Guitar News

Exploring the Fretboard No.39-40: Comparing 1st Position to 13th Position and Comparing Major and Minor Triads on the Fifth String from my book Exploring the Fretboard: 100 Exercises for Intermediate Guitar. PDF sheet music with notation, left hand fingering, and video lessons. This book offers students a set amount of ordered material and a variety of ways to investigate the fretboard. It has been designed as an exploratory primer before further and more comprehensive study.

Remember to say the note names out loud. Practice only one exercise at a time for 2-3 minutes a day. Repeat the exercise for a few days even if you can play it first try.

Video Times

• 0:00 – Intro and Advice
• 1:31 – Exercise No.39
• 3:15 – Exercise No.40, A Triads
• 4:45 – Extra Advice

Here is the YouTube link if you want to watch it there.

The post Exploring the Fretboard No.39-40: Comparing 1st to 13th Position and Triads first appeared on This is Classical Guitar.

Exploring the Fretboard No.41-44: Single String Exercises on the 6th String from my book Exploring the Fretboard: 100 Exercises for Intermediate Guitar. PDF sheet music with notation, left hand fingering, and video lessons. This book offers students a set amount of ordered material and a variety of ways to investigate the fretboard. It has been designed as an exploratory primer before further and more comprehensive study.

Remember to say the note names out loud. Practice only one exercise at a time for 2-3 minutes a day. Repeat the exercise for a few days even if you can play it first try.

Video Times

• 0:00 – Intro and Advice
• 1:31 – Exercise No.41, E Major, Triad
• 3:34 – Exercise No.42, Ab Flat Major
• 6:00 – Exercise No.43, Comparing 1st to 13th
• 8:41 – Exercise No.44, Triad Comparison
• 10:21 – Concluding the Single String Section

Here is the YouTube link if you want to watch it there.

The post Exploring the Fretboard No.41-44: Single String Exercises on the 6th String first appeared on This is Classical Guitar.

Bozhana Pavlova performs Drei Tentos from Kammermusik (1958) by Hans Werner Henze (1926–2012) on classical guitar. This comes via Siccas Guitars and their YouTube channel. I love the Drei Tentos and can’t help to feature them whenever they appear. The concise and lyrical writing with the somewhat looser late-20th century musical language is a favourite of mine. Great performance by Pavlova with a clean delivery, sharp contrasts, and beautiful phrasing. It’s a difficult work and always to a joy to hear new performances.

These famous short works for solo guitar come from Hans Werner Henze’s larger work Kammermusik (chamber music) written in 1958, and originally dedicated to Benjamin Britten. Kammermusik is a 12-movement chamber piece for tenor, guitar and eight instruments set to texts by the poet Friedrich Hölderlin. There are also three songs for tenor and guitar that come with the solo score of the work.

The post Bozhana Pavlova Plays Drei Tentos by Henze first appeared on This is Classical Guitar.

Chad Ibison performs Unruhe from Bardenklänge, Op.13 by Johann Kaspar Mertz (1806-1856) on a 2023 Vladimir Druzhinin classical guitar. This comes via Guitar Salon International and their YouTube channel. Great performance by Ibison with nice contrasts between extroverted and intimate sections along with excellent Romantic phrasing.

Sheet Music: If your interested I have an edition and lesson for this work which you can find here: Unruhe by Mertz (lesson and PDF).

The post Chad Ibison Plays Unruhe by Mertz first appeared on This is Classical Guitar.

Exploring the Fretboard No.36-38: Single String Exercises on the Fifth String, A Major with Triad, Bb Major, and B Chromatic from my book Exploring the Fretboard: 100 Exercises for Intermediate Guitar. PDF sheet music with notation, left hand fingering, and video lessons. This book offers students a set amount of ordered material and a variety of ways to investigate the fretboard. It has been designed as an exploratory primer before further and more comprehensive study.

Remember to say the note names out loud. Practice only one exercise at a time for 2-3 minutes a day. Repeat the exercise for a few days even if you can play it first try.

Video Times

• 0:00 – Intro and Advice
• 1:03 – Exercise No.36, A Major and Triad
• 3:56 – Exercise No.38, Bb Major
• 5:04 – Exercise No.38, B Chromatic
• 6:08 – Extra Advice

Here is the YouTube link if you want to watch it there.

The post Exploring the Fretboard No.36-38: Single String Scales first appeared on This is Classical Guitar.