Playing D4 D5 A Classical Repertoire Pdf

[Libby Cowen]

Im not quite at liberty to buy a classical guitar (with nylon strings and what not) and the stool thingy, and was wondering whether it was 'inadvisable' to play pieces intended for classic guitar, on an acoustic, steel-stringed guitar?

At the moment, I'm learning Las Abejas (Barrios) on my steel-stringed guitar, and I think I'm progressing well, but I'm worried that not using nylon strings will pose a limit to the speed at which I can play the piece.

At faster speeds, I notice my fingers tend to 'slide over' than 'pluck' the strings (sliding down the string, still producing a tone, but with it a somewhat annoying sliding noise), which I imagine a problem specific to steel strings.

So; is it unheard of to play classical guitar with steel strings? Is there a general methodology for plucking one should use? Are there any examples of classical guitarists using steel strings? Am I wasting my time?

I don't think you are wasting your time, but as you mention it might be harder to pluck the strings with your right hand fingers since the tendency will be for the fingers to slip off the strings. One option is to use "silk and steel" strings. Several companies make this type of string specifically for finger-picking players. One of my guitar students has started using them and they sound really good. They have a bright sound but they are much easier on the hands (right as well as left).

Another option would be to experiment with growing out your right hand fingernails. If you play with standard steel strings you'll have a lot of wear and tear on your nails, but you won't have your right hand fingers fall off of the string as often. Combined with the silk and steel strings, you may be pleased with the results. If you do use your nails to play, keep the nails pretty short, so that at the most you have a few millimeters of nail extending past the flesh of the fingertip. The longer that I play, the shorter I keep my nails. Even if you use nails to help you pluck the strings, you want to make sure that you continue to place the fleshy part of the finger on the string when you pluck a note. If you only use the fingernail to make contact with the string, then you are going to get a thin, quiet sound and you will really destroy your nails fast.

For a piece like "The Bees" by Augustin Barrios, since you are playing so many notes I think it may help to plant the right hand fingers on the strings whenever possible. Planting the right hand fingers involves putting a group of fingers down on the strings all at the same time, and then peeling off the fingers one at a time. You can use this technique when you are going "forward" (towards the floor), but not really when going backward, or playing the strings towards the ceiling. You do want to make sure that you are always "handing off" when plucking the strings. What I mean by that is that the same instant you flick off of a string to play it, you immediately place the next right hand finger on the next string that you are going to play, even if the left hand is isn't ready and/or it's not time to play the next note. This is a good habit for all guitar players, but it should especially help you, to prevent the fingers from sliding off of the strings when you're playing.

It's harder to play classical music on a steel-string mainly because the strings are stiffer and closer together on steel acoustics, nylons' are very soft and widely spaced.Also classical guitar strings do not bend notes easily, so the vibrato technique is more like a violin.Some fingerings (in classical arrangements) make it hard not to bend the strings slightly, but that's ok on a classical guitar because the pitch won't change much ; on an steel acoustics however, it would sound dissonant.

If you are playing classical or flamenco you really do not want your hand resting on the bridge, or indeed anywhere. This will severely limit your speed and accuracy, and also is contributing to what you describe as sliding.

Because the strings on a steel-string are closer, you will have to curl (claw) your left hand fingers more to place them accurately. In the long run I found this aids playing (classical) on a nylon string guitar where you are exhorted to curl your left hand fingers. So, playing on a steel-string now and then helps to develop this practice.

Additionally some techniques involving nails will be not possible or you will destroy your nails. But I think that a specific technique to interpret classical on steel is perfectly possible, probably fitting better some works than others.

And not only that, I would actually argue that using a steel-stringed guitar is better, for one simple reason: you can get far bigger dynamic range out of it. The classical guitar has pretty much only two dynamic levels: "quiet" and "even quieter". On the other hand, an acoustic steel-stringed instrument can be actually quite loud. In this regard, you only gain, because you can play arbitrarily softly on the steel-stringed guitar as well.

I use the steel-stringed guitar for everything, but it is especially fitting in some pieces. For instance, when I started playing Villa-Lobos, all the recordings of his pieces started to sound dull in comparison to what I can play myself on my guitar. I'd say that HVL in particular has to be played on steel strings, there's just the problem that nobody realizes that.

Actually, I found it easier to play tremolo on a steel string guitar because the strings are more taut and recover more quickly so the next finger can get to them more quickly. Recuerdos sounds much better on my Martin Street Series Dreadnaught Jr. plus the fingerboard width is much better for my small hands.

As a child growing up in the Soviet Union, the only path available to me, if I chose to go to music school, was classical music. If you wanted to play anything else, you would usually have to look for it outside of music school, something I did by playing pop music and traveling around the Soviet Union, and developing improvisation skills by listening and playing.

When I moved to Riga, the capital of Latvia, and got accepted to the Latvian Academy of Music, I decided to get serious. I listened mostly to classical music and practiced up to eight hours a day, I learned a large flute music repertoire. As a result of my hard work, I was busy playing concerts as a soloist, chamber musician and orchestra artist.

I was born in England but my parents emigrated to Australia when I was seven. I started learning classical guitar when I was nine. My first lesson was a complete disaster and the teacher thought I had learning difficulties! But I was so determined to improve that I practiced every day as soon as I came home from school. Guitar became my passion. When I finished school I went to university, but decided to do a Bachelor of Arts majoring in English Literature rather than music. After graduating, I traveled and while in London attended a masterclass with [classical guitar virtuoso] Carlos Bonell. That meeting led to me auditioning for the Royal College of Music in London. I was accepted to do a post-graduate diploma in Performance and awarded a scholarship.

After many years teaching and playing the guitar, I stumbled across the ukulele in 2012 when one of my guitar pupils asked me to teach her the ukulele. Initially I was quite horrified, because I considered the ukulele more of a toy than an instrument. Once I started playing the ukulele, however, I realized how wrong I had been; I am now dedicated to furthering the repertoire and promoting the ukulele as a serious instrument.

More ukulele players are commissioning new works and more non-ukulele playing composers are writing for the instrument. This is such an exciting time. Having said that, getting the ukulele accepted as a serious instrument outside the ukulele scene is more problematic. Many concert promoters and concertgoers have difficulty seeing beyond the stereotypical view that the ukulele is a toy, a comedy prop, or only ever strummed. My way around this has been to covertly introduce ukulele pieces into my guitar concerts. I first did this at the Sherborne Abbey Music Festival, and the audience was both surprised and delighted when I played a piece by Bach on the uke. The following year the music director was happy to include a program of music for guitar, machete, and ukulele. So while there are barriers, there are ways around them. I just feel blessed that I am able to play a small part in this journey.

I think a lot of intermediate-level musicians, no matter what their instrument, believe that works by Bach or Mozart or others are somehow beyond their abilities. What can you say that would encourage them to branch out and go down that road? Is it a big leap for most players, or is there a logical progression of accessible techniques that open the door to that repertoire?

When I teach people to play classical ukulele, I teach them the p-i-m-a fingerpicking system used by guitarists. In other words I fingerpick using the thumb (p), index (i), middle (m), and ring (a) fingers. Chords are often plucked, rather than strummed, or rolled with the fingers so that the notes are sounded in rapid succession one after the other. The most important thing with classical ukulele, however, is the sound. Work on producing a clean, pure tone.

Muir has also published repertoire books for those wishing to dive deeper into the world of classical ukulele. One is 12 Progressive Lessons from Opus 31 by Fernando Sor. Muir has taken these classic Sor guitar studies from the early 19th century and arranged them for ukulele. Although there is no accompanying CD or online access to hear Muir play the selections, I have included a YouTube video (below) to a guitar student named Michael Bemmels, which provides an excellent idea of how each piece should sound (if not precisely the ukulele arrangement).

Why? The answer is simple really. There is little purpose in learning music that you will never use, and few people will ever have the opportunity to use classical music in real life. Likewise, there is little purpose in learning music that you will never play for others, and few pianists ever have the opportunity to play classical music for others.

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