Lesson: First Notes on the 1st & 2nd Strings, Sight Reading

Beginner Lesson: First Notes on the 1st & 2nd Strings (B, C, D, E, F, G), Sight Reading and Review. – From my free PDF Method: Classical Guitar Method Vol. 1. All the lessons for the book are listed at the download page. This book teaches classical and fingerstyle guitar skills with a focus on the rich pedagogical tradition of classical guitar. Most learning objectives are covered through pieces and duets allowing students to perform full pieces from the first lesson. 

In this lesson I cover the notes B, C, D, E, F, G and some general technique tips. Next, I explain why we’ll be using our 4th finger on D and G. I also discuss various ways to practice and the idea of sight reading. Here’s the YouTube Lesson Link if you want to watch it there.

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Bradford Werner
Bradford Werner

Bradford Werner is a classical guitarist and music publisher from Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. He originally created this site for his students at the Victoria Conservatory of Music but now shares content worldwide. Curating guitar content helps students absorb the culture, musical ideas, and technique of the classical guitar. Bradford also has a YouTube channel with over 94,000 subscribers and 13 million views. He taught classical guitar at the Victoria Conservatory of Music for 16 years and freelanced in Greater Victoria for 20 years and now dedicates much of his time curating content online and helping connect the classical guitar community. See more at his personal website.

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    • If we use the 4th finger/pinky for the G string on the third fret and the next note is D on the second string, third fret, do we still use the pinky or the 4th finger for the D note?

      • Use the 4th finger for D on the 2nd string and G on the 1st string. The third fret on the 3rd string can use finger 3. There will be exceptions to this depending on the situation as you find out later in the book.

      • Hi Bradford, thank you for your response! I have a follow-up question regarding finger transitions.

        When playing G (1st string, 3rd fret) with the 4th finger, and then moving to D (2nd string, 3rd fret), is it efficient to use the 4th finger to jump up to the 2nd string? I feel this transition is less smooth compared to using the 3rd finger for D. Is there a specific reason to use the 4th finger in this case?

        Also, you mentioned that this topic will be covered later in the book. Could you kindly let me know which section or lesson specifically addresses this? It would be very helpful for me to focus on that part. Thank you so much!

        • Yes, when playing directly from D to G (or G to D) the use of 3 on D and 4 on G makes for a better legato fingering. I think the first occurrence of this is in Flow Gently, Sweet Afton which is quite further in.

  2. hey i’ve been self-studied guitar playing for like 7 years and pretty much anything get into my head cause they were just patchy and separate information. This is the only course that i get to be taught from the very scratch in a really structuring way. Thank you very much.

  3. I’m really enjoying your lesson started about 5 week ago he I’m in my 50 so I’m older that you are used to it’s good may easy to follow break it down

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