There’s so much great classical guitar music out there to play and enjoy. But classical guitar technique is complicated. It’s easy to get overwhelmed by frustrating technical issues that keep you from playing as well as you know you want to. Six nylon strings and one quirky instrument are all you have. And if you can learn to to master them, they are all you need —– to create an entire world of sound: melody, bass, everything in between, and to infuse it with life, expressiveness, with all kinds of sonorities and effects, with precise articulation, beautiful tone, and speed and flow. Basic Classical Guitar Mastery Video Series is a complete, in-depth and state-of-the-art instructional series, centered around over 40 multi-camera view video tutorials. It covers all of basics and many of the more refined secrets of classical guitar technique in a way that is clear to beginners but useful even to quite advanced students. It also offers a grounded, confidence-building approach to getting in touch with and developing your natural ability to evolve both technically and musically.
“It’s like having your own personal teacher at anytime of the day or night. . I would definitely recommend this product to any guitarist. Whether they are a beginner or even advanced.
Terry Delport, Student, Guitarist
“With Jay’s advice… I feel like I’ve gone from 1 and 1/2 pistons to a V8. And I’m not talking about tomato juice. ”
Mai Mollman, Student, Guitarist, Writer
Sometimes, people are worried that they don’t have much time to go through a big course. But with this course, you can refine your techniques by watching just a few videos. it’s straight to the point (no B.S.). It has well-designed exercises that minimize your practice time and concise videos for each lesson. I love the exercises that help me improve my left and right hand techniques without spending too much time playing random stuff. Just follow Jay, and you will see your skills improved dramatically.
Champ Supachai, guitar student
“Jay’s pedagogy is clear and accessible. He takes into account all levels of students, so the beginner doesn’t run away discouraged or the advanced turn off because they’re not challenged.”
Mark Scott, Guitarist, guitar student
Jay Kauffman, New York, NY
The Basic Classical Guitar Mastery Video Series integrates the essentials of what I’ve learned in 35+ years of playing, practicing, performing, recording and teaching classical guitar, as well as my years of graduate study at the Cincinnati Conservatory and the Juilliard School, into a set of principles and instructions that are as simple, elegant and effective as I can make them.
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More Details on what you’ll get:
- Guitar Instruction Close Up and from Every Angle Imitating good technique is the most powerful way you can acquire your own technique. But most guitar instruction videos show the action from just one or two never-changing angles, making it hard or even impossible to see the most important details. With no less than three, and often four well-chosen camera views in each video, I make it easy to see exactly what you need to see in order to learn how it’s done
- Watch it on Any Device While I recommend spending some time watching these on a large screen, such as a desktop, laptop or Ipad—-you can watch these videos easily on any device, even a smartphone. My videos are hosted on Vimeo, known for its high quality and cross-platform compatibility. And the Art of Guitar website is “responsive”, meaning the pages and their content adjust to the size and shape of any device you own. You can pop your phone or tablet on the music stand, read the content, press play, and practice away.
- Lifetime Access—Learn it all right now, or dip into these videos whenever you need a refresher course Many sites charge a monthly fee for accessing their material. But if you purchase this course now, its content and its membership area ALWAYS available to you. This is essential, because the principles here are the timeless basics of classical guitar technique, that need to be first learned and then refined as you get better and tackle more and more challenging repertoire
A LOT of Content–but it’s never boring There are over 40 high quality videos (2+ hours of content) with great sound (so you can hear the guitar exquisitely well). But I make it interesting. Classical guitar manuals are notoriously stodgy and arcane, but here the concepts are as clear and memorable as I can possibly make them, so you can really learn deeply and retain them. I provide every visual and textual clue necessary for you to learn each concept thoroughly, from moving arrows, text boxes, to inspiring or humorous images and overlays when necessary. As one student remarks: “It is never, ever boring.”- Practice the exercises straight from the video screen, or download them and print them out It’s frustrating when someone’s showing you an exercise that you can’t quite figure out, and you have to keep going back to the video when you want to try it again. The technical exercises that I demonstrate share the screen with my hands, in both notation and TAB, so you can try them out along with me. But you can also download them as pdf files, print them out and practice them on your own.
Here’s an outline of the videos in the course:
Module 1: All That Supports Your Technique
Video 1: Why how you sit is so important
Video 2: Why your natural powers of awareness and analysis are the keys to a constantly improving technique
Video 3: How your pattern of breathing affects your technique for good or for ill
Video 4: How to analyze and adjust your basic posture for a more powerful relationship with the guitar
Video 5: Finding your ideal points of contact with the guitar for more solid playing
Video 6: Understanding the secrets of how ideal left hand contact with the guitar will improve your playing
Video 7: How to make all the finer sitting adjustments so you can get down to perfecting your technique
Video 8: What other options are there for holding the classical guitar? A demo of alternate guitar supports that can save your back and even improve your expressiveness
Module 2: What the Hands Have in Common
Video 1: How to enrich your expressivity by clarifying the left and right hand roles in achieving common goals
Video 2: How both hands use the same mechanical principles of movement for many tasks Video 3: How to be sure you’re using single most important mechanical principle that both hands have in common. Video 4: What you need to know about your wrists if you want to have a powerful technique and avoid injury
Module 3: Mastering Right Hand Technique
Video 1: How to develop a powerful AND expressive right hand position Video 2: How to master the essential secrets of right hand position and finger movement: the do’s and don’ts, right angles and wrong angles
Video 3: Understanding all the options for using your fingernails, regardless of how strong or brittle, ideally shaped or poorly shaped they are. Video 4: A detailed rundown of exactly how to shape and use your fingernails for optimal sound and ease of playing Video 5: How to shape and use your thumbnail Video 6: A Step-by-step demonstration of shaping a fingernail Video 7: How to continually refine your nail use as you get more proficient Video 8: Why a powerful free stroke is so important if you want be able to play any and all classical guitar music like a pro Video 9: Free Stroke Essentials: How to get ALL the details of free stroke position and finger movement just right Video 10: Rest Stroke Essentials: How to get the ideal rest stroke sound from your guitar Video 11: Three Steps to developing control and confidence in your free stroke Video 12: How do further hone your basic free and rest stroke technique: 
Module 4: Mastering Left Hand Technique
Video 1: How to get the essential strength and leverage you need to meet your left hand’s many difficult challenges Video 2: How to master the secrets of left hand position and finger movement: the do’s and don’ts, right angles and wrong angles
Video 3: How to get the best results from practicing scales, even if it’s just a few minutes a day Video 4: How master shifting up and down the fingerboard by learning to focus on two key things
Video 5: How to practice difficult shifts so you can play them by feel without even looking : Shifting Exercises Video 6: How to develop perfect pull-offs with all of your fingers Video 7: 
What Bruce Lee has to teach you about developing a powerful hammer-on technique Video 8: How to get great hammer-on technique from all of your fingers Video 9: How to master the most frustrating aspect of slur technique–playing slurs while your left hand is holding down chords
Module 5: Coordinating The Hands
Video 1: Why controlling the space between the notes is the most important skill you can develop for clean, expressive playing Video 2: How to use your right hand to ensure perfect, clean shifts and musical transitions 
Video 3: How to use right hand articulation to get every shift to sound amazing 
Video 4: How to further train your hands to articulate perfect shifts Video 5: How to use left hand articulation to further control and shape your musical choices Video 6: How to move seamlessly between chords, without musical glitches and unwanted noises?
Video 7: How to coordinate your hands to get great-sounding arpeggios and more complex musical patterns
$120
Full Refund Guarantee:
If find for any reason you are not satisfied with this set of videos, even if it’s just that you can’t stand the color of the carpet that shows up in some of the camera views or dislike my haircut, I’ll refund you in full, no questions asked.
My Guarantee:
If you use the material here in a consistent and dedicated way, your playing will improve tremendously.
Jay Kauffman, December 23, 2013, New York City
“Jay’s approach to teaching is distracting me TO the music and away from the usual din in my head which disconnects me from both my hands and the guitar. So instead of listening to the whirlwind of chopped up thoughts I’m usually having while practicing, which are mostly negative (did that wrong, strings ALWAYS buzz, my hands must be misshapen, shouldn’t be even trying to do this, etc.), I am listening to the guitar — to the strings. The second thing is coming naturally from the first: I am feeling a direct connect between my mind, hands and back and shoulders and what sounds are happening. So I feel in control. “
Rachel P, guitarist, guitar student
$120