Learn Classical Guitar Technique and play "Spanish Romance"

This lecture covers basic right hand and finger-picking technique, and how to approach using the nails and the flesh of your right hand fingers to pluck the strings.

This lecture shows you how to use classical sitting position for your guitar playing, and how to position your hands so that they can reach the strings securely and in a relaxed way.

This lecture will briefly talk about the main differences between nylon-string and steel-string acoustic guitars. Either type of guitar is fine for this course.

This video is just a tuning track that you can use to make sure that your guitar’s tuning matches my guitar's tuning throughout the course.

This lecture tells you how classical guitarists notate the fingers of each hand.

This lecture will introduce you to right hand arpeggio technique. An arpeggio is when you play the notes of chord one at a time, as opposed to all together. Arpeggio is one of the most commonly used textures in classical and finger-style guitar music.

This lecture will cover right hand scale technique. You’ll learn how to use different right hand fingers to play the same string, and then how to approach changing strings, which for many people is the trickiest part of playing scales.

This lecture will show you how to use your right hand fingers as a unit to play block chords. Since you’re not using a pick, you can use your right hand fingers to target the specific strings you want to play on the guitar, which we’ll talk about here.

This lecture takes a look at how to use your right hand thumb. You’ll learn basic right hand thumb technique, as well as very effective technique called palm-muting, which involves using the palm and lower part of your thumb to partially mute the string.

This lecture will show how to use a special right hand technique called rest-stroke. Rest stroke is different in that the right hand finger pushes through the string and comes to rest on the adjacent string. Rest stroke is great for playing notes that you want to emphasize or have sing out in a piece of music that you are playing.

This lecture will feature and overview of classical guitarists call “proper” left hand technique. We’ll use a C Major scale for something to play while focusing on the shape and movement of the left hand fingers.

This lecture talks about how to play 2 separate musical voices at the same time by having the fingers of your left hand work independently

This lecture will show you how to transition between 2 notes smoothly using slurs. In guitar playing, a slur that goes up in sound is called a hammer-on, and a slur that goes down in sound is called a pull-off. Many guitarists are already familiar with these techniques, so we’ll look at the best ways to accomplish these techniques.

This lecture will feature some strategies for playing barres clearly on the guitar. We’ll look at full barres where you cover the entire fret-board with the left hand index finger, and half barres, where you cover the 3 strings closest to the ground with your left hand index finger.

This lecture will introduce the concept of position playing with your left hand. By having your left hand cover a clearly defined position, you’ll be able to navigate pieces of music more securely and confidently.

This lecture will show the positioning and technique for playing natural harmonics. This is a really cool special effect that’s fun to play and an audience favorite.

This lecture will give a brief introduction to left hand trills. Here we’re going to combine hammer-ons and pull-offs in rapid succession for another cool musical effect.

This lecture will feature some ideas for approaching left hand stretches. You may be able to stretch farther than you think if you some of the strategies outlined in this video.

This video will take a look at the musical device of staccato, and how to accomplish it with your plucking hand (your right hand). This is a great technique to practice because it increases the accuracy and security of your right hand.

This lecture will look at a way of using your right hand to play scales that’s a bit unusual. You’ll learn to go back and forth between your right hand thumb and your right hand middle finger to play fast and loud scales.

This lecture will feature a special technique called artificial harmonics. This technique allows you to be able to play any note on the guitar as a harmonic. This technique is right-hand oriented, but you will need to use your left hand as well.

This lecture introduces the concept of changing timbres (also known as tone colors). You’ll learn how to change the placement of your right hand to make both a sweet, warm sound; as well as how to make a nasal, metallic sound.

This video shows you how to brush the strings with your right hand thumb when you’re playing chords, and how to vary the kinds of sounds that you get.

This lecture will give you some approaches to learning a piece of music by using guitar tablature.

This lecture talks about an approach I use in my own playing and with all my private guitar students. You’ll learn how to take the first phrase of a new piece of music and get the music to sound the way it should as quickly as possible.

This lecture will discuss some of the issues involved in memorizing a piece of music. The lecture will include some things to think about and some things to avoid.

This video is an example of the piece “Pavan” by Luis Milan that you can refer back to as you are learning and playing the piece.

This lecture focuses on using right hand technique to play block chords in “Pavan” by Luis Milan.

This lecture looks at using left hand finger independence to bring out the different musical voices in “Pavan” by Luis Milan.

This lecture shows how to apply the technique of using your right hand thumb and a right hand middle finger to play the fast scale section in “Pavan” by Luis Milan.

This video is an example of the piece “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring” by J.S. Bach that ou can refer back to as you are learning and playing the piece

This lecture shows you how to use left hand finger independence to hold the bass notes for their full time value in “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring.”

This lecture shows how to apply left hand slur technique in “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring.”

This lectures shows how to use right hand block chord technique in “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring.”

This video is an example of the piece “Spanish Romance” (which is actually anonymous interestingly enough) to refer back to as you are learning and playing the piece.

This video shows you how to apply right hand arpeggio technique to “Spanish Romance.”

This video shows you how to incorporate right hand rest stroke technique to accent the top voice in “Spanish Romance.”

This video will help you approach all the left hand barres in the A section of “Spanish Romance.”

This video will help you approach all of the left hand barres in the B section of “Spanish Romance.”