This blog will look at good technique and an approach that has its foundation in classical playing. Good technique is always good technique though, no matter what the style of playing; so, everything can be adapted to the steel string guitar.

I will not attempt to repeat the approaches found in the plethora of teaching videos online, but rather, I will seek to explain the little things that can make a huge difference to an approach to playing - things that I have developed and adopted from various leading teachers in the contemporary guitar world.    

I’ll be sharing my thoughts on: Holding the guitar; tuning the guitar; hand positions; nails; finger exercises for synchronisation, finger independence and legato; stretching; melody playing; tasto and ponticello; harmonics; rest stroke, especially on the ring finger; barré chords; vibrato...

Here's a useful technique we can throw into our improvisations to add a flourish or emphasis. It's also a great exercise to get the RH fingers moving fluidly.

​More rasgueado techniques to follow!

Vibrato helps fretted notes sustain longer and gives them more presence. Why should the technique be reserved for the violin or cello? It's a great technique for the guitarist to add a bit of sparkle to the music.

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Hopefully this video will give you a few pointers to make sight reading, and learning notes in the high positions, less scary.

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Articulation and clarity are always a concern when playing the guitar as notes ring on. Here are some tips to avoid the music sounding muddy... not just stopping the notes at a rest, but stopping the open strings ringing beyond their written duration.

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It is essential to add colour to the sound made on the guitar - the most straightforward way is to vary where along the string the right hand plucks. This variety creates interesting contrasts and brings the music to life. Julian Bream is a great inspiration to this approach.

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Here's something we're all experts at!

Hopefully the tips in this video will help hide mistakes but, more importantly, perhaps reduce the risk of them ever happening.
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Just as a painter needs to add tonal variety to a painting, so too must a musician add dynamic variety to a piece of music, it would be very dull otherwise.

In this video I look at a simple device to add these dynamics. It is not just about playing a crescendo or diminuendo though, it's also about tension and release.

The video doesn't tell the whole story... it is a very basic introduction to dynamics. Playing louder as the notes climb in pitch can be useful and, for example bring scales to life, but one extra thing I should mention is that when the volume increases as the notes climb, it can be very pleasing to the ear to hold back the volume on the highest note.

A simple exercise to develop your use of dynamics would be to play i and m alternating on the open top string, start softly and gradually build the volume and then relax it. The next stage would be to apply this to a scale and then to a phrase from a piece of music you are working on.

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Here's a handy hint that minimises left hand finger movements, two for the price of one. Using this technique helps the left hand become more efficient resulting in smoother playing.

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A huge contributing factor to smooth playing is preparing the LH fingers early... Perhaps difficult to adjust to at first (focusing on fingers that aren't fretting), but if you scribble reminders on the music, eventually control will become more straightforward.

Time for another exercise.

This one is pretty essential and it breaks down the movements of the fingers as they strike the strings. As with all the exercises, slow and methodical repetition will speed up progress.

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Choosing the right pieces to play will speed up development on the guitar...

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What should we strive to convey when we are playing a piece of music? A good place to start would be to be sympathetic to the composer's original intentions. Ultimately though, the music should be about communication and we should aim to move the listener in some way.

In this video the example I use is 'Angel's Chant' by Bertrand Groeger.

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The melodic line, the tune, is what we remember about a piece of music - locating and separating it out from the harmony and bass in a guitar score can be a challenge, but essential.

Once the rhythm has been established, we must isolate the melody and if the music is played without making connections between the notes of the melody, the music will lack form and coherence.

Our time is precious and ideally we need to perfect a piece without wasting any time. This video looks at a very useful way to approach problem passages.

The examples are sections from 'Un Día De Noviembre' by Leo Brouwer. 

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To avoid bass lines becoming muddy it is useful to be able to stop an open string ringing beyond its written value. This simple technique should help.

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Sometimes it is not possible to arpeggiate a chord using the thumb, for example where the notes of the chord are on the 6th, 3rd, 2nd and 1st strings. Here it makes sense to use the thumb and fingers.

​This video explains how to develop a strong and smooth arpeggiated chord. As usual, there is no quick fix, slow and steady is the way to go over a long period of time.
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It's easy to take for granted playing a chord with the thumb, it's so simple, what could go wrong? But usually in classical pieces the melody note will be on the top string when playing a chord, which has some technical implications - hopefully this video will help. Controlling the weight and pressure of the thumb on the strings is difficult though, so persevere!

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Smooth playing is the trick to playing musically. I hope this exercise helps.

As with all the exercises, if progress is made playing them, new pieces will not seem so challenging, enjoyment will be heightened and you'll naturally play more musically.

Even if you don't want to play 'Recuerdos de la Alhambra', this is a great exercise for the RH: it improves flexibility and strengthens muscles.

Once you have developed a good tremolo, it is a good idea to keep it up as part of your regular routine as the evenness and strength will disappear over time. However, it does come back quicker than had you never practised it.

More than any other technique, the slightest change in hand angle or sitting position will effect the balance and evenness of your tremolo, so try to keep it consistent.

​Also, try it staccato too, which will help with speeding up.

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Changing chords need not be uncomfortable if we work within the limitations of the way the hand works. The rule in the video doesn't apply to all chord changes though, but where it can be applied, it should help.

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This exercise is very useful at increasing the independence of the 3rd finger. There is no quick fix though, so expect progress over a long period of time.

As with all exercises, play it slowly with a regular beat. Play it higher up the fingerboard to reduce unnecessary stretches.

As soon as any tension or strain is felt, stop and have a break.

Building an exercise like this in to your daily routine will have a huge impact on the playing of pieces. When you play a piece you won't need to spend time focusing on manipulating the 3rd finger into place as all that hard work has been done in the exercise previously, thus allowing you to focus on making music.

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We encounter independence and mobility issues regarding our ring/3rd finger. This is simply a result of how our hand works: these fingers share a tendon with the middle/2nd finger and are reluctant to move on their own. There are compromises that we have to make and little tricks to help.

This video is the first part of two exploring possible solutions.

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