Classical Guitar players thread

[Dajjal]

Are there any classical guitar players on the forum? If so hi! I have not played my guitar for years but I recently picked it up and found I had forgotten everything I used to know, and not only that but my left hand fingering has gone to hell.

So I embarked upon an effort to re learn the guitar and have I started by practicing the scales. Paying particular attention to playing scales at the higher end of the fretboard.

I then listened to John Williams playing Villa Lobos and decided I wanted to learn those pieces. I started trying to learn from the sheet music I downloaded from the web, but soon found the music does not have fingering or fret numbers marked on it, so you have to work out the fingering yourself. I tried to do this and had problems so then I thought I could learn the correct fingering from tablature versions of the music and that worked.
I can now play the first few bars of Villa Lobos preludes no 1 and 4. I realize the music gets a lot more difficult later in both pieces but I hope to master them. There is no point learning simple, boring stuff so I figure playing exciting pieces will sustain my interest.
I used to be able to play Granados spanish dance no 5 and some Django Reinheardt.


I will provide links to all my findings if anyone is interested.

 

[Dajjal]

Here is Villa Lobos prelude no 1 played by John Williams.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IcNi-5moPe4]John Williams - Prelude n.1 (H. Villa-Lobos) - YouTube[/ame]

 

[Dajjal]

Prelude no 4 by Villa Lobos

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVJXSDTFfGY]John Williams : Hector Villa-Lobos - Prelude no.4 - YouTube[/ame]

 

[Dajjal]

Here is the sheet music for all 5 Villa Lobos preludes.

Prelude-1-2-3-4-5

 

[Dajjal]

Here is the tablature version of Villa Lobos prelude no 4.

Prelude n 4 by Heitor Villa lobos sheet tab

Obviously it would be impossible to learn this piece just from the tablature as there is no timing of the notes, and no special markings like where to play harmonics. But the tablature give the string and fret numbers of the notes, which saves you having to try and work them out for yourself.

 

[Dajjal]

Here is the music and tablature for Villa Lobos prelude no 1.

Villa Lobos - prelude nº1 (tablatura)

 

[Pogo]

Yes, in the sense of the type of guitar but I can't say I play "classical". I like to fingerpick.

 

[Dajjal]

Yes, in the sense of the type of guitar but I can't say I play "classical". I like to fingerpick.

Here is a large selection of popular music for the guitar. It opens at a page of Beatles music but there is much more.

The Beatles - Classclef: Free Classical Guitar Sheet Music Directory

 

[Pogo]

Yes, in the sense of the type of guitar but I can't say I play "classical". I like to fingerpick.

Here is a large selection of poular music for the guitar. It opens at a page of Beatles music but there is much more.

The Beatles - Classclef: Free Classical Guitar Sheet Music Directory

Yike - that's a very iffy page. It pops up those "the page wants you to confirm that you want to leave" which always raises my virus antennae -- plus when I tried to open one it told me I "don't have cookies enabled". Very suspicious.

 

[Dajjal]

Yes, in the sense of the type of guitar but I can't say I play "classical". I like to fingerpick.

Here is a large selection of poular music for the guitar. It opens at a page of Beatles music but there is much more.

The Beatles - Classclef: Free Classical Guitar Sheet Music Directory

Yike - that's a very iffy page. It pops up those "the page wants you to confirm that you want to leave" which always raises my virus antennae -- plus when I tried to open one it told me I "don't have cookies enabled". Very suspicious.

Whoops, Oh well here is a tablature version of Classical Gas by Mason Williams.

Classical Gas Tab by Mason Williams @ Ultimate-Guitar.Com

 

[Pogo]

Here is a large selection of poular music for the guitar. It opens at a page of Beatles music but there is much more.

The Beatles - Classclef: Free Classical Guitar Sheet Music Directory

Yike - that's a very iffy page. It pops up those "the page wants you to confirm that you want to leave" which always raises my virus antennae -- plus when I tried to open one it told me I "don't have cookies enabled". Very suspicious.

Whoops, Oh well here is a tablature version of Classical Gas by Mason Williams.

Classical Gas Tab by Mason Williams @ Ultimate-Guitar.Com

I like that one as an entry-level.

Strangely I find an inordinate number of sites dealing with tabs or lyrics flagged as attack sites. Gotta be careful out there.

 

[Trajan]

My Ipad and phone goes nowhere without my Bream fix..

 

[Dajjal]

My Ipad and phone goes nowhere without my Bream fix..

Here is the great man himself. Playing Villa Lobos preludes 3 and 4.
Prelude 3 looks fairly easy compared with 4 that has a difficult fast passage.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbW4rYYKxhg]Julian Bream - Villa-Lobos - Preludes 3 & 4 - YouTube[/ame]

 

[Dajjal]

Here is another piece I have aspirations to play. This time performed by the master Segovia.
Fandanguillo by Torroba. I am completely over reaching trying to play this piece at my present stage, but I cannot be bothered to play simple boring stuff like greensleeves, so I would rather struggle with the master works.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2z_wzkmMAc]Segovia Plays Fandanguillo (Torroba) - YouTube[/ame]

 

[Dajjal]

For those who wish to learn the classical guitar I recommend the books by Frederick Noad.

Called " solo guitar playing" Books one and two.

I recently purchased them from the Internet by doing a google search for them. I will not say the name of the company as that may be advertising, but it is well known and if you search for the books it is the first thing that comes up. I had the original single volume in the 1970s but lost it, so I ordered the new 4th edition of the new revised two books.

They are graduated lessons in reading music and playing the guitar for self teaching.
They go from beginner to advanced. If you are serious about learning they are well worth the money.

 

[LadyGunSlinger]

I have a Guild.. I play all the beginner stuff, stairway to heaven, dust in the wind.. My fingers are soo small that it's hard for me to do bar chords.. like the f chord.. I can't hit it.. I also play the keyboard, which I'm much better at but I love my guitar.. Maybe I should just get a smaller guitar but this one holds significant meaning to me..

 

[Dajjal]

I have a Guild.. I play all the beginner stuff, stairway to heaven, dust in the wind.. My fingers are soo small that it's hard for me to do bar chords.. like the f chord.. I can't hit it.. I also play the keyboard, which I'm much better at but I love my guitar.. Maybe I should just get a smaller guitar but this one holds significant meaning to me..

I have an Oscar Teller model 70 concert guitar made of rosewood. It has an extra deep body and makes a lovely booming sound when you play base notes. I have had it for 50 years.
I have long thin fingers, but I do not find bar chords easy as the strings tend to slip into the finger joints and I get string rattle. I find Cavatina hard to play because it is mostly bar chords.

 

[Dajjal]

For those who prefer popular music here is John Williams playing Cavatina.

I find it hard to play because it is mostly played holding down bar chords, and using the other three fingers to pick out the tune.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_8d0DJpbBI]John Williams - Cavatina (Live 1979) - YouTube[/ame]

 

[Dajjal]

Here is a pretty piece I would like to play, but will not be attempting any time in the near future. Because it requires you to tune down the 6th string to D and the 5th string to G.
That means you have to learn new fingering, and I am having enough trouble learning the regular scales, let alone re learning them just to play this one piece.



[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yd0z4uIc9o4]La Maja de Goya - Enrique Granados / John Williams - YouTube[/ame]

 

[Dajjal]

Here is another piece by Granados that I used to be able to play all the way through.
Or I thought I could until I tried to play it to an audience. My hands were trembling and sweating from nerves, and I fumbled it and had to give up. But I recovered some dignity by sucessfully performing Nuages by Django Reinhardt. I was able to play that because it is slower and gave me time to fumble around even with sweaty hands, so it was a lesson learned.

Do not open a performance with a difficult piece. Start with something slow so that you settle down and gain confidence.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Ph_-Ea7soA]Spanish Dance no 5 - Enrique Granados / John Williams - YouTube[/ame]