5 THINGS I wish I knew as a beginner Classical Guitarist

In this video we go over 5 things that I wish I would've known when I started as a Classical guitarist!

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[rezaf]

I had a long break from playing guitar (about 15 years). When I started playing again, the best advice that I gave myself was to wait until I could play a piece/study without mistakes and at the right tempo before moving to new pieces. Sometimes it takes months to reach that goal, but it is always worth it.

[jbolinger]

Good stuff. I'd add to record yourself often. I'm not talking about for keeps, though. I just mean record to your phone or whatever you have available that will enable you to hear what you actually sound like. The reason is when you're in the moment of guitar playing zen, it's difficult to know how you really sound. When you hear it back, outside of your head, you'll learn a lot about what you can improve upon.

[hayesdabney]

A teacher in Ann Arbor told me "The slower you go, the better you get, faster." Relax. Easier said than done, and when it`s done, it`s easier.

[moonasha]

the tension thing can't be overstated. I've been playing 1 year seriously (and another 1 before that not so serious), and reducing tension became one of my main goals. Especially as a new player, you don't realize just how much bad form you might have during difficult maneuvers like barres. I ended up with a tendon injury because of it, and it was only after that that I took a step back and forced myself to play as "lazily" as possible. My endurance skyrocketed, I can hold 7+ fret bars easily, I haven't been hurt since, etc. I still need to buy a guitar support thing though D: Another thing that changed my approach to guitar was tuning down an entire step, thanks to Todd MacKillop, it really makes things easier, especially if you're playing without nails. A lot of the music we love was written on instruments a half step down, or even a whole step.

[GoatFelon]

I got a Guitarlift a while ago and it is seriously the best thing ever.

[newgunguy]

Itzhak Perlman made a video where he mentions that every hour of practice should consist of 50 minutes of actual practice and 10 minutes of rest. This, in my opinion, is very important.

[wbajzek]

I used a footstool and then supports for my first fifteen years of classical guitar. I'm 41 now and I can't stand any of them. I started using a strap a few years and I can sit or stand or even walk around and always have the guitar in my preferred position.. Getting a few holes drilled in my concert guitar was mildly traumatizing and it took some time to adapt, but I've never regretted it.

[noname-sjhi]

A short note on the foot stool thing. It actually takes a surprising amount of hip flexibility to sit comfortably with a straight back WITH your foot raised up. A simple way to check for yourself how much you're lacking is:
Stand in front of your chair, bend your knees slightly and bend forward with your hips (like you're an adult movie actress, you know what I mean), really exaggerate the movement. If you run your fingers down your spine you should feel a crease at the height of your lower back in this position. This means your pelvis is neutral or tilted a bit forward.
Now, lower through your legs and sit on the chair (still leaning forward), next bring your torso up by bending at the hips. If you feel down your spine you should still feel the crease in your lower back. You should be able to completely relax your body in this potion and not fall over.
Now, if you've made it this far, try to get your foot on the footstool without tilting your hips and keeping the crease in your spine.
Not that easy is it :)
That's why you're having so much trouble sitting with a foot stool for long periods of time, you just lack the flexibility required, so you compensate by tilting your pelvis back, which fucks with your spinal alignment, so you have to expand more energy to keep yourself upright and your abdomen gets compressed which fucks with your breathing.
In short there's your problem :P

[albertjacobs]

Excellent advice not only for beginners but for all musicians. Thank you very much

[ChrisWoodGuitarist]

Great advise. My personal guitar holding method is an unusual (less common) use of a guitar strap. As I changed from acoustic to more classical playing raising the neck became necessary. So now I attach the guitar strap at the usual place ( the end by the bridge) run the strap under the side of the guitar, over my legs and then under my left thigh. So you are now sitting on the strap, which is holding the guitar up.. You can use this to set the guitar at any angle. Takes a bit of working out, but works a treat. I got this idea from a forum somewhere, but can remember where.

[MichaelIbsenGuitar]

#teamguitarsupport aka tall people problems.

One tip I would add is to seek out repertoire by reading music rather than just listening to other players, there is so so so much good repertoire out there, even by frequently played composers, which doesn't get played, simply becuase we tend to just steal rep from our friends in our local school or at the festivals we have happened to go to. This problem creates an effect where the same pieces get played over and over, even sometimes when there are arguably better or more interesting pieces by the same composer which just didn't happen to get popularized for whatever reason.

On top of that I would also have liked to gone back in time and encouraged myself to start playing new music and working with living composers earlier, I suppose it's not for everyone, but it's amazing how much collaborating with a living composer enriches your musical life and it honestly opens a lot of doors and creates a lot of performance opportunities in my experience.

[HarryVerey]

Great tips and wished I had known too!

[mcleanblades]

On this my advice is do-as-i-say not do-as-i-do - but knowing what I know now it's important to make performing part of your practice routine.

[kacywilliams]

I looked for an ergoplay link. Didn't see one, which only added more credibility that it was an honest comment, so I went to Amazon and got one. Nice sell. You deserve a piece of that IMO. I'm a new subscriber to your channel and I'm looking forward to binge-watching your content. (I found you through This is Classical Guitar)

[Ciaccona]

I play violin only by ear. Never got to learn the notes. And my teacher told me that is incredible because you can feel everything more deep and in layers. I play with my feelings and it's very personal.

[GabrielSoloGuitar]

We also should transcribe because there’s not a lot of original repertoire for our instrument and there’s so much music our instrument can breath new life into.

[robertsmith]

You're right about the footstool; as you age it will become problematic for your knee, hip stability, circulation, and does cause tension in your lower back. There's no reason to deal with that kind of pain distraction. Relaxing is key to speed; conversely, if you're tense while playing, that too will eventually cause circulation problems in your hands and imbalance to the muscles and tendons in your forearm. I speak from experience of 50+ years of playing, that said, I do love the aesthetic of the footstool (I have a collection of them) I don't use them anymore. Finally, weight training will impact your playing, just one more challenge to deal with.

[hayesdabney]

A strap with shower wall suction cups work well. Standing up, or sitting down.

[thetruthhurts]

As you start pushing 30!😆😆😆 With the foot stool thing, with prolonged play you get tight hip flexors and a tight piriformis, which predisposes you to sacroiliac joint pain, all on the left. This is a long term thing for me, pushing 50, and not just from guitar. This got worse for me during COVID lock down and an eternity on the couch. If this sounds like you do a search on you tube for the above terms and you will find some nice stretching exercises to help, or better still go see a physio. Not prepared to get a support yet as have only now got a foot stool - I used to play without and at a low sitting height. See how I go!!

[Fortheclassicalguitarist]

Only two pieces out of the Frederick Noad Book...
I feel like that sums up almost every classical guitarists first two years of playing!