Comments on: Should you learn to play classical guitar?

By: Matt Mclaughlin

Matt Mclaughlin — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 19:31:53 +0000

I really enjoyed this and hope to see more soon.

By: David Martin

David Martin — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 18:09:55 +0000

Hi there

I have been playing electric guitar for 2 years starting off in the heavy metal genre and moving into rock instrumental music such as joe satriani. Im thinking of learning classical guitar,at the same time as my electric guitar, question is would this benefit my electric guitar playing.

By: Mike

Mike — Sun, 23 Sep 2007 03:48:10 +0000

Hey, nice article. I study and play jazz electric guitar right now but im thinking about starting some classical guitar lessons. Especially since I purchased a nice classical guitar on a recent trip to Spain.

By: Josh

Josh — Sat, 22 Sep 2007 02:57:57 +0000

I would agree, IG. Classical guitar isn’t for everyone. Even though I think it will help round you out as a musician, you should not pursue it if that style of music doesn’t appeal to you.

I really like the Pumping Nylon book from Scott Tennant that I mentioned earlier in the comments, so I’d highly recommend picking that up if you’re just getting started. It’s a great book for people just getting started with classical guitar. Buy the one with the CD so that you have everything you need to listen and play.

By: IG

IG — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 14:10:58 +0000

I’d say, learn classical guitar if you really like classical guitar music and really want to make that sound and make and enjoy that music on guitar. Learning it as a basis to improve technique or focus or what have you should come second. Do it cuz you really want to play the music.

Whenever I work with folks who want to tip their toes in classical guitar, I encourage them to pick up a basic classical guitar book that has short classical pieces (about a piece per page) and an accompanying CD. That way, the pieces are easy to start with, and the CD helps you to understand what the music sounds like. I do this simply because most folks who want to try it typically don’t read music and aren’t very familiar with the repertoire. So, this route is one that gives you the opportunity to start playing something right away and encourage you to grow.

I can’t remember some of the specific titles of the books, but, if you go to Amazon.com in the books section and search for classical guitar books, you’ll get a few and you can pick from there. They’re all basically the same, they have some of the same traditional pieces. But, you just gotta make sure the CD comes with it, so you can “listen” and play.

That’s the IG two cent. Great post…

By: Josh

Josh — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 01:20:49 +0000

There’s certainly truth in that! While I often will selectively use the technique that I learned for classical based on what’s appropriate, I still think that the focus and determination that I learned playing classical have helped me, and I now know “proper” technique that I can use when needed. Did I have to study classical guitar to obtain this knowledge? No, I don’t think so, but it definitely helped more than it hurt, IMHO.

By: Guitar Noize

Guitar Noize — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 01:14:55 +0000

I personally think that I didn’t really benefit that much from playing classical guitar except when I play acoustic now my right hand picking technique is pretty good. Myleft hand is still as sloppy as the day I started playing electric and I was continually told this by my teacher at uni Simon Dinnigan.

When I pick up an electric everything I learned at uni on classical goes right out the window, there’s nothing like getting your thumb over the neck and smashing out some Stevie Ray Vaughan!

By: Josh

Josh — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 20:20:46 +0000

Hey David,

I really enjoyed Scott Tennant’s (from the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet) method book titled Pumping Nylon:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/088284721X/

In the book, he delves into technique and also includes several musical pieces that focus on the specific techniques being discussed, which makes the learning a little more fun. He has also created a few repertoire books to go along with Pumping Nylon. You can also get tab and DVD versions of Pumping Nylon.

Christopher Parkening has also created what I think are very good method books:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0793585201/
and
http://www.amazon.com/dp/079358521X/

By: David

David — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 18:25:17 +0000

Are there any resources you would recommend for learning to play classical? I had a few months of tutoring long, long ago. It started me down the path of finger picking, but I never really try to learn any more classical pieces or technique.