Teaching the fundamentals of the Classical Guitar

 Teaching of the fundamentals of the Classical Guitar to someone who has no musical knowledge

 There are many important factors to consider when learning an instrument, especially if it is a first instrument, if which are introduced too quickly can seem rather overbearing. If however, the basic fundamentals are taught correctly from the start, and at the right point in a student's learning, it creates a solid musical foundation which ultimately, is what is needed to allow that pupil to develop as a competent musician.

There are many fundamental issues that aspiring musicians need to address such as posture, the ability to read (and sight read) music, specific elements of technique, stylistics of genre etc. I believe however, it is the order and approach in which these elements are taught that governs their effectiveness.

The first and foremost element of learning I believe is to establish and justify an underlying teaching ethos, which includes what you aim to achieve with the student that will allow him or her to achieve the most they are capable of, whilst enjoying doing so. This of course isn’t to say that it will be easy, but rather should go on to explain it requires their punctuality and discipline in regards to practice, and of course their aim to do well. It is certainly important as well in regards to teaching attitudes, to genuinely want the student to achieve, so that he or she can feel positive about their playing, and feels able to overcome technical difficulties in time.

Moving on to the mechanics of playing, the first issue that should be addressed, before the guitar is even given to the student is the sitting posture.

 Although seemingly a negligible issue, it is worth considering the chair as too high or low, or a swivelling chair can cause discomfort, and may implement practice. With this in mind, a stable medium height chair would surfice. It is important to sit on the edge of the chair with the feet flat on the ground. It is also important to remind the student to lengthen the spine (rather than ‘sit up straight’, as this can be confusing and occasionally detrimental). The shoulders should be relaxed and not too forward, overall we must be relaxed.

The next important decision to make at this point from my own experience Is to consider whether to use a traditional foot stool to raise the guitar, or whether to use the more modern Ergo – Play type of support (Which attaches to the underside side of the guitar via suction pads). Using a footstool for many players including myself, increases the tendency for the right shoulder to fall forwards when playing. This I later realised in my case was causing me to lean my head to the left rather than to stay central, which began to cause tension in my right shoulder and lower back. It is purely for these reasons that I would encourage new students to practice and play using an Ergo – Play support as opposed to a footstool. If however a footstool is more comfortable for that individual, then I would fully support that also as many great players have chosen to use this and it is primarily about individual comfort and stability.

Once it is established what type of support to use, the next step Is then naturally to consider how to hold the guitar properly. There have been many attempts to explain how to hold the guitar in the most tension free and effective method from many important guitarists, including prolific composer Fernando Sor, however I prefer the Scott Tennant explanation.

‘The guitar touches the body at three points to create a triangle;

1. At the lower part of the chest (near the sternum)
2. At the top of the left thigh
3. At the inner part of the thigh (on the left leg assuming a footstool is used, top part of the thigh if a support is used)  

 This triangle is held into place when the right forearm is rested on the instrument’[1]

Another point worth mentioning is that the back of the guitar should be slightly away from the chest so that the stomach does not constrict the tone, and the end of the headstock should be roughly inline with the top of the head.

‘Its basic yes, but this position provides the best angle for the

 Guitar. For good tone production especially in a concert situation,

 it is essential that the vibration of the back of the guitar in not compromised by placing it flat against your stomach.’[2]

Only once the principles behind holding the instrument correctly are understood should we consider moving on to the basics of actually sounding the instrument. Firstly, it should be explain the convention guitarist use to describe fingers (1 2 3 4 on the left hand, P,I,M,A on the right hand) so that it is clear in future what exactly we are referring to.

I believe at this point, we should introduce the right hand.

An important point to consider here is the use of nails. Almost all modern classical guitars use nails it achieve greater dynamic control, volume and tone colour, and it is a strong recommendation that it is taught nails are used, however, at the early stages of playing, this may not be feasible, especially for younger students (school or work restrictions etc.), and in my opinion is not really necessary to introduce at the first few months, or even first year of playing.

Moving on to the right arm positioning, the arm is positioned on the body of the guitar roughly in line or below where the bridge is, depending on the length of the arm. This allows the fingers to fall at about a 45 degree angle from the strings whilst the wrist stays straight allowing the tendons to contract freely without limiting movement. The hand should be raised so that the fingers arch, but so that there is not feeling of tension and so that the thumb can pluck the bass strings freely.  

 ‘Arch the wrist, at the time straightening the fingers so that they are approximately at right angles to the back of the hand...any strain or tension usually means the arching is too high...

It is a matter of the hand determining where the arm should rest not the other way about,’ [3]

 The right hand should be introduced free stroke (or tirando) as this is the most frequently used technique through-out the majority of passages. It is not necessary at this point to introduce or make distinction between tirando and apoyando strokes as it often leads to over use of rest stroke in unneeded areas and on unimportant notes, but also more simply because it is often fairly confusing for the beginner.

 ‘I prefer to start off pupils with the free stroke, and do not agree with teaching a pupil both techniques at the same time as it frequently leads to confusion. I have always believed in developing a strong free stroke attack, only introducing the rest stroke at a later stage for its possibilities in tone colour and accentuation.’[4]

The right hand fingers should be taught (when using tirando stroke) to move from the knuckle joint, travelling into the centre of the palm so to achieve maximum volume at minimum effort.

When these concepts are understood and roughly correct (it is important not to get too hung up on exact accuracy at this stage, as most of the above is taught in the first lesson, and so is a massive amount to take in straight away)  

It is then logical to introduce the idea of reading open strings as notation, so that the association mentally between plucking and reading the note is addressed early on. As opposed to the tradition way of teaching the notes of the stave via a rhyme or methods to this effect, (e.g. Every Good Boy Deserves Football for the lines and FACE for the spaces etc.), I believe it is easier to retain if the notes are addressed singularly, note by note. With this in mind, a good place to begin is to start on the open b, as this is the middle of the stave.

A good starting exercise is to get the student to repeatedly play the open b (free stroke) to a pulse (which introduces on a basic level rhythm) alternating between i and m (whilst highlighting the notion of alternating the fingers, and not repeating). Once this is accomplished we should then introduce the G string and ask the student, again to a pulse to pluck the B twice (i,m) then the G twice also (i,m) and repeat this so that the notion of  crossing strings without repeating the fingers is embedded as a basis for right hand technique.

Before moving introducing fretted left hand notes, I personally would introduce thumb on open D so that the role of the p controlling the bass notes becomes equally embedded. Similar exercises to those mentioned above should be incorporated to show how the thumb operates in concision with the fingers.

In my opinion it is also a good idea to introduce planting fairly early so that when more advanced planting technique is needed later, the basics are secure. In a very concise manner, p should be taught to plant on a bass string that is not in use whilst the fingers are being used, and vice versa.

Before introducing the A note (above middle C), some explanation of left hand technique is required.

The left hand should be introduced, by explaining that the governing factor of how well the left hand functions is actually a combination of both the thumb position and the angle of the wrist. This in turn makes sure the fingers do not deviate from their proper position, and allow them to move at maximum efficiency using minimum effort. The wrist should be straight to avoid constriction of the tendons for maximum dexterity. The thumb should be positioned around the vertically halfway point of the neck, in-between the second and third fingers, which allows for even distribution of pressure when fretting notes. Although this may seem a large amount to take in for beginner students, it can be simplified to; ‘keep the wrist straight and the thumb around the middle of the neck, in-between fingers 2 and 3’. Positioning and the idea of one finger per fret should also be simplistically introduced, e.g. finger 2 normally used for fret 2 in the first position.

Many guitarists throughout many styles tend to begin using fingers 1 and 2 before using 2 and 3. Because however 2 and 3 are more central in the hand, if we use these first, it promotes the idea of stability of position through the thumb, and naturally discourages the fingers from breaking position. This is  a good place to begin because our naturally weakest and most dependant finger is actually the third, so by using 2 and 3 first, we reduce this dependency.

Following the above theory, the notes A on the third sting, and E on the forth should be introduced however after a few basic notes have been learnt, the concept of rhythmic notation should be explained.

Although it is more arguably more useful to learn the English names of denominations of notes, (crotchet quavers etc), is often helps to explain it alongside the American system (half and quarter notes) to demonstrate how the note divisions create different rhythms.  At first it would be advisable to start with 4.4 explaining what this means, followed by introducing minims and crotchets and their respective rest notes.

This serves as a basic introduction of the very beginning concepts of both music and the classical guitar, all of which require building on once the basic concepts have been understood and practiced.

Overall It is important to have a plan of what technical or music aspects we are going to introduce at what point, and so to do that we can break it down into sections.

To recap; Firstly posture and positioning of the instrument, we should then look at how the right hand is positioned and both the thumb and fingers operate on a very basic level, followed by introducing notation a note at a time, (all in the key of C) whilst maintaining the principle of alternating fingers, and using the thumb for the bass. Following this is the use of the left hand again being introduced a note at a time. After this, how we read rhythm.

Whilst this is not by any means a complete approach to learning the Classical guitar, no more than this in my opinion should be introduced to someone with no prior musical knowledge. The many advanced techniques, and musical styling’s that make up music are to be taught later, along with key signatures and so on as not to overburden the beginner. It is most important that a basic technique and interest is there in the student to allow them to ‘get to grips’ with the basics of the instrument, and of notation before considering more advance areas of technique and musical aspects outside the scope of this essay.

Bibliography

Books

The John Mills Classical Guitar Tutor – John Mills 1982 ISBN 0-86175-170-1 Pg. 4

Pumping Nylon – Scott Tenant Alfred publishing 1995 ISBN 0 – 88284 – 724 - X  pg 8

[1] Pumping Nylon – Scott Tenant Alfred publishing 1995 ISBN 0 – 88284 – 724 - X  pg 8