Learn about guitar

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My music is evidence of my soul’s will to live

Charles Mingus (1922-1979)

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joe satriani great lesson on guitar modes part 1 (by kourfal)

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Montgomery worked in a factory from 7:00 am to 3:00 pm, then performed in local clubs from 9:00 pm to 2:00 am.

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The Andertons Jazz Guitar Masterclass (Featuring Alex Hutchings and Pete Callard) (by RobChappers)

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Al's Guitar Tips for Classical Guitar

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Triste n5

Trying my new José Ramírez 125 años:

[hoppip]

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Tommy Emmanuel on Practicing

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Tom Feldmann - The Power of One Person and his Guitar

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Taking ideas from one person is stealing. Taking ideas from many is research

Carlos Santana

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The Frog Galliard - John Dowland

The Frog Galliard is a composition by John Dowland (1563 – 1626). Dowland is one of the most admired English medieval composer. He was also a singer and lutenist. Recently, his instrumental music has undergone a major revival, and many of his pieces have been adapted from lute to guitar, and became part of the classical guitar repertoire. No long ago, in 2006, Sting released Songs from the Labyrinth, that features Dowland's songs. It has not been confirmed why John Dowland's Frog Galliard has this curious title.This piece was very popular and well-known in its time.

There exist six known versions for lute of the Frogg Galliard, but only one carries Dowland's autograph. It differs from the others primarily in the varied repeat of the first strain, which consists of virtuosic triplets over a trochaic bass line drawn from the first strain. The most unusual aspect of Dowland's Frogg Galliard is its trochaic rhythm, which persists throughout the piece (as well as in "Now, O now").

From: http://www.answers.com/topic/the-frog-galliard-for-lute-p-23

The piece is played by Scott Tennant, the author of the acclaimed series of instructional books: Pumping Nylon. These series are a fenomenal resource to improve your technique and overall sound.

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Arpeggio practice: Romance Anónimo aka Anonymous Romance aka Romance d'amour

One of the best pieces to start practicing arpeggios is "Romance Anónimo" (Anonymous Romance). It has been a highly controversial issue to establish who composed this piece. Narciso Yepes confessed in a radio interview that we composed the Romance when we was 7 years old. Although it is true that part of its popularity is owed to him, it is doubtful that he was the composer since it was known before he was born.It clearly influenced the initial arpeggio of Nothing Else Matters, by Metallica.

Leaving this controversy aside, the composition is part of the repertoire of many classical guitar players. Overall this is an easy piece for the right hand once the arpeggio pattern becomes familiar, however, some left-hand stretches require a certain opening up of the hand.

About the structure, it is quite simple. The composition is divided in three parts: starts in E minor, goes to E major and back to E minor as a restatement of the first section.

Curiously, the right hand plays an inverted arpeggio throughout the whole piece (a-m-i). This arpeggio form is the same as that of the Tárrega study in E minor. For this reason it is an ideal piece to practice arpeggios and work on your tone. My advise when practicing is to:

 -          Control the volume. First step is just try to make each note sound the same. On performance an effort should be made to bring out the melody, playing the second and third notes of each triplet group slightly softer than the first.

-          Practice with the metronome before trying to play rubato.

-          Put a little bit of emphasis on the bass note.

 You can download the tablature at http://www.classtab.org/zanroman.txt

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Tip of the day

Control and accuracy are above speed. Practice slow and then speed up trying not to lose accuracy and control.

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The starting point

We all do have limits. We are not all gonna be able to play as fast as Paco de Lucia. But that is alright, because he is Paco de Lucia, and we are us, and you are you.

Scott Tennant. Pumping Nylon: The Classical Guitarist's Technique Handbook.