Matteo Carcassi wrote a lot of charming little short pieces, and here is one that I’ve not heard many people play. It’s so short that it’s not even really a Rondo—the main theme only comes back one time. Its form is basically A-B-A. I found it in an obscure anthology, and created my own version [...]
This is a famously beautiful arrangement of a Catalan folk song, by Romantic Era guitarist/composer Miguel Llobet. He wrote/arranged a set of 13 such songs, and this is probably the most famous one, frequently played as an encore. Miguel Llobet, who always looks serious: 1878-1938 One of the most lovely special touches in this piece [...]
If you want to be tunely, practice afternoonly. I have to admit something. I haven’t been practicing as much as I would like. I haven’t been practicing afternoonly. In fact, I haven’t been practicing regularly at all lately. I love practicing, and I love playing. It’s one of those things I would do even if [...]
There is a whole lot of music sitting around in my studio, and I love nothing more than to rifle through it, find something that suits my inclination for the day, and start reading it. Daily sight-reading is a great idea for developing your skills as a guitarist. It can also be a great joy. [...]
My online technique course, Basic Classical Guitar Mastery, is going to be discounted for the rest of September. I’m bringing it down from $95 to $55. Over the next week I’ll be sharing a short series of these videos from the course with you for free. Developing a confident and beautiful-sounding free stroke technique is [...]
My online technique course, Basic Classical Guitar Mastery, is going to be discounted for the rest of September. I’m bringing it down from $95 to $55. Over the next week I’ll be sharing a short series of these videos from the course with you for free. Video Number Five is on the dreaded topic of fingernails, [...]
My online technique course, Basic Classical Guitar Mastery, is going to be discounted for the rest of September. I’m bringing it down from $95 to $55. Over the next week I’ll be sharing a short series of these videos from the course with you for free. Video Number Four introduces to all of the most basic, important [...]
My online technique course, Basic Classical Guitar Mastery, is going to be discounted for the rest of September. I’m bringing it down from $95 to $55. Over the next week I’ll be sharing a short series of these videos from the course with you for free. Video Number Three introduces you to the obvious differences [...]
My online technique course, Basic Classical Guitar Mastery, is going to be discounted for the rest of September. I’m bringing it down from $95 to $55. Over the next week I’ll be sharing a short series of these videos from the course with you for free. Video Number Two gives you one of the hidden [...]
My online technique course, Basic Classical Guitar Mastery, is going to be discounted for the rest of September. I’m bringing it down from $95 to $55. Over the next week I’ll be sharing a short series of videos from the course with you for free. Here’s the first one: A bit about the Basic Classical Guitar Mastery [...]
Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, K. 525 Arranged for Solo Classical Guitar (link will take you to JayKauffman.com) This is it—the full Serenade No. 13 for Strings, K. 525. That’s a 20 minute-long piece of major concert rep: Allegro Romanze Menuetto Rondo It’s transcribed for the advanced classical guitar, from G Major into D Major. The Rondo in [...]
Click here to go to the course page The prelude from Bach’s first unaccompanied cello suite is one of my long time favorite pieces. Pablo Casals , the great cellist, discovered an edition of the suites in a thrift shop when he was 13 (they were considered to be “studies,” not concert pieces, at that [...]
The course contains all the information I’d provide to an intermediate student over the course of a few months of lessons in which they learn to play Capricho Arabe. Even though many of you probably have a copy of this justifiably famous staple of the classical guitar repertoire in an anthology or collection, the course [...]
A new Video Mini Course for the delightful piece “Toy,” by Francis Cutting. According to the Wikipedia entry, Francis Cutting is one of the earliest English Lute Composers whose name is known. About 40 works of his survive. This piece is featured in Frederick Noad’s wonderful anthology “The Renaissance Guitar,” which was one of the [...]
Why do some people get better faster than others? Is it genetics or genius and luck of the draw? Is it some secret formula: 20 % warm-up + 20 % technical workout + 40 % repertoire + 20 % sight-reading = ? I say neither genetics nor formulas are the main ingredient in practicing effectively. If [...]
Here’s a bit of ear-candy for you. it’s a very playable little arrangement of the famous William Tell Overture. [leadplayer_vid id=”5294A2BDBFE17″] The free lesson, score downloads and teaching videos for this arrangement are on this page: Rossini’s William Tell Overture–a “mini-arrangement” The password will be available to you if you join the Art of Guitar Newsletter.
Finally! This is my arrangement of the full finale (the famous part) of the William Tell Overture for solo classical guitar. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCQIGFFyGTs To purchase the arrangement using Paypal, Click “Add to Cart” and proceed to checkout. The purchased arrangement contains three printable 5-page Pdf files: An unfingered (Urtext) Version, for Pros and those who’d like [...]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-W71VqMp_o&feature=youtu.be This piece evokes a feeling of spring for me. It’s to be played with a very gentle sense of perpetual motion. It is also a wonderful study in left hand slur technique. This is the finale prelude from my first set of Preludes for solo guitar. You can purchase this prelude as a single [...]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5UdayIxMZs&feature=youtu.be This piece has a storytelling, Latin American feel to it. The variation also works great as a study in strengthening your “a m i” arpeggio technique while at the same time making it more expressive and musical. This is the 2nd prelude from my first set of Preludes for solo guitar. You can purchase [...]
This is a short but fun little piece. It’s got the bucolic feel of a little Irish brook, dancing a jig, so I called it “Brook-rolick”. It also works great as a study for developing your pull-offs. bu·col·ic byo͞oˈkälik/ adjective of or relating to the pleasant aspects of the countryside and country life. “the church is lovely for its bucolic [...]
This is actually one of the most important secrets to being in control of your playing both expressively and technically. It’s the first video in Module Five of Conquering Technical Hurdles, which is about Coordinating the Two Hands. In the rest of the videos I walk you through all the essentials and some of the [...]
I started out this piece as a simple study for one of my students to practice left hand finger independence. But while it does have a bit of that, it’s really more of a study in delicacy of expression and bringing out both musical voices to create a whole picture. As I wrote more of [...]
Here’s a short excerpt from the Conquering Technical Hurdles Video Course. Enjoy! [leadplayer_vid id=”52C75AC6D592D”]
A butterfly goes through stages: an egg, the first stage of a butterfly, hatches into a caterpillar. In this larval stage it goes through a series of mini-stages, continually shedding its skin until it finally sheds its last skin, revealing a chrysalis. The chrysalis stage provides a protective shell for it to metamorphose into its [...]
This is a piece that I wrote as a study for left hand finger independence. I called it a “simple study” at first, but it’s actually more of an “intermediate” study with a few slightly advanced techniques (a cross-string trill, barres in a lot of places) After writing several more of these short pieces, I decided [...]
Here’s an excerpt from the Conquering Technical Hurdles Video Course, Set 2: What the Hands Have in Common. In this video I show you from three different angles what’s going on when you angle your wrists what’s going on when you angle them wrong or bend them too much and how to know whether and when [...]
One issue that I run into a lot is barre passages that exhaust the hand—making it difficult to really get them practiced properly. Here’s a little video I put together about how you can kill three birds with one practice session: 1. Learn this kind of passage really, really, really thoroughly while…. 2. keeping your [...]
var hide_awf_Form = true;http://forms.aweber.com/form/32/989309732.js In Part One of this article, I talked about the imaginary battle between practice and play, between the note police and the expressionistas. I tried to get them to reconcile by pointing out that they need each other. In this post, I want to look further into the differences and the [...]
// // ]]> Should I practice this some more? Or I can just play it already? This kind of question comes up a lot when playing an instrument as challenging as classical guitar. Notice I said "playing" classical guitar. That's how we refer in public to what we do. If someone asks 'What instrument you "play?, you [...]