Classical Guitar Essentials Advanced - Part 2

Master advanced techniques with 3 Masterpieces including Blackbird

This is the second part of the Classical Guitar Essentials the advanced course. If you’ve been following the course since the beginning, you have reached to Grade 4 in London College of Music level, which is half way to the last grade. That’s huge! By now you should have a very solid foundation in the classical guitar, and you are comfortable reading standard sheet music notation.

We going to continue were we left off in the previous course, learning more scales and arpeggios and introducing your first 3 octaves scale which will open the fret board for you.

The first section deals with the technical work which is the scales and arpeggios for Grade 4 LCM, don’t skip this one as this section will prepare you for what’s coming. The ability to play these scales and arpeggios will raise your stamina and develop the muscle technique to be able to play for longer times.

Next, the repertoire section. I’ve chosen 3 pieces, each one with a different challenge:

• The first one is “Etude in Em” by F. Tarrega, this study is required in Grade 4 LCM, and it’s a charming piece with one bar chord and a stretch in your left hand from fret 3 to fret 7! Don’t worry, you can do this.

• The next piece is “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring” by Bach. A very well-known tune in the key of G major. It’s written in triplets and will test your knowledge in the arpeggio of G major and D major. So if you’ve forgotten these two I recommend that you go back and refresh your memory on them.

• The last one is a surprise, it’s the main theme of “Game of Thrones”. Winter is coming and there is a very challenging bar chord in there. For the first time we are going to use a CAPO, without it you will not be able to do the bar chord as it’s impossible on the first position! So go and buy one if you don’t have a capo, trust me it’s worth it.

In section 3 we are going to learn about the intervals. This is an essential concept if you want to learn more about harmony. As this subject is a bit complicated to learn in one section - or even one course - I decided to give you a hint about it in this course, and continue with it in the next one. You’ll be amazed how important this subject is once you started playing the exercises. We finish this section with classic hit from The Beatles, Blackbird.

The last section I provide a very useful tools for you to help you organize your practicing. There’s an article about how to practice scales, the link will take you to an external website called Classical Guitar Corner, which I think is the best website online dedicated for the classic guitar. It’s a free article, you don’t even have to leave your email. Look around and I am sure you will find something to suit your needs or answer a question you have.

The final lecture has an article by me with a downloadable recourse to help you organize your practice routine. Print out the schedules and fill it like I describe in the article, it will greatly enhance the way you practice, and accelerate your progress.

Join more than 10K happy students who took this series. Hit the Enroll Now button and start playing advanced Classical Guitar pieces.

See you on the other side.