essay on technique

7/30/2019 Essay on Technique

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Dylan BermanMark DelprioraGuitar Pedagogy12 December 2012

In classical guitar, there are two techniques that distinguish an

amazing player from an average player, and those techniques are

scales and arpeggios. In my opinion, these techniques should be

practiced entirely through exercises and studies as opposed to

being learned through music as Suzuki suggests.

Arpeggios are one of the most common and utilized techniques

in the classical guitar repertoire and should be practiced with a

metronome to ensure the evenness of each note. The most difficult

aspect initially is overcoming endurance. Typically, players can play

four-note arpeggio burst, p-i-m-a or a-m-i-p, rather well, but when it

comes to repeating the burst and sustaining it, the arpeggio

becomes sloppy in tone and rhythm. A player should practice these

as relaxed as possible (using open strings) at a slow tempo; then

when they feel comfortable, they should play them as quick as

possible but only at a tempo that they can execute the arpeggio

perfectly. For this particular arpeggio, if the student appears to be

getting bored with open strings, a teacher should supply them with

the B section of Villa-Lobos's Prelude no. 4 and tell them to use both

fingerings p-i-m-a and p-a-m-i with the exact same procedure as was


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aforementioned with open strings. The teacher must be sure that

the student's fingers while playing this technique are not moving

individually (pluck and return) in motion but sympathetically in

motion. This technique will give the student much less resistance

and tension in the hand and will help them play in a more relaxed

fashion. All arpeggios should be played with various amounts of

accents and rhythm. Other helpful examples to help develop

arpeggios would be Etude no. 1 by Villa-Lobos, Etude no. 6 by

Brouwer, and Etude no. 19 by Carcassi.

The most important part of left hand arpeggios oddly enough

are right hand arpeggios. Because we have already covered that

seventy percent of your job is done (but keep in mind that coming

up with a solid right hand fingering is most important.) This is true

because the left hand will be stationing for at least a few notes at a

time so the difficulty of this technique is found in shifting. Of course

playing it slow and speeding it up and playing it at different

rhythms is a great idea, but in my opinion all of the focus should be

spent on the one shift because in classical guitar repertoire that's

usually as many shifts as your'e going to have to make. The

execution of this is almost entirely based on muscle memory as it is

with all fast pieces. So the player should play the chord shapes

involved in the arpeggio back and forth, so the shapes of the

arpeggio will be engrained in their brain, with a focus on not flexing


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their bicep. After their is comfortable a player must work on the

quickness of the shift, using a dotted rhythm for the shift from the

first chord shape to the second. Once this becomes easy then the

right hand fingerings can be brought back. A couple good examples

for this Etudes no. 20 and no. 22 by Carcassi. Once the played

becomes very advanced technique then Etude. no 2 by Villa-Lobos

can be introduced.

For classical guitarists, the no. 1 reference for using 3 octave

scales or those fingered by the legend that is Andre Segovia.

Although these scales are vital in developing technique, I believe

they ask beginner students to study to many techniques at one

time. It's synonymous with teaching a student calculus before

teaching them algebra, geometry, and trig; it doesn't make the

slightest ounce of sense. So what I propose is: one octave scales on

the treble strings. To reduce the monotony of such difficult drilling,

the student could practice the variations of one particular starting

on any note, given that the scale is in the same particular key. Ex.

playing an E major scale beginning on "a", the second fret, or

beginning on "d#", the eighth fret. Practicing scales strictly on the

treble strings will reduce the amount of damage that the nails are

forced to endure on the bass string. Also, one scale octaves will

allow the student to only have to deal with one string crossing at a

time, and to learn how to move their arm back and forth across the


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guitar to get a better understanding of right hand shifting. These

scales should be practiced slowly and once this becomes

comfortable then the student may begin playing them with all the

different rhythmic variations possible. The teacher must focus on

the student's ability on playing legato, ensuring that the right hand

plucks at the exact moment the left finger hits the string. Another

technique that could make the legato more beautiful is vibrato. V

vibrato, is one of those techniques that is extremely

subjective. Some people like when a vibrato is really intense and

when a vibrato is really subtle, but no matter what your preference

is, the player's ability to do both given what the music calls for is

important. A great way to master the control of the vibrato is with

the aid of a metronome. Moving from the shoulder, the student

should wiggle their home side to side at quarter notes, then eighth

notes, then of course sixteenth notes, moving with little motion for

a subtle vibrato and with larger amount of motion for an intense

vibrato.

Of course, guitar players want to learn how to shred, and this

is learned through scale bursts. First, the student should practice

playing just TWO notes consecutively as fast as possible, only on

the first string. Once they can do this, then they should throw in

another note, then another, and etc. Once four note bursts become

comfortable, then they can extrapolate this technique to the octave


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scale as I talked about earlier on the treble strings. This will teach

the student how to move their right arm and overcome the pest that

is string crossing. Once they can do four note bursts, then they can

continue to add another, only at a rate so that everything can be

played perfectly. Once students appear to be really comfortable

playing one octave scales at a pretty good speed, then they may

practice the three octave Segovia Scales, and put all of the different

techniques together.

I believe that scales should be practiced strictly using exercises as

oppose to being developd through music. There is just too much

going on in playing a scale, and to then throw music on top of it I

think is just too much focus on too many things.

6786330678 Maria ;) had a good time

essay on technique

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