Scales are essential building blocks of music. The Preface of Aaron Shearer’s Scale Pattern Studies for the Guitar (1965) begins with
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Technique
Fingering Essentials
Fingerings provide clues to organize both right-and left-hand movements when learning a piece of music. Music may include a sprinkling of fingerings
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.
How can I play louder?
The skill of playing loudly is a vital one for our instrument based on the comparative overall dynamic range of the classical guitar.
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.
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.
Beyond the open position
For most beginners, the fingerboard with its 19 frets and 120+ notes is daunting. After mastering the open position, when and how should one begin learning the fingerboard?
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.
Exploring Rest-Stroke Position
Free-stroke position is the foundational position for the right hand. On average, guitarists use free stroke about 80% of the time when playing solo.
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.
Two Etudes–p,i,m-a,i
An excellent way to begin developing the alternation of a, is with the p,i,m-a,i arpeggio. It’s organized exactly the same as p,i,m,i, only a is coupled with m.
Our Hands, Our Bodies
We often forget that our hands are connected to our minds and the rest of our physical body. In other words, our hands are affected by what we eat, how tired we are, how in shape we are, and how we treat ourselves.
“Daybreak” Lesson
Daybreak is an p,i,m arpeggio etude originally composed for the GFA magazine, Prodigies. The article demonstrates how the technique of sympathetic motion as well as approaches of pre-reading and visualization are applied. An informative video accompanies the article.
