In Spanish guitar, we seem to be obsessed with arpeggios. We say the word all the time and spend hours and hours perfecting this right hand technique and learning new and interesting ways to develop our arpeggio acumen.
While there is no shortage of arpeggio exercises, warm-ups, drills and...
The Importance of Riffs for Guitar Technique
A riif is simply a term for a memorable short musical theme, and as guitarists we have hundreds if not thousands of famous guitar riffs we can learn and play for fun but also for technique development. One of the most famous and recognizable...
In this blog post, I'd like to discuss the classical guitar technique called arpeggio and show you 6 uniquely different arpeggio patterns from the classical guitar repertoire to help develop your right hand technique and make you a better fingerstyle guitarist no matter what style you...
Did you know that the song Roxanne from the Police is a tango? The Police were known for their reggae influences, and when we hear those opening chords of Roxanne we might think reggae is the groove we're hearing. However, those Roxanne chord "stabs" fall on the downbeat, and the hallmark of...
A Flamenco Technique Study
Let's use the introduction to "Punta y Tacon" - a flamenco composition using the form farruca by the great Sabicas - to work on some fundamental flamenco guitar techniques like arpeggio and rasgueo.
The Master Sabicas
Sabicas was a renowned Spanish flamenco...
As a musician, it's not uncommon to feel unmotivated to practice. As a guitarist, finding ways to trick yourself into practicing more can be a game-changer. In this blog post, I will explore four effective ways to do so that I use myself.
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Play guitar riffs
Playing guitar riffs is a great...
Few things sound as instantly recognizable as the "phrygian sound" that we can get by playing two major chords a half step (one fret) apart. Even the Andalusian Cadence – which ends with this two chord sequence – is less potent than just playing these two...
I was doing some Googling the other day about how to workout at the gym more efficiently. I came across the term "compound exercises" where, for example, you do squats while holding dumbbells and as you complete the squat motion you raise the dumbbells for a shoulder press.
Immediately I...
The bossa nova is one of the most captivating and sensuous rhythms to play on nylon string guitar. And the chords that typically are played in a bossa nova are tasty, beautiful jazz, voicings that really make things sound smooth. You've heard classic tunes from Antônio Carlos Jobim, Luiz,...
Flamenco isn't easy! There are rhythmic elements to flamenco that can be quite complex and challenging for even the most accomplished guitarist. (The form Bulerías for example consists of 12 beats with unevenly distributed accents!) That's why the first flamenco forms that I teach for the...
What sets fingerstyle guitar apart from other types of guitar playing is,of course, playing with the fingers of the right hand (rather than with a pick). Over the years. I've noticed that if you're likely to make a mistake with your fingers it's going to be that your thumb is in the way of your...
Having taught thousands of guitar students over the decades and used just about every book there is, I keep coming back to only a few rumbas when I teach how to play this fun Spanish guitar style.
The Rumba Basics
Rumbas can be counted in 4/4 or 2/4 time (I'm partial to counting in 4/4) and...
Choro is a type of music that originated in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It's an upbeat style which typically features a small ensemble with instruments like the guitar, flute, cavaquinho, clarinet and mandolin among others. While some songs are played fast, others can be very slow and melodic. Some...
Introduction
Fingernails are an important part of your hands as a classical and nylon string guitarist. Not only do they help you to grip the guitar strings and provide volume and tone, but they also serve as a protective barrier between your skin and the strings. The fingernails are an integral...
