Flamenco (Guitar)

It has been a standing joke in the guitar world over the last couple of years that there are more flamenco players in London alone than in the whole of Andalusia. An exaggeration, of course, but the fact remains that we have been fortunate enough to have the opportunity of hearing in person a number of great flamenco guitarists, including Carlos Montoya, Sabicas and the younger but no less distinguished Paco Pena. In the hands of these virtuosi flamenco has become almost equal in popularity with the classical method of playing, and promoted by this tremendous upsurge of interest it has become obvious to me that the brief remarks on the subject of flamenco in the Spanish guitar chapter of the original edition of this sites are no longer adequate.

It is the fashion among some classical Spanish guitarists to scoff at the flamenco style, drawing attention to the tonal and technical shortcomings of many of its exponents. Judged by classical standards there may be some justification for this view, but such critics would do well to remember that their own orthodoxy is of a comparatively recent origin, based as it is to a large extent on the work of Segovia over the last 70 years. Formal musicologist raised their hands in horror when the maestro himself first transcribed from the work of Bach and Weiss in order to build the classical repertoire.

However, there is little point in arguing the relative merits of the flamenco and classical styles. The true Flamenco guitar is lighter in build and action than the classical guitar model, two characteristics which facilitates the production of a higher degree of volume at the expense of tone, but essentially the instrument is the same. It seems to me that the basic difference between the two style lies in the fact that whereas a great deal of the classical repertoire consists of adaptations of works originally composed for other instruments, flamenco is a genuinely primitive art from which has itself, and has thus inherited both its limitations and virtues....

Jazz Guitar

Over the years the guitar has given me a great deal of pleasure. Especially now that I play predominantly finger style I can sit quite happily on my own tinkling away for hours oblivious to the cares of the world, completely immersed in music. However, I must say that for sheer spontaneous enjoyment there is nothing quite like playing improvised jazz with a good small group.

When a jazz musician plays an improvised chorus he is attempting to perform the miracle of instance composition, and incredibly, if he know what he's doing the miracle works!
Such a solo is built on the chord progression of the song rather than the melody, so the guitar player has a certain advantage when he comes to jazz. In common with most guitarists I have always found it much easier to remember chord progressions than melodies, which is not surprising, because after some years of playing it is natural to recognize certain chordal relationships.

Any guitarist who wants to play jazz should train himself to do this. He will then be able to develop his solos logically on the basis of the arpeggios and scales thus suggested. Don't misunderstand what I am saying here. A good jazz chorus consists of a great deal more than arpeggios and scales. These should be used as the foundation on which to build a new and interesting melodic lines of your own, and added to his basic knowledge of chords and scales the jazz guitarist must have a flair for melodic and rhythmic invention.
Only the geniuses are born with this flair; but fortunately there are ways for developing it through listening and experimentation. Clearly it is no good expecting that you are going to be able to play good jazz improvisation purely by chance. This would be equivalent to sticking you down in the middle of China and expecting you to be able to improvise the language. Jazz is a language; a way of putting over ideas. If you want to play it, you must listen to it habitually, particularly with reference to the guitar; so that you know what has been done and what can be done with our instrument in this field.

Listen to Jim Hall - a completely different kind of player. Gentle, thoughtful, he never puts a finger wrong; playing kind of jazz chamber music with a taste and intelligence that make him the thinking man's guitarist. And if you want to find out where a great deal of this began. Listen to Django Reinhardt - the incomparably Gipsy guitarist who showed us the way back in 1930's, whose sheer joy of living comes through with every now, making it impossible to believe that he has been dead for nearly a quarter of a century. If there can be such a thing as an Immortal then Django Reinhardt is surely it.

And Play Jazz....

Minor Chords And Indroductions..

The chords we have discussed so far have all been in major keys, and based on what are known as major triads. Each major key also has a relative minor key, which has a characteristic sound of its own. To show you this difference in sound, finger and play the following chords. First A chord you have learned already:
A MAJOR CHORD

And now the chord of A minor, which looks like this:
A MINOR CHORD

The only difference between these two chords is, as you will see, the fact that the 2nd string is fingered one fret lower in the minor chord. This makes the note on the 2nd string C natural, instead of C sharp. Although everything else about the chord remains unchanged, this minor third interval between the A on the 3rd string and C on the 2nd gives the chord its characteristic minor sound.
A minor is the relative minor key to C major. As with the major key, the minor key has three principal chords. Those in A minor are A minor, E7 and D minor. The dominant seventh in the key of A major.
D minor looks like this:
D MINOR
Here again you will see that the only difference between D minor and the D major chord, which you have learned already, lies in one note. In this instance the 1st string is fingered one fret lower, putting an F natural at the top of the chord, instead of an F sharp.
In chord symbol writing A minor is usually written Am- or sometimes Amin, and D minor written Dm or sometimes Dmin, and so on through the minor chords.
Although only one note is changed in both of the minor chords we have discussed so far, you will notice that this necessitates a considerable modification of the fingering in each case. Thus we can improvise a useful exercise for your left hand by alternating major and minor chords, as follows:

||4x4 A///|Am///|D///|Dm///||

Play this exercise very slowly at first, gaining speed as your left-hand fingers become more accustomed to the necessary movements.
Now you should be ready to play this simple exercise on the chord of A minor:

||4x1 Am///|Dm///|E7///|Am///||

Guitar Chords In A

A' is a favourite key of many of the classical composers for the guitar. One good reason for this is the fact that the 5th and 6th strings are tuned to the natural bass notes of the key - A and E, thus allowing these strings to be played open as accompaniment to more complicated fingering with the left hand. From our point of view offers a good opportunity to begin to explore the string bass style of playing.
The string bass style means merely that, having formed a chord with your left hand, instead of strumming it straight across, or playing it arpeggio fashion, you hit one of the lower strings on its own for the first beat of the bar, then play the remainder of the chord on the second. You can then play another bass string, followed by the chord, for the third and fourth beats.
You may wonder why I didn't go staek, raving bonkers with the monotony of this um-ching um - ching, but it is possible to make this style very interesting both from the playing and listening points of view. If you can get hold some of the Eddie Land/Joe Venuti recordings you'll hear Lang using this type of Accompaniment to good effect. Another example that falls immediately to mind is Django Reinhardt's duet version of ALABAMY BOUND, made with Stephen Grappelly in 1937- I guarantee that the first time there's only one guitar playing the accompaniment.
Just how interesting you can make the string bass style depends on your ability and imagination. By making care in the choice of your bass notes you can produce a pleasant counter-melody should fill in the gaps, rather than competing or dominating. You'll get to play the melody yourself later on, but at the moment we're concentrating on the job of making a reasonable accompaniment of you, and this is an art in itself. Your chance to become a soloist will come in Section Four.

Now, the principle chords, in the key of A. These are A, E7 and D. As usual, we'll take tonic chord first:

By now your fingers should be becoming hard enough and flexible enough to find the correct position without much difficulty. Try this chord arpeggio fashion,, making sure that the fingered 4th, 3rd and 2nd strings ring as well as the open ones. Now try playing the chord in the string bass style, hitting the open 5th string alone first, followed by the chord.

Chords In D

When Eddie Lang, the first great jazz guitarist, played with the Paul Whiteman Orchestra back in the early 1930s the story that he carried his band parts written on a piece of card about the size of an average business card became something of a legend. If the story is true, it must be am example of the kind of thing that is possible through the use of the chord symbol system, which you are in the process of learning.

My own adaptation of Eddie Lang's business card one which I have found useful over many years involves the use of an ordinary pocket-sized, indexed address book. You can buy one of these from a stationers quite cheaply and start to build your own library of accompaniment today. Write out the chord symbols - and the words of the song too, if you like as I how quickly you can build up a range of songs to suit all occasions. Why not start with the accompaniments you'll find in this Blog?

Our next three chords are in the key of D. They are D, the tonic A7,the dominant, and the G the sub-dominant. Your 'bonus' chord here is G, which is carried over from the previous chapter, so once again you really only have two chords to learn.

The five string chord of D in the first position looks like this:

Chord Window D

You will notice here that the 4th and 5th strings are played open, giving you a ringing, sonorous bass sound. Try the chord, making sure you use the left-hand fingering indicated. Play arpeggio first, to make sure of those first three strings.
The Dominant Seventh in the key is A7, an extremely useful chord shape. This employs for the first time in your experience the Small Barre - that is, the use of the first finger to hold down the 2nd, 3rd and 4th strings simultaneously. At the same time, the third finger is 5th and 6th strings can be sounded open in this chord, giving a good ringing bass once again.

Chord Window A7

The G chord you already know, so let's try a small exercise, using the three chords in D.
||4x1 D ///|G///|A7///|D///:||
Repeat this until you have the feel of changing between these chords... until your fingers are so educated that you don't have to watch they're doing. Foster's OLD FOLKS AT HOME. To find the first three notes of the melody, finger the D chord and hit your first string, then raise your second finger and allow the open 1st string, to sound then the 2nd string, with your third finger on the third fret, as in the D chord. This gives you: Way down u- the notes F sharp, E and D. The song is played in a slow four to the bar. Whatever you do don't play the accompaniment jerkily. This is good time to try a sustained, arpeggio type of accompaniment, letting the strings ring behind the melody.

(Guitar) Chord Window F

Yes, it is a bit of a stinker, isn't it? But don't panic. You'll notice that in this chord the first finger stops both the 1st and 2nd strings, which means that you can't use the tip of the finger as before. Instead, the first finger is flattened down to bring its first joint in line with the fingerboard. Try that first, picking the 1st and 2nd strings only. If the strings don't ring, adjust the position to your finger until they do. Take your time. Then when you're certain you've mastered this part of the chord, place your second finger on the 3rd string at the second fret, still keeping your first finger in position. Now pick the 3rd, 2nd and 1st strings in that order.

When those three are sounding clearly, you can then add the fourth note, which is made by placing your fourth finger on the third fret of the 4th string. Now play all four strings - arpeggio fashion at first to make sure they're all ringing as they should - then five strings, by including your un-fingered 5th - then strum.

When you've mastered the F chord on it's own, try changing between it and the other chords in the key, something like this:
||:F///|G7///|F///|C///:||

I can't emphasise too much how important it is to learn to change quickly from one chord to another. Each chord is a building block, and its shape has to be learned individually, but to play a chord sequence like that given above, without stumbling or hesitating between the bar lines, it is necessary to go on practising until the left-hand fingers move automatically to the correct position on seeing a given symbol.

(Guitar) Chords In C

The next simple and frequently used key for accompaniments is C. Here again we have a set of three principal chords. This time C is the tonic, or home chord. The dominant is G7, and the sub-dominant is F. You've already learned the four-string version of the chord of C in the previous lessons, so you're part of the way there. However, this time we're going to use the sixth string version, which looks like this:



Your first and second fingers go on the 2nd and 4th strings in the same positions as before, but now we are adding the fourth finger on the third fret of the 5th string and the fourth finger on the third fret of the 6th string. You won't do this perfectly the first time, but will become easier with practice. Try moving from this version on to the other chords that you know already and back again. Like this: ||:C///| D7///| C///| G///|:||

Now we can move on the sub-dominant of the key, G7. The four-string version of this is probably the easiest chord there is to play on the guitar. It requires only the use of your first finger left hand. The other three notes of the chords are formed naturally by the open 2nd, 3rd, and 4th strings, as well from the window below.
Try these out with your download able browser and get the super-unique song for you. And then begin the practice on your own personal room. You need no help after reading these .



It shouldn't take you long to get this one, but here again the important thing is to be able to move as quickly as possible from the fingering of one chord to another, so you try practicing something like the following:
||:G7///|C///|G7///|C///:||
We talked in the last chapter about the three chord trick, but here's something even easier-a song accompaniment that uses only two chords. The song is OH DEAR! WHAT CAN THE MATTER BE? and i've written out the chords and words below. You may be familiar with certain variations on this lyrics, but whether you use them or not depends on you, and your audience, if any.

The melody of the song begins on the note G, which is the sound of your open string, so hit that note first.

Strumming And Arpeggios

When the plectrum is drawn quickly across the strings all the notes of a chord sound more or less simultaneously. This is strumming, in which you will not normally be able to distinguish one note from another, but are aware of the chord as a blended whole. If on the other hand, you draw the plectrum across the strings more slowly, so that there is a definite time lag between one note and the next, you will produce what is known as an arpeggio.

The strumming, rhythmic style is the one we shall use for our accompaniments at first. It is therefore important that you should learn to strum with a regular beat, in order to make your accompaniment as rhythmic as possible. Try fingering the G chord with your left hand and strumming, counting an even 1-2-3-4 as you do so.
After the chord symbols- such as the C, D7, G we have learned so far - diagonal lines this / are used to indicate how many times the chord should be repeated. Thus the 1-2-3-4 beats on the chord of G which you have just played are written in symbol notation | G/// | The vertical lines are Bar lines. In the example here you be playing a four to the bar rhythm. You will also find that a lot of pieces are written in three to the bar rhythm, or waltz time. Three to the bar looks like this | G// | and is counted 1-2-3, 1-2-3 and so on.

Now that you are reasonably familiar with the fingering of the three principal chords in G, try the following exercise over a few times to get used to changing from one chord to another.

Play four beats to the bar, strumming:
||: G / / / | C / / / | D7 / / / | G / / / :||

The double lines and dots at the beginning and end of this exercise ||::|| indicate that the section enclosed by them should be repeated. Remember this, as you will encounter them often in the future. In this instance you should repeat the exercise until you are sure that you can hit the chords correctly each time and maintain a constant rhythm. In all exercise it is better to start off quite slowly, at a tempo you can manage easily without fumbling the changes. If the first part of an exercise seems easy, many students have a tendency to begin as fast as they can - only to come a cropper when something more difficult turns up later on. This is bad because it produces chopping and changing of the original tempo which robs the exercise of any musical value whatsoever. Go slowly at first, concentrating on producing a good tone and a full song. Speed doesn't matter at this stage. That will come naturally with practice. Maintaining a steady tempo is much more important.

Now let's try our fist folk song, GOODNIGHT LADIES, which uses the chords of G. The starting note for this song is the open second string (B). In fact, if you like, you can pick out the melody of the first two bars completely, on open string, by playing in this order. 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 3rd. This gives you the notes equivalent to the phrase 'Goodnight Ladies'. Play it over a couple of times to get the idea before going on to the song.

STRUM FOUR TO THE BAR
BEAT FOUR TO THE BAR

This note
is open B.
|4/4 G / / / | G / / / | G / / / | D7 / / / |
Good-night, - la-dies,- Good-night,- la-dies,-

| G / / / | C / / / | G / D7 / | G / / / ||
Good-night,- la-dies,We're goin' to leave you now.-

You may have noticed that the chord of the song is G, the tonic chord. The tonic is sometimes referred to as the 'home' chord, because it is variably the one upon which a piece written in a particular key ends. Thus, a song played in the key of G will end on the chord of G, or one in the key of C, on the chord of C.

Guitar Chord Window C

The 5th and 6th strings are not sounded in this chord, as you will note from the X symbols side the nut position. The O symbol over the 1st and 3rd strings indicates that they should be played open. When you have mastered the C chord, try changing from this to D7, and then to G.

A NOTE ON TONE PRODUCTION
Concentrate from the outset on making as full a sound as possible each time you play a chord. By this I don't mean that you should bash the plectrum down on the strings with all the force you can master. This will only succeed in producing ugly rattles and buzzes. It is far more important at this stage - and at any other, for that matter- that you should obtain the best tone of which your instrument is capable, rather than striving for sheer volume.

You will have no doubt have noticed by now that the position at which you strike the strings makes a distinct difference to the nature of the tone produced. If you haven't already done so, experiment with this. Finger the G chord with your left-hand and strike the strings close to the bridge. The tone thus produced will be bright and tinny- almost banjo-like. Now, still holding the chord, move your right hand up past the sound-hole to where the neck joins the body of the instrument and draw the plectrum slowly across the strings at this position. The tone this time will be softer, but much rounder and more mellow.

As with so many things, the happy medium is the one to be recommended. That is, a playing position about half-way between these two extremes. This leaves the very sharp and very mellow tones in reserve for any special effects you may wish to produce.

Guitar Chord Window D7

Finger this chord, using left-hand fingers indicated in the window. Then play it slowly, one string after another, to make sure that each is sounding properly. If it isn't, look again at your left-hand fingers, to see if you are pressing the stings down with sufficient firmness, and in the correct position behind the frets. Also check in case any of your fingers are fouling adjacent strings and preventing them from vibrating.

When you fell happy about D7, try changing from D7 to G... and back again. It will be a struggle at first. You'll find it necessary to look down at the fingerboard and guide your left-hand fingers carefully into position. Don't worry_ we've all been through this stage , and the only way to get past it is to practice the change again and again until you are able to make it smoothly. Don't worry about speed, just take it slow and easy, and make sure that all the notes in each chord sound every time.

A SPECIAL NOTE FOR THE LADIES
You're going to have cut those lovely long finger nails on your left-hand or right-hand. If you don't you'll never able to press the strings down in the correct manner. So get out your clippers and look upon it as a sacrifice made for your Art.
Generally, many players plays with their right hand. They said, right hand playing is universally right thing to do on guitars. Many artists like also plays guitar right hand. If you don't want to play it right hand, then you can simply choose left-handed playing.

Guitar Chord Window

Over the nut position on the diagram you will notice the two symbols X and O. There refers to the un-fingered strings in the chord shape. When X is placed over a string, this string should not be sounded. Therefore, in the example above section, the 5th and 6th strings are not played. The O symbol placed over a string means that, although it is not fingered, the string should be sounded. In this case you will see that the 4th, 3rd and 2nd strings are played open in this way, producing the notes D,G and B, which are in fact the basic notes of the chord of G.

When fingering a string it should be pressed down just behind, NOT on the fret. This brings the string firmly into contact with the metal of the fret, thus shortening the length of the part which vibrates when struck and making its pitch higher than that of the open string. In this case the 1st (E) string is stopped at the third fret and becomes G. If you turn back to the Fingerboard Diagram at the beginning of this section you will to check this. Notice that each time you move your finger up a fret, the pitch of the string goes up a semitone.

Now, holding your plectrum between the first finger and thumb of the right hand, as described earlier, draw it cross the top four strings. Remember, just the top four - we are using the 5th and 6th string at this stage. You should not have any difficulty in producing a musical sound from the 4th, 3rd and 2nd strings in this chord, because they are sounded open, but you may find that first gives you nothing more than an inelegant 'phut'. This does not indicate that there is anything wrong with your guitar, or with the method of fingering described above. The trouble lies in the fact that all this stage your fingers are not strong enough, nor your finger-ends hand enough, to press the strings down with sufficient firmness. Another possible fault is that the side of your left-hand finger may be making accidental contact with the un-fingered 2nd string and deadening it's sound.

Guitar Chord In Window System

The best way for a beginner to learn his chords is through a system of diagram known as 'Windows'. (The origin of this name will soon become obvious.) The window system is based on a pictorial representation of the guitar fingerboard as shown in figure.
The vertical lines represent the strings of the guitar, 6th, 5th, 4th and so on, reading from left to right. I have shown the top horizontal line as a double one, to indicate that it represents the nut, that is the point which divides the vibrating section of the strings from the part which goes on the tuning head. As you will see from the diagram of the guitar fingerboard on the opposite page, the frets are numbered downwards, 1st,2nd,3rd and so on. To show a chord in the window system it is merely necessary to add it's fingering to the basic diagram. Thus the first of our principal chords G is as shown below.

-CHORD WINDOW NO FINGERING

The circle on the 1st string shows the position at which the string should be pressed. The number inside the circle indicates that the third finger of the left hand should be used for this purpose, no other. It is important at this stage that you should use precisely the left-hand fingering indicated. To keep things as simple as possible I have given you only the four-string chord of G. Later on, when you learn the additional left-hand fingering that makes this chord into a six-string one, you may encounter unnecessary difficulty if you get into the habit of using the wrong fingers now.
-Chord Window G

Guitar Chords In 'G' (Chord Trick)

The guitar is an ideal accompanying instrument, and the easiest and most satisfying manner in which to begin learning to play is to take advantage of this fact. In this section I shall show you how to use your guitar to accompany a number of well-known folk songs, and you should be able to start making satisfying musical sounds within a very short time.

These sounds will be chords- which are defined in my dictionary as 'a simultaneous and harmonious union of sounds of different pitch'. In guitar terms this means simply three or more strings played at the same time. Chords are the basis of all guitar technique, and they are praticulary important in accompaniment playing because of the fullness of the sound they provide. So you must begin to learn chords and the chord symbol system, which is a very useful form of musical shorthand with many uses.

In every musical key there are three principal chords, which are known as the tonic, the dominant and the sub-dominant. In the key of G these three chords are G. D7 (pronounced D seventh) and C, and you will find them used in different permutatios and with additions throughout the accompaniment of any song written in this key. It follows logically that the more complicated the harmony of a song, the greater the number of additional chords requried, but most folk songs have a simple harmonic structure and in many cases they can be accompanied quite satisfactory by using nothing more than the three principal chords mentioned above.

Guitar Strings

A lot of players, not all of them beginners, take strings for granted. For them, the only reason for replacing a string is that is has broken. They go on indefinitely playing on strings that are discolored and rusty, their covering frayed and loose. And they wonder why they cannot produce a good tone!

Give your instrument a chance, Strings are literally its vocal chords, and the best guitar in the world won't sound good if it isn't stringed properly. In the course of begin played strings pick up dirt, grease and perspiration from the fingers of even the most fastidious player. I would not dream of picking up a guitar with dirty hands, but during he course of a three or four hours session, especially if the weather is warm or the room over-heated, everybody's hands perspire and some of that must end up on the strings.

I always wipe the strings of my guitar with a duster kept especially for that purpose after a playing session. Even so the underside of the plain strings picks up dirt and corrosion, and the covered strings absorb the same stuff in between the windings where it is impossible to wipe off. Imperceptibly at first, this deposit begins to dull the sound of the strings, getting gradually worse and worse as it accumulates. Added to this is the fact that after a time the action of the metal frets on the covered strings will cause them to fray. This will interfere with pitch and cause them to buzz.

They should never be allowed to deteriorate to that degree, and this one of the reasons why I say that you should not wait until a string breaks before replacing it. In fact, unless you're a very muscular player or just unlucky, you'll find that strings, particularly metal ones, break very seldom. Nylon strings have a habit of popping off during some quite moment with a sound like pistol shot and scaring the life out of you, because they are more sensitive to atmospheric changes.

A special note on 3rd strings. In the earlier post of this blog I recommended the use of a covered 3rd string on metal string guitars, because in those days uncovered 3rd string tended to play out of tune. Due to improvements in manufacture this condition no longer applies, and I have been quite happily using plain 3rds for some time on my metal stringed guitars as well as on my nylon stringed instruments.

These are just some of the bare bone facts about the guitar that you ought to know. You'll pick up a lot more as you go through this blog. But right now you must be anxious to start playing. So, if you've tuned your instrument, let's go to Title Types Of Guitars and get on with it!

The Guitar Playing Picking, Ideas And Technique

I would recommend that you begin by using a plectrum to strike the strings. This is the easiest way in which a reasonable sound can be produced, and then only practical method for a metal string instrument. Later on, in article fourteen, we will talk about the use of the right hand fingers for striking the strings, in Spanish guitar playing.

The picking should be held between the thumb and forefinger of the right hand, as shown in the above picture. It is important that the forefinger should be crooked, not straight, so that the pick balances on its first joint, held in place by pressure of the thumb. Don't grasp the pick like grim death. Your grip should be firm, but relaxed. The pick should move up and down across the strings, maintaining as nearly as possible an angle of 90' in relation to them. It is as well to practice at first with DOWN strokes only. After this technique has been mastered, you can start practicing UP strokes.

Picks come in fantastic variety of shapes and sizes, and a great deal of personal taste enters into which type you should select. I find the two shapes shown below to be the most practical for me, the one in the left for solo playing and the one on the right for the rhythm accompaniment. Both are steel, which gives clearer, more brilliant tone than composition or plastic. A pick should have a certain flexibility, but not to be too flimsy, otherwise the tone it produces will be corresponding thin.

After a time you will naturally develop a preference for one particular shape, but I would suggest that you start out using the rhythm type illustrated above.

Guitar Illustration Of Classic Stance

At this point you may be saying: "This is all very well, but all the groups I've seen, playing standing up. 'You're quite right. But the reason they do this has more to do with presentation than with music. In the pop world of today a guitarist is expected to perform a dance routine and assorted acrobatics in addition to playing his instrument. Fair enough, but you will find later on that difficult technical passages are much easier to play when you're sitting down than they are in standing position. You'll hardly ever find a jazz guitarist playing standing up, and classical player never. The technique of guitar playing is difficult enough, without making it harder for yourself.

But you still want to play standing up, because that's what the big beat groups do? All right. But let's do it the best way, eh? First you need a sling for your guitar. These range from a simple piece of braided cord up to a magnificent bull choker arrangement or ornately tooled leather. You pays your money you takes your choice, but if you're going to be playing standing up all night, a sling with a decently padded shoulder piece will be the most comfortable. The best way of playing standing up is to adjust the sling so that the guitar is brought into a position as near as possible to that obtained in the sitting position. That is, the instrument should not dangle somewhere around your knees, but be held up on your chest. AND MOST IMPORTANT - the neck should be held well up, so that the head of the guitar is again in line with your shoulder.

Guitar Playing Position

In the classical guitar stance the player sits on a chair, with his left foot resting flat on a stool and his right on the ground. The waist of the guitar can then rest naturally on his horizontal thigh and is steadied in this position by the right forearm, which hangs naturally over the hips of the instrument.

The natural position of the left hand is found by bringing the hand up, with the palm facing away from you, until the thumb is in the middle of the back of the neck of the instrument and roughly parallel with it. The fingers are then arched round the neck so that they make contact with the strings at right angles. In this way, the pressures between the thumb and fingers balance each other .

This playing position has been developed over many years as both the most comfortable and the most efficient method of holding the guitar. I use it for both finger style and plectrum playing.

An alternative to the classic playing position, which does away with the need for a footstool, is to sit with the left leg crossed over the right, then rest the waist of the guitar on the left thigh, as before. This is the commonly suits you is a matter of physical proportion between yourself and your guitar. BUT is essential to remember that the instrument should not depend at all on your left hand for support. The left hand must be completely free to move up and down the fingerboard. To further ensure this freedom, take careful note of the angle of the neck, which should bring the head of the player to reach any position on the fingerboard without any physical contortion.

Guitar Electric Tuner

I've saved the best until last in the matter of Tunning, because I feel that as a beginner it is important that you develop your own ear. With the new Electric Tuners you can't hear it! This can be particularly useful for anyone who plays in a group, where there is sometimes quite a bit of noise going on and several people trying to tune up at the same time.

All you have to do with one of these tuners is to adjust your strings one by one, centering the meter needle up on the dial of the gadget each time, and when you have done all six the guitar will be in tune. (Unless of course, a string has slipped after tuning - but it's easy enough to check on that.)

There are a number of Electronic Tuners on the market priced from about $20 upwards- which might sound quite a bit of money for such a routine job, but I can assure you they are well worth every penny. Consider for example my present group, with Bass Guitar and two guitars. This involves 16 individual strings, each which must be in perfect tune if we are going to produce a pleasant sound. Under the old system we went along. But there were some nights and this happens to everybody when it just didn't come right and everybody ended up rather disgruntled. Now we all begin by using the same tuner and the old hassles are a thing of the past.

Tuning Guitar In Pitch Pipes

Another, more portable alternative is to tune to pitch pipes. Most music shops will have in stock a set of six small pipes which are tuned to the open strings of the guitar. If not, they should be able to supply you with a single one, in which case a G is the best note. With this G you can first tune your 3rd string, then tune the others from it by the process of relative tuning.

RELATIVE TUNING

This is by far the most efficient method of ensuring that your guitar is in tune with itself, which for playing on your own, is far more important than any consideration of perfect concert pitch. Relative tuning works by matching the sounds of adjacent strings, as follows: Having tuned the 3rd (G) string to your satisfaction, press your finger down on this string. Then, keeping your left-hand finger on the 3rd string, so that it will sustain the note, pick the open 2nd (B) string.

The sound produced by the 2nd string should be identical with that from the 3rd string stopped at the fourth fret, because you have shortened the length of the vibrating part of the 3rd string by four fret and raised its pitch from semitones. i.e up to the note B. If the 2nd string isn't in tune, then it must be adjusted until it is identical. I must point out at this stage that when counting frets you should not include the nut that is, the bar of hard wood, or ivory which is situated at the top of the fingerboard. All the musical vibration of a string takes place between the natural boundary points formed by this nut and the bridge. You will find both of these parts of the instrument indicated in the diagram on previous lessons.

What You, Guitarist Should Know ?

Now that you have the guitar, the very first thing to learn is how to tune it. This may sound crashingly obvious, but I have met students who have been messing about with the instrument on their own for months and are still totally incapable of tuning it. I even had the bloke, who when I complained of his lack of tuning, said: 'But I paid twenty quid for this guitar, and they said it was in tune when I brought it!' and he wasn't kidding.

A plectrum guitar should hold its basic tuning pretty well, once its strings have had time to settle down. But even so, the tuning should be checked at least each time you pick it up to play. During a playing session an experienced guitarist checks his tuning constantly and adjusts as necessary. In solo playing, the fact that a string is out of tune shows itself immediately to the ear when playing a passage across the strings. In chord playing, an out of tune string will make the chord sound wrong, and two out of tune strings will give a total effect something like musical toothache.

One method of tuning is to use a piano. The illustration below shows you where to find the notes you need for this.

It is helpful when tuning to a piano to place your foot on the right-hand pedal. This will cause the piano note to sustain and make it easier to compare the corresponding note on your guitar. Begin by finding the E above Middle C then pick your 1st string. Remember, the 1st string is the thinnest one on the instrument, and the 6th is the thickest. I stress this point, because students often find the numbering of the strings confusing in the first stage.

Well, how is your 1st string? Chances are it's out of tune. If you're starting from scratch with a new set of strings, or a guitar that hasn't been tuned in years, then it will be way out. To make matters worse, it is likely that you will have difficulty in comparing the pitch of the piano note with that of the guitar. The reason for this lies in the different tones of the instrument, coupled with the fact that at this stage your ear is not accustomed to such exacting tasks.

Don't worry too much if you're a bit of a 'tin ear' at the outset. I have known students who held up the class for long enough during the initial tuning sessions, winding away grim faced at their creaking machine heads. Tuning was about as simple to them as boarding moving bus with a parcel under each arm and they usually ended up sharp or flat, leaving the final adjustment to me. And yet, later on, some of these same students have become exceptional players, with great left-hand agility and tuning, as their ears have developed, presents no difficulty at all.

Guitar Action And Tuning

Assuming that the guitar you are trying is tuned to concert pitch and this is essential, because only at this pitch will the strings possess the correct tension now is the time to check on Action and Tuning. Find the 21th fret by counting upwards along the neck on the 1st string. Unless the guitar you are trying is a Spanish guitar there should be a position dot, or dots at this fret to guide you. When you have found it, press the 1st string down onto the fingerboard just behind the fret and hit the string with your Right thumb or plectrum.

Then take your Left hand finger off and play the open string. The two notes should form a perfect Octave. If they don't, either the bridge of the instrument is our position, or the Action is too high.

Action is the word used in describing the amount of forced needed to press the strings down behind the frets. Thus we speak of a high or a low Action, according to the height of the strings above the fingerboard. It will be obvious to you that the higher they are initially, the more effort is needed to press them down firmly behind the frets.

Generally speaking the strings should not be more than a quarter of an inch away from the fingerboard at the 12th fret, and they are in some cases quite a bit nearer than that. Just how near they can be is a complicated formula referring to bridge height, neck pitch and fingerboard straightness understood only by alchemists like my guitarrero friends James and Michael. As a mere player I take these mysteries on trust and leave them to the experts.

At the beginning your fingertips are sure to be soft, and when they start to get sore (as they will!) yo're going to think that a quarter of an inch Action at the 12th fret is pretty high. The only certain consolation I can offer here is that the soreness will wear off in time, if you keep on playing, because your finger ends will grow their own protective coating. I stress the phrase keep on playing because at one stage I didn't touch a guitar for over a years, and when I came back to it I found that although I hadn't quite forgotten how to play, I had to go through the uncomfortable business of thoughening up my finger ends all over again.

Your Guitar Tone

Don't buy a guitar solely on its appearance. You may be temped by some beautiful looking instrument only to find that it makes a sound like a leaky bucket. Sound is what you are looking for.

Your guitar should have a round, full tone in the bass and a singing, sustained sound on the top strings. Some guitars, because of bad construction, will sound flat and woody, with a muffled tone even on the open strings. Others will be over balanced on the bass side, with nothing in the treble but a tinny tinkle.

Draw your plectrum or the fleshy part of your thumb across the strings mid-way between the bridge and the end of the fingerboard. Does the sound ring on for some time after the stroke, or does it die almost immediately? If it fades too quickly try another, try another in any case, because it will give you some basis for comparison.

The chances are that the guitar will be out of tune, so ask the dealer to put it in tune for you before trying it. If he doesn't know how, he hasn't any business selling guitars. After all, would you buy a car from a salesman who didn't know how to drive?

If you try several instruments you will find a surprising difference in their tonal quality and sustaining power. And these differences may not always bear any apparent relationship to price. Sometimes, because of the strange vagaries of the guitar maker's craft, which is more of an art than a science, a cheap guitar may have a better tone than a more expensive one.

I stress the matter of the tone particularly because it is of prime importance, but you must also remember that tone is some extent a subjective matter and people have different opinions. What you should be looking for is a sound that pleases you, personally.

Within the obvious limitations of your pocket your instrument should give you the best possible value for you money. But the way, if you have a friend who is already a player, do your best to persuade him to go along with you and help in this testing. For one thing, he will already be aware of many of the points raised here, and for another you will be able to listen to him playing the guitars and get a truer impression of their qualities.

Buying A Guitar

It follows from what has been said below that the most sensible type of guitar for a beginner to buy is a reasonably priced steel string acoustic model similar to that shown in Illustration A. The tone of such an instrument can be surprisingly good and satisfying, especially if you have never had the pleasure of making your own music before.

If you'd like to hear the acoustic guitar at its ultimate, listen to the recordings made by Diango Reinhardt with Hot Club de France in the thirties, many of which are now available on re-recorded LPs. This may sound a rather prehistoric kind of reference, but in my opinion and that of many other guitarists, those performances have never been equaled since.

You should be able to pick up a reasonable second hand acoustic guitar for around $60, which is pretty cheap for the amount of pleasure it can give you.

If you're really stuck on the idea of an Electric Guitar will probably cost you 90$ or 100$, and then there's the amplifier to think about , so you're going to be committed to around $200 before you start. But do read the chapter on Electric Guitar in Section 3rd of this site before buying. A Semi Acoustic would cost you rather more, say $90 or $95 for the instrument, and here again you would probably want to but an amplifier as well.

You should be able to buy a reasonable second hand Spanish Guitar for about the same price as an Acoustic Guitar. Cheap Spanish Guitar used to be known as Valencianas, after the city where so many of them were made, but today they are just as likely to be Japanese and none the worse for that, I hasten to say. Admittedly it is rather above the Valenciana class, but my own Takamine is a delight to play and beautifully made.

The Spanish Guitar

Finally we come to the true, classical guitar, the instrument of Segovia, Julian Bream and John Willi-arms. More lightly built, its nylon strings give it a warm, sensitive tone of quite a different quality from that of the metal string instruments. A good Spanish guitar is responsive to the touch of the fingers to a degree not found in a steel string instrument and tone production becomes much less mechanical and more intimate. For one thing, the thicker, more pliable nylon strings with their lower tension feel quite different under the fingers of both the Left and Right hands.

More than any of the other guitars, the Spanish guitar is a complete instrument, full of rich possibilities for any musician who is willing to work and study to develop those possibilities. I'm not trying to put you off learning to play the Spanish Guitar, but I think you should understand from the outset that this most rewarding of guitars is also the most demanding. It is not an instrument for the dilletante of casual strummer. Still in this age people are willing to learn from Spanish guitars, because it takes less hard effort for the beginners. Every single guitars has it's own tones individually. I don't say, beginners must buy this guitar and learn it to play, you can buy any guitars you like and learn it to play. Get the complex notes and try it everyday. Firstly practice it slowly and then after doing that slowly built up your entire speed on it, that makes you feel beeter when you change your guitar on Electric Guitar.

The Twelve String Guitar

This is mainly a vocal accompaniment instrument, long used by Folk artists like Leadbelly (Huddie Lead better). It has a characteristic, jangly sound of it's own which you may or may not find attractive. The sources of it's different sound are the twelve strings, which are grouped in pairs, as on a Mandolin, the bottom four pairs tuned in octaves with one thick and one thin string side by side. This means that what would sound as a single note on a normal guitar is automatically doubled up on the Twelve Stringed Instruments.

The intervals of the tuning are the same as for the standard 6 string guitar, so that the normal fingering for the scales and chords shapes can be used. However, the pitch is normally four semitones lower, which means that the usual fingering for an E major chord produces as C major sound. For this reason the tuning given below is known as the C tuning. This guitar is totally different from another Semi Acoustic Guitars, Acoustic Guitars, and an Electric Guitars. This guitars consists of various different parts itself, going for the vocal class is very suitable with this, because this guitar is mainly used for vocal practices. Mentioning other guitars have their own major tone which is some how similar with this made guitar.

C TUNING FOR 12 STRING GUITAR

1st pair C (Unison)

2nd pair G (Unison)

3rd pair Eb (Octave apart)

4th pair Bb (Octave apart)

5th pair F (Octave apart)

6th pair C (Octave apart)

About Electric Guitar

This is the instrument that is seen in a vast variety of forms in Rock, Heavy Metal, and even in Pop Groups etc.. and could in that sense be classed as the most popular guitar. The Electric Guitar is fitted with pickups like those on the Semi Acoustic, but as it consists of little more than a block of wood with a guitar neck attached it depends entirely on an amplifier for the production of sounds. For this reason a beginner buying an Electric Guitar must be prepared at the same time to go to the expenses of buying an amplifier, which could cost him as much or even more than the guitar itself. This begin so, I would no happily recommend a complete beginner to start off with an Electric Guitar.

Later on, well that's a different matter, because when it comes to group playing an Electric Guitar has several advantages. Firstly it is usually quite light in weight, which is a consideration if you are playing in a standing position all night with it hanging from your neck. Secondly, the action of an Electric Guitar can be made very light, which makes it easy to play, because there are mo structural acoustic properties to consider in the making of the body. The shape of an Electric guitar is limited only by the imagination of the maker, as will be seen from illustration C.

The third point about Electric guitars is that because there is no need of any consideration of acoustics in their construction a Electric Guitar with special electronic refinements, but there are a number of very reasonably priced copies of the original Les Paul model around that are quite adequate. Just bear in mind that without the help of an amplifier you Electric guitar will produce nothing more inspiring than a tiny 'Plink' - in contrast with an Acoustic, which you can play anywhere and produce a musical sound.

Types Of Guitars

The Steel String Acoustic Guitars

The Round Hole Acoustic Guitar, sometimes known as the 'jumbo' or 'Dreadnaught' is the most suitable type of instrument for a beginner from several points of view. It is very similar in appearance to the traditional Spanish guitar, but more heavily built to withstand the extra tension of steel strings. Another important point is that the fingerboard of a steel string guitar is usually narrower and slightly curved, making it easier to play in some respects than a Spanish guitar, particular when dealing with moving chordal passages.

This instrument has no pickup or means of amplification and depends solely on the strings and the resonant properties of its own body for the sound it produces. It is used by a large number of Folk, Blues and Ragtime players, both as a solo instrument and as an accompaniment to the voice. Because of it's limited volume it is not suitable for playing the solo lead in a group, but it is a very useful instrument on which to learn the basics of guitar playing.

SEMI ACOUSTIC GUITAR

This is the instrument mostly favoured by Jazz players. Generally speaking it has a slim body which produces less un-amplified sound than the Dreadnaught.This limitation is not important however, because it is fitted with pickups which convert the vibrations of its steel string into electro magnetic impulses which are then fed into an amplifier. Thus major part of the sound comes from the speaker of the amplifier rather than the instrument itself and can be adjusted to make it louder or softer by a simple movement of a volume control knob.

Normally played with a plectrum the Semi Acoustic guitar is used for both comping (accompaniment playing) and single note soloing in Jazz groups. Of late years there has also been a growing trend among Jazz soloist to play the Semi Acoustic with the fingers of the right hand, a style which increases the self contained qualities of the instrument and converts into what has been described as a Lap Piano. The leading exponent in this field is without doubt Joe Pass, whose recordings will be only fair to make it clear at this point that it is also difficult one to play because it requires a greater knowledge of the fingerboard and the principles of Harmony than possibly any other style. I shall explain more about this subject in later chapters.

Guitar

There are two basic types of guitar. The first has metal strings, the second (normally called Spanish guitar) nylon strings. Even at this early stage it is important that you should understand the essential differences between the two types, because if you don't you could waste a lot of time and money.


The best Spanish guitar ever made would be completely useless to someone whose ambition is to play in a beat group, and the most fabulously ornate Electric guitar with three pickups, tremolo arm and on board pre-amp would be equally unsuitable for someone who wants to play Classical Finger Style.
So where do you start? Well, unless you have your heart set from the very beginning on becoming a Classical Finger Style Player.
You can work through Sections Two and Four of this book on a metal string instrument, training the fingers of your Left hand and learning the notes on the fingerboard. If you later decide that you would like to go on the Finger Style nylon string guitar nothing you have learned will be wasted.
But before we go any further I must give you one very important warning! Whatever you do, Never put metal strings onto a guitar which was built to carry nylon strings. Spanish guitars are much lighter built than metal string guitars and the higher tension needed to tune metal string can cause irreparable damage.


This may be obvious to you, and you're probably wondering why I lay so much stress on the matter. But I will always remember with a shudder of horror the time when a lady turned up at one of my classes with a beautiful little American made finger style guitar, ornate with mother of pearls inlays and over hundred years old. (The guitar, not a lady!) Full of good intentions she had taken it along to a supposedly reputable music shop on the previous day and asked them to fit it with a new set of strings. This they did-metal ones, under the strain of which the neck of the guitar was already warping visibly!
To help you avoid this kind of pitfall, please study the illustrations and descriptions of the different kinds of the guitars on the following pages carefully.
Metal String guitar can be divided into three types the Acoustic, the Acoustic/Electric or Semi-Acoustic and the Solid Electric.