Next, curl the Index, Middle, and Ring finger until the Index (i), is touching the G string, The Middle (m) is touching the B string and the ring (a) is touching the high E. It is important at the time to look at the wrist. Here is a list of questions you should ask yourself at this point:

1. Is my wrist in line with my forearm? This is important because if your wrist is bent in either direction the tendons now have to pull around a corner, this can aggravate the tendons causing pain and any number of injuries.
2. Is my wrist flat? If the wrist is arched it affects the angle of attack of the fingers to the strings. An arched wrist can affect tone, volume, speed and accuracy. Keep in mind that a collapsed writ is just as bad as an excessively arched one.

The next thing we need to do is to bring the thumb (p) into contact with the low E string. One thing I have noticed in my years as a teacher is that as soon as this position is obtained the student begins to panic and immediately rests the little finger (c) on the sound board. The problem with this is that it restricts the use of a and also causes the hand to rotate causing the i finger to have “reach” now for the strings whereas before they were readily accessible. The same is true of rotating the hand into the guitar.

Let’s examine the right hand fingers and their relationship to the strings in terms of length. The i finger falls quite naturally onto the strings reaching them with retaliative ease. The m finger being the longest in relationship to i and a has no problem reaching the strings no matter which way the wrist is rotated. The a finger on the other hand in dramatically hindered because of it’s length. If the hand is rotated towards the guitar the strings in their relationship to the a finger get farther away resulting in an big stretch. This is why the hand must be kept parallel to the soundboard, for the sake of making the length of the fingers the same.

A good exercise to practice keeping the hand in this position is to play p on the low E, the i on the G, the m on the B string and the a on the high E, in successive order. Play this over and over in front of a mirror in order to keep an eye on the hand positioning and you have taken the first step toward a superior right hand technique.

Rock Guitarist as Classical Guitarist (Part 1) was written by Logan L. Gabriel for Guitar Noise. A good guitar player you will be if you visit the above site. © 2012 Guitar Noise