By Mike Roberts
Greetings, and welcome to the world of acoustic fingerstyle and classical guitar. A long, rich history lies behind that beautiful chunk of wood in your hands. For several centuries (so far) finger-plucked acoustic guitars have played a central role in musical cultures all over the globe, from Spanish Romanticism to Hawaiian Slack-key, from West African groove to American folk. With time, patience, and plenty of well-directed, mindful practice, these challenging styles and great musical traditions are well within your reach.
WHAT this column will be teaching you:
* The techniques, repertoire, and culture of fingerstyle and classical guitar music
WHO this column is for:
* Total beginners
* Pickstyle players who want to learn fingerstyle guitar
* Experienced fingerstylists looking to improve their technique, hone their craft, and learn some new music
HOW this column will proceed from lesson to lesson to help you become a wicked fingerstyle/classical player:
* We’ll start with technique fundamentals, focusing especially on the right hand*…
* Move on to larger musical building blocks like picking patterns, scales, bass lines, and other good stuff…
* Then start working in some real pieces of music where you’ll apply all your good technique…
* Along the way we’ll talk about some of the history and great players of fingerstyle and classical guitar…
* And also keep looking at new techniques and ways to build on everything you’ve learned so far.
*For lefty players, this means the left hand. For practical purposes I will follow the timeless guitar community practice of completely ignoring left-handers. So, for all you southpaws: fingerstyle/classical technique is exactly the same for you as for right-handers, but remember that right always means left and left always means right. It’s a crazy world.
As a fingerstyle and classical player who also plays pickstyle in a number of musical genres, my goal is to give you not only a thorough introduction to the techniques, culture, and repertoire of fingerstyle and classical guitar, but also to provide some perspective on their place in the larger world of the guitar—a world in which stylistic and technical boundaries are being rapidly obliterated.
When I ask my new students about the music they like, there’s one response I hear more than any other: “Everything.” Fortunately for them—and for you—a solid foundation in fingerstyle technique will open the door to a multitude of music, from the Renaissance music of Luis Milán in 16th century Spain to the modern folk of Iron and Wine in 21st century America—and everything in between. You can focus on one corner of the fingerstyle universe or range freely over the landscape; anything goes. Regardless of your tastes, and whether you are a total beginner or an aspiring fingerstyle/pickstyle switch-hitter, this column aims to build you into a solid player from the ground up.
Next time: An Introduction to the Wide World of Fingerstyle and Classical Guitar
See you then,
Mike
Fingerstylin' will be published on a bi-weekly basis.
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