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5 Essential Rhythms Every Nylon String Guitarist Should Know Mar 24, 2025

Nylon string guitars offer a rich and expressive tone, perfect for various Latin, Spanish, and classical rhythms. Mastering these five essential rhythms will enhance your playing and help you navigate a wide range of musical styles.

1. The Bolero Rhythm

The Bolero is a fundamental rhythm in Latin ...

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A Brief Guide to Fingernails for Nylon String Guitarists Mar 19, 2025

As a classical or flamenco guitarist, your nails are one of your most important tools. Their shape, length, and condition significantly affect your tone, technique, and overall playing experience. Many guitarists struggle with maintaining their nails, and improper care can lead to poor sound quality...

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Understanding the Quintuplet Rhythm for Spanish Guitar flamenco guitar rhythm Mar 14, 2025

The Weird Rhythm You Only See in Flamenco Guitar: Mastering Quintuplets

Flamenco guitar is filled with unique rhythms and techniques, but one of the most unusual and rarely seen in other styles of music is the quintuplet. This rhythm appears almost exclusively in rasgueado and tremolo techniques, m...

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In Defense of Thumb Rest Strokes: Why They Matter for Guitarists Jan 17, 2025

 

If you're a fingerstyle guitarist, especially one focused on nylon-string guitar, mastering the thumb rest stroke is an essential skill that can dramatically improve your playing. While it might feel unnatural at first, the benefits of incorporating thumb rest strokes into your technique far outw...

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To Slap or Not to Slap? Exploring Rumba Guitar Techniques guitar technique Jan 03, 2025

Rumba guitar is a vibrant, rhythmically engaging style that adds energy and flair to your playing. If you’ve ever wondered whether to incorporate the percussive slap or opt for a smoother, muted approach, this lesson explores both options and shows how combining them can create a dynamic and excitin...

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Learn the World's Most Famous Tango on Guitar guitar songs Jan 01, 2025

When it comes to iconic tango melodies, “La Cumparsita” stands out as a timeless masterpiece. Composed over 100 years ago in 1916, this Argentine/Uruguayan tango continues to captivate musicians and listeners alike. In this guide, I’ll break down the A section of this famous piece, exploring its mel...

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The 3 Essential Techniques for Spanish Guitar in One Drill guitar technique Dec 30, 2024

When it comes to nylon string guitar playing, the right hand is central to achieving the dynamic and expressive sound Spanish guitar is known for. I believe the three most essential techniques every nylon string guitarist should master are: rasgueado, arpeggio, and picado. These techniques not only ...

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Odd Time Signatures for Fingerstyle Technique and Theory Practice guitar technique rhythm Sep 19, 2024

We most often play guitar in 4/4 or 3/4 time - and that can give us enough trouble! However, I think practicing guitar in odd time signatures can heighten our rhythmic awareness and make us better guitarists overall. In this guitar tutorial, I show you how we can play a great little drill in 11/8 ti...

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Play the Bossa Nova for Guitar in 5 Easy Steps guitar technique rhythm Sep 14, 2024

The bossa nova is one of the most popular Latin styles and one of the most fun things we can play on guitar. This is a style that is more often than not played on nylon string and offers a great "crossover" opportunity for classical and Spanish-style guitarists.

In this tutorial, we will break down...

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Building Your Own Fingerstyle Chord Melody guitar songs Sep 12, 2024

Even though it was written by a Cuban composer (Osvaldo Farrés), this song belongs in the pantheon of classic Mexican boleros like Bésame Mucho, Perfidia and Sabor a Mí. In this guitar lesson, we learn how to play the melody and chords of the famous song Quizás, Quizás, Quizás (Perhaps, Perhaps, Per...

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How to Play the BOLERO Rhythm for Spanish Guitar - In 5 Easy Steps guitar technique rhythm Sep 10, 2024

One of the most-fun-to play styles of music for the nylon string guitar is the sub-genre of Bolero. You may have heard of Ravel's Bolero (which is in 3/4 time), but the Bolero we're talking about is actually a staight ahead 4/4 time beat that is the backbone and basis for tons of great old classic L...

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How to Play the Brazilian Choro for Guitar rhythm Aug 30, 2024

Choro is a Brazilian musical style that is the precursor to the Samba and Bossa Nova. It's characteristic rhythm can be described as an upside down Bossa Nova and is a very lively and syncopated beat every guitarist should know.

Most classical guitarists will have come across two songs that are exe...

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An EASY Idea for Making Your Spanish Guitar Techniques EVEN guitar technique Aug 27, 2024

The right hand guitar techniques for nylon string (Spanish guitar, classical, flamenco) are hard enough, but once we learn them it's very easy to accidentally get lopsided and not be rhythmically or dynamically consistent. The simple practice idea in this lesson can help us even out our right hand t...

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The FLUTTER Effect: Your GATEWAY to Flamenco Tremolo flamenco guitar Aug 25, 2024

We can create a moody, dramatic, “fluttery” effect (that is actually used in flamenco guitar) by playing the flamenco tremolo technique starting on the second note of the pattern: i – a – m – i – p. 

For example, you may heard this before:

This is an actual technique but it has the added bonus o...

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