How to Nail a Hard Chord Change

Classical Guitar Practice Tips

Sometimes the chips are stacked against us: we have to shift up or down the neck to a totally different chord. More often then not, we miss it, buzz some notes and try it over again. It’s time to break that chord change down, and really address the issues. Here’s how. Look ahead of your […]

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“Don’t push it. Just let it fall.” -Duke Ellington Today we feature a video of Julian Bream giving a masterclass on Villa-Lobos’ 5th prelude. Very cool stuff, and a lot of good thoughts. Bream would have been a fun guy to study guitar with: there would be a lot of good coaching and he would […]

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Bill Kanengiser did a few videos for Artist House Music a while back, but I just stumbled upon them. In the first he discusses the benefits of practicing less. As you know, practicing efficiently is covered a lot on the CG Blog. It’s great to hear other guitarists saying the same things. The second video […]

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News: Music Theory 101 (New Course)

Around the Web, Updates & Activities

Music theory is important. In every masterclass I’ve attended the instructor has talked about the theory behind the piece. Sometimes that as simple as talking about dissonance and resolution or cadences. Sometimes is a big and technical as the overall form of the piece. Music theory has become a big part of what I teach […]

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The Texas A&M Guitar Symposium and Competition was held last weekend (Oct. 7-9, 2010). This was the first ever festival at A&M. Unfortunately I couldn’t go, but next year I’m there. The Winners 1st Prize: Chad Ibison 2nd Prize: Jay Kacherski 3rd Prize: Armin Abdihodzic 4th Prize: Alec Holcomb

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Concert Review: Jerome Mouffe in Fort Worth, TX

Classical Guitar Concert Reviews

Friday night (10/8/10), Jerome Mouffe opened Guitar Fort Worth‘s 2010/11 season. I knew from watching Jerome’s video that he was a more than technically proficient player. Unfortunately, he doesn’t put the true representations of his playing up on Youtube, instead focusing on more flashy pieces. Lessons from Eliot Jerome is a student of Eliot Fisk, […]

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“…music is so naturally a part of us that we cannot be with it, even if we so wished.” -Boethius (trans. Calvin Martin Bower) Today we feature Thomas Viloteau performing Brouwer’s Rito de los Orishas. The piece is a bit strange, but was written in 1995. You can hear Brouwer using a lot of the […]

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Marco Sartor Interview

Interviews with Classical Guitarists

At the beginning of last summer, I saw Marco Sartor in concert. It was great, and I wanted to let everyone know about him. Marco just released his debut CD title Red, it’s available at Amazon and directly from the record label. Marco is also featured on this album of Gnattali solo & chamber for […]

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The article about the new Curtis Institute of Music Guitar Program has been making the rounds in the guitar world for a few weeks now. I got in touch with Jason Vieaux, David Starobin, and Curtis’s Dean, John Mangan, to get their thoughts on the new program and what set is apart from other guitar […]

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The Austin, TX public broadcasting station put together an hour long documentary on the 2010 GFA Convention. Click here to watch the video. It includes footage of performances, workshops, and interviews.

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