Free Method Book – Beginner Video Lessons for Guitar
First Beginner Technique Exercises / Routine for Classical Guitar
Free PDF Method Book & Lesson List: Classical Guitar Method Vol. 1
Youtube Video Link (HD)
Some more beginner lessons for classical guitar from my method book. These are for beginners working on their first technique exercises. Right hand alternation and arpeggio exercises, left hand alignment exercises. Beginner students, especially youth, do not need to be overly concerned with technique exercises. Motivation and inspiration will come from experiencing music through playing repertoire. Students should memorize their pieces and look at their hands while they play. However, a brief five to ten minute technique routine can be beneficial to establishing technical concepts.Find the rest of the video lessons here and subscribe to my weekly newsletter for pro videos, lessons, and sheet music.
Hi Bradford,
I have worked through your wonderful Volume 1 (all except the chords section, which I will start on today) and can play the pieces and etudes reasonably well now, but still need some work to improve smoothness and technique. So I am now working on the chromatic scales and these right and left hand exercises when practising. One question I have is that when I practice chromatic scales, say from the sixth string open E onwards, what I feel the need to do is: put the first finger down for the F, second finger for the F sharp, then third finger for the G, and then, I need to lift my first finger to very slightly shift my hand to put the fourth finger down for the G sharp. This is because my left hand is not very large and what happens is that if I keep all four finger down (this is only the first position I am talking about—I can keep them all down in higher positions), my fingers start to stretch out and are no longer really rounded. Is my approach of lifting the first finger and slightly shifting my left hand up to get a rounded fourth finger on the fourth fret acceptable? Or will I pay a price for this later on when working on more complex pieces? Many thanks again for this wonderful set of videos; they have been really life-changing for me, no exaggeration.
Hi, for now I’d say it is okay to lift your finger. However, try not to shift the hand up and minimize the movement as much as possible. Later on, through a readjustment of guitar position and more practice you can try to keep all the fingers down. You might want to check out this lesson on stretches and guitar position.
How do you get your right hand to play smoothly and evenly? When I play I seem to have a “jerking” motion: the finger plucks then pauses as the other finger plucks. The hand itself doesn’t move and the fingers are pulling in, not up. Or is it because I’m playing slowly? About 85 per quarter note on the metronome.
Thank you.
Hi Erin,
Well, first thing, remember that developing a smooth and relaxed technique does take some time so don’t be too hard on yourself. Keep your technique practice slow and relaxed and work on it at the beginning of each session. Practicing lots of easy open string patterns is the best thing to do to train your hand to work the way you want it to. Go ultra slow to avoid jerking the hand about and always review posture and hand positions regularly. Once you have a foundation and muscle memory for the technique you can slowly increase the speed. Give it as much time as it needs.