To read and play music, instantly at first sight, is an impressive skill but also one of the most challenging tasks for musicians, particularly with guitarists.
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Sheet Music
Scordatura
“Scordatura,” in Italian literally meaning “discord,” refers to retuning the standard tuning of a string instrument.
Scale Pattern Recognition
Scales are essential building blocks of music. The Preface of Aaron Shearer’s Scale Pattern Studies for the Guitar (1965) begins with
One-hand guitar harmonics
Темрява—Temryava (pronounced “tem-ye-vah,” meaning “darkness” in Ukrainian) is an intermediate level piece that features one-hand harmonics.
Tin Whistle
This is an arrangment of two traditional Scottish Tunes—Bottom of the Punch Bowl and My Nanie O (or When Bidden to the Wake) merged into one.
Pizzicato and Syncopation
This Invention in E major is in open position and features slurring, rhythmic syncopation, pizzicato, glissandi, ponticello, and p golpe (tapping on the soundboard).
Rubato and Glissando
Prayer is an intermediate-level piece that features sections of flexible rhythm, meter, and tempo in a playing style called rubato, a piacere, or ad libitum
Hymn
When Jesus Wept was originally composed as a canon (musical round) in 1770 by American composer William Billings. The setting here is two-voice/imitative and was arranged in response to the George Floyd death on May 25, 2020.
In the Silence
In the Silence is an intermediate piece that features a rest-stroke upper melody with free-stroke arpeggiated accompaniment.
Irregular Meter
When compound- and simple-subdivided beats are combined together, the result is irregular meter.
Kenya
Kenya is a very accessible (open-position) hemiola study in the style of African folk music.
Welsh Folk Song
Suo-Gân is a traditional Welsh tune, first appearing around 1800 with lyrics set by the Welsh folklorist Robert Bryan.
Irish Folk Song
Kingsfold is an Irish tune, dating as far back as the Middle Ages. In structure, the melody resembles other popular Irish tunes such as Star of the County Down.
Hemiola
A new rhythm arises when the accent pattern in 6/8 meter shifts from two groups of three’s to three groups of two’s. This is called hemiola.
Rhythm Study
Kalimba is an easy rhythm study featuring 16-note patterns with off-beat stress. It was written to imitate the sound of the south African instrument by the same name
Guitar Slurring
Slurring is the technique of playing multiple notes with only one stroke. When played well, it brings a beautiful connected “legato” to the musical line.
Developing alternation with a
Remembrance is a p,i,a,i,a,i arpeggio study. Before playing, make sure you’ve mastered free-stroke alternation on two strings. This requires two important techniques: the sympathetic and opposed finger motions.
Developing the p,i,m,a,m,i arpeggio
The p,i,m,a,m,i arpeggio works most efficiently when organized as two sympathetic motions: i,m,a followed by m-i, with an opposed a,m in between.
The Early Introduction of Guitar Ensemble
Guitar ensemble should be an essential part of any classroom study, providing experiences not available from solo study. The benefits are numerous:
Two Etudes–Applying Finger Alternation
Scale practice develops two essential right-hand skills: finger alternation on a single string and finger alternation involving string crossings.