D02 Classical guitar lesson 01

[Jean-François Delcamp]

Hello everyone,
Please start by downloading the latest version of volume D02.

We are going to talk about the minimum time you need to devote to the study of the guitar, about the position for holding the guitar, and finally about some techniques, exercises and pieces.

Timetable for players of a year's experience:
In order to progress, you need a little time each day for 6 days of the week. Here is the minimum necessary for players of this level :
3 days when you can devote 15 minutes to repeating each difficult passage 6 to 12 times. I'll indicate these difficult passages to you by putting a box (a rectangular border) around them.
and
3 days when you can devote 40 minutes to studying the guitar, made up of
- 15 minutes practicing the difficult (boxed) passages,
- 15 minutes repeating the individual phrases several times in succession (3 to 6 times)
- and finally 10 minutes playing the piece or pieces in full.

Note that you must play for 6 days of the week. If you combine all this time into one day, that is to say, 2 hours in a single day, you will not make progress and furthermore you will risk injuring yourself by making demands on certain muscles for too long. Divide up your practice and play a little each day.

Spend most of your practice time on the parts you have trouble playing: difficult passages, difficult phrases. Only play pieces the whole way through once or twice a week.
So we understand one another properly, here is an example of a timetable where sessions alternate between 15 and 40 minutes:
Monday 40 minutes
Tuesday 15 minutes
Wednesday 40 minutes
Thursday 15 minutes
Friday 40 minutes
Saturday 15 minutes



The position for the classical guitar is the product of past experience. The classical position enables us to reduce effort to a minimum, and has arisen from a compromise between the needs for stability, comfort and the efficient use of both hands.

The principles of this position are:
sitting position, back straight, shoulders level,
the guitar rests on whichever thigh is on the neck side.
We raise the head of the guitar level with our head, with the aid of a footstool or of a support placed on the thigh.
The hand which plays the strings is placed over the sound hole, the elbow rests on the edge of the body of the guitar, level with the bridge.
The arm on the neck side is bent to bring the hand up to the height of the shoulder, the thumb is placed behind the neck, beneath the second fret and behind the third string, the fingers are over the strings.
Try to achieve relaxation, from the shoulders right down to the hands.
Finally, choose a chair of a height that allows your thights to be horizontal, like this your guitar will rest in a stable manner. If your thigh is angled in one direction or the other, your guitar will slip and interfere with your playing.

To begin the course we will firstly look at, or relook at, pages 26 and 58 of volume D01.
- page 26 of volume D01 : Jean-François DELCAMP (1956) POLYPHONIE
- page 58 of volume D01 : Jean-François DELCAMP (1956) REST STROKE - APOYANDO
These exercises will work upon the technique of simultaneous rest strokes (apoyando) with the thumb and index finger, and also with the thumb and middle finger.
The rest stoke is a way to play the string with a finger movement which plucks the string and then continues to move until it comes to rest on the adjacent string. The work on this technique will allow you to discover the best position for your plucking hand (the right hand if you are right-handed).
If you are already used to plucking the strings with free strokes, the simultaneous rest strokes with the thumb and a finger will seem difficult to you, even impossible. But be assured, with patience and consistence, this difficulty will be resolved in 30 minutes. I know from experience that the first tries are truly discouraging, particularly for adults. It is for this reason that I wish to reassure you in advance, take heart, you will be able to do it.


D01 p26 n1 - Delcamp Polyphonie


D01 p26 n2 - Delcamp Polyphonie


D01 p58 n15 Buté - Apoyando - Rest stroke


D01 p58 n16 Buté - Apoyando - Rest stroke





Then we will study three pieces, the easiest of volume D02. Two pieces are to be played either with rest stroke or free stroke, both for the melody and for the bass.
- page 7 ANONYME (1750) DANSE D'AVILA with rest strokes (apoyando).
- page 8 Stephen Collins FOSTER (1826-1864) OH! SUSANNA with rest strokes (apoyando). This piece will serve to work on rhythm. To keep time, count out loud the beats as indicated above the stave.
- page 19 ANONYME (1750) QUE NE SUIS-JE LA FOUGÈRE with free strokes (tirando),



D02 p7 - Anonyme - Danse d'Avila


D02 p8 – Stephen Collins FOSTER (1826-1864) – Oh Susanna


D02 p19 – Anonyme - Que ne suis-je la fougère



I ask you first to work on all these exercises and pieces for one week and then to post your recordings on the forum for:
- page 26 of volume D01 : Jean-François DELCAMP (1956) POLYPHONIE (apoyando).
- page 19 ANONYME (1750) QUE NE SUIS-JE LA FOUGÈRE with free strokes (tirando),
- page 8 Stephen Collins FOSTER (1826-1864) OH! SUSANNA (apoyando).


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:

POLYPHONIE (apoyando
QUE NE SUIS-JE LA FOUGÈRE with free strokes (tirando),
OH! SUSANNA (apoyando)

Tom Hayes
POLYPHONIE (apoyando
QUE NE SUIS-JE LA FOUGÈRE with free strokes (tirando)
OH! SUSANNA (apoyando)

WilliamTee
POLYPHONIE (apoyando
QUE NE SUIS-JE LA FOUGÈRE with free strokes (tirando)
OH! SUSANNA (apoyando)

Stefan Srećković
POLYPHONIE (apoyando
QUE NE SUIS-JE LA FOUGÈRE with free strokes (tirando)
OH! SUSANNA (apoyando)

Halil Akaydin
POLYPHONIE (apoyando
QUE NE SUIS-JE LA FOUGÈRE with free strokes (tirando)
OH! SUSANNA (apoyando)

Valerie Reid
POLYPHONIE (apoyando
QUE NE SUIS-JE LA FOUGÈRE with free strokes (tirando)
OH! SUSANNA (apoyando)

Beatriz Martin
POLYPHONIE (apoyando
QUE NE SUIS-JE LA FOUGÈRE with free strokes (tirando)
OH! SUSANNA (apoyando)

Daniel Christiansen
POLYPHONIE (apoyando
QUE NE SUIS-JE LA FOUGÈRE with free strokes (tirando)
OH! SUSANNA (apoyando)

CarlWestman
POLYPHONIE (apoyando
QUE NE SUIS-JE LA FOUGÈRE with free strokes (tirando)
OH! SUSANNA (apoyando)

Satyajit Kadle
POLYPHONIE (apoyando
QUE NE SUIS-JE LA FOUGÈRE with free strokes (tirando)
OH! SUSANNA (apoyando)

Sean Duggan
POLYPHONIE (apoyando
QUE NE SUIS-JE LA FOUGÈRE with free strokes (tirando)
OH! SUSANNA (apoyando)

Laura Staats
POLYPHONIE (apoyando
QUE NE SUIS-JE LA FOUGÈRE with free strokes (tirando)
OH! SUSANNA (apoyando)

Haris Karachristianidis
POLYPHONIE (apoyando
QUE NE SUIS-JE LA FOUGÈRE with free strokes (tirando)
OH! SUSANNA (apoyando)

[Beatriz Martin]

everybody. Welcome back
I have a couple of questions already. Just a bit confused about damping the notes again. In D01 there were lots of the damp symbols (the little flower) with a line going back to the preceding note. Mr. Delcamp said to damp the preceding note with the finger indicated. There were also indications of which finger to use to damp.
Now in Oh! Susana and Que ne suis-je la fougere there are just little flowers with no lines or indication of which finger to use to damp. Which note do we damp, the note where the symbol is? or the preceding note?...Since there's no indication of which finger to use to damp, then we use any finger we want or find more comfortable?

[Tarbaby (1953 - 2016)]

Hi Bea. Welcome back yourself, and thank you again for all the good work you've been doing here!

Those are all open string bass notes, so you must dampen the preceding open strings with the side of the thumb. I guess he figures you've all learned that in D01, so he doesn't have to indicate it anymore.

Have fun!

Alan

[Beatriz Martin]

Thanks Alan, yes, that's right, I was supposed to learn all that in D01

[CarlWestman]

with respect to the exam qualifying submission for Polyphonie, p. 26 of D01, should we record and submit n1, n2, or both? Thanks, Carl

[GeoffB]

Hi Carl, I think the expectation is that you should do both.

Geoff

[Rameen Raha]

Hey Everyone,

It is really nice being part of these classes. I also have a question. in D01 p26 n1- Delcamp Polyphonie we have whole notes there, but Sir Delcamp is damping it when he plays the next note in the next bar does it mean that we should play it like a five beat note?

Enjoy classes all,

[Marko Räsänen]

Hi Rameen,

if I understood your question correctly, you are referring to the slight delay between playing the next bass note and damping the previous one? You should do the damping as soon as possible after playing the next bass note. In the beginning that may mean a whole 5th beat for that note, but you will get faster by doing it, and then the delay will become less noticeable. So, essentially yes.

Marko

[Tom Hayes]

Hi all,

Quick question regarding the apoyando technique. I'm not having problems when it comes to the i, m and a fingers hitting a string and stopping on the next note, but I'm finding it harder doing the same thing with the thumb, especially when the two strings are close together. For example, if A (using thumb) and high E (using index) are played at the same time, I would rest the thumb on the D and rest the index on the B for the duration of the note. My question is, does the thumb have to also come to rest on the next string when a note is played, or can it be free to move to another string (low E string for example), or even be free to hover above the strings?

Thanks for any help,
Tom.

[LindaWoodford]

Hi Tom,
Yep, they both land on the next string, so if you are playing open G and A strings simultaneously, both thumb and finger land on the D string - the action is a bit like undoing a wing-nut. After that, they are free to move and hover, ready for the next note.

[Stefan Srećković]

Not to develop any bad habits but I think it's a matter of what feels more comfortable to you. Nothing has to be done in a specific way, but some ways might be easier than others.

To give a couple of examples:

• We're generally taught that adjacent notes on the same string shouldn't be played with the same finger. Yet players do it if they can catch up with the tempo and it doesn't sound any worse than with alternating fingers.
  
  Tremolo is generally played ami, but you see Ana Vidovic doing it as mim.

Same goes for rest strokes. Some people prefer it, others do not. I've seen a Delcamp member going through the scale with free strokes as clean and as fast as he would with rest strokes.

[Goran Penic]

Hi all,

Quick question regarding the apoyando technique. I'm not having problems when it comes to the i, m and a fingers hitting a string and stopping on the next note, but I'm finding it harder doing the same thing with the thumb, especially when the two strings are close together. For example, if A (using thumb) and high E (using index) are played at the same time, I would rest the thumb on the D and rest the index on the B for the duration of the note. My question is, does the thumb have to also come to rest on the next string when a note is played, or can it be free to move to another string (low E string for example), or even be free to hover above the strings?

Thanks for any help,
Tom.

Apoyando = Pressing (pushing) string at an angle while string does not slip under the finger. With proper execution the only possible outcome is that your finger which pressing string ends at the next string.

[Tom Hayes]

Thanks for your help everyone. By reading the replies it seems like I just fell into the practice of leaving the thumb on the string for too long, when I can actually take it away from the adjacent string shortly after it has come to rest and then allow it to hover in a similar style to the free stroke technique. I hope this sounds about right

[Adam S. Vernon]

Hi everyone. I just wanted to say that I'm going to be participating in D02, and I will start working on the lessons tonight. I'm looking forward to working through this material with you all.

[Stefan Srećković]

I'm shocked to see someone with your post count attending D02!

Nevertheless, glad to have you on board!