|
Measures can be of different lengths to accommodate different rhythms. The initial measure length is specified at the beginning of the piece. It takes the form of a fraction, the upper number expressing how many beats in each measure, and the lower one the length of each beat. Here’s how it looks:
This indicates four beats to the measure (the upper number). The lower number specifies that each beat has a duration of a quarter note. We call this “four four time.” This is the most common time in music, so is often shown by the abbreviation
The three on top indicates that there will be three beats. The eight below shows that each beat will last an eighth note. We would refer to this as “three eight time.”
How to Count Time
Knowledge of the mathematical lengths of the notes is only useful upto a point. More important is how to relate these to the onward flow ofthe music, and this is done by counting the beats. It is the same asbeating time to music that you hear—you respond to the beats and tapyour foot accordingly. But when you become the player, you have toestablish your own beat to set the time.
Here are some examples to put this into practice:
First count these measures evenly as shown, with a slight extra stress onthe first beat of each one.
Now try these measures with varying note lengths. See if you can tap out the notes while
keeping an even count., i.e.:
Here is an example in 3/4 time. Notice the dot after the half note which increases its time by half again. Thus, it gets three counts instead of two:
Now let’s try this with the guitar, playing the tablature notes instead of just tapping. Use alternating rest strokes for the melody (counting practice #1):
It is very important to try to count at the same time as you play. It seems a lot to remember at this stage, but if you try it a few times you will find it becomes quite natural. This will help tremendously later, when you start reading regular music notation. Now here is an example in 3/4 time (counting practice #2):
Be careful in the second to last measure, where the rhythm is a little different.
Read more...!
The length of individual notes is easy to express simply by having a different symbol for each length. Also, it is necessary to specify periods of silence when required between notes. These silences are called rests, and they have symbols corresponding to the duration of the notes. Here are the common ones.
As previously mentioned, music is conventionally divided off into measures or bars. We usually prefer to use the term measure, because, as we shall see later, bar has an alternative meaning in guitar music.
Read more...!
Written music can serve many purposes. It can help us remember what we have heard oncebefore. But it can also help us learn something we’ve never heard—and thus expand ourmusical horizons.
Luckily, guitar tablature—the easiest way of writing down music for the guitar—is simple tounderstand, once you know the basics. It can be your doorway to an entirely new world ofmusic. So let’s spend a few minutes familiarizing ourselves with the basics of tablature.
Guitar Tablature
In the earliest days, music for the guitar was written in a form known as tablature. Thissystem indicates exactly where the fingers are to be placed by showing the strings as six lines,with numbers (or letters) representing the frets. Here is an example:
- The word TAB is conventionally placed at the beginning of the line to distinguish these lines from those of the musical staff. Here, the lines represent the six strings, the first string being the top line.
- “0” stands for open string. Play the first string with the right hand; do nothing with the left.
- “1” stands for the first fret. Place a finger behind the first fret on the same string. Play the note.
- “3” stands for the third fret. Finger the third fret, play the note.
- The vertical line marks off the measures, as in conventional notation.
Note that the numbers have nothing to do with the fingers. In this example they happen to coincide, but they refer only to the frets.
Now try playing these examples in succession:
If something sounds familiar, you’re doing well!
The rhythm can be expressed in various ways in tablature, but before discussing this we need to learn some basics in this area.
Read more...!
When the notes of a chord are played in succession rather than together the expressionarpeggio is used.
At its simplest, an arpeggio can mean simply playing the notes of the chord one after theother. For the upward arpeggio this can be achieved with precision if the notes of the chordare prepared in advance.
Here is how to do a simple upward arpeggio with open strings:
- Prepare both hands as if to play a chord
- Play the sixth string with the thumb, without moving the fingers. Do a rest stroke, andleave the thumb on the fifth string. This helps to support the hand.
- Play the index finger note (the third string), leaving the middle and ring fingers inplace. Use a free stroke.
- Play the middle-finger note (the second string), leaving the ring finger in place. (This ismore tricky.)
- Finally, play the first string with the ring finger.
- Replace thumb and fingers, ready to start again.
Here is a pictorial representation of the movements.
 After all fingers are prepared the thumb plays.
 Next, the index finger plays, leaving the others in place.
 The middle finger plays, without any movement of the ring finger.
 The ring finger plays.
The right-hand fingers are usually indicated by the first letters of their Italian or Spanish
names. They are easy to remember since i and m are used for the index and middle fingers.
For the ring or annular finger a is used, and the thumb is represented by p (for the Spanish
pulgar). Thus the right-hand fingering for the above arpeggio would be p-i-m-a.
p thumb
i index
m middle
a annula
r (ring) finger
Practice the p-i-m-a arpeggio until you can do it smoothly, and then try it on the otherchords, remembering to use the thumb on the appropriate strings. Choose the lowest one forthe thumb and the top three for the fingers.
For the reverse arpeggio p-a-m-i, it is not necessary to place all the fingers in advance. Just theoutside fingers, p and a, are sufficient.
After becoming reasonably familiar with the physical movements involved for chords,arpeggios, and single-note alternation, it is time to play some actual tunes and accompani-ments, and to do this we need to learn ways that the tunes can be written down. Then wecan move on to learning songs and chording.
Read more...!
The free stroke is used in chords, in arpeggios as demonstrated below, and in single-notesituations where the rest stroke is not practical. It differs from the rest stroke in that thefinger comes clear of the adjacent string at the end of the movement.
Successive notes played with the free stroke use alternation in the same way. Try playing theexercise that you did with the rest stroke and you will notice the different sound. Goodplayers are able to develop a full sound that almost has the quality of a rest stroke.
Read more...!
As a general rule, the same finger does not perform successive rest strokes. It takes too muchtime to prepare the same finger for a second stroke when another finger could be ready tostart. The commonest way to play a passage of single notes is to alternate the index (i) andmiddle (m) fingers. The motion is like walking the fingers in place—as one plays, the othermoves back to be ready for the next note.
Practical Work
As a first experiment, try playing a succession of notes on the top string, starting with i andalternating with m. Try to keep the notes even and matching each other in sound. Then dothe same thing starting with m.
Note that some players, particularly those specializing in flamenco, develop a preference forstarting single-note runs with a particular finger, usually i. This is in fact counterproductivebecause the best finger for starting a run depends on the specific passage.
Now try the second string, playing i-m-i-m-i-m-i-m, then m-i-m-i-m-i-m-i.
Finally, do the same practice on the third string.
After that, try the same exercise that you did with the left hand alone, playing the first fourfrets of each string, this time with both hands.
When you reach the highest note, come back down the guitar playing the frets in the orderfour, three, two, one on all the strings. This makes an excellent daily warm-up exercise.
If you try the string changes reversing the fingers, i.e., using i-m where I have suggested m-i,you will find making the change from string to string harder. This is a basic principle offingering—where possible, we cross strings as shown above. However, we need to be able todo it both ways, because the easy method of crossing is not always practical.
Read more...!
Up to now, most of what we have covered could be played with a pick, but we will bestudying arpeggios that are much easier to play with the fingers. For the single-note melodiesthat follow, a pick could be used, but now is a good moment to learn the principal strokerest stroke.used for melody lines on the finger-style and classical guitar, known as the rest stroke.
The rest stroke is the technique that produces the fullest sound from a single note. It isplayed by plucking the string in such a way that, when the movement is completed, thefingertip comes to rest on the adjacent string—hence the name.
Here are the steps:
- The fingertip is placed on the string in preparation.
- As the nail passes the string it catches and sounds the note.
- The fingertip ends the movement on the next string.
- notIt is most important to keep the finger slightly curved—do let the joint yield as thenail plays the note, because this will weaken your attack.
The rest stroke is quite a subtle movement, because small adjustments can mean a consider-able improvement in tone quality. It is fun to experiment with this, and good habits devel-oped at this stage will ensure maximum progress. Take a look at it now from another angle.This picture shows the nail sliding off the string at a slight angle, with the finger slanted soas to engage the string with less-than-maximum nail. This change in axis from a head-onapproach softens the attack of the finger to produce a more delicate sound.
 Try these movements out now to see if you can produce a full and beautiful sound. Remem-ber that the state of the nail is important since rough areas will catch and produce a gratingsound.
Here are the main points to remember: - Prepare to play by positioning the finger on the fingertip with the nail projecting overthe string.
- Press the string down slightly before playing.
- For a strong attack, play with more nail, i.e., with the center of the nail.
- For a subtler sound angle the nail and the stroke.
Read more...!
Now that you have some playing experience under your belt, we can move ahead to somemore interesting playing styles. This chapter covers the basics of playing individual notes,rather than just strumming chords. To learn to play melodies, we have to learn more sophis-ticated right-hand playing techniques.
This chapter introduces two of the more common styles of playing individual notes: the reststroke and the free stroke. By learning these techniques, you will be able to play notescleanly and easily, with a full sound. These techniques will lay the basis for all of your futureplaying, so we will break down their components so you can quickly understand and masterthem.
Read more...!
This is a good time to review what you have learned so far, since the early instruction is fairlyintense and there is much to remember. Answering these questions will help the memory.
- Why use the classical position at this stage ?
- What are the important points related to positioning the guitar ?
- Can you play the C, F, G7, Am, and Dm chords ?
- Are chords played with the fingertips or the nails ?
- To see your hands, should you lean your head forward or pull the guitar back ?
- What is a bar line? Why is it used ?
The Least You Need to Know
- Holding the right hand over the strings in the proper position will help you play moreeasily.
- Classical guitar players need to keep their nails carefully shaped, just long enough toplay the strings.
- How to play simple chords.
- How to add rhythm to your chord progressions.
- How to play in waltz rhythm.
Read more...!
Once you can do the waltz pattern, try changing the chords from C toG7 and back again. You will find that this is actually easier thanplaying full chords, because initially you only have one string to find.However, it is good to prepare the complete chord with both hands.
Next you can try an actual piece—the popular folk song “Clementine.”As practiced, the first beat is with the thumb followed by the twochords with the fingers. Notice that the music is divided off by verticallines known as bar lines. The space between the lines represents the barsinto which music is divided. The divisions make it easier to keep trackof the rhythm and stress, because there is a slight accent on the firstbeat of each measure.
If you know the song “Clementine,” try humming or singing along. If not, just play thesuccession of chords as shown. Where you see the chord name play the thumb, then the twochords.
Now see if you can fit the chords to the chorus without all the beats marked.
Read more...!
Varieties of rhythm, be they blues, waltz, or juapango, are introduced by the varied move-ments of the right hand. A good pattern to start with is the familiar “oom-pah-pah” of waltzrhythm.
Returning to the C chord, we will play first a single note, the fifth string, with the thumb.Then the index, middle, and ring fingers will play the top three strings together.
Here are the main points:
- First, find the notes with the left hand, and with the right handrest the thumb and three fingers on the strings to be played.
- With the thumb, don’t let the joint bend. Push forward andupward so as to clear the fourth string. Then bring the threefingers out to clear the strings, sounding the notes with the nailsas you move through.
- Once you can do the movement, play the thumb once and thefingers twice to a count of three. Emphasize the first beat (thethumb stroke) slightly more than the fingers, counting ONE-two-three, ONE-two-three, ONE-two-three, etc.
Read more...!
When using a pick or simple thumb strums, the focus is mainly on playing all the availablenotes of a chord. However, as you progress you will find that you want to select certainnotes, and not necessarily those on adjacent strings. This can best be achieved by using thethumb and fingers of the right hand.
To play a chord with the fingers and thumb, first prepare the right hand by selecting thestrings to be played. Then squeeze the thumb forward and the fingers back to sound thechord. As the fingers play they will naturally curl upwards, and the thumb will travel slightlyupwards and toward the first finger. However, it is not necessary to pull the hand away fromthe strings, particularly when a succession of chords is to be played, because the hand mustquickly be back in position to select the notes for the new chord.
The illustrations show the preparation and completion positions of the chord.
 The fingers prepare toplay a chord (left). Thefingers after the chordhas been played (right).
As a practice, try each of the chords you know, choosing the top three strings with thefingers and the lowest note of the chord with the thumb. Remember to ignore the stringswhere there is an X. Try for a clear, ringing sound
.
Read more...!
With a nylon-strung classical guitar, the best sound is produced byplaying with the nails. The right-hand nails should be long enough tocatch and play the string, but no longer, because a long nail is animpedance and is more likely to break. As a guide, when you look atyour hand with the palm facing you, you should see a ridge of nailprojecting just above the fingertip and following its contour.
The nails should be shaped with a “diamond dust” or similar nail file,and after shaping a very fine finishing paper (600 grade or better) maybe used to polish off any rough edges. The result will be a pure tonewith no scratch to it.
Read more...!
It is important to establish a good playing position for the right hand at an early stage.Notice the position of the knuckles, running along the same line as the strings and not atright angles to them. Then see if you can position your hand so that—as you look down—you see the triangle formed between the thumb and first finger. The weight of the arm istaken on top of the guitar; don’t let the elbow slide over to the face because this turns thehand into a bad position.
This section is very important for your future progress, and as you are the teacher as well asthe student, you should check your position frequently in the early stages.
Read more...!
The reason that we’ve chosen to learn the C, F, and G7 chords is that these three chords arecommonly used to accompany many, many songs. In fact, there’s an entire series ofsongbooks published using just these three!
Minor Chords
Before moving on to work on the right hand, try these additional chords for further practice.Notice that the letter m beside a chord name denotes a minor chord. The plain letter (C, G,etc.) denotes a major chord. Major chords tend to sound brighter and more cheerful, whileminor chords have a more melancholy association. Practice in the order Am, Dm, E7, Am.
 As you play these chords, try again to see the “family” relationship between them. Noticethat the E7 leads naturally to the A minor. Try to become really familiar with these chords,because we will soon be coordinating them with the right hand to play some songs.
Read more...!
Changing chords takes a lot of practice at first, because the new chord must be found fromscratch as quickly as possible. To make this easier, it is important for the fingers to take theshortest route possible from the one chord to the other, while maintaining the generalposition of the left hand. First, try the G7 chord a few times by itself so as to become familiarwith it.
The G7 chord
Notice that the G7 chord uses all six strings.
The next stage is to play a C chord, change to the G7, then back to the C. Here are the pointsto watch:
- Notice that the first finger only has to move a short distance, from the second string tothe first. In the same way the second and third fingers also only have to move a dis-tance of one string, from the fourth and fifth to the fifth and sixth.
- Try the movement several times with just the left hand. Then, when you feel reason-ably familiar with the movement, play the chords with the right-hand thumb as before,remembering that the C chord uses only five strings.
- Notice how the G7 chord seems to need to resolve to the C chord. We’ll discuss thisfurther at a later point—for now just try to hear the relationship.
After those changes are coming smoothly, try adding the F chord to complete the groupmost closely related to the C chord. Practice them in the order C, F, G7, C. Notice that the first finger covers two strings. The technique of covering more than onestring with the first finger is known as “barring,” as explained below. For now, simply turnthe finger sideways so that the pad can cover the two strings. The F chord
Read more...!
Chords are groups of notes that, when played together, make a pleasant sound. Chords areused to accompany melodies. Each chord is named for its bass note, and is made up of thefirst (bass note), third, and fifth notes in a scale. The first thing most people want to learn todo on the guitar is to play simple chords.
The first chord we learn is known as the C chord, since it is built on the bass note C.
Fingering the C chord
Try placing the fingers as in the illustration, keeping the following points in mind:
- Press just behind the fret. If you are too far back the string will buzz against the fret.
- Keep a slight curve on the fingers—don’t let the joints straighten out or give way.
- Keep the thumb behind the neck, slightly forward of the first fret. Don’t bend this joint—keep it back.
- Don’t press too hard. Accuracy is more important than force.
- When you are ready, sound the chord by sweeping your thumb across the upper fivestrings.
There is a great pleasure in hearing your first chord when the guitar is in tune and resonant.When you have it right, take the hand away and do it again from scratch. Continue untilyou can find the chord quite easily.
There is a fair amount of detail involved in the correct placement of the left hand, and goodhabits formed at this stage will pay off tremendously as you continue.
The chord can be shown graphically in various ways. Perhaps the easiest to recognize is thechord block showing part of the guitar fingerboard with round dots representing the fingertips.
 A chord block showingthe C chord
Notice that the fingering is shown by the numbers at the top of the strings. Number 1 represents the index finger, 2 the middle finger, 3 the ring finger, and 4 the little finger. Strings not to be played are marked with an X. The O note denotes an open (unfingered) string. A wide variety of popular music is published with the appropriate chord blocks printed right above the melodies, making this a great and easy way to learn chords. The finger numbers shown here are for the initial learning of chords—sheet music that includes chord blocks will normally show only the dot positions, and the X and 0 markings. This is partially because chords may have different fingerings according to the situation.
Read more...!
At first we’ll concentrate on the left hand. To play the chords, simply sweep the pad of thethumb across the strings—we’ll add sophistication later. The illustration shows the basic position of the left hand. Notice that the thumb is behindthe neck, approximately behind the fret played by the first finger. Here is an excellent firstexercise to establish and strengthen the left hand: - With the thumb in a good position, hammer down your first finger just behind the firstfret of the sixth (lowest sounding) string. See how loud a note you can sound with justthe left hand.
- Leaving the first finger where it is, hammer down the second finger behind the secondfret. Be sure to be close to it, or the next frets will be difficult to reach.
- Still leaving each finger on after it has hammered, play successively the third andfourth fingers.
- Next do the same thing on the fifth string.
- Following this, play all the remaining strings, hammering as loudly as possible.
 The left-hand position
This is a wonderful first exercise, because it builds both strength and stretch. Don’t bedismayed if you don’t produce much sound at first—you’ll be amazed at the difference aftera few days.
The next step is to put both hands together to play a chord.
Read more...!
First, sit comfortably in an upright chair as illustrated above. I recommend using the classicalposition, with the left foot raised on a footstool or other support, because this provides theeasiest access to all parts of the guitar. The height of the footstool will vary according to yourheight, but for most people four to six inches is enough to provide good support. Adjustablefolding footstools are widely available at music stores at moderate cost and are the mostconvenient solution. However, in the early stages anything that raises and supports the footwill do.
To look at your hands, lean forward rather than pulling the guitar back. It is important tokeep the guitar upright. As you look to your left at the tuning machines, keep them aboutthe level of your shoulder; the axis of the guitar should not become too vertical.
The informal right-legposition. The sketchshows the positionfavored by the versatileLaurindo Almeida, amaster of both classicaland Latin Americanstyles.
Read more...!
Besides learning the most comfortable and practical way to hold the instrument, this chapterwill introduce us to some basic left-hand techniques. You will learn the simple chords thatare used to accompany many popular songs, and also how to make quick and easy transi-tions between them.
These are the first steps in becoming a guitarist. And, like all steps, we will break it down soyou can’t possibly make a mistake.
Playing Position
Now that you’re ready to play the guitar, it’s important to learn how to hold it in a comfort-able way. As you might expect, the different styles of playing have slightly different ruleswhen it comes to handling the instrument.
A comfortable playing position is important to provide access to all parts of the guitarwithout strain. Classical players place the guitar on the left leg raised by a footstool so thatthe upper part of the leg will support the guitar without it slipping down. The sketch ofAndres Segovia shows the position favored by most professional players. Some performershave both feet flat on the floor and use a special type of cushion to raise and support theguitar, but this is less common.
 The classical position
Most non-classical players support the guitar on the right leg. Traditionally flamenco playersposition the guitar at its widest point on the right leg. Most other styles use an informalposition resting the guitar on the right leg. Some players use a cross-legged position,but there are physical disadvantages to this, notably the concomitant decrease in bloodcirculation.
Playing in a standing position, as in stage performance, requires a strap for support. The strapis attached at the bottom of the guitar’s body to a pin and commonly attached at the top bya string tied around the bottom of the headstock, above the nut. Pins can be added to aguitar for this purpose, but this should be done by a professional repair technician.
 This sketch ofRamon Montoya,considered thegreatest flamencoplayer of his day,illustrates the tradi-tional flamencoposition.
Read more...!
With your first string in tune, it is possible to tune the rest of the guitar string by string.Here’s how:
- Put a left-hand finger just behind the fifth fret of the second string and sound the stringwith any right-hand finger. It should sound the same as the first string open (i.e., withno frets used). If it doesn’t, tighten or loosen it until it does.
- With the top two strings now in tune, put a finger behind the fourth fret of the thirdstring. When you play it should sound the same as the second string. If it doesn’t,tighten or loosen as above.
- With the top three strings in tune, place a finger behind the fifth fret of the fourthstring. Adjust it to sound like the third string.
- With the top four strings in tune, place a finger behind the fifth fret of the fifth string,and align it to the fourth string.
- Finally, place a finger behind the fifth fret of the bottom string and tune it to the fifthstring. That’s all there is to it.
Tuning seems tricky at first but it comes with practice. In general don’t be too delicate inturning the tuning keys—a very small increment won’t make any difference. Sometimes it iseasier to off-tune by an easily audible amount and then come back.
Electronic Tuning Tuning can also be made almost foolproof with electronic tuning machines, in which eithera meter or colored lights tell you when you’re in tune. The cost of these is naturally higherthan that of tuning forks or pitch pipes, but they are accurate and easy. The best kind allowyou to play a note and then watch a needle that shows whether you’re sharp or flat. String Stretch After putting on a new string, there is a tendency to believe that the string is slipping,because the pitch will drop slightly over a period of time after being tuned up. Actually thisis the string stretching, and until the settling point is reached it will be necessary to tightenthe string periodically. Professional players hasten this process by taking hold of the stringand twisting it to get the stretch out. The Least You Need to Know - The action (or height) of the strings on your guitar is crucial to making it playable.
- Changing strings is easy, but the process is slightly different for classical, folk, andelectric guitars.
- Buying the right type of strings for your instrument is important to maximize soundand playability.
- Tune your guitar with a pitch pipe or tuning fork, on a piano, relatively on the instru-ment itself, or with an electronic tuner.
Read more...!
Strings have a natural life cycle. As they are exposed to air and the oils from your fingers,they tend to lose their elasticity and eventually their ability to sound cleanly. You canforestall this process by wiping the strings clean with a soft, dry cloth after you play. Deadstrings may be revived temporarily by scrubbing with soap and water.
String Brands
Every player seems to have his or her own favorite “brand” of string. Unlike guitar brands,it’s hard to make general statements about strings. While some guitar companies have theirown name-brand strings, most do not make strings themselves but buy them from anestablished maker and repackage them. A reputable dealer or teacher should be able torecommend a good string for you. Remember also that different makers use slightly differentterminology when referring to nylon, composite, or steel strings.
Tuning
To tune your guitar, you need a pitch reference. A tuning fork or pitch pipe can be used as areference. If you buy a tuning fork (the more accurate pitch), be sure it is an E fork—not A,which is the more common type. The E note will give you the pitch for your first string.
Tuning to the Piano
Another good way to tune is by using a piano. If your piano is in tune, you can simply playeach note and quickly tune the corresponding string. 
Read more...!
Just as there are different types of guitars, there are different types of strings. Here are theprincipal types:
- Nylon strings are used on classical guitars. In fact, it is dangerous to use heavier stringson a classical guitar, because the instrument is not designed to withstand the hightension they produce. The three lowest strings are made of silver-plated copper wirewound on a core of nylon strands. The upper three are pure nylon filaments.
- Steel strings are designed for acoustic folk guitars. The bass strings are wound on a coreof silk or nylon.
- Heavier wound metal strings are designed for electric guitars.
Core and winding materials vary among string makers, and you may wish to experimentwith different types to see which produces the sound you like best.
Strings are also available with different shapes or contours, from flat to fully rounded. Stringsare also sold in light, medium, or heavy gauges. This has to do with the amount of elasticityin the string: light-gauge strings are more elastic and therefore easier to play than heavyones. Again, depending on the kind of music you play and your own personal taste, you’ll beable to choose the proper string for you. It’s always worthwhile to try different types ofstrings on your instrument to see if a simple change of strings can lead to improved soundand playability.
Read more...!
|
|
|
|
