Guitar News

Vladimir Gorbach teaches a technique lesson on practicing scales with a focus on planting and timing as a way to build control, speed, and tone quality. Framing the discussion is maintenance of tension and reflexive relaxation in practice at slow tempos. Despite the corny thumbnail of the video, this is an excellent look at detailed practice with a plan for future development and success.

This lesson is presented by Tonebase and via their Youtube channel with the following description:

In this lesson, Vladimir Gorbach breaks down his approach to developing fast scales. When practicing scales, Gorbach aims to maintain control of the fingers at all times and therefore begins his study at an initially slow tempo. After walking through a brief warm up exercise and discussing rest and free stroke differences, Gorbach guides you step-by-step through the different levels of speeding up your scales. Play along and see what BPM you can reach with one, two, three, and four notes per beat.

The post Vladimir Gorbach Technique Lesson on Practicing and Developing Scales first appeared on This is Classical Guitar.

Question: What notation software do you use for creating classical guitar scores?

I mainly use two software programs for creating music notation: MuseScore and Sibelius, but Dorico by Steinberg is my recommendation to anyone who wants to start using a professional level software. MuseScore is an excellent choice for hobbyist/affordable free software.

Sibelius: I loved the old Sibelius 6 but the new Avid owned Sibelius is something quite different. To be clear, you can make excellent scores with Sibelius but the actual software, user interface, and layout of the program is terrible. I can’t believe they sell the software the way it is and haven’t improved it. I am constantly baffled by the choices they made when designing the usability and and near anti-intuitive nature of it. Nevertheless, I know it and it works and the formatting is rock solid from my scores from 15 years ago, it opens exactly the same which I am very grateful for.

MuseScore is free and I highly recommend it but I do have concerns about it. When they update it, it often causes layout problems that make corrections to scores a huge pain. I have a few longer books in Musescore where I’ve had to correct one tiny fingering error which caused me to completely fix the layout of the entire book which is hours of work. I now only make small 2-3 page scores on MuseScore. Nevertheless, the MuseScore network and community is amazing and I love it. I even pay for premium and give money to support its development.

My actual recommendation is Dorico by Steinberg. I’ve heard nothing but excellent feedback about it and everyone raves about the quality. I believe it was created by the original Sibelius programmers from before the Avid buyout (double check that though). Regardless, it is a modern notation software that actually makes sense and gets updates for usability and new technology. I have highly considered using it but I have so much content in the Sibelius and MuseScore infrastructure that I’m stuck there. However, I believe Dorico is the new standard for quality in the industry.

The post What notation software do you use for creating classical guitar scores? first appeared on This is Classical Guitar.

Ready to take your classical guitar playing to the next level? As you move beyond the basics of open strings and first position, a world of beautiful and challenging repertoire opens up. This guide...

Paul Bizot performs Quatre pièces pour la guitare by Sir Lennox Berkeley (1903–1989). This comes via Siccas Guitars and their YouTube channel (go subscribe). Great performance by Bizot filled with nice motivic delivery, articulation, and orchestration of the guitar soundscape.

Emmanuel Sowicz sent me this note regarding the piece when I posted his performance: “It’s Lennox Berkeley’s still relatively unknown Quatre Pièces, which he wrote for Segovia while in Paris c.1927 (one of the first guitar pieces written by a non-guitarist composer, soon after De Falla’s 1920 Homenaje). As you may guess, seems Segovia didn’t play them. They were found in his archive in 2001 and published by Bèrben soon after…”

You can read an article by Allan Jones on the work. “This article explores the background and implications surrounding the discovery of Lennox Berkeley’s Quatre Pièces pour la Guitare, highlighting its significance for guitarists and scholars. Emphasizing Berkeley’s education in Paris and influences, including his interactions with Nadia Boulanger and jazz, the piece reflects his understanding of the guitar and musical idioms of his time.”

The piece is readily available, edited by Gilardino via Bèrben.

The post Paul Bizot Plays Quatre pièces pour la guitare by Berkeley first appeared on This is Classical Guitar.

Music Theory Lesson No.1b: Musical Time (Pulse, Beat, Tempo, Meter, Rhythm). In this lesson I discuss some terminology for musical time including: pulse, beat, tempo, meter, and rhythm. This is an important discussion before we start discussing music notation and why we use it. You can find all the lessons at the Music Theory Lessons page. Here’s the Youtube link if you want to watch it there.

Pulse and Beat 

• Often used interchangeably, which is totally fine at this point. 
• Pulse is the undifferentiated and equally spaced feel of the music, whether that be taps or clicks.
• Beat is the same but later on when we discuss time signatures and measures the beat can mean something more specific than a simple pulse. The beat might indicate that some beats are stronger or weaker than others, hierarchy and structure there

Tempo

• The rate or speed of the beat. Fast tempo or slow tempos. Pulse and beat can certainly mean different things when discussing tempo. If we have a fast tempo the beats might be going by quickly but the feel of the pulse might be more simple. For example, feeling the pulse only on the first beat of each measure.

Meter

• The grouping of beats into patterns. For example,  group of 4 beats (4/4 time) or a group of 3 beats (3/4 time).
• In a later lesson we’ll discuss how the meter will offer structure and form measures in notation. 

Rhythm

• A generalized term for all this content. However, it can be used more specifically to describe the vast variety of short or long durations of notes often highly patterned and organized in relation to the beat or extending over multiple beats. 

Word Usage can be confusing for students – Generic usage vs specific to note duration

• The piece is filled with interesting rhythms (Generic)
• Let’s discuss the rhythm of this piece (Generic)
• This piece is very rhythmically interesting (Generic)
• The rhythm is a quarter note not an eighth note (specific)

Hope you found that helpful. Find more theory lessons on the Music Theory Lessons page. If you need any clarification on this particular lesson please leave a comment below.

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