Hey Guys,
First of all check out the video it pretty much explains it all:
I’d like to make this site a great resource for classical guitarists all over the world and answering your questions would be a great way to do that (i think).
Anything related to classical guitar is fair game, have a fingering that is giving you grief? A certain phrase? A technique question? Wanna know what I had for supper? well… you get the idea 
Ask me a question, I’ll try my best to answer it!
Cheers,
Rob
{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
hi,
here is my question: What guitar year is the first Carcassi study? What is your recommendation?
Thank you,
Ernani
Hi Ernani – I assume you mean grade level?
I’ve never really done the whole graded RCM thing so I’m not sure but it’s definitely not a true “beginners” study… that being said it’s also not incredibly difficult to get started with either so I would say as long as you have a working knowledge of how to alternate your fingers and can play a few basic scales it’s definitely doable!
Hi Rob,
I’ve recently been asked to perform Bachs Suite BWV 995. My teacher insist on me doing this, so I can’t get away with it. He keeps telling me how good I am and that I should really do this. So I’ve got about 4 months to prepare… I already know most of the movements, but I find it really difficult to memorise the allemande and the prelude… To me the allemande is too similar to courante and i reckon this is the reason why I can’t really learn it. Any advice?
Thanks for reading this.
Regards,
John
ps. Sorry for my english
I would like to learn any pointers on a piece by Francisco Yepes called “Jeux Interdits”. I will be playing in on a steel string 12 string guitar. I have the sheet music if you need pls email me.
Hey David,
Pretty sure I know the piece you are referring to:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vr6Fqw2sm_o – I believe this is it?
It’s named that because Mr Yepes played it on the soundtrack for the movie Jeux Interdits I believe – or at least that’s the story I heard.
Most classical guitarists refer to it as Romanza or ‘Spanish Romance’ and it’s actually based on an old anonymous melody. It’s definitely a staple in the classical guitar rep.
I’ve never heard it done on a 12 string! There are a few awkward little stretches in it but nothing too crazy – if you’ve been playing for any amount of time you’ll have no problem – I’ll try and go through in the next few days and do up a few pointers for you!
Cheers,
Rob
Hey Rob,
I was wondering if you would mention how you recommend going through Pumping Nylon.
Do you see it as more of a front to back thing or just bounce around? I have just been working through page by page and moving on when I feel I can reasonably handle whatever it was I just learned…
Thanks for the recommendation for that book though. It has significantly improved my playing and I have just had it for 3 weeks or so…
Hey Brian,
Excellent question. As an undergrad I think I tried to go through each exercise to familiarize myself with each one as much as possible but there is a TON of information in that book so it became more like a reference manual – and still to this day, if there is a specific issue in a piece I’m working on that causes me grief I will just go back to my good old coffee stained Pumping Nylon and I can almost always find a few different exercises that I can add to my technical routine to help me solve the problem. Overall though you can never go wrong having at least 2 or 3 exercises from that book in your daily routine no matter what you are working on. Maybe try and really master those 2 or 3, then move on to a few more etc… Hope that helps!
Cheers,
Rob
Hey Rob,
Would you be able to demonstrate proper left hand position up past the 12th fret? Such as with Am or G Segovia scales? Especially the form to use with those shifts, especially coming down and getting the hand back into normal form. Thanks!!
I was wondering how you go about choosing the best transcription of a piece to learn? I’ve come across some bad renditions of the music of Albeniz. In fact, I have had valuable masterclass time wasted by someone just showing me a different transcription note for note rather than addressing anything about the version I spent so much time learning. Do you ever combine sections from different versions?