29
votes
Why do many classical guitarists move the fingers for vibrato like a violin?
The length of the string is truly not changing, but there are other things that affect the frequency of the string vibrations. One is the density of the material (obviously this is not what vibrato ...
- 6,690
19
votes
Playing a C Recorder with classical guitar
'Guitars are normally G tuning' - no, they're not. They play quite happily in any key, unless open tuned. They're chromatic instruments.
So, play your C, or F (or any other transposing or fixed key ...
- 197k
18
votes
Why don't guitar chords and staff notations match each other?
Good question! They do!
The situation you're running into is that your chord diagram doesn't match the G7 you've provided on your music staff.
On the staff you provided, the notes are all separated by ...
- 211
16
votes
Accepted
How to play two notes at the same time with guitar?
As a general rule, playing from guitar music, the notes with stems up are fingered, whilst those with stems down are played using the thumb. This then gives, or can give, a slightly different tone, as ...
- 197k
15
votes
Accepted
Why are tuning pegs (aka machine heads) different on different types of guitars?
When what we think of as the classical guitar was normalized, it was just after luthiers switched from friction pegs like you would see on violins to the geared open-backed pegs, which were the ...
- 13.2k
15
votes
Why don't guitar chords and staff notations match each other?
“Root position” means that the lowest pitch is the root of the chord, but it says nothing about the other notes. The staff-notation chord is shown in “close position” – the most compact arrangement of ...
- 94.8k
13
votes
Why do many classical guitarists move the fingers for vibrato like a violin?
The movements are similar, the effects are similar, but the causes are different.
Vibrato on a violin string is due to the length of the string changing. The player's finger rolls up and down the ...
- 197k
11
votes
What does the notation "2/3BII" mean?
It's a two thirds (top 4 strings) barre on the second fret. There are a few different ways of indicating a barre in guitar sheet music:
ⁿ⁄ₘ B X
Symbol
Meaning
Examples
ⁿ⁄ₘ
how much of a barre you do
...
- 315
10
votes
Accepted
In classical guitar fingering notation, what does "-4" mean?
The dash signifies a guide. The L.H. fourth finger (pinky) moves down from the 9th fret C# to the 7th fret B. Although it might seem obvious that both notes are with the fourth finger, when sight-...
- 21.7k
10
votes
Classical Guitar: How to play slur followed by a chord
This slur is only on the second string, with the "p" denoting a "pull off" from 1st fret of second string.
So yes, you need to do a "pull off" on the second string, while ...
- 5,282
10
votes
How do you tune a guitar to open D without a string breaking?
No strings should increase in tension when going from EADGBe to DADF#AD. If you compare the note on each open string, it drops in pitch when going from standard to open D. This means all the strings ...
- 848
10
votes
Accepted
A standard way of marking alternate tunings for classical guitar?
I just got some rep with exactly that tuning. It says:
6 = D
at the top, but with the 6 inside a circle.
You don’t have to specify the other strings are in standard tuning. Just that the sixth string ...
- 58.6k
10
votes
A standard way of marking alternate tunings for classical guitar?
In Behind Bars, Elaine Gould writes that "scordatura" is indicated as "<string number> to pitch", with <string number> circled (pp. 388–89).
Indicate the different ...
- 94.8k
9
votes
Accepted
What's the name for when you write multiple voices on same staff? And are there any cons?
In English, it's called closed score. Open score means one instrument or voice per staff, as with most SATB choral music.
Open score is easier to analyze, but often harder to sight-read because the ...
- 5,908
9
votes
Why does a guitar scale shape have more than 7 notes?
Maybe I'm just pedantic, but for me a scale runs from tonic (root) to another tonic one, two, three octaves higher, and often back again. At least that's what's expected in practical music exams. Not ...
- 197k
8
votes
Is there a typo in this exercise, or am I not counting correctly?
It's definitely a typo. You can tell by the lowest voice which always has a dotted quarter note per group of 16th notes. As currently written, it is in 12/8 . It could be in 6/8 if the bar line was ...
Dom♦
- 48k
8
votes
Accepted
Is there a typo in this exercise, or am I not counting correctly?
It's incorrect. Either it's in 12/8, or there's a barline missing, or they should be demi-semiquavers.
- 197k
8
votes
Accepted
How do I play this harmonic? (Guitar)
You fell victim to the horrible inconsistencies of harmonics notation. There are lots of ways of notating them, for example:
Notating the actual sounding pitches (which is, in my humble opinion, the ...
- 6,690
8
votes
Why are tuning pegs (aka machine heads) different on different types of guitars?
It's because the strings are different.
If you look at the shafts that strings are wrapped around, on classical guitar they are plastic and have much larger diameter than on acoustic. Nylon strings ...
- 3,475
8
votes
Accepted
Why do many classical guitarists move the fingers for vibrato like a violin?
On both fretted and non-fretted instruments, the vibrato works as a combination of change of resonating length, change of overall length, and change of tension. Many musicians simplify things when ...
8
votes
Why don't guitar chords and staff notations match each other?
Very simple answer is - they don't have to. Root position tells one fact only - the lowest note - of any chord in root position, is the root. That's how inversions work as well, 1st inversion has ^3 ...
- 197k
8
votes
Accepted
In a classical guitar score, when a section plays very low notes, is it better to use 8va bassa, G clef transposed 1 octave down or the F clef?
In my opinion, none of those is good. They all have one thing in common: they will confuse anyone who will be reading your score, and for several reasons:
If you're going to change what the dots on ...
- 6,690
8
votes
Making a confusing sheet with 3 voices and triplets non-ambiguous
TL;DR
Step by step solution
Following the standards laid out in Behind Bars, here is the process I went through.1
Step 1: MuseScore defaults for 3-voice entry
There is plenty of awkwardness here: ...
- 94.8k
7
votes
Is it better to practice easier or harder pieces?
You should do both.
The reason is that there are several things one has to learn at the same time when working to improve on an instrument. It's important to learn musicianship and new techniques, ...
- 58.6k
7
votes
Accepted
On guitar music, what does a number and a horizontal line underneath the notes mean?
It means that you should leave your first (and later third) fingers where they are throughout the underlined measures (or as long as the line reaches), because you will need them again on the same ...
- 20.2k
7
votes
Learning road map for classical guitar
This is a somewhat broad question, and one which is highly based in opinions.
As a classical guitarist myself, I recommend the Suzuki method, but it is somewhat dependent on having a teacher, and ...
- 111
7
votes
Accepted
I'm struggling with changing my chords in time
A bit more detail following piiperi's good suggestion.
First play a good clean chord. Try to have at least some fingers touching others. Then release pressure, but still keep fingers touching the ...
- 197k
7
votes
Accepted
Which is the highest note playable on the classical guitar?
Does anyone know anything about the dynamics of the notes generated with this 'reversed guitar neck technique'? Any references about it?
It's basic physics. The frequency of the note played on nth ...
- 17.8k
7
votes
Harmonizing in fingerstyle with a bass line
If I understand you correctly, you might have a score like this...
...and because there are only two voices notated and no guitar chord symbols in the score you aren't sure what chords to play to ad-...
- 59.5k
6
votes
rubbing alcohol to clean guitar
I personally would never recommend this.
It might be OK for a typical mass produced modern instrument with a thick poly finish, but even then I don't think I would want it finding its way through ...
- 2,165
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