Thanks to everyone who viewed and supported the site in 2019. This is an update on the past year and what’s next for This is Classical Guitar in 2020. Plus, expect more silly pictures of me playing with my fingers as above.
How’s the site doing?
- Overall the site is going great and I’m very happy with it, especially the educational book series so far (see below). It’s become a full time job so I’m quite overworked but it’s still fun which is important.
- Web traffic (number of visitors) is a bit down which is disappointing but subscribers to the newsletter and YouTube are WAY up so that kind of balances it out. Social media and corporations are really eating into the open web but there’s still people subscribing (share the site with your friends!). My free sheet music used to bring in a lot of traffic but I think the future is going to be in sites like Musescore, IMSLP, and other large-scale organizations which will dominate by the sheer number of people doing great work. They need a rating system though because it’s hard to know what to trust. As always, the quality of free content on the web is hit and miss so I’ll be focusing more and more on ultra high quality editions with performer notes and dedicated video lessons and performances of the pieces which is still something not many people do (surprisingly).
- I’ve received so much positive feedback about the site this year that I’m feeling that the quality and loyalty of my subscribers is second to none. Plus, the newsletter is just packed with great people wanting a weekly dose of classical guitar. Thank you to all who follow me online.
New and Updated Stuff
- Unfingered Scores – I want to continue to add unfingered editions in addition to the fully fingered stuff so teachers and advanced players can create their own. Just super clean scores without all the guitar markups.
- New and Updated Lessons – I’ll be continuing to post new video lessons but also updating some old ones with better quality video
- Micro-Tips – This is something I really want to focus on this year. Small and concise tips that zero-in on a specific topic. I want to keep the site more active with these and eventually cover a large scope of ideas from technique to practice tips.
- Early music reading, arranging, and performance – How to read lute and early guitar tablature and music as well as period performance practice and interpretation.
- Reviews – I’ve been so busy that there were not many reviews last year. I’m going to have a new format for reviews that will be more like micro-reviews or snapshot promos so I can streamline the process.
- Skype or Video Lessons: I still haven’t figure out a solution to giving individuals one-on-one lessons. It’s a time constrait issue. I’ll be brainstorming up ideas though so expect something interesting and creative to appear.
Education Series
- I’ll be continuing work on my education series. Instead of a paywall, I’ve decided on 100% free lessons for all my books. This way for a small price of you can enjoy a year’s worth of video lessons and practice. I think the value is very high in comparison to paywall sites so that’s the plan. Plus it’s great for me because I can just give you what you want and need without maintaining memberships or denying the lessons to those without the funds for a monthly fee.
- Grade 4 Repertoire Lessons is the next book coming.
- So far the Education Series includes
- Classical Guitar Method – Vol. 1, Video Lessons, 100 pages, Free PDF
- Classical Guitar Method Vol. 2, Video Lessons, 89 pages.
- Classical Guitar Repertoire Lessons Grade 1 – Dedicated lessons for each piece.
- Classical Guitar Repertoire Lessons Grade 2
- Classical Guitar Repertoire Lessons Grade 3
- Classical Guitar Technique: Essential Exercises, Scales, & Arpeggios – 122 pages, Video lessons. Start anytime after Vol.2 method and continue with repertoire lessons.
Interest articles
- This will be a new category on the site called Interest Articles. These will not be specific guitar lessons but more about watching and absorbing culture. The lesson page has SO much on it that it is time to create a place for stuff like this. I want a page filled with super interesting articles and videos that are not specifically lessons. For those late nights when theses nothing to do!
Friends of This is Classical Guitar & People to Follow
- Now that the site has a larger following I feel it’s time to help expose the other great content I love and follow via the Links Page. From Siccas Guitars, GSI and even individual players and emerging young professionals. I want to create a way to link to them, promote them, give their videos a viewer boost and more. I’d also like to help boost the rating of great sites like Classical Guitar Corner, Open Strings Berlin, or Baros Records because I know that we can all follow more than one site. I want to help you find great stuff.
- Look forward to it all and keep an eye on the site by subscribing to the email newsletter for updates.
A big thanks from the Netherlands mr. Werner. I’ve learned a lot from you.
A fantastic & generous resource.
I will buy some of the teaching materials (even though I have a teacher) hopefully to support the website & videos.
The techniques videos make me go back to the basics & the lessons on actual pieces have really insightful interpretative observations & advice, even for a limited amateur such as as myself.
I once had a piano teacher who had been a student of Busoni & she also had a very generous spirit in the way she taught (not so much in other parts of her life) & again contextualised technique in musicality, so having this on the web for guitar is really amazing.
Thank you so much!
You are a great teacher! And you find so many beautiful videos! Can you possibly present a lesson (or arrange sheet music) a bossa nova classical guitar version like this one. The SShadow of Your Smile. It seems to be from a Russian website so I cannot ask him if his music is available. There must be an equivalent sheet music somewhere or perhaps you could present one. I know it would be greatly appreciated. It seems to be a fairly intermediate level piece in this version.
Thank you for all your great efforts!
George
I’ll check it out.
Thank you very much for this website. It is a wonderful resource.
Thank you for all the resources that you make available!
Love your content! Thank you. Are you using a CDN for the site? Cloudflare is great for wordpress and can increase your site speed more globally to give you a better Google search rankings.
I really rate your site, Bradford: partly for your attention to the detail bits of guitar-playing (like the finger-nail ramp); partly for your reviews of other players’ performances; and partly for your massive generosity in the time and effort which, it’s clear, you devote to your work, and from which we all benefit. A huge thank you.
Bradford, your tablature and fingering are the best that I have encountered – the fingering is amazingly helpful. Your tab of Carcassi’s Etude 7 Opus 60 is an excellent example. Please, more music like this with aggressive “grit” and less dead air.
You are doing a fantastic job on your website. It is one of the best sites to be found. Your dedication to providing quality classical music instruction to beginners and intermediate level guitar players is praiseworthy. Your dedication as a teacher shines through every lesson. You are unique and the website is not equaled by any other: keep the candle burning!
Thanks for all the amazing content you are producing!
It is more than 40 years ago that I played Guitar regurlarly and had lessons. Last Year, after retirerend, I grabbed my old Guitar again. I found out that I needed to start all over again. Your fantastic site helps enormously!!