(Part 2) Top products from r/classicalguitar

You're not going to get a lot of people in r/classicalGuitar that are going to answer this without some kind of recommendation that you just improve your regular score reading skills instead. Tab can be a great tool at times, but more often it seems to be used as crutch.

My advice is to start sight reading as much as you can whenever you find tab-free scores because it is skill that you can only develop with dedicated and focused practice. Whenever you go to the effort to transcribe a score to Tab, you are still leaning on a crutch because when you start playing, you aren't using the music, you're using your Tab instead and not actually getting any score reading practice in. In your mind, you are probably translating your scores to Tab instead of actually reading the score. Tab and score notation are similar in that respect. In fact, I suspect that if you just force yourself to give up tab you'll see an amazing and very rapid increase in your ability to process standard scores.

Here is a personal example: When I read Spanish I am not actually reading Spanish... I'm translating it into something I am familiar with. I still have to learn to transform my thought process into Spanish before I am truly reading Spanish. Once I stop communicating by saying buenos noches to mean "good afternoon/night" and I just start saying buenos noches when I mean "buenos noches", I am actually speaking Spanish. Until then, I am just translating words. That won't change until I immerse myself in Spanish without clinging to English as my crutch. The same thing applies to changing from Tab notation to score notation.

http://www.amazon.com/Sight-Reading-Classical-Guitar-Level/dp/0769209742/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1333574358&sr=8-1

I have this book and it is great practice in sight reading and you may want to check it out. It is nothing more than a bunch of short sight reading exercises. Teach yourself one or two of them a day without transcribing them to tab first and I am absolutely confident that your reading skills will improve noticeably.

If you are really insistent on using Tab though, classtab.org is decent.

This book has some decent stuff in it as well: http://www.amazon.com/Easy-Spanish-Guitar-Solos-Book/dp/1603780599/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1333575720&sr=1-1

Tremolo is a huge undertaking, while I personally have not mastered the technique by any means, I am currently in the process of learning Recuerdos De La Alhambra and I'll give you some pointers on where to start.

First, master sequential planting. If your planting technique is lacking, develop that before progressing any further with learning tremolo. Tremolo is essentially a huge sequential planting technique, learning to plant will directly translate over into your tremolo. I would also recommend learning your tremolo on the B string, this will force you to train your right hand to keep your A-M-I tight. Giuliani 120 Right Hand Studies covers both sequential planting and tremolo, I would highly recommend starting there. Also, I would suggest checking out Scott Tennant's Pumping Nylon which covers tremolo technique in detail. This would be a great place to start with your tremolo studies. The timing between your A and P is absolutely critical, take great care with your right hand development.

I will stress that learning the technique is absolutely necessary before learning any specific tremolo piece. Internalize the motion in your right hand, when you get it down and can fully trust your technique you will learn to relax and fall into the groove so easily.

EDIT: Consider learning Carcassi # 7 as well, this is a great piece that is not too demanding during your right hand development.

Sounds great! Especially for someone who is just beginning in the classical guitar style. That being said there are few issues in your performance that need to be resolved before you can take this piece to the next level; I won't name them all because I don't want to nitpick every little detail and end up with a overwhelming wall of text, but I will point out what I think are the most important issues to address.

First, I know this has been mentioned in the last video that you posted, but you need to start using your index finger. From experience I can tell you that this piece cannot be played correctly without it. The three main fingers that you should be using are your thumb, index and middle fingers (p,i, and m as we call them). The ring finger (the "a") finger should be used sparingly (for chords, arpeggios, or to avoid weird string crossings). If using your index finger feels weird to you, try playing scales alternating between your index and middle finger until it feels natural. Also check out Giuliani's 120 right studies, which will help with the development of your right hand technique.

Next, go back to the music and double check that your are playing all of the notes. If your are using tabs, throw them away and get the music; tabs will not give you a sufficient amount of information for you to be able to play this piece accurately and expressively. Just to give an example of a place you should look at in the music, at 0:45 you are missing an entire chord that should be played underneath that melody, so that might be a good place to re-examine. Also you are missing the entire middle section of the piece.

The last thing that I will mention is to consider changing the fingering that you are using for he bass line at 0:55, I know that there are different versions of this, but I find that is best to use a pull off from the D to the B (on the 5th string) using the 4th and the 1st finger and then using the 3rd finger on the F#. Then when you switch to the next chord use the open 3rd string for the G, use your 1st finger on E (4th string) and your 3rd finger to get the C#.

Like I said, I'm not trying to nitpick, but I hope my advice can help take your playing to the next level.

I was taught in a group guitar class from the Christopher Parkening books--they're okay as far as method books go (though our class tended to joke that Mr. Parkening must be a raging narcissist with all the glamour shots of him sprinkled through the book).

I eventually discovered the Frederick Noad series of books and immediately fell in love with them. His Solo Guitar Playing 1 book is very meticulous and comprehensive. Most of the pieces include parts for a teacher and student, but its still useful for solo learning. He's also published a several compendiums of period music (Renaissance, Baroque, Romantic era, etc.) that are fun to play from.

The "Library of Guitar Classics" is also pretty good to have around as it is a nice compendium of solo classical guitar works from all eras and from many composers. It'll keep you busy for a looooooong time.

Mark Hanson's Fingerstyle Christmas Guitar: (Book & CD)12 Beautiful Songs & Carols for Solo Guitar https://www.amazon.com/dp/0769263666/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_LFCQDb5PPJH7D

That’s a more difficult one but I like that book a lot.

Also:

Fingerpicking Christmas: 20 Carols Arranged for Solo Guitar in Notes & Tablature https://www.amazon.com/dp/0634062476/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_BHCQDbKBS3GYV


The Hal Leonard’s “Fingerpicking ____” series are usually pretty good for beginners and aren’t that difficult. I don’t own that book but I own others in the series and they’re usually pretty good. For less than 10.00 you can’t really go wrong!

I recently picked up and haven't found anything I haven't liked in the first volume of The Guitar Music of Spain, pieces by Bartolome Calatayud. Most of it is simple enough to get through in one session as far as difficulty goes(as an intermediate player), but still leave me surprised by how good it sounds with such simplicity. Also a good variety of techniques and rhythm throughout it that makes it easier to recall them individually.

For Spanish style, this book is actually quite nice: https://www.amazon.com/Guitar-Music-Spain-One-Traditional/dp/0711933030/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1502215026&sr=8-1&keywords=calatayud
This is mostly pretty easy, and it gets a little more difficult as you go along. The next volume in the series will get into different composers and definitely be more advanced.

This is an excellent edition of Barrios' works and has good, extensive fingerings written in (except in some spots where it should be obvious, but this is the norm for all published guitar editions). The linked Vol. 3 contains Julia Florida, as well as many other very popular Barrios pieces.

It's hard to tell someone how to care for their nails. You have to find what works for you because everyone is different. Here are a couple things that work for me. Use the finest glass file you can find and buff the ends with very fine sandpaper (I use 1500 grit) every day and do not skip a day. I also use two creams Hoofmaker as a moisturizer throughout the day and Hard as Hoof when I'm not playing.

I would also recommend picking up Scott Tennant's Pumping Nylon and Christopher Parkening's guitar method books. Refer to the sections about nail care.

Get this book immediately! Also, get inspired by listening to great classical guitarists - Segovia, Julian Bream, John Williams, Sharon Isbin and compare and contrast the same pieces among them.

https://www.amazon.com/Solo-Guitar-Playing-Book-4th/dp/0825637112/ref=sr_1_4?keywords=noad+classical+guitar&qid=1565963200&s=gateway&sr=8-4

Emilio Pujol, his pupil, wrote his biography. If you are really interested in his life, you might enjoy reading it.

Here is a link: http://www.amazon.com/The-Biography-Francisco-Tarrega-ebook/dp/B00307SCGY

I like this anthology for fingerstyle, as well as the Acoustic solo series.

https://www.amazon.com/Contemporary-Classical-Guitar-Laurindo-Almeida/dp/0769202012

Old book ... I managed to find a cheap second hand copy from Amazon in the uk

This doesn't necessarily help with reading but will certainly get your fingers moving in the right direction...

http://www.classtab.org/

And you can't go wrong with Noad's 100 Graded Studies

While that's mostly true, there are good reasons to add exercises that 'distract' the conscious attention from focusing on correcting and criticizing technique. Barry Green's book The Inner Game of Music discusses in depth how out thinking and judging attention can interfere with learning and suggests the kind of exercises that can overcome the interference.

I have double carpal tunnel syndrome, primarily caused by incorrect technique in my early years of plays.

I would highly recommend Playing With Ease https://www.amazon.com/Playing-Ease-Healthy-Approach-Technique/dp/0190693312 as it is an incredible resource for injury prevention.

​

Stretching, and proper technique is key. Tension is the enemy, do your best to "actively" relax your body as you play.

Dont be afraid to take breaks, if you try to power through pain you can cause more damage.

An Amazon search gets two supplemental repertoire books that carry the Pumping Nylon name:

Easy

Less easy

The one I have has a checklist of required techniques for each piece. These techniques line up with the different sections of the main book.

​

​

This stuffs what you want

edit- Cleaned up the link

My personnal recommandations (which is what I work with currently):

• For sight reading this and that.
  
• Etudes: Sor and Cassini
  
• Methods : Pumping Nylon and Kitharologus

Pumping Nylon is absolutely essential IMO, and will teach you the basics and beyond. https://www.amazon.com/Pumping-Nylon-Classical-Guitarists-Technique/dp/1470631385/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=pumping+nylon&qid=1574718809&s=books&sr=1-1

https://www.amazon.com/Beatles-Classical-Guitar-Solo/dp/0634015796

Started learning 3 months ago. Working on anything/everything in this book.

You bet! You can find it here, but I think to borrow it from the lending library, you have to do it from within your device.

Catalog of guitar music by women composers: http://www.amazon.com/Guitar-Music-Women-Composers-Collection/dp/0313293856 (Maybe it's at a library near you)

Maria Linnemann
Jana Obrovska
Barbara Kolb
Elisabeth Lutyens
Lisanella Gentili
María Luisa Anido
Gisèle Sikora
Dale Kavanagh
Ida Presti
Melinda Wagner
Susan McDonald

https://www.amazon.com/ErgoPlay-Tappert-Classical-Guitar-Support/dp/B005QKNUOW/ref=asc_df_B005QKNUOW/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=312150857943&hvpos=1o1&hvnetw=g&hvrand=10006830517743188180&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9009976&hvtargid=pla-521765762820&psc=1&tag=&ref=&adgrpid=65054436154&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvadid=312150857943&hvpos=1o1&hvnetw=g&hvrand=10006830517743188180&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9009976&hvtargid=pla-521765762820

I actually dont mind discussions about the mental aspect of performing seriouslly. It wore me down when i was studying in college, and realized too late i should have chosen piano or guitar and not done both.

I read the book the inner game of tennis and applied a lot of the concepts from it in my daily life, regarding my performing career.

http://www.amazon.com/Inner-Game-Music-Barry-Green/dp/0385231261/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1408659454&sr=8-2&keywords=the+inner+game+of+tennis

Theres actually a music version of the book now, that any serious performer should at least take a look at.