Category: Classical Guitar

If you are into fingerstyle acoustic guitar you really should take a look at the free guitar tab for Classical Gas. Classical Gas is one of the most requested and most familiar instrumental pieces of all time. Classical Gas is always asked for whenever a bunch of people and a nylon string acoustic guitar are in the same room. It is not really a great technical showcase for finger style guitarists but it is a great vehicle to show off the sound of the classical guitar.

The composer, Mason Williams, states on his website, “I didn’t really have any big plans for it, other than maybe to have a piece to play at parties when they passed the guitar around. I envisioned it as simply repertoire or “fuel” for the classical guitar, so I called it Classical Gasoline.” Mason Williams’ day job was as a comedy writer and stand-up comedian who had lots of other projects besides writing a classical guitar instrumental.

It was Mason Williams’ work on the Smothers Brothers’ “Comedy Hour” which gave him the opportunity to have his pet composition heard by the American public. The original score of the piece shows only chords and a few notes. Mason Williams had a twenty-three year old composer named Mike Post finish off the arrangement.

At the Grammys it won Best Instrumental Composition and Best Instrumental Performance for Mason Williams and Best Instrumental Arrangement for Mike Post who has had a career full of triumphs in the field of TV theme music. His latest victory is the theme(s) for the “Law And Order” series.

Classical Gas has been employed as the theme music for several news programs, the background music for the Apollo 4 movie, and featured in a number of other movies and TV shows. Many people have mistakenly attributed Mason Williams’ solo version of the tune for a cover by Eric Clapton.

Despite the way it sounds, Classical Gas is not a difficult piece to play. Just take your time to go through the guitar tab, until you are sure you can hear the piece in your head as you go.
Here is a link to Classical Gas Tab at www.Ultimate-Guitar.Com
The YouTube video of Mason Williams playing Classical Gas was made in 2006.

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Trevor Maurice has been playing classical guitar since before he was born, and he is determined to share his love of classical guitar with the world. His website, learnclassicalguitar.com is home to all kinds of information and inspiration on the classical guitar. Trevor’s monthly e-zine contains:
“Information-Packed Articles - Tips on good classical guitar technique and practice…
Composer & Player Highlights - The background, the drama, their life and times. Just what made them “tick”?
Guitar Reviews - Guitars and classical guitar makers.
Other Guitar-Related Product Reviews - What’s the best equipment to use? How do you record the guitar properly? etc etc.
FREE Music - From the masters of classical guitar in both music notation and tablature. Just take your pick!”
You will find pages devoted to the use of the metronome, the difference between tab and music notation, how to play barre chords, basic flamenco technique and a boatload of other stuff. If you spend half an hour perusing Trevor’s site you will come away with a thirst to learn more about this wonderful instrument.
Visit the list of classical guitar related subjects on learnclassicalguitar.com!

Technorati Tags: classical guitar, classical guitar technique, classical guitar makers, flamenco technique

From a site devoted to classical guitar, here’s an extremely useful lesson on guitar tabs. On the same page is another reminder to PRACTICE SLOWLY!
“Guitar tablature is a way of reading guitar notes, chords and music using a six-lined staff. It looks similar to the music staff that is used in music notation but is in fact a graphic representation of the six strings of a guitar.
It seems strange that slow practice should help in the attainment of greater speed, but the fact has been stated and restated by musicians and teachers. What seems to happen is that a very positive and accurate habit is formed, so that there is no vagueness or uncertainty when the movement is played at a faster speed”
http://www.learnclassicalguitar.com/guitar-tablature.html

Technorati Tags: classical guitar, guitar tabs, Guitar tablature