Articles to encourage guitarists, promote the latest arrangements and compositions, and make suggestions on how to improve their playing.
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Latest Articles:
Thoughts On Releasing Your First EP
I finally did it. After 12 years, I finally got my act together. I released some of the original music that has been collecting dust in the corner of the closet. Yep, it took 12 years to release 12 minutes of music presented in 5 songs. Why did it take that long? Let me share with you a few thoughts.
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How to Add 48 Pieces to Repertoire
If you are a musician then you know the importance of keeping a maintaining your repertoire. Undoubtedly, being able to pull a piece out of memory at a moment’s notice is a great skill to have. Moreover, you can amuse and impress your friends and family with short recitals. Then they will ask you to play Wonderwall or whatever the worldwide music machine says is cool this week. But I digress.
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It’s All About (The) Composing
I was interviewed for a “Meet the Composer” session for the December CCG Winter Festival. The following video is the interview. After that, the text transcript is below that. And below that is Daniel playing one of my compositions, “Last Flight Out.”
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A Look at Carulli’s Opus 241 No. 1
Carulli’s Op. 241 No. 1 is a simple waltz written in C major. The original scan says that it is written in 6/8, however it looks more like 3/8. The piece is in Ternary form. Basically, it has three sections. An “A” section that contains two sections (an “a” and “b”). Each section repeats.
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How To File Classical Guitar Nails
When learning to play the classical guitar, you will be taught to grow the nails on your plucking hand. This is taught in the early stages of learning.
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Matteo Carcassi’s Opus 59
Matteo Carcassi’s Opus 59, Fifty Progressive Pieces, is from his guitar method originally printed and became famous in 1836.
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Resting Place: A Delightful Album
This month’s blog article is a review of David Chapman’s delightful album, Resting Place. A great combination of classical guitar, orchestra, and hymns.
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Exciting Behind the Screens Update
We have an exciting behind the screens update for this blog. There are quite a few things in the works, some of which you might have already noticed.
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Playing Guitar for the Love of God
Should You Take Classical Guitar Lessons? An article on entering the world of classical guitar.
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Never Repeat a Phrase the Same Way Twice
How do you write instrumental music and repeat a phrase while keeping the music interesting? This is what we will explore in this article.
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Why Practice with a Piezo Pickup?
I absolutely love the silky-smooth sounds of a well-played nylon string guitar and I can appreciate an equally well-played acoustic steel string.
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Why Have A Good Teacher?
A Good Teacher Can Shave Off Years of Practice and Frustration. A Good Teacher Can impact a student for years to come.
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Snagging the Hard Parts
An article that suggests an approach to working past the challenging parts in any piece of music on the classical guitar.
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5 Things You Need to Learn Classical & Fingerstyle Guitar, Part IV: A Guitar Method Book
There is a plethora of guitar methods in the world. Most of them contain a great number of accomplished exercises in them for the guitarist to learn.
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What Hath Bible Reading to do with Guitar?
Recently I’ve had discussions within my circles about Christians who are not reading God’s Word, on a regular basis. I must admit that this perplexes me.
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5 Things You Need to Learn Classical & Fingerstyle Guitar, Part III: A Guitar Support or Footstool
Go posture saves backs. I have heard numerous reports over the years of professional classical guitarists having a multitude of back issues after a long career.
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New Practice Resource: Open Position Scales
Scale book review that is tailored to the areas that I need practice on, and is setup for daily practice without being overwhelmed.
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4 Ways to Create Better Practices
“Time is the mechanism God created to keep everything from happening all at once.” I don’t know who said that, but focused guitar practices are time well spent.
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Quick Tip: 10 Minute Short Practice
Got up late or have plans tonight and you don’t have time to practice guitar. Here’s a way to practice even when our day is jammed packed.
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The Secret of the Metronome
The dreaded, the feared, the despised: The Metronome. I’ve not met a musician who hasn’t loathed the thing. However, it is the very thing that makes you good.
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Thoughts On Good Live-Streaming and Videos
A friend recently asked recently asked me about live-streaming and videos. Specifically about making guitar videos. Here are my thoughts.
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Try These Tips To Complete Projects
Have you ever felt like completing projects is your nemesis? I don’t know how many projects I have laying around the house.
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5 Things You Need to Learn Classical & Fingerstyle Guitar, Part I: the Guitar
When starting to learn the classical guitar or furthering your guitar skills with fingerstyle, you will need a few things to get started down the right path.
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Why I Left Social Media
I thought I would take a minute and say a few words about why I left “social media,” and by social media, I mean Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and all the rest.
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Do You Need A Ng-1 Guitar Pickup?
One of the challenges to playing classical guitar in a live situation is volume. Usually, some sort of “electronic control” is used.
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Do You Need A Reason to Play Music?
Where do we play music? For what purpose do we play music? What’s the reason for music? In this article I share the reason I play the guitar.
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New Blog Site Updates and… Blogging?
Would you believe it? A “blog” site is finally set up for …blogging, and blogging about the guitar. I wanted something nice to look at and mobile-friendly.