D02 Classical guitar lesson 01

[MikeTaylor]

Hi, Mike.
You will get used to play in legato and with right syncopations sooner or later, even though you don't like this tune. It seems you practiced Susanna just for couple days. Well I suggest start playing "Malaguena" ahead for next lesson. It is fun and hard with flamenco feeling.

Ken,

Thanks for you comments. Last night I posted what will be for me the final version of Oh! Susanna for this lesson. Although I know that it comes up again as the basis for an improvisation in a future lesson.

I have taken your advice and looked ahead to Malaguena. I have always liked that piece and this is a nice arrangement. You are correct that it is going to challenging, but also fun. I find that I can play it reasonably smoothly at about 65bpm, less than half of the suggested tempo, so it is going to take a bit of effort to bring it up to proper speed. I look forward to the challenge though.

I have also begun reviewing some of the technical exercises at the end of D01. If you recall, I joined D01 in March and so I had to move pretty quickly to catch up and qualify for the exam. After moving through the first course at that pace it seems a bit strange to have completed this lesson with almost 2 weeks left before the next lesson is posted.

I guess that leaves a lot of time for technical exercises.

Ciao,

Mike

[Ken Kim]

Those exercises are worth every penny. I even memorized all D01 - 21exercises and have practiced all 21 daily. I've started to practice basic slurs(index thru pinky) and barre from D02 excercises already. You would be ok with little advance techniques too, since you are good enough to do it.
Enjoy playing .

Cheers,

[Colin Bullock]

Hello D02 students, glad to see some new fingers as well as familiar ones.
I'll be catching up on your videos over next few days and will update the tracker list where we list student submissions that have been reviewed and qualify for the exam requirements.
Hope you will all enjoy this year’s study sessions.

[Nelson Lee]

Hi everyone,

Just wanted to introduce myself to everyone. I will be submitting D01-01 pieces soon. I took a break last session to concentrate on left hand techniques because I am so new at this guitar thing. Nice to see submissions under way and I look forward to being with everyone in this usical journey. Regards, Nelson Lee

[Ken Kim]

Hi everyone,

Just wanted to introduce myself to everyone. I will be submitting D02-01 pieces soon. I took a break last session to concentrate on left hand techniques because I am so new at this guitar thing. Nice to see submissions under way and I look forward to being with everyone in this musical journey. Regards, Nelson Lee

Welcome back, Nelson Lee.
Good to see another player coming along in D02. I'm pretty much new to guitar just like you. I started playing guitar at August '17.
Both of my hands are kinda sore everyday due to finger muscle ache. Just can't resist but to play guitar everyday. Look forward to seeing your submissions.

Cheers,

[Linda Kimbrel]

If you are particularly interested in the different methods people use to record there is a lengthy discussion on this forum in the general topics section. I read through a large part of that last year and there are many fantastic ideas there.

Ciao,

Mike

Mike, I am another classmate here who also thanks you for this information. I had thought I could use my iPhone to post video for this class, but the sound quality was just awful. Hopefully I will find a way here to get my work up for review. I am returning to classical guitar after 25 years as a bassist with local rock and blues bands. I am self-taught and creeping up on certain physical limitations at my age so I do it now or it will soon be too late. It took no time at all to teach myself everything I knew about playing classical guitar, and I’m hoping I can soon unlearn any bad habits I may have, before moving on to the vast unknown of everything I haven’t learned by myself. And that appears to cover a lot of territory.
Linda Kimbrel

[Nelson Lee]

Hi Everyone. The following videos are my D02-01 Lesson pieces with the following focus:

1. Start with slow tempo, tapping the beat, internalizing the beat. Increase tempo when rhythm and the beat are together.
2. Left hand lower knuckles inline and close to fingerboard.
3. Right hand fingering at 45 degrees to guitar strings.

I have included video with and without metronome beats. Oh! Susanna was messed up, because I went off the metronome beat at one spot (I get stage-fright with the camera and lost my focus).

Please feel free to give me feedback. Thanks so much for the support, Nelson.

Danes D'Avila


Oh! Susanna


Polyphony



"From the Past"
I have include two pieces from D01 Lesson series. I tried incorporating the what I learned musically to these early pieces.

Good Morning to All


Lo, Nous Marchons Sur Un Etroit Chemin

[closet guitarist]

NL - I think you have a very good technical foundation. It appears to me you could play for hours w/o issues. I did notice at times your finger strokes were more underneath the string but it could be you were going for a brighter tone. Well done.

[Robert Goodwin]

Hi Nelson,
Your Danse D'Avia was very well done overall

It looked like maybe you forgot to dampen the base notes. On your music score there are little asterisk looking marks that indicate when the previous note should be dampened. If you watch the Maestro closely you will see he uses his thumb to touch a string to dampen it. This is important to prevent dissonant sounds such as you can hear clearly in the last note of Danse where the 'E' string and 'A' are both ringing.

You are doing great and I wish I had been that quick to pick up playing in second year. Keep going.

Best regards,
Bob G.

[Judy Verbeeten]

Hi Everyone. The following videos are my D02-01 Lesson pieces:

Nelson, well done. The tempo and tone of the pieces were excellent. I did not really recognize any tempo mishap (that you eluded to). I could learn and will try to follow your excellent hand positioning. In particular, I have had some difficulties related to my right hand position and fingering, with my right hand and fingers collapsing sometimes. None of that in your playing. Sometimes in classmates' videos, both hand positions are not clearly evident - it is great that your video provided a full view - I really can learn from watching your excellent hand positioning. Great stuff.

Judy

[Ken Kim]

Hi Everyone. The following videos are my D02-01 Lesson pieces with the following focus:
1. Start with slow tempo, tapping the beat, internalizing the beat. Increase tempo when rhythm and the beat are together.
2. Left hand lower knuckles inline and close to fingerboard.
3. Right hand fingering at 45 degrees to guitar strings.
I have included video with and without metronome beats. Oh! Susanna was messed up, because I went off the metronome beat at one spot (I get stage-fright with the camera and lost my focus).
Please feel free to give me feedback. Thanks so much for the support, Nelson.
Danes D'Avila Oh! Susanna Polyphony
"From the Past"
I have include two pieces from D01 Lesson series. I tried incorporating the what I learned musically to these early pieces.
Lo, Nous Marchons Sur Un Etroit Chemin

Hi, Nelson Lee.

3 focuses you mentioned above are very valuable infos to me. Thank you for sharing with group. It seems you are doing great with self observation. It is strong tool to learn music and arrange your practice.
Both of your hand position looks great. Thumb strokes sound so good that I wish I can do that like you, but i-m sound little brittle for my taste. It sounds like you are plucking with nail only. Maybe it is just microphone or my taste. You know it is a personal reference about nail only or nail+flash.

Maestro Delcamp did quite fast and rough intentionally for both pieces but I did pretty slow for both. Earned legato but gave up tempo. I focused on tempo for next lesson. It is great you already know about sul tasto and ponticello. I can't move my right elbow or arm that easily like you.

Danse D'Avila - Right Tempo. Confident Strokes. Great work.

Oh! Susanna - Right Tempo. Confident Strokes. But Syncopation didn't work at all. You need to think about syncopation very carefully. Your music will sound much better, if It shows up boldly.

Polyphonie - Your i-m sounds better than above pieces. Don't know why it does. Very Relaxed and sound great.

Good Morning to All - It is always Happy Birthday song to me. I always do slow but your rendition is better as a MORNING call.

Lo, Nous Marchons Sur Un Etroit Chemin - Wow, I love this. I'll go back to D01 book and play again my self. It is totally my taste. Great sound!

Overall, great work! Don't miss your daily practice. Happy playing .


Cheers,

[Ken Kim]

I love this tune much. Played a bit faster than 96bpm and missed couple damping.

[Nelson Lee]

Dear Ken,

I viewed and listened to your D02-01 lesson videos and below are my comments:

1. Nice job! Rhythm is very good.
2. With the tempo you chose, your pieces are mellow. Can you play them at the recommended tempo?
3. RH and LH position is very good, as well as the guitar/body position. You can consider positioning the guitar so it sits on your lap straighter without so much leaning angle. I believe this will change the angle of the fingerboard and result in less stress on your LH wrist.
4. Moreover, I noticed your LH fingers are inline with the guitar strings most of the time and this is excellent. Occasionally though your LH fingers would be in an angle to the strings with the pinky pulling away from the finger board. This forces your pinky to be straight and stressed (not bent and relaxed), and you tend to finger the strings with the ball of your pinky instead of the tip of the pinky. Try to keep your LH fingers inline with the strings, especially when you are fingering with the pinky. This will improve fingering speed and reach.

Of course, please note that my suggestions are ones that I need to also work on. Ken, thank you for making the effort to comment on my videos. Your feedback and support has helped immensely. And, I hope my observations (as a novice) serves you to improve your practice.

Great job and let's improve our guitar skills together. Regards, Nelson.

[Ken Kim]

Dear Ken,
I viewed and listened to your D02-01 lesson videos and below are my comments:
1. Nice job! Rhythm is very good.
2. With the tempo you chose, your pieces are mellow. Can you play them at the recommended tempo?
3. RH and LH position is very good, as well as the guitar/body position. You can consider positioning the guitar so it sits on your lap straighter without so much leaning angle. I believe this will change the angle of the fingerboard and result in less stress on your LH wrist.
4. Moreover, I noticed your LH fingers are inline with the guitar strings most of the time and this is excellent. Occasionally though your LH fingers would be in an angle to the strings with the pinky pulling away from the finger board. This forces your pinky to be straight and stressed (not bent and relaxed), and you tend to finger the strings with the ball of your pinky instead of the tip of the pinky. Try to keep your LH fingers inline with the strings, especially when you are fingering with the pinky. This will improve fingering speed and reach.
Ken, thank you for making the effort to comment on my videos. Your feedback and support has helped immensely. And, I hope my observations (as a novice) serves you to improve your practice.
Great job and let's improve our guitar skills together. Regards, Nelson.

Thank you much for great tips, Nelson. My rest stroke isn't confident as yours, but I'll try to do it again in right tempo. Can do it with free stroke, but not sure with apoyando.

I thought guitar position would be ok to be slanted toward my chest. As I tried your suggestion, you are right and I'm definitely wrong about this. All I can say is WOW. This little tip just gave my left pinky freedom to move better. Scales got easier too. I really appreciate this.

About LH fingers inline tip, I also learned from D03 Student Tom Wimsatt about couple weeks ago. He suggested this to his fellow D03 student. It really did make sense, since his LH looks so relaxed. I'm working on it. I think your suggestion of guitar position will fix all this problems.

Don't miss your Daily practice! Enjoy playing!

Cheers,

[Nelson Lee]

Dear Judy,

Good job on the lesson pieces and there is a sweetness to the pieces.

Below are my comments:

1. Bradford Werner has an excellent website where he offers lessons on the basics of guitar techniques. His instructions have been a wonderful resource to my practice. I suggest selecting one issue, such as RH basic techniques, and watching his videos on that subject. Once you have tried his suggestions, then go ahead to another issue, such as LH techniques. Of course, as you are doing this you can always go back to a previous video for a review. I have been doing this and it has helped me tremendously, and I always get something new to be aware of when I rewatch his videos. Below is the link to this site:

https://www.thisisclassicalguitar.com/lessons/

2. Be kind and gentle to yourself. Know that you are where your supposed to be, and know where you want to go and how to get there.

I hope this helps. Let's improve on the guitar together. Regards, Nelson.