D01 Classical guitar lesson 04

[Jean-François Delcamp]

Hello everyone,
if you are new to the course, please read this message to familiarize yourself with the conditions for participating in the lessons. You should also read the first message in lesson 1, where you will find advice on how to make the most of your study time and on the methods of practising that I recommend.



First we will study some technical exercises from volume D01.
Page 54: G major scale and C major scale, numbers 4 and 5. Be sure to damp the notes properly in the descending passages. To damp the notes in the descending passages: lean the fingers of the left hand against the vibrating strings.

Youtube


Youtube




Finally, we'll look at six simple tunes, pages 21 to 25
Anonyme : La cucaracha
Anonyme : C'est la cloche du vieux manoir
Anonyme : Le coucou
Anonyme : Alouette, gentille alouette
Anonyme : Vent frais, vent du matin
Anonyme : Lundi matin
Anonyme : Cadet Rousselle

Youtube


Youtube


Youtube


Youtube


Youtube


Youtube


Youtube




I ask you first to work on all these exercises and tunes for a week and then to upload your recordings of:
Anonyme : La cucaracha
Anonyme : Alouette, gentille alouette
Anonyme : Lundi matin
Anonyme : Cadet Rousselle


Good luck!


I thank Geoff (GeoffB) who has helped in the translation of my lessons into English.


Jean-François

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Exam qualifying submissions:


La cucaracha
Alouette, gentille alouette
Lundi matin
Cadet Rousselle

Jim Stewart
La cucaracha
Alouette, gentille alouette
Lundi matin
Cadet Rousselle

Philip Polaski
La cucaracha
Alouette, gentille alouette
Lundi matin
Cadet Rousselle


John.Nicholson
La cucaracha
Alouette, gentille alouette
Lundi matin
Cadet Rousselle


håvard.bergene
La cucaracha
Alouette, gentille alouette
Lundi matin
Cadet Rousselle


ShaneSingleton
La cucaracha
Alouette, gentille alouette
Lundi matin
Cadet Rousselle

Mark_Steed
La cucaracha
Alouette, gentille alouette
Lundi matin
Cadet Rousselle

Vincent_Pera
La cucaracha
Alouette, gentille alouette
Lundi matin
Cadet Rousselle

RaphaelPazos
La cucaracha
Alouette, gentille alouette
Lundi matin
Cadet Rousselle

[Jim Stewart]

I am going to be late on this one as I just got my new internet connection up and running and just accessed lesson 4. Will post next week.

[Matt Bell]

Your not late. You have until Jan 3rd to post before Lesson 5 comes out. Cucaracha is harder than it looks to play it at the same speed as the author. Its not a race, its a lesson.

[Robert Goodwin]

Hi everyone,

Cucaracha is a toughie if you are not used to using the '4'. My hand would get tired in about 15 minutes from working on it. You will need that work to build the strength needed in D02. The '4' is used in a stretched out mode many times in D02 scores.

Best of success with your studies.

Bob G.

[RachelVoe]

Thanks for your encouraging comments. I too have been working on the assigned pieces and found Cucaracha to be the most difficult- the 4th finger being part of the problem. I guess I"ll keep working at it.

[Jim Stewart]

I was having a hard time with Cucaracha but have found it has improved since I started to do scale practice during my warm up. My fourth finger is actually going out and getting the fourth fret much easier. I start by doing a spider crawl from the first fret on the high e to the fourth fret and leaving my fingers in place (firmly pressed on the string) to stretch them out. I do that for all six strings and then I do it in reverse from the low e to the high e, again holding all my fingers in place to stretch them out. I then start with the fourth fret on the high e and work back to the first fret, lifting my fingers this time but trying to hold them over the fret. I do that for each string. I follow that up with playing the C Maj scale up and down at least three times, trying to speed up each time. I then do the G Maj scale three times up and down, followed by the D Maj scale three times up and down. That is the first time I have to reach for a fourth fret and by then my fingers are stretched out fairly good. I then move to the A Maj which is means I have to do more reaching to the fourth fret. The E Maj also requires reaching for the fourth fret. After I finish E Maj, I play Cucaracha and voila - the fingers stretch out. I have been doing that exercise as a warm-up for about a month each day. If you want to have some fun you can try playing the notes in each scale randomly and try to build up your finger speed. Just make sure you stay with the correct scale notes. I am now working on getting my uncontrollable pinkey to go straight down on the string and fret not laying across to the string and the fret.

For what it is worth.

I usually try to post 7 days after the lesson comes up but can't do it this time.

[Robert Goodwin]

Something that can help in the early going until you develop more strength is to put a capo on the first fret thus moving the playing position down by one fret. This makes the effective scale length 615mm instead of the standard 650mm. The closer spacing between frets will let you practice while your hand develops stretch and strength.

if the change in pitch bothers you, you can even tune the guitar to standard EADGBE with the capo installed. Then you pretty much have a shorter scale guitar without any additional expense, except for the capo which is much cheaper than a new guitar.

Bob G.

[Jim Stewart]

Cucaracha is still not great - more work required to relax, particularly when the recorder is running. It sounds a lot smoother sitting on the lanai with no "pressure to perform".

[Robert Goodwin]

Hi Jim,

That was very good.

That sounded very clean with nice full notes and no buzzes.

One thing I noticed is that you played the half notes in Cucaracha as quarter notes. For example, in measure two.

If you count out the first two measures, it's;

one, and, two, and, three, and, one, two-three;

Where an eighth note gets half a beat, a quarter note gets one beat, a half note gets two beats.

I believe you did this in Allouette as well but I didn't actually check the scores.

[Jim Stewart]

I think you are right, Robert. Thanks for the comments.

[Giuseppe Gasparini]

Felicitations à tous les étudiants, Merry Christmas

[HubertChan]

Hi everyone! I hope to join you guys, but I'm still in the process of getting my guitar. I've got some catching up to do!

[Philip Polaski]

Happy New Year to Jim and everyone else in Delcamp D01! I finally got some free time to post my lessons. They are not perfect, I'm hoping to devote more time to classical studies in the new year. Time was a bit scarce in 2011.

Anonyme : La cucaracha (played while chewing almonds - time was scarce


Youtube


Anonyme : Alouette, gentille alouette


Youtube


Anonyme : Lundi matin


Youtube


Anonyme : Cadet Rousselle


Youtube


Thank You for your time,

Philip

[Philip Polaski]

Jim, very good playing! I see that Robert gave you some great feedback on your videos. Your tone and overall timing is fantastic. I really enjoyed La cucaracha. Thank You.

[Matt Bell]

Both of you did a fine job. Just concentrate on hitting the notes clearly and speed up the tempo a bit, little by little. Good work!