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The Total Classical Guitar Method
The Total Classical Guitar Method
Introduction
The guitar is a deceptively simple instrument. Andres Segovia, the great Spanish
classical guitarist, once described it as the easiest instrument in the world to play badly.
For many people, learning to play classical guitar is a frustrating and difficult
experience. Why is it that so many people never progress beyond those first simple
chords? After 30+ years of performing and teaching the guitar, I've concluded that too
often the building is built before the foundation is laid. The purpose of this Total
Classical Guitar Method is to offer an accurate, detailed, and complete course of study
that will lay the proper foundation for a lifelong study of this incredible instrument.
Although this method can be successfully learned without the assistance of a teacher, I
recommend strongly that you find a qualified teacher once you understand the basics of
the guitar. You would be appalled at how many self-proclaimed guitar teachers don't
have a clue about what it takes to really play the guitar. By the end of the first few
lessons in this method you'll be able to recognize when you've found a qualified teacher.
This method is called the Total Classical Guitar Method because it teaches each of the
fundamentals of playing the classical guitar sequentially, before allowing the student to
encounter the need to use any previously unlearned fundamental skill. Each new skill
builds only on previously learned skills. Because the foundation is built one step at a
time, the student is "totally" prepared for the next lesson before it is introduced.
I have designed this method to prevent bad habits from forming, therefore progress is
always forward. To some people this may be initially frustrating. Some people will
expect to be able to play the guitar after only a few lessons. I could teach you to strum a
few chords and pick a simple but intricate sounding "picking pattern" in a single lesson.
You'd come back and want to learn a few more chords and a few more picking patterns,
then a few more, and on and on, until one day you'd came back and tell me you wanted
to play music. At that point I'd have to undo everything you had already learned and
then, after ten times the effort you put into learning how to play badly, you would be
back at the starting point ready to begin again. What a waste of both of our time!
Chances are good that you would put the guitar away and never try playing it again.
Another big waste of talent and a loss of all the years of pleasure the guitar could have
brought you and others who could have enjoyed listening to you play. Please be patient.
You will learn a skill that will last a lifetime and it deserves a solid foundation.
The focus of this method will always be the art of making music. Although the details are
grounded in the physical interaction between you and your instrument, I will continually
stress the absolute necessity of mental focus on the music itself. Playing classical guitar
is not an athletic event. I've "been there and done that". Practicing scales while
watching Monday night football is not what this method is about. Fifteen minutes a day
of truly focused practice is infinitely better than two hours of mindless finger exercises. If
I can help you understand only one fact, that making music is the art of communicating,
my efforts in writing this method will have been generously rewarded. Think of the times
in your life when you have looked someone in the eye and focused your whole being on
that other person. Music has the power to hold entire groups of listeners in that same
intimate embrace. You can make that happen if you focus on communication as your
personal musical goal. I hope that this Classical Guitar method will help you achieve
that result in your own musical odyssey.
IMPORTANT NOTE
THE GUITAR IS TUNED ONE OCTAVE LOWER THAN THE PIANO FOR THE
SAME PITCH NOTATED IN A MUSICAL SCORE.
THE "A" ABOVE MIDDLE "C" ON THE PIANO HAS A FREQUENCY OF 440 CYCLES
PER SECOND. THAT NOTE IS NOTATED BY THE SECOND SPACE FROM THE
BOTTOM OF THE STANDARD G, OR "TREBLE" CLEF. THAT SAME NOTATION IN
GUITAR MUSIC PRODUCES A PITCH OF "A 220", A NOTE EXACTLY ONE OCTIVE
LOWER IN PITCH THAN THE PIANO. THE "A" STRING OF THE GUITAR IS
ACTUALLY TUNED TO 110 CYCLES PER SECOND, TWO OCTAVES LOWER THAN
"A 440". THE VALUE OF TUNING THE REFERENCE STRING TO THE HARMONIC AT
THE 5TH FRET OF THE "A" STRING IS THAT THE ACTUAL PITCH IS THE EXACT "A
440" OF YOUR TUNING FORK.
Each of the following methods of tuning assume you have already tuned the "A" string.
DO NOT RE-TUNE THE "A" STRING! It is your reference pitch and if it is adjusted you
will have to re-tune all of the other notes as well.
Method 1 - Sequential Tuning of Adjacent Strings.
This first method of tuning is simple and easy to learn, however, it is not the best way to
tune the instrument. Each time you progress from one string to the next any slight error
in tuning is propagated to the next string. By the time you get to the high "E" string you
may not even be close to correctly in tune. Once you get to the point where you are
playing chords on the guitar this method of tuning will prove inadequate but it is fine for
very early beginners on the guitar.
Press the low "E" or 6th string at the fifth fret. Play the "E" string and the open "A"
string and adjust the "E" string until there are no beats between the two notes.
Press the "A" or 5th string at the fifth fret. Play the open "D" or 4th string and the
"A" string while adjusting the "D" string until there are no beats between the two
notes.
Press the "D" or 4th string at the fifth fret. Play the open "G" or 3rd string and the
"D" string while adjusting the "G" string until there are no beats between the two
notes.
Press the "G" or 3rd string at the fourth fret. Play the open "B" or 2nd string and
the "G" string while adjusting the "B" string until there are no beats between the
two notes.
Press the "B" or 2nd string at the fifth fret. Play the open "E" or 1st string and the
"B" string while adjusting the "E" string until there are no beats between the two
notes.
Method 2 - Tuning Relative to One Fixed Pitch
This method of tuning is more accurate than the previous method because it avoids
cumulative errors by always tuning each sting to a single reference string. It does
require that you learn how to play a harmonic on the "A" string at the 7th fret (you may
have already played your first harmonic on the 5th fret of the "A" string to tune the "A"
string to the tuning fork). The actual note that will sound when you play the "A" string
while touching the string lightly above the 7th fret will be an "E." This "E" harmonic
which is played on the "A" string at the 7th fret will be your reference pitch. All other
strings will be tuned to this note by finding "E" notes on each other string (yes, there
actually are "E's" on every string), and by comparing each "E" with the "E" harmonic on
the 7th fret of the "A" string. The only problem with this method of tuning is that it is
sometimes difficult to get each "E" to resonate well enough to be able to use it to tune
the instrument. This is especially problematic with inexpensive instruments which may
not resonate evenly on all notes.
Play the "E" harmonic on the 7th fret of the "A" string and let it ring. Play the low
"E" or 6th string while pressing the string against the 12th fret. Adjust the "E"
string until there are no beats between the two notes.
Play the "E" harmonic on the 7th fret of the "A" string and let it ring. Play the "D"
or 4th string while pressing the string against the 2nd fret. Adjust the "D" string
until there are no beats between the two notes.
Play the "E" harmonic on the 7th fret of the "A" string and let it ring. Play the "G"
or 3rd string while pressing the string against the 9th fret. Adjust the "G" string
until there are no beats between the two notes.
Play the "E" harmonic on the 7th fret of the "A" string and let it ring. Play the "B"
or 2nd string while pressing the string against the 5th fret. Adjust the "B" string
until there are no beats between the two notes.
Play the "E" harmonic on the 7th fret of the "A" string and let it ring. Play the open
high "E" or 1st string. Adjust the "E" string until there are no beats between the
two notes.
Method 3 - Harmonic Tuning Relative to One Fixed Pitch
This final method is the best method for tuning the guitar. It is very similar to Method 2
but uses harmonics on all strings except the 2nd instead of using normal notes. The
advantage of using harmonics is that they have fewer overtones to confuse the ear so it
is easier to hear the beats when two strings are not correctly tuned. This method
requires the use of "artificial harmonics." They are a little tricky to produce, but are worth
the effort to learn.
Playing Artificial Harmonics
If you have read the supplement to this lesson: The Acoustics of Music, you will have
seen how strings vibrate at many frequencies or pitches at the same time. If you excite
the string (pluck it, strike it, move it, etc.) directly above a point on the string where a
"node" exists for some harmonic frequency, you will be able to clearly hear the pitch of
the harmonic, rather than the fundamental frequency of the string. If you press a string
against any fret on the neck of the guitar, you effectively shorten the string length. A
complete harmonic series will then be accessible relative to the new string length, rather
than to the original string length. This opens up some very interesting possibilities, not
only for tuning, but for making music on the instrument - more on that later...
In order to produce the harmonic, you must strike the string and touch it lightly at the
same time with the fingers of the right hand. This leaves the left hand free to press
down at any desired fret. To practice this, choose a string...say, the "D" string. Fully
extend the index finger of the right hand (like you're pointing at something) with your
other 3 fingers rolled into your palm. Align your right thumb so that it is parallel to the
index finger. You should be able to look directly at your right hand and see the top of the
thumbnail and the outside edge of the index finger. Lower this entire assembly down to
the "D" string. Touch the "D" string lightly at the 12th fret with the soft tip of the index
finger, while striking the same string with a lateral movement of the thumb. As soon as
the thumb stroke is complete, move the index finger away from the string so that the
note will continue to sound. You should hear a bell-like tone, a harmonic, that is actually
the octave of the open "D" string. Try the same thing on each of the other strings until
you get a feel for how to sound each harmonic. This same technique can be used to get
harmonics from each string at the 5th and 7th frets. If you experiment, you will discover
that there are other harmonics just waiting to be heard, some of them at points on the
string that don't even correspond to fret positions. Anyway, we diverge...
Now try pressing the "D" string at the 2nd fret while producing an artificial harmonic by
touching and playing the string at the 14th fret. That note happens to be an "E", exactly
the note you will need to continue this lesson on tuning. You can continue experimenting
with this technique by pressing any note on any string and counting 5, 7, or 12 frets up
from that note to pluck the artificial harmonic. Once again, there will be other harmonics
at many other points on the strings, enjoy!
Play the "E" harmonic on the 7th fret of the "A" string and let it ring. Play the
harmonic at the 12th fret of the low "E" or 6th string. Adjust the "E" string until
there are no beats between the two notes.
Play the "E" harmonic on the 7th fret of the "A" string and let it ring. Play the "E"
artificial harmonic on the 14th fret of the "D" or 4th string while pressing the string
against the 2nd fret. Adjust the "D" string until there are no beats between the
two notes.
Play the "E" harmonic on the 7th fret of the "A" string and let it ring. Play the "G"
or 3rd string while pressing the string against the 9th fret. Adjust the "G" string
until there are no beats between the two notes. You will adjust this string later to
an "A" harmonic, but let it go for now.
Play the "E" harmonic on the 7th fret of the "A" string and let it ring. Play the "B"
or 2nd string while pressing the string against the 5th fret. Adjust the "B" string
until there are no beats between the two notes. This is the only string where
harmonics aren't used in tuning.
Play the "E" harmonic on the 7th fret of the "A" string and let it ring. Play the
harmonic at the 12th fret of the open high "E" or 1st string. Adjust the "E" string
until there are no beats between the two notes.
Recheck the "G" string by playing the harmonic at the 12th fret of the "A" string
while pressing the 2nd fret of the "G" string and playing the artificial harmonic at
the 14th fret. Adjust the "G" string until there are no beats between the two notes.
Checking the strings
The final step in tuning the guitar is to check that the strings have not "gone bad". A bad
string will be in tune on some points on the neck but way out of tune at other points due
to uneven stretching of the string when it is tuned up to pitch. The quickest way to check
a string is to play a harmonic at the 12th fret and than compare the pitch to the pitch you
get when you actually press the string down on the 12th fret. This should be done for all
6 strings. Because the 12th fret is the half-way point of the string length, the harmonic
and the natural tone should be identical. In practice, it is not uncommon that the two
pitches will differ slightly so I usually continue to use a string that has only a slight error
at the 12th fret. If you get too picky about the correctness of the pitch you might go
through many strings before you finally find one that is perfect. Another consideration
before you replace strings on the instrument is your own level of playing. If you are a
beginner and play mostly on the 1st five frets of the guitar you probably won't be
affected too badly by a bad string. On the other hand, if you use the entire neck of the
instrument in your playing you will most likely find a bad string to be unacceptable.
Conclusion
Almost all vibrating objects produce harmonics above the fundamental frequency. As a
matter of fact the ONLY thing that differentiates the timbre of one instrument from
another is the relative mix of harmonic frequencies present in the tone. This is a very
important fact with implications that are especially important to the guitar and we will
explore this in later lessons.
This concludes the lesson on tuning the guitar. You learned quite a few other things as
well, but I believe they were necessary in order to truly understand not only how, buy
why. I guess it's on to lesson 6!