Lesson: The Swan (Beginner Method)

ByBradford Werner
2016

The Swan for Classical Guitar
From: Classical Guitar Method Vol I • Beginner. Notation, 80 pg: Free PDF
Level: Easy, Beginner

This lesson is for my graded repertoire lesson series which you can find halfway down the lesson archive page. When I teach guitar I have the student set up a model for technique and then they try to maintain that model when playing pieces. Therefore, straightforward pieces without too many weird shapes and stretches are very important for beginner to around grade 3 level students. This excludes many pieces but as a core set of works it is important.

This piece introduces students to basic two voice playing. However, all the lower voice notes are open strings and the two voices are never played together so it is a nice and easy introduction for beginners. Make sure to bring out the top voice the most and phrase as legato as possible.

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.