Etude No.18, Op.60 by Carcassi

Etude No.18, Op.60 (Allegretto) by Matteo Carcassi (1796-1853) with performance, lesson, and sheet music. This comes from my sheet music edition of 25 Etudes, Op.60 by Matteo Carcassi. PDF or hardcopy sheet music for classical guitar. Includes with both a notation edition with left hand fingering and a separate tab edition in the same pdf. Intermediate to Early-Advanced (Grade 5-9). 142 Pages. Here is the YouTube link if you want to watch it there.

Etude No.18 is at a technique level of around Grade 6 depending on your desired tempo and level of musical refinement. This etude presents study opportunities for melodic passages mixed in with arpeggios and muted textures. It also presents a fair amount of shifts and other accuracy issues to work on. The grade level really varies here depending, in particular, on the tempo. I recommend you first practice the upper melodic lines on its own. Also create some muted exercises to establish the muted bass figures in your muscle memory. Then put it all together and work on raising the tempo while retaining accuracy and musical flow.

The twenty-five etudes in Op.60 by Matteo Carcassi (1796-1853) are one of the most important pedagogical collections for classical guitar. The etudes are both enjoyable for their musical content and pedagogically beneficial for their very clear technical objectives. Compared to other etude collections, both period and modern, Op.60 excels in its tightly focused compositional adherence to didactic goals. For this reason the etudes are excellent studies for students to test their skills in a controlled musical setting and a rite of passage from the intermediate to upper playing level.

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