Basic Level Players
Lessons
Performance Anxiety
Here is a short article, and a demonstration, on how to deal with mistakes that you make when performing a piece. Blunders are often caused by ‘stage fright’ and can seriously affect the quality and enjoyment of an entire performance. This ‘top tip‘ not only helps you recover from a blunder but it can also boost your confidence for the remainder of the performance.
Tuning the guitar
There are many free electronic tuners available on both the Windows, Apple, and Android platforms. My favourite is PitchLabPro available from Google PlayStation, but there are other excellent programmes written for both Android and the other platforms. Here is a link to an article on Classical Guitar 101 that teaches how to tune a guitar without the use of an electronic tuner.
Guitar primers
I found Fredrick Noad’s books very useful when I first started playing classical guitar. There are many instruction books available but here are Noad’s two solo guitar primers.
Classical guitar method Vo 1 (beginner) by Bradford Werner. This is a good primer for classical guitar and covers most of what a basic level player needs to know.
Sitting position
Here is the link to the full article on ‘This is classical guitar’ site by Bradford Werner. This is one of my favourite CG sites.
Right-hand position
Here is the link to the article on ‘This is classical guitar’ site by Bradford Werner.
Right-hand thumb position
This video by Bradford Werner shows how to position your thumb correctly so as not to interfere with the fingers.
Left-hand position
Here is the link to the article on ‘This is classical guitar’ site by Bradford Werner.
The free stroke
Simon Powis explains this basic right-hand technique. Classical Guitar Corner is also one of my favourite CG sites
The rest stroke
And here is Simon’s write-up on the other basic right-hand finger technique.
Alternating right-hand fingers by Bradford Werner
Beginner arpeggio exercises and lesson by Bradford Werner
Basic string crossing exercise for the right hand by Bradford Werner
Beginner left-hand exercises by Bradford Werner
Warm up exercises
Here is the pdf document that accompanies this video by Bradford Werner
Music theory/reading music
This is a link to an article covering this subject on the Classical Guitar Shed by Allen Mathews. This will get you started if you do not know how to read music for the guitar.
Changing strings
Here is a good video presentation of how to string a classical guitar.
An introduction to scales
This link takes you to the article on Allen Mathews’ site that sets out scale shapes and how to use them in practice routines.
Five common mistakes that beginners make
A video and article by Simon Powis on common mistakes that beginner classical guitarists often make.
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