Archive for: June 2008

If you are interested in learning about the classical guitar and are wondering how to play it, you might enjoy this post on the ways the classical guitar is different from other acoustic guitars and the techniques employed in playing classical guitar music. I have found some YouTube videos to illustrate the various classical guitar techniques.

Electric guitars and steel string acoustic guitars usually have a cutaway neck to allow the guitar player to fret notes at the top end of the scale. This type of neck is actually a modern innovation. Even though classical guitar players and composers have always made use of the uppermost notes on the guitar fretboard, classical guitars stuck with the original guitar shape. On the steel string acoustic guitar the neck is slightly narrower than the original design retained by the classical guitar. If you try to play a classical guitar for the first time you will probably find this difference a little hard to get used to.

The classical guitar uses nylon strings. They give you a very warm, mellow sound. The use of nylon strings is due partly to tradition and partly to the fact that steel strings are alot harder on the guitar player’s fingernails. The basic difference between classical guitar and other kinds of fingerstyle guitar playing is that plectrums and fingerpicks are not used by classical guitarists. The sound produced is a product of the guitar player’s fingertips or fingernails plucking or striking the nylon strings. It is the guitar player’s choice whether to use nails or just the flesh of the fingertips. Many people think that it is more difficult to play the guitar without nails, but players who just use their fingertips say it is no more difficult to learn to play that way. If you have your right hand close to the bridge of the guitar you will produce a sharp, dry tone. If you pluck the strings with your right hand nearer the neck you will get a deeper, more mellow sound.

The plucking of the classical guitar strings can be done in two ways. The “rest” stroke is where the thumb or the fingers pluck the string and come to rest on the next string.

The “free” stroke is where the thumb and fingers attack the string in such a way as to avoid the adjacent strings.

When you try to use these techniques you will notice the marked difference in sound. Another technique used in classical guitar playing is the tremelo technique where the right hand thumb plays a bass note followed by the index, middle and ring fingers playing melody notes in quick succession.

A famous piece employing the tremelo is Recuerdos de la Alhambra by Francisco Tárrega.

Finally a rather tricky technique is used for playing solos using the sound of harmonics. This involves the right hand index finger damping the string while the ring finger plucks.

When you play chords by scraping the right hand fingers or thumb across the strings it is called a rasgueado. You can strum chords with the thumb using a down stroke, the index finger using up or down strokes or, less commonly, by using the flamenco rasgueado which entails the little finger, ring finger, middle finger, index finger following each other in a down stroke across the strings.

If you are interested in playing classical guitar or using classical techniques to play modern music, sheet music and tabs for classical guitar are readily available on the internet.

Technorati Tags: classical guitar, classical guitar music, YouTube videos, classical guitar techniques

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I used to believe that the main element in learning how to play the guitar is simply practice. It looked like a reasonable assumption to make but later I realized practice is just one of many parts of the process of learning how to play guitar. The elements of the guitar playing recipe I wish to talk about now are patience, planning and persistence. I mostly try to avoid alot of theory and philosophy so I will try to use the qualities of persistence and patience to assist me in finding a direction learning to play the guitar.

Persistence and patience are often described as qualities but too much of any quality is not a good thing. It is simple to visualize patience when exercised too much can lead to absence of motivation and avoiding taking action. Persistence, if taken in too large a dose, leads to rigidity, meaningless repetition of exercises and the triumph of routine over flexibility. So I should not go overboard in rigidly practicing plectrum strokes or arpeggios for a certain time each day or going the other way and only practicing when my muse visits me.

A plan is the secret ingredient in learning to balance qualities of persistence and patience. A plan can be like a parent watching me and reminding me if I move away from my original aim of learning the guitar. If I have a solid understanding of the practical, real-world things that I need to begin to play the guitar my little psychological shortcomings will not hinder my progress. For example, if I want to learn to play songs I need to listen to as many artists as I can in my favorite genre and I also need to learn chords. I need to decide as I go along how to balance learning by observing other guitarists with the discipline of opening a music book and learning three more chords, or familiar chords in new positions.

I have written down my plan and I keep it in a safe place so it is always there to return to. If my memory fails, the written plan is there to remind me. If I do not practice the guitar for six months, my plan is there to help me begin again without delay.

So I write down what I think I need to progress with my guitar playing. I need to keep the guitar tuned so I download a tuner from the internet or bookmark an online guitar tuner. I need to find some sheet music for songs I want to learn to play and some chord charts so that I know where to put my fingers when I am learning these songs. Having all these kinds of resources are an important part of my plan to learn the guitar because having my stuff at my fingertips stops me from wasting time. If I am not learning the guitar from a teacher, I need to set myself an aim to achieve each week. I write down that I will have learnt a song or three new chords by next week. Next, I write down how much time I need to spend on practicing chords, learning theory or listening to music.

So if I have a plan for each week, I look at how well I have succeeded so I can see what my aim for next week will be. Once the initial work is done on creating a plan I can get on with learning to play.

Technorati Tags: learning how to play the guitar

If you can find free guitar tabs of the great blues guitar players on the internet, they will be a great help to you in your journey towards being a blues guitarist yourself.

An great way you can learn to play blues guitar is to listen to the work of the pioneer blues musicians and learn their material. The music you will be learning will be made up of riffs and licks you can adapt for your own original way of playing your music. The
feeling that listening to the great blues guitar players generates is unique to them, and hopefully you will be able to communicate to your own audiences on an emotional level.

It is time to mention briefly some of the techniques you will employ when you are learning to play blues guitar. Of course, no one technique is exclusive to any particular genre, but the ones I list here will be your means of communicating your own feeling of the blues. There are a techniques for playing notes without picking the string with the plectrum or your right hand fingers. First, String Bending which means bending the guitar string with the fingers of your left hand to alter the note you are playing up or down. Or you can press on the string, pluck the note and Slide it up or down. If you pick a note at the first fret and remove your finger with a pulling action it will sound the note you just played followed by the sound of the open string. This is called a pull-off.
Likewise you can pluck a note and while holding it with the first finger, slam the second finger down on the next fret. That is a hammer-on.

These techniques are much easier to do than they are to talk about, so make use of on-line videos to watch guitarists and you will gradually be able to recognize these techniques. You will also be able to see when blues guitarists play single-note scale
passages and when they prefer to use arpeggios, but that will take some practice at listening.

An obvious choice to look for is Eric Clapton, one of the greatest guitar players ever. His music has always been based in the blues even though he has successfully played rock, reggae and ballads. Standouts among many great songs include After Midnight, Hide Away, Bad Love, Badge, Before You Accuse Me (Take A Look At Yourself), Cocaine, Cross Road Blues (Crossroads), Forever Man, Hard Times, Have You Ever Loved A Woman, I Ain’t Got You, I Can’t Stand It, I Feel Free, I Shot The Sheriff, Lay Down Sally, Layla, Let It Grow, Strange Brew, Sunshine Of Your Love, Tulsa Time, White Room and Wonderful Tonight.

B.B. King is a blues legend who you should seek out in videos and in tab collections. He always records and performs with first class musicians who are at the top of their form. His songs have that spark of spontaneity as if he was making up the words and music as he goes along but there is never a hesitation over a lyric and never a note out of place. Songs include Beautician Blues, Five Long Years, Just like a Woman, Riding with the King, Rock Me Baby, Sweet Sixteen, Three O’Clock Blues, The Thrill Is Gone, Why I Sing the Blues, You Upset Me Baby.

Chuck Berry was one of the first singer/guitarists to bring that intangible element to blues music which gave the world rock and roll. Johnny B. Goode, Maybellene, Rock And Roll Music are three of his songs included in the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. Others are Back in the U.S.A., Little Queenie, Roll Over Beethoven, Sweet Little Rock and Roller, Too Much Monkey Business, No Particular Place To Go and Carol.

As you listen to these great blues artists and try to read and play the guitar tabs of their music, you will find that the technical side of learning blues guitar is not so hard. Good luck with actually playing The blues!

To whet your appetite, here is a YouTube video of BB King Eric Clapton Buddy Guy Jim Vaughn:

Technorati Tags: free guitar tabs, blues guitar players, Eric Clapton, B.B. King, Chuck Berry