It may sound a crazy concept, but practising just the left hand, or just the right hand, can really speed up learning a piece of music. This way we can concentrate on one aspect of our playing or technique at a time, for example: recognising a right hand finger pattern, listening out for the tone we create or focusing on smooth left hand shifts.
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The movement of our hands is limited by various physical restraints, the obvious one being that our fingers don't move freely if we play with bent wrists. Another very useful technique to aid freedom of movement of our left hand fingers is the position of our left elbow.

This video explains that we have to work within the limitations of the body, but by simply moving our elbow, in or out, our fingers can stretch to higher positions with little effort.

A straightforward exercise would be to play the sticky chromatic exercise (http://www.jonnymossguitar.com/guitar-basics-blog/finger-independence-chromatic-exercise) starting on the sixth string with our elbow tucked in and then as the exercise develops, smoothly swing the elbow to the normal playing position.

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It is important to be as relaxed a possible, in our mind, body and hands, to play musically. Hesitations, jumpy playing and irregular dynamics creep in if we are tense when we play. This video examines what we can do to reduce tension, particularly in our hands.

This simple technique will very quickly improve finger accuracy and ease of playing.

There are certain situations where we tend to tense up, a demanding performance for example, and hopefully, if we have practiced the piece without tension in our hands, this will be half way to playing without stress.

The music is an excerpt from 'Crossover Preludes' by Bertrand Groeger.
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I stumbled across the music of Francis Kleynjans when I first lived in France some years ago and have been playing his music ever since. His hyper-Romantic pieces are a bit too 'sweet' for many in the classical guitar world, but he does write beautiful tunes.

This one is more demanding than most, with a few techniques which push it beyond a straightforward intermediate level with the melody singing out over the soaring arpeggios, the lightly played trill and the delicate artificial harmonics at the end.

I love Kleynjans' markings: 'intimate', 'more intimate', 'in the distance', 'even more in the distance'...

​All these things added together make for a great study piece and not too painful on the ears!

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Nice and catchy title to the video, but it says what it is.

Why struggle with stretches? Even common chords can present difficulties in the first position: the usual culprit reluctant to stretch is the third finger. If you use a capo on the 5th or 7th fret, the frets are narrower and the arm is closer to the body making access so much easier. Over the months the capo can be placed on the 4th, then the 3rd etc., the small differences in stretches become achievable.

But, as usual, pin-point accuracy of fingertip placement is important - the closer the tip is to the fretwire, the less pressure needed to sound a note clearly.

The video also looks at the other benefits of using a capo, for example, the guitar sounds 'crisper', the shorter string length adding to the notes' clarity.

Regarding chordal playing, the video fails to mention that at times, instead of playing a lot of nightmare bar chords all over the fingerboard, it makes much more sense to put a capo on and play in the first position using chords with open strings. I was brought up to think this was cheating, but those chords sound good on the guitar and due to their close proximity to each other will help playing sound smooth and that is our ultimate aim after all.

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Did I say picking out the melody was the most difficult thing to do well on the guitar? I lied, legato is! Playing legato is the essence of beautiful music and our target must be to replicate the voice soaring seamlessly between notes - no silences. To achieve this on the guitar is a nightmare.  

This exercise is laughable in its simplicity, but a pig to play well. Even played slowly, the first finger of the left hand has to leap swiftly onto the next string, synchronising the pluck of the right hand finger with no discernable silence; this is once the right hand can play legato effortlessly though. 

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When we play the guitar, we should always conserve energy and aim to release tension to increase musicality and to minimise fatigue - sadly this approach is neglected by many players and teachers alike. 

Much emphasis is given to the use of the fingers of the right hand, but we mustn't neglect what's going on with the thumb. Using the thumb is a prime example of where we make a huge effort to create a sound when we needn't.

This video explains the ideal approach to using the thumb, but as usual, for a relaxed stroke to become second nature, a huge amount of effort and time is required, but well worth the dedication.

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Here's another stretching exercise for the left hand fingers - this time with an emphasis on increasing the independence of movement from the 6th to 1st strings and back again whilst anchoring other fingers on the strings.

In the video I say it's a challenge, so play it slowly; I also accidentally mention it's fun, which I'm sure it will be eventually.

The LH most comfortably plays around the 7th position, so start there and over time, move down to the lower positions - and of course, stop if it hurts.

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I remember the first time I heard a harmonic, it was like I’d witnessed magic - and when I realised how it was achieved, I was blown away… so simple. However, the technique to achieving a clear and strong tone is like a dark art, but not at all unachievable given knowledge of the appropriate technique.

Listening to Llobet’s version of “El Testamento de Amelia“ for the first time was incredible… how were those harmonic arpeggios created? Again, so simple with practise and dedication.

I remember witnessing one of Gary Ryan’s masterclasses at the London Guitar Festival, King’s Place,  a couple of years ago; he encouraged the students to stop looking at the fingerboard whilst playing, most were amazed that this was even possible and astounded that their playing even improved (due to setting themselves free from the constraints of observing their fingers and technique probably), but he was very honest and admitted that even he has to look at the placement of his fingers when playing artificial harmonics - encouraging for us mortals!

The video looks at both natural and artificial harmonics and one extra technique for good measure!

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The joy of the pieces in "Modern Times' is that they are pretty straightforward to read and not too demanding on the fingers; this allows the player to focus on musicality and legato which are at the heart of good playing.

Here are two more: 'Paisaje' and 'Escalando', both by Jaime Zenamon.

A big thank you to Luigi for his top camera-work and useful technical advice.

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My students have asked for some half-decent recordings of the pieces we use. Here are a few to start.

The first is 'Aire de Hueya' by Adrien Politi from 'Play Guitar in Concert'. I came across this book in a beautiful music shop in Bruges, like stepping back in time, but with a great range of scores. Like all Michael Langer edited books, arrangements are neat, easy to read with helpful fingering.

The others are from the fantastic book 'Modern Times' which features pieces from grade 2 to 6, great tunes, but even the easy ones have rewarding challenges. Most demanding is playing legato and keeping the melody singing out.

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Many guitarists give up  the guitar due to the difficulty of the barré chord… that’s a shame, if a few simple guidelines are followed, they needn’t be that demanding.

This video is included in this series of guitar ‘basics' even though a barré chord is not viewed as basic by most people; I remember as a beginner struggling with them, just to realise later that it was the action of my guitar making them impossible to play easily. I’m sure this is the case for most players finding difficulty. A simple set-up would hugely improve the playability and enjoyment of the guitar for lots of beginners, a simple saddle height adjustment could mean they continue to play and enjoy playing.

Playing a barré chord with a relaxed as possible hand is discussed in the video; here are a few little tricks we can employ to make them easy.

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So much has been written on the use of free strokes and rest strokes, so the focus of these videos is more about the lesser covered areas, or areas not usually discussed.

Taking it for granted that most guitarists are familiar with tirando and apoyando, this video explores playing apoyando on the ring finger (a) as part of the arpeggio pattern i, m, a - really useful and well worth the effort. One issue though is the terrible tone of the ring finger, so the video shows how the angle of the finger must be adjusted to find a half-decent tone.

Sor taught in his Method that only i and m should be employed with the thumb when playing anything… very good advice given the limitations of the movement of the ring finger and poor tone, but a lot of work. Unfortunately arpeggios are complicated and awkward string crossings are unavoidable, so compromising is always necessary and building up the independence and tone of the ring finger is a small hardship.

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​Being able to listen to the sounds we make whilst playing the guitar is paramount - this is one of the most overlooked skills and one of the most difficult to develop, but essential to good playing.

“Good playing?" What’s that? In this case it is also recognising, locating and emphasising the melody in a piece of music. It’s a good idea to think of the guitar as a string trio fulfilling the roles of cello, viola and violin, with the violin playing the melody on top. If we don’t, it all becomes a bit muddy. Locating the bass is really straightforward, separating the melody from the harmony can be more of a challenge, but easily done when we are more familiar with the music. If we sing along too it really helps emphasise the melody line.

That’s the ideal, but physically and technically making the melody stand out is not easy. I created this simple exercise to focus the power of the RH fingers, four playing softly and one pulling harder - it’s great to encourage finger independence of the right hand - listening to the sounds our fingers produce is essential though, making sure the melody is coming through strongly.

This doesn’t take into account, though, the role of the rest stroke in giving more weight and body to a note and very useful it is when playing the melody… I’ll look at that in the next video.

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Stretching along the frets is relatively straightforward. This exercise can be practised sticky to make it a little more demanding, but perhaps to start, just hover your fingers before they are played.

Very important though is to stop if your hand starts to hurt, hands are fragile and sensitive things and too much, too soon can cause damage. So, a little at a time is best, which goes for all practising, don’t overdo it. Segovia broke up his practice time and went for numerous walks throughout the day in-between sessions to give his hands a rest, sound practice. Warming up is also advisable, perhaps with something not too demanding on the fingers. A stretching exercise exists to reduce over-stressing the hand whilst playing a piece, it would be ironic if the exercise resulted in an injury hindering the ability to play comfortably. 

Ultimately, we want our hand to move freely (without much effort) along the fingerboard without any pain, enabling us to focus on creating beautiful music.

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I would definitely say that out of all techniques to exercise, slurs would be the one to repeat on a daily basis, not for its use as a technique, but as a muscle builder for the fingers, especially the fourth, the weakest finger.

Beyond that, it is a fantastic exercise to encourage the independence of the third from the second finger because these share a tendon (unlike the other fingers, which have one each). 

It seems an uphill struggle: the 4th is weak and the 3rd is reluctant to move without the 2nd, but repeating an exercise such as this helps solve the problem.

To help even more, it is ideal to play the slurs sticky, just moving down one finger at a time form the adjacent string. This will also eliminate the tendency for the fourth finger to flick out when the third is hammered on.

It may sound flash when played at a great speed, but realistically, if the notes are to be played smoothly, the same volume and the same length, slow is the way to go.

There are a few technical issues that need to be adhered to and things to watch out for which are explained in the video.

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Playing the guitar can be a tiring experience due to the excess pressure unnecessarily employed, this needn’t be the case. It is surprising how little pressure is need to fret a note clearly if it is fretted accurately.

I regularly hear from students that they were initially taught to position the LH fingertips in the middle of the frets - a huge amount of pressure is needed to fret here without any buzzes. Crazy. A simple experiment would be to position the fingertip right up to the fret wire, press, sound the note, then release the pressure as much as possible until a buzz appears, then increase the pressure a tiny amount; it really is surprising how much energy can be saved.

The initial stage of releasing the tension and stress usually employed is to do what is known as ‘sloppy practise’ - here the focus is to keep the LH (and therefore RH which echoes whatever the LH does tension wise) tension-free and fingertip position as accurate as possible by not pressing at all. It literally sounds horrendous, but that is irrelevant at this stage. Following much repetition slightly more pressure can be applied, but just a little at a time, over a long period of time.

The benefits of playing without any excess pressure has huge benefits to all our playing: a lack of tension results in more musical playing and much less fatigue.

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I've been asked about my guitars.

The one used in my tutorials is a double-top, nomex, by Yulong Guo. Not your usual loud and no character; it's very sweet sounding, of course it is loud, but with a huge tonal palette. I had to change my angle of attack and touch at first, it's a beast that needed to be tamed. I normally just tell people it's a Chinese guitar and then they hear it and are blown away.

I was talking to Paul Fischer yesterday about the future of guitar design, he seemed to suggest that the future must be in guitars with great projection, but with character, I suppose that's why he created his taut system. I remember the first time I played one of his guitars, I was blown away (I now know it was his adapted lattice bracing system that was responsible). I thought I would never own one of his guitars, missed a few over the years (including one for £500 from 'Barry Mason's Spanish Guitar Centre'!!!) - but today, yes today, he offered me a Tiple he'd made years ago, Brazilian Rosewood back and sides for a price I couldn't refuse; sadly not a fully fledged, full sized, classical, but it has his signature sound, not sure what the bracing is, I'll check when I collect it, but it is loud and resonant with lots of personality.

The other guitar in the video is by Paul Fischer's apprentice (back in the day), Christopher Dean, who also lives just up the road. I'm pretty sure it's a Torres five brace top. Incredibly responsive. A beautiful instrument. Very sweet sounding, very subtle and, to be honest, gives the player nowhere to hide, it reflects what the player plays - so, great to keep a check on my technique and dynamics.

I'm very fortunate to own two beautiful classicals, both very different and ideal for contrasting repertoire. 

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The focus of this video is on smooth, legato playing, but first staccato playing needs to be addressed.  

As with every instrument, the music must not suffer as a result of the technical limitations of the guitar. Smooth playing must be our aim, in fact, imitating the ability of the voice to soar seamlessly between notes must be our aim. I’m sure lots of guitarists want to emphasise the unique qualities of the guitar (the squeaks, the buzzes and in this case, the silences between notes when plucking), but overcoming the limitations should be a challenge and not result in a hindrance.

The video goes on to put the legato technique into context with the left hand and looks at synchronisation.

I have a gripe with the grade system, it gives a false sense that elementary equates to undemanding. Many experienced players are reluctant to play grade one, two and three pieces as they are too ‘simple’… well, playing the notes may be, but playing them musically with legato is a huge challenge. We can learn a lot by revisiting these pieces; Segovia didn’t only play advanced concert pieces – it’s about how you play them, not the simplicity of the piece. Actually, the simpler the piece, the harder it is in a way, as there is nowhere to hide.

Perfecting the legato of the right hand is essential and will transform playing even the most spartan pieces. 

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Our ‘go-to’ stroke for single lines is alternating the index with the middle, there are exceptions of course.

Alternating index and middle needs to be built up slowly, initially by planting (placing the finger on the string before it is sounded). Once this has been mastered, it should only be used for staccato playing as, of course, the notes are cut short resulting in silences between the notes, the opposite of smooth playing.

We need to practise the stroke so much that it is our automatic ‘natural’ stroke and so that we have to think about using anything else.

'Anything else' would be perhaps repeating the use of a finger, i.e. when a single note is repeated and exactly the same tone and weight is needed - a technique I use a lot, for Lobos’ 'Prelude Number 3' for example or 'Marcello's Adagio in Dm'.

Index and middle legato playing will discussed soon.

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 ​Guitarists and their nails! Whenever guitarists get together, it doesn't take long before they rather animatedly start comparing nail experiences and approaches: “What files do you use?”, “Do you apply gel or acrylic?”, “How long are they?”, “Are they rounded or ramped?”… I remember as a child those innocent days before I started to play using nails, if only I could go back!

I’ve struggled with paper-thin nails all my life, good tone is hard to achieve; following painting numerous coats of nail hardener, rubbing almond oil in, changing my diet, eating copious amounts of jelly, I eventually gave in and bit the bullet having them coated in acrylic gel - now that they are rigid I can create a decent tone, which the embarrassment of visiting the nail bar doesn’t outweigh. I have been spotted there a few times and always stress very loudly "it’s just the one hand as I’m a guitarist". I wouldn’t advise gel as once you’ve started, your nails are ruined, but I felt I had no option… I do try to let them grow out a little so that roughly half the nail grows uncoated, much to the dismay of the nail bar guy who always tells me off.

The debate over flesh or nail, or flesh and nail is endless (do a Google search, the heated debates are scary). To sum up: flesh for gut strings, flesh and nail for warmth with good articulation and a decent tone, just nail for an ultra articulated, thinner sound… there you go, can of worms well and truly opened.

Whatever the case, it’s good to become obsessed with tone production. Beyond a basic level, it may be necessary to switch from the standard flesh/nail stroke to employ either just flesh, or just nail, to add contrast within a piece of music.

I'd advise that beginners start without nails, but once a guitarist is beyond the beginner stage and pieces become more demanding with a wider range of tones required, it is important to allow the nail to grow just beyond the tip of the finger. Good tone though is dependent upon a highly polished edge (so that the fingernail glides over the nail effortlessly) and a good finger angle, the video explains the process.

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​I use this exercise as the basis for lots of good technique reinforcement and legato playing.

I approach exercises as a way to prepare the fingers for any eventuality when playing, you are not having to isolate a ‘difficult’ section of music and repeat thousands of times to be able to play with ease - it is better to be prepared for these challenges ahead of time. 

I call it the chromatic, but it is really just the four fingers being placed one at a time on adjacent frets in order, once the fourth finger has played you move onto the next string. I find that playing in the higher positions takes away the need to stretch unnecessarily - actually, one of the important things to watch out for is perfect LH finger placement, right up to the fret wire (it’s amazing how little effort is needed to create a clear, buzz-free note). 

The right hand can play using i and m alternating, actually it's better (if each note is played once) that m is used first and then i, to avoid an awkward string crossing. Once the left hand is solid, then the chromatic can be used to practise different RH combinations, m and a (a and m), i and a (a and i), p and one I love (but most students are initially horrified at) is i, m and a which combines a sequence of three plucks on the RH with four notes for the LH making a straightforward pattern difficult to adjust to without a lot of concentration. 

I would say, to start, that each note should be sounded twice or three or four times and therefore slowing down the LH finger movements, but keeping the rhythm regular - this also gives the RH fingers a greater workout.

It is even a good idea to repeat the exercise silently, without sounding the note at all with the RH fingers. This is a great way to focus our efforts completely on the left hand - as soon as we have to concentrate on something else it becomes too much of a challenge and detrimental to speedy development.

However, besides these different approaches to the exercise, I created the sticky chromatic (explained in the vid) to focus the fingers on (eventually) hovering over the frets when not in use. There is also a synchronisation issue if the fingers are stretched out uncontrollably, they have a long way to travel to the fret and tension and stress develop. Once the sticky chromatic is natural to play, the stickiness can be dropped and fingers can release from the frets when not needed for a note to sound, gently curled (and therefore relaxed) and prepared to fret when needed.

As with all playing it is best to play slowly with a steady beat whilst counting aloud.

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​Once the guitar is in a decent position and stability is sorted, the position of the hands needs to be addressed.

We have to work within the limitations of our hands and fingers, especially when it comes to our wrists. Play with a bent wrist and the fingers won’t move easily - this is one of the most important points to remember. I was taught to play with a bit of a bent wrist for the right hand, like lots of people back in the day, perhaps something to do with tone; it looks awkward and it is awkward. Playing becomes an uphill struggle, the fingers just won’t move easily. The straight wrist approach has to be adopted for the left hand too, if it isn’t, stretches and rapid movements won’t be possible. More importantly, playing with bent wrists could result in carpal tunnel related problems, so good advice (even when playing with straight wrists) is to take regular breaks when playing and also to practise stretching exercises away from the guitar.

When playing the guitar our focus is on the notes to be sounded, but we mustn’t forget the position of our thumbs, particularly the left hand thumb. It can give stability to the hand and guide the hand when shifting. The video explains how it can help or hinder our playing.

Which leads on to the importance of anchoring our fingers of both hands wherever possible. Left hand: leaving a finger on can make life easier for the other fingers, as long as it doesn’t have an impact on the harmonies - not many actively promote this approach, which is a shame as it really helps with a solid hand. The difficulty is that the finger to anchor changes depending on the context and must be decided 'off the cuff’ (I eventually annotate the score where relevant though). 

Anchoring the right hand is pretty straightforward in comparison: if the thumb is playing, anchor the fingers on the first string and if the fingers are playing, anchor the thumb on a string two or three strings lower. You may ask about anchoring the little finger on the soundboard… this is discussed in the video. The important thing to remember is that the anchoring is there to aid the movement of our fingers and as soon as the anchoring creates tension in the hand, it isn’t helpful, rather the opposite.

Lots of guitarists will say they do what’s right for them, but there are certain ways the hands function to enable freedom of movement that we have to work within. You’d think it was the guitar world’s biggest secret given the range of approaches guitarists take - a major misconception is that these principles are reserved for the classical player, but if you look at the best players in any style, they all play with straight wrists and anchor well.

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Discussions on tuning the guitar are a minefield and can became very technical.

The techniques often taught by tutorials and online often suggest methods that unfortunately result in a guitar that sounds out of tune.

I remember as a child having to walk to the other side of town to a teacher to tune my guitar, it seemed an insurmountable mystery and when I’d sussed the method, my ears were pretty rubbish at working out if the strings were sharp or flat, it took a very long time to train them. I even invented a self-tuning guitar (in my head)! I saw a Kickstarter campaign recently of the exact device I devised as a nipper - if only I’d have been crazy enough to think it could exist. 

These days electronic tuners can do the hard work and the majority of guitarists rely on them - but is the guitar really in tune all over the fingerboard? The open strings will be in tune, but when they are fretted there are discrepancies and adjustments usually need to be made.

Not wanting to be too technical, but the frets of the fingerboard are measured to equal temperament (so that it is possible to play ‘in-tune’ in all keys), each note is a bit out, a compromise - but the ear adjusts to this and we are now generally accustomed to it. Using the other system, just intonation, we would have to have multiple guitars, each with frets measured for just one key, or if you fancy going a bit crazy, one of these: http://www.danterosati.com/justguitar.html

This video explores a more accurate tuning method than the 5th fret model, or than using harmonics, to guarantee the guitar plays in tune all over the fingerboard. One thing to point out is that old strings, high string height or a poorly compensated saddle can impact on tuning accuracy.
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