Recent Articles
Classroom Instructor Perusal
Guitar Percussion
Guitar percussion has roots that can be traced back to 19th-century flamenco with techniques such as golpe (hitting the soundboard) and tambura (hitting the strings).
Three Essential Teaching Goals for 1st Year Classroom Guitar
No matter what method or style, teachers should be able to accomplish three essential goals for first-year classroom guitar.
Beginning Guitar Ensemble Music
Beginning Guitar Ensemble Music Most music educators ackknowledge that ensemble is an essential component of any study, providing benefits like: Concentration and reading. Musical expression. Rhythmic Development. Following a conductor. Community Building and...
I, M, A and Triads
The “a” finger moves less independently than p,i, & m. Shearer introduces “a” with sympathetic motion, adding it to the already established m-ii free stroke.
Sympathetic Motion
Sympathetic motion is the motion of the fingers to move together. When applied to an arpeggio, the action, or follow through, of one finger, pulls on the next finger in sequence.
Playing Melody and Accompaniment
To create the melody and accompaniment texture, give more dynamic stress to the melody and less to the accompaniment.
Chord Coloring on Guitar
Pathway is an intermediate-level study built on a simple melody and featuring a variety of chord colorings.
Guitar Keys and Positions
In tonal music, knowing the key of a piece is a great fingerboard organizer, telling the guitarist what chords to expect and which possible positions they may be played in.
Four Principles of Efficient Muscle Function
In Learning the Classic Guitar (1990), Shearer introduced one of his most important pedagogic ideas: the Four Principles of Efficient Musical Function.
Identify three-note fretboard patterns as chord names. Each pattern is part of a larger 4-, 5-, or 6- string chord. The qualities choices are lead-sheet style. (Here "o7" is for all types of diminished 7th chords)










