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Ten Lessons for GuitarDavid Raleigh ArnoldDownload PDF fileCorrections and Minor Revisions of “Ten Lessons” (tengtr.pdf)These are the most important fixes in the
Print the Ten LessonsIt might be good for all teachers, many parents, and
some students to read this glowing general
Supplements to the Beginning LessonsWriting the NotesI need to devise some writing tasks to help with learning the notes initially. No one teaches reading without writing, do they? Getting Started with Slurs or LigadosIt would be nice to get to these in a first series, but not necessarily practical. Duets for Additional Reading PracticeChartsNotes:§1 The document was prepared using LaTeX, a collection of programs which its creators claim to be a document formatting system, and lilypond, a music typesetting program. Someday the ten lessons will be divided into a number of separate documents, for easier maintenance. I am unwilling to replace the document with a series of interim versions while I am still in the process of revising and replacing it, so this is going to take a while. Unfortunately, revising the document while keeping its present format would be a huge and frustrating undertaking. I don’t mean that I am very unhappy with these lessons. On the whole I am very satisfied with them, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t want to improve them. About Ten Lessons for GuitarRhythm and TimeA big problem in learning the guitar is that there are many, many fundamentals. Unfortunately, the beginner is seldom a good judge of what the most important things are. The most important single thing in becoming a good musician is to understand rhythm, and the means of doing that is to understand musical time, not only by reading tunes but also by practicing rhythms in strumming. Learning the NotesReading the notes on the staff lines is the easiest part of learning to read, but it sometimes can be one thing too many for the overtaxed distracted beginner. The notes are learned by the names at first, and no ground is lost because the names remain important forever. The notes are introduced at a very gradual rate, and there are frequent summaries. The theme and variations is a very old fashioned traditional way of working on learning the notes, and it is a very good way. Variations are easy to read because they are similar, but they must be read because they are not the same. Learning the ChordsLearning the chords starts with the fingers close together on the fretboard and gets to the stretches later. The general rule is that one should learn the easiest fingering for a chord first. There is only the Dm as an exception to that rule. The Right HandI like to rule out the flat pick for the first two sections because of the problem of stopping notes from sounding. Players who don't understand that notes have endings and not just beginnings remain very bad players. Minimizing the motion of the hand is also not a minor matter. There is no mention of apoyando or rest or trap stroke for several reasons. This is a right hand issue of some importance, because unfortunately the false notion that it is possible to play decently with the last joint of the right hand fingers relaxed still has some currency. Much better to wait until the student is a strong player who has no tendency to relax anything, has repertoire which requires or at least justifies exploitation of the rest stroke, and has acquired the ability to suppress hyperextension of the last joint if it arises. UseIt is obvious at a glance to the experienced teacher that this document is intended for classes, but that it is extremely flexible in meeting the needs of people of varying abilities and interests. As a self instruction manual, we shall see. I look forward to some feedback. (End of Foreword) [Home] [Up] ©2007 David Raleigh Arnold - http://www.openguitar.com |