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. [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]