String Bar Chords

6th String Bar Chords
In this lesson we are going to learn the basics of bar chords and some of the
different types of chords used with electric guitar when playing rhythms.
Let’s start off looking at an open E-major chord.
And an open E-minor chord where we lift off our first finger.
Look at the notes on the 6th string as we climb up.
If we bar on the 1st fret and form an E-major shape it is not really an E chord any
more. Although the shape looks identical it has become an F chord. We can go
up one more fret and it is an F sharp chord and finally to the 3rd fret where it is a
G chord.
A lot of the time when barring on the neck we use the E-major and E-minor
shapes. To name the chord we need to know the name of the note on the 6th
string, the root note for this chord shape.

free classical and finger style guitar

lesson 2 classical and fingerstyle guitar

Classical Guitar Definition

Classical Guitar is a combination of three elements: the instrument, the music, and the style of playing. Each element is described below.

The Instrument

The Classic Guitar is a hollow bodied wooden instrument with six strings; the higher sounding 3 strings are nylon, the lower sounding strings have a nylon center with some type of metal winding. Do not try to play Classical Guitar on a steel string guitar or on any other type of guitar besides a true Classic Guitar. This is not just my opinion, it is because the entire technique of playing Classical Guitar depends on using a Classic Guitar. In the previous lesson I talked about the instrument being an extension of you and how the coordination between your motions and the response of the instrument were key factors in playing Classical Guitar. The wrong type of instrument will not respond properly and this Total Classical Guitar Method will not work on anything but a true Classic Guitar. Classic Guitars are available in 1/2, 3/4 and full size models.

Someone familiar with another type of guitar might find a Classic Guitar bulky or not as sleek or easy to play. If you find that to be the case, please refer to the introduction of these lessons and drop your pre-conceived ideas about Classical Guitar. I assure you that once you learn to play Classical Guitar you will insist on having a Classic Guitar whenever you play in that style. I'll point out some of the key features of the Classic Guitar and how those features are important to Classical Guitar playing.

First of all, the neck of the Classic Guitar is wider than that of a steel string electric or acoustic guitar so that the strings may be further separated on the instrument to allow easier access to each string for "finger picking" as opposed to "strumming " or picking with a "pick."

The Classic Guitar is constructed to allow the top of the instrument to vibrate but to suppress vibration in the neck, back, or sides. This is similar to how an electric speaker works, the center section moves to radiate the music, the casing must be rigid to support smooth motion of the center. A solid body guitar does not resonate and will not project any reasonable level of sound.

The type of string is critical to both the Classic Guitar itself, and to playing Classical Guitar. Steel strings have a much higher tension than nylon strings when tuned to the correct pitch. Properly made guitars of either type (steel string or nylon string) are designed to resonate most effectively at the "operating tension" of the instrument. A guitar designed for steel strings will not respond properly with nylon strings, and a guitar designed for nylon strings will probably break in half if you try to string it to pitch with steel strings. Playing Classical Guitar requires that you use a combination of contact with your finger nails and with the fleshy part of your finger tips for picking. This requires careful shaping and use of the finger nails of the picking hand; steel strings will rip off your finger nails and make it impossible to control the sound.

The quality of the sound is also very dependent on the construction of the top of the guitar. Famous Classic Guitar makers usually have carefully selected pieces of wood which will eventually be made into the tops of Classic Guitars aging for years in their workshops. Mass produced Classic Guitars often have plywood tops with a thin layer of cedar or spruce wood laminated (glued on) to the plywood to give the appearance of a quality top. Never accept a Classic Guitar with a laminated top, you will be very disappointed with the sound.

Intonation and the ability of the instrument to be properly tuned and to stay in tune are critical elements of a Classic Guitar. Fortunately, modern construction techniques have eliminated those type of problems in all but the cheapest of instruments. The height of the strings above the neck (Action) is also very important - the strings must not be too high or too low. Once again, most guitars manufactured today are pre-setup at the factory to have a usable Action and this is rarely a problem anymore. The one area which remains a problem with the Classic Guitar today is in the strings themselves. Nylon has a tendency to stretch unevenly along the length of the string. This uneven stretching often causes the string to vibrate unevenly and to make the instrument appear to have intonation problems. When I discuss tuning in the lesson 5 I will explain how to check the strings to make sure they have not "gone bad."

Price is often a good metric for determining the quality of a Classic Guitar, however, be warned that is not always the case. Unless you have a professional Classical Guitarist available to help you select an instrument, it is wise to wait until you know how to select an instrument before spending too much money. At the very least, you should get a good quality beginner's Classic Guitar with carrying cases, a music stand, a supplemental music book with some graded pieces, a foot stool, a tuning fork, a metronome, and a tuning crank. You should also purchase a good quality nail care kit which contains a coarse, medium, and fine emory board to be used to correctly shape your fingernails. These items should be all you will need to progress to the intermediate level, at which point you might want to consider purchasing a better quality instrument. If you decide that you want a concert quality instrument, please send me email and I will try to locate a reliable source for those type of Classic Guitars in your area.

The Music

Almost every type of music has been either transcribed or written for the Classical Guitar. Classical music is difficult to define but quoting from one of the definitions in the "Harvard Dictionary of Music": "...the word 'classic' denotes music of established value and fame, as distinguished from ephemeral works that quickly disappear from the programs..." I'm not even going to try to expand or comment on this definition; for our purposes we will use "standard" Classical Guitar repertoire as the music we will study together. You can apply the Classical Guitar style on a Classic Guitar to any music you choose once you have developed your own ability to play the instrument.

The Style of Playing

The style of playing is much more objective than the definition of the music. My definition of Classical Guitar style is: playing with simultaneous conscious and separate control of each individual voice present in the music by using all four fingers of the "fretting" hand and by using the thumb and the first three fingers of the "picking" hand. Playing with a "pick" is not playing in the Classical Guitar style.

Other necessary equipment

Music stand

Music stands come in many shapes and sizes. I recommend a foldable stand to begin with so that it can be easily transported or stored.

Metronome

I consider this a necessary piece of equipment because it is a totally objective constraint which forces a player to understand the rhythm which the composer intended for a piece of music. Some teachers feel that use of a metronome will create a "mechanical" player. It's not a metronome that creates a mechanical player, it's mindless repetitive practicing in a mechanical way that causes a person to learn to play like a machine. You'll find a metronome to be a useful and welcome tool.

Tuning fork

A tuning fork is necessary so that you can establish the correct reference pitch for tuning the instrument. It is only used to tune one string, the other strings are always tuned relative to that one string which was tuned to the tuning fork. The standard tuning fork reference pitch for a guitar (and classical music in general) is "A-440." In the next lesson we will talk about how to tune the guitar.

Footstool or Cradle

The Classic Guitar must be held in a very stable position while it is being played(explained in the next lesson). A footstool or guitar cradle allows you to position the guitar properly with respect to your body so that it will be easier to play and more comfortable to hold. I do not recommend the use of a cradle because it attaches to the instrument with rubber suction cups and it could damage the finish on some Classic Guitar, however, some people find the cradle more comfortable for long periods of playing.  This is especially true if the player has a history of lower back pain.  If the cradle is more comfortable for you then you should use it, but be aware that the suction cups can damage the finish of the guitar.

Tuning crank

This item makes it easier to change your strings and you will appreciate its importance once you change the strings on your guitar for the first time. Strings should be changed at one to four month intervals, depending on how often you play and on the chemistry of your own body. Strings go "dead" after a period of use or they develop cracks at the point where the string makes contact with the frets. Body chemistry is important because the oils from your skin cause the strings to lose their brilliance.

Optional Equipment

Full Length Mirror

It is often helpful to view yourself while playing so that you can see exactly how your body is moving while you play. There are great players who move their bodies and fidget so noticeably while performing, that it is sometimes almost impossible for an audience to focus on listening to the music. In the case of one very famous (and here un-named) guitarist, I could only listen to him if I kept my eyes closed during his performance. Even if your extraneous motion is not that exaggerated, you might want to watch your fingers to see that they are "behaving themselves" and not flying around the air as you play.

Tape Recorder

The tape recorder has become my best friend when I practice. It never lies about my playing and listens patiently no matter how long I demand its attention. Had I not personally experienced the benefits of this tool I would never have acknowledged how distorted my perception could have been of my own playing. Rhythmic changes and expressive nuances that sounded so poetic while I heard myself playing them live, too often devolved into acoustic nausea when I listened to the playback of the recording. I highly recommend this tool and suggest that you use it faithfully, especially if you plan on performing for an audience outside of your immediate loved ones.

Guitar Stand

This piece of equipment is convenient if you play frequently during the day and you want the guitar accessable near your practice chair. It's also useful if you frequently change music on your music stand and want to put the guitar down without having to return the instrument to its case. The only drawback to using a guitar stand is that Classic Guitars are affected by changes in temperature and humidity in the air. If you keep the instrument in a room that is fairly stable with regard to temperature and humidity, there should not be a problem. If there are frequent or rapid changes in temperature or humidity, you should keep the instrument in a guitar case that shields it from these rapid changes.

lesson 1 classical and fingerstyle guitar

The goal of lesson 1 is to identify and explain general areas that need to be addressed if you are to be successful at learning to play classical guitar. These areas include mental attitude and physical control. The necessary mental attitude requires you to open yourself to new ideas, let go of old habits, and free yourself to expand musically. Proper physical control requires removing all tension from your body while playing, learning to use only the motion of your body absolutely required to make music, and making the instrument an extension of yourself.

Mental Attitude

Playing Classical Guitar is as much a mental effort as it is a physical effort, perhaps even more so. Let's take a couple of steps to prepare our minds for this challenge.

Making room for new ideas

An old story relates an incident where a young man claiming to want to learn something new about the art of Zen visited a famous Zen master. It was obvious to the master at the outset that this young man had already thought he had reached an understanding well beyond his years, but that he was coming to the master simply to be able to say to others that he had indeed studied with the great teacher. The master invited the young man to share a cup of tea with him and he proceeded to fill the young man's cup. When the tea reached the top of the cup, the master continued to pour more tea from the pot. After a short while, the tea began to run over the cup and onto the floor, and, finally, the young man could not contain his anxiety and shouted "stop, the cup will hold no more." "So it is with any idea," said the master, "you must first empty your cup before it can again be filled."

This same concept is very true for the classical guitar. If you insist on holding on to your old ideas about playing the guitar, save yourself some time and trouble and stop here. You won't be able to learn classical guitar until you are willing to let go of what you think you already know.

Forgetting old habits and pre-conceptions

The degree of success you will have in playing classical guitar is directly proportional to your ability to do what is required, but ONLY what is required in order to accomplish your musical goal. My experience has shown that the most difficult students of classical guitar are those who have already reached a significant level of competence in some other musical style on the guitar. I played the electric guitar for ten years before I started studying classical guitar. I had developed such bad habits that it took two years just to undo past mistakes. You will learn not only how to play properly, but you'll learn why this way is the proper way. The fundamental approaches and methods in these lessons have been proven by all of the most successful classical guitarists of our time. They were taught to me by teachers from some of the world's most respected institutions, including the Andres Segovia school of music in Spain, the University of Southern California, the University of Texas in Austin, SMU in Dallas, and the University of North Carolina. When you learn to play classical guitar using this method, you'll have the best information available anywhere. What you do with that knowledge will then be up to you.

Opening the door to any possibilities

Classical music places a huge demand on a performer's ability to focus her mind on the task at hand. Solo classical music challenges our ability to maintain conscious control over several simultaneous musical events. You can get some sense of the magnitude of the task by trying to simply listen and to understand two separate conversations at the same time. The key word in the last sentence is "understand." Many people learn to play very difficult pieces, but they accomplish that feat by simply learning to move their fingers with great agility in complex patterns. These players are not great musicians. They may be great guitar players but it's not the purpose of these lessons to just create great players. Truly great musicians have developed the ability to view an entire piece of music as a whole, yet be able to focus clearly on the details of each musical line as it contributes to the overall musical idea.

One of the goals of this approach to studying classical guitar is to allow the student to experience the full musical impact of each piece of music studied. As you progress from simple to more complex music, you'll find that your understanding and appreciation of classical music also progresses. Pieces suitable for classical guitar students at each increasingly demanding level are chosen to expand their mental as well as their physical capacity. You'll find that your musical and emotional pallettes are inextricably linked. The goal of these lessons is always to teach you to make music, and that goal can be achieved at any level of ability. Some people call this concept "musical sincerity." If the mind's not there, the message will also be missing.

Physical Control

Relaxation

One of the most important abilities we need to master in order to play the classic guitar is the ability to keep our entire bodies relaxed while playing. A student at a master class at SMU in Dallas once asked the instructor "How do you know if you're relaxed enough?" the instructor responded "If you fall off the chair you know you were too relaxed". That got the appropriate chuckle from the audience, but the response was dead on. Playing the classical guitar is not "hard." As a matter of fact, the easier YOU MAKE IT, the quicker you will progress. It is all too often the case that most of the time spent in beginning lessons is just having the student get rid of tension. Tension is the enemy! Not only will it keep you from progressing, but its presence is brutal to any audience. If you listen to a classical guitarist and you find yourself squirming in your chair, you can bet you're feeling the tension he's creating. We'll talk later about how to recognize tension and how to control it with relaxation - suffice to say that you'd be really surprised at how this ugly demon finds it's way into our playing. Once you've learned to identify tension, you will also be surprised at how easy it is to eliminate.

Minimum effort, minimum motion

We've all been raised in an era of electronic music where the electric guitar is king and body contortions, twisted facial expressions, and all sorts of extraneous physical motions are almost required if one is to be considered a great player. Forget it! Classical guitar is a aural art form. There is no motion of any part of the body except those parts which are directly involved in creating the music. There will be many references to this important principal in future lessons, but, for the time being think about your own personal experiences with this concept. The physical effort applied to anything should always be consistant with the task at hand.

You are the extension of your instrument

What does it mean to "make the instrument an extension of your body?" The answer to this question involves understanding 1) the motion of your body, 2) the response of your instrument to that motion, and 3) the timing required to synchronize your motions and the instrument's response. The required choreography of the fingers and hands rivals the most intricate ballet production. These three elements will become an important part of your "technique". Don't underestimate the importance of these concepts - they are the essence of the physical requirements of playing classical guitar.

Review of Lesson 1

You should now understand the importance of mastering both the mental and physical aspects of playing Classical guitar. These basic ideas will apply to every lesson that follows and they will be expanded upon and brought up many times as you progress in your efforts to learn to make music. Don't expect that you fully understand or appreciate the importance of these concepts. They are ideas and revelations that take on more and more meaning as your own personal experience grows on the instrument. Lesson 2 breaks from the theoretical to the practical and talks about the instrument and the other items you will need before we actually get into playing. Good luck, I hope we can continue to work together until you reach your musical goals!

free classical and fingerstyle guitar

about how you hold the guitar

To sound authentic when you play classical guitar, you must play it in the classical style. That means you have to follow the specific rules about how you hold the guitar,position your hands, and play your notes. Even if you have no intention of becoming a serious classical guitarist, you can improve your tone, technique, and phrasing by practicing classical techniques.

Classical guitar is always played on a nylon-string guitar and in a sitting position. Professional classical guitarists sit differently from other guitarists in that they hold the guitar on the left leg instead of on the right one. They also elevate the left leg about six inches by using a footstool. By holding the guitar in this position, you can accomplish the following goals:

• By supporting the guitar entirely with your body, you leave your hands completely free to play. In this position, you rest the guitar’s treble side (the side closer to the higher-strings) on the left leg, with the back of the instrument against your abdomen. The weight of your right arm on the bass side holds the instrument in place.
• This guitar position enables the left hand to play any fret at the correct (perpendicular) angle. This allows you to play the higher positions (seventh and up) more easily than you can in the standard acoustic sitting position.

All that being said, the truth is that a lot of people who attempt classical guitar simply don’t bother with all this stuff about how to hold the instrument. Why? Because it’s too much trouble. Where would you even get a footstool? (Okay, you can get one at your local music store — maybe.) If you just want to try out a few classical-guitar pieces for the fun of it, hold the guitar as you normally do. The music police aren’t likely to arrest you, and you can still hear the beautiful arrangement of the notes, even if you’re not playing strictly “by the rules.”

However, if you’re really serious about learning classical guitar, buy a footstool and refer to the following figure to see the correct sitting position. Oh, and if you want to pursue classical guitar, learn to read music (if you can’t already); lots of printed classical guitar music comes without t

Some people don't like to use the footstool because it creates an uneven pull on your leg and back muscles. If you would prefer, you can try using a special gizmo that pushes the guitar up from your leg, enabling you to keep both feet flaton the floor.

What’s important is that you keep the guitar in the proper position, which means sitting upright and at the edge of the chair, elevating your left leg (or the guitar), and holding the instrument at the center of your body. Keep the head of the guitar (where the tuning pegsconnect) at about the same height as your shoulder.

Classical guitar is more than just a musical style. The way classical guitarist approach their instruments is quite different from that of any other style. Classical guitar encompasses a long tradition of techniques and practices that composers and performers have observed through the ages and to which they still adhere.

Just because it adheres to certain disciplines, classical music isn't all rigid rules and regulations. Many guitarists with careers in both the pop and classical fields have actually tried to infuse classical techniques into pop and rock playing, such as Steve Howe of Yes, Michael Hedges, and Chet Atkins.

free classical and finggerstyle guitar