The Pakhomkin System: A Structured Approach to Efficient Practice
By Piotr Pakhomkin
Many guitarists practice for hours and make very little noticeable progress. The problem is rarely a lack of proper motivation—it’s a lack of discipline and structure. Over years of preparing for stages from Carnegie Hall to the Kennedy Center, I’ve developed a fixed system that replaces vague “practice more” advice with a specific sequence, applied the same way every session. I call it, simply, the Pakhomkin System. Follow these seven steps, always in order.
I. Prepare the score once, properly.
Every left- and right-hand fingering, every expressive marking, gets written into the score in full before serious work begins. If the fingers forget a passage of music during its break-in period, that’s absolutely human. Coming back to a piece of music after a break from practice and having no memory of how it was fingered is a preparation failure and an avoidable one.
II. Eliminate mindless repetition.
Every repetition, from the very first note of the session, is held to the same standard as a performance. This isn’t a prohibition on warming up—it’s a refusal to let “practice” mean idle repetition without a target. If a passage isn’t ready to be played correctly, the answer is to isolate and slow it down, not to run through it hoping it improves on its own.
III. Build a hierarchy of difficulty.
Mark the hardest passages in red and the moderate ones in blue, and leave the easy ones untouched. Red passages earn more frequent attention. Treating every measure in a piece as equally demanding is one of the most common ways serious practice time gets spent on passages that were never the actual problem.
IV. Set limits on repetition.
This approach runs against instinct. If a passage takes more than one to three slow, correct attempts to get right, the answer isn’t to repeat it harder. The answer is to make it smaller or slower. Repetition without accuracy doesn’t reinforce the music. It reinforces the mistake.
V. Apply the Varied Repetition Method
This technique is the system’s core, and its power comes from asking the brain something different each time:
First, play both hands together at roughly a quarter of concert tempo, entirely unmeasured—tempo ad libitum—taking as long as necessary between notes to achieve total precision. Second, the right hand alone, on open strings, isolating rhythmic stability without the left hand’s interference. Third, the left hand alone, in silence—no sound at all, building tactile memory of the shapes themselves. Fourth, a full visualization of every note in the passage, away from the instrument entirely. If the passage remains difficult after this cycle, one or two more unmeasured repetitions with both hands are added before moving on. Only once the passage becomes manageable does the metronome enter, at seventy-five percent of the final concert tempo, for one or two final repetitions.
Most guitarists reach for the metronome far too early in this process. If the fingers are still clumsy, a metronome doesn’t fix that. It simply rushes the clumsiness.
VI. Space the repetitions across the session.
Cramming every repetition of a difficult passage into a single block feels efficient and isn’t. Returning to that passage several times throughout the session, with other work in between, is what moves it from short-term recall to long-term memory.
VII. Respect the first repetition.
The first time a passage is played in any session must be clean — only the first attempt, before the fingers have warmed up. That first repetition is the only honest simulation available of what happens on stage: one attempt, with nothing to fall back on.
None of these seven steps are complicated on their own. What they share is a refusal to mistake motion for progress. This is the same discipline that differentiates practicing until you achieve something right and practicing until you no longer make it wrong.
The Pakhomkin System summarized
1. Score Preparation—Write every fingering and marking into the score.
2. Zero Mindless Repetition—every repetition is held to performance quality, with no idle playing.
3. Difficulty Hierarchy — red/blue/unmarked by difficulty.
4. Limit the Repetition — 1-3 correct slow reps or splice/slow down further.
5. Varied Repetition Method — use the six-part sequence (hands together ad libitum → right hand alone → left hand silent → visualization → optional extra ad libitum reps → metronome at 75%).
6. Spaced Repetition—across the whole session: Don’t cram all reps of a challenging passage into one block; return to it several times with other work in between.
7. First Repetition Rule — Within any single return to that passage, the very first attempt has to be clean, since it’s the only true simulation of a one-shot stage performance.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Piotr Pakhomkin is a classical guitarist trained under Manuel Barrueco at the Peabody Conservatory. He made his Carnegie Hall debut in 2018 with the Chamber Orchestra of New York’s Masterwork Series and has since performed at the Phillips Collection, the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater, and the Baltimore Basilica, with additional concerts and masterclasses across Europe, Canada, and Latin America. He performs chamber music regularly with members of the National Philharmonic and the National Symphony Orchestra. His 2024 Naxos recording with Yuri Liberzon has drawn international attention, and his playing has been praised by the Financial Times, NPR, and Classical Guitar Magazine.
As founder of the Georgetown Guitar Academy’s Pre-College Preparatory Program for Guitar, Pakhomkin has placed students at the Peabody Conservatory, Trinity Laban Conservatory in London, and the Hanns Eisler Hochschule in Berlin. His student Grace Elmer recently accepted a full-time professorship at the University of South Carolina. While teaching in Germany, one of his students placed nationally in the Jugend Musiziert competition and gained acceptance into the Mainz Hochschule Pre-College program.
Piotr teaches the full system to students at the Georgetown Guitar Academy in Washington D.C., McLean, Virginia, and Potomac, Maryland.
Filippos Manoloudis has quickly emerged as one of the most compelling young classical guitarists of his generation. Born in Kavala, Greece, in 2001, he has already built an impressive international profile, with recital appearances across Europe, Asia, and the Americas; invitations to teach and serve on juries; and more than twenty first prizes in international competitions. Gendai Guitar Magazine praised his “stunning technique and expressive power,” qualities that have helped establish him as both a formidable technician and a deeply communicative artist.
Among his many achievements, Manoloudis won first prize at both the 2022 Koblenz International Guitar Competition in Germany and the 65th Tokyo International Guitar Competition in Japan and made his orchestral debut with the Basel Sinfonieorchester as a prizewinner of the Maurizio Biasini Guitar Competition. His musical formation has taken him from Greece to Germany, Spain, and Switzerland, where he is currently pursuing the Master de Concert at the Geneva University of Music. Along the way, he has worked with some of the most distinguished figures in the guitar world.
In this interview, Manoloudis shares his insight and philosophies and the artistic values that continue to shape his path as one of the guitar world’s most exciting young voices.
When did you start playing, and why? Or, what drew you to the guitar initially?
I had my first musical lessons at the age of 6 and started playing the guitar at the age of 7, after my parents’ suggestion. I do not come from a musical family, but my parents always encouraged me to try different extracurricular activities to find out about my inclinations/talents or just develop some hobbies. After trying out several different sports and other activities, I ended up continuing with music.
At first I wanted to take electric guitar lessons, but the teachers in the Municipal Conservatory of Kavala, Greece, encouraged me to start with the classical guitar to learn about the foundations of the instrument and of classical music. I was very fortunate to have had an excellent musician as my teacher, who made me love the guitar; his name is Fotis Koutsothoros, and he is one of the most complete guitarists I know as a player, pedagogue, and musician overall. After the first three years of learning with him, I eventually took some electric guitar lessons, but it was too late; I was already deeply in love with the classical guitar.
What repertoire do you enjoy playing most?
I usually do not choose my repertoire based on style or musical epoch but based on the connection I feel with each work. I have realized that this approach is the only way I can remain sincere and have a fresh perspective on pieces that I practice and perform over and over. I have to feel that I can contribute something to the music that I play and vice versa.
So I choose to learn whatever inspires me to discover more about it, whichever pieces I consider “good music,” regardless of the style or if they are known or not.
Musical taste, of course, changes with time, but until now I have always had an affinity for early music, especially baroque and how it translates to the guitar. I enjoy listening and reading about this music and often make my own transcriptions.
I also love exploring the tone colors that the classical guitar can produce, so I enjoy playing contemporary music where I can showcase this aspect (for example, pieces by Tōru Takemitsu). I have found a similar joy in performing classical-romantic music, especially by Fernando Sor, where the tone colors are used deliberately to “orchestrate” a piece, mimicking the sounds of different orchestral instruments through the possibilities of the guitar.
What guitar or guitars do you perform on? Strings?
I perform on Koumridis guitars, mainly on my 2017 cedar double-top but also on my 2024 spruce top. In 2025 I got a custom 7-string cedar double-top, which is absolutely marvelous, and I look forward to performing on it soon (as soon as I find the time to develop a repertoire on it). Charalambos Koumridis is a fantastic luthier from my hometown (Kavala, Greece), whom I have had the privilege to know since the start of his career. I have owned 6 instruments by him until now, and it is just outstanding how he manages to improve every year. He always tries to experiment and develop new models or improve his existing ones, and he is very open to listening to the player’s needs and requests.
I have been a D’Addario artist since 2023, and I mostly use the EJ46FF set (high tension with carbon trebles). This choice of course depends on the instrument; I often replace the first string with a high-tension nylon one, or occasionally I use a normal-tension set altogether. I have always loved D’Addario strings for their brilliance, mellow tone, durability, and just their touch in both hands.
Which guitarists/musicians have had the most influence on you?
The most influential people in my career have definitely been my teachers: Fotis Koutsothodoros (11 years in the Municipal Conservatory of Kavala, Greece), Tilman Hoppstock (4 years in the Akademie für Tonkunst, Darmstadt, Germany), and most recently Judicaël Perroy (2 years in the Haute école de musique de Genève, Switzerland).
Each of them contributed immensely to my education, aesthetics, playing, and overall perception of music.
I want to emphasize the importance of matching with your teachers and communicating with each other. I have gained different kinds of knowledge from each of them and developed musically and technically in different ways, but they all had one thing in common: they were very open to listening to my ideas and needs and let me develop my own aesthetic instead of “forcing” theirs on me. This is what I consider the most important quality in a teacher.
They have, moreover, taught me to be curious about music, to listen, and to respect other musicians. I love to listen and discover new music, pieces, and interpretations. There have been many composers and interpreters that have inspired me over the years (for instance, Tōru Takemitsu, Pēteris Vasks, Daniil Trifonov, and Vikingur Ólafsson), but I have always been inspired by music itself. I think that’s what keeps me motivated—there’s always something new to discover. Sometimes it’s a new piece; sometimes it’s just hearing something differently than before. This naturally influences the way I play and the music I choose. I’m usually drawn to music that feels genuine and says something meaningful, and over time that has shaped my musical voice in a very natural way.
What recording(s) are you most proud of?
I do not have a professional CD recording yet, but I do have some high-quality recorded videos on YouTube, released with various platforms.
It is always very difficult to listen to myself because I am very self-judgmental, but one video that I am happy with is my online concert released in 2024 with the Omni Foundation, in collaboration with D’Addario. I believe it showcases well my way of playing, choice of repertoire, and overall musical perspective, masterfully captured by Musik.im.Blick.
Are there any recordings that you consider to have the finest recorded sound for the guitar?
I actually think the classical guitar is one of the most difficult instruments to record well. The sound is incredibly subtle and complex, and if you record it too closely or in a dry studio environment, it can become very percussive and small-sounding. The instrument really needs air and natural resonance around it to sound the way we perceive it in a concert hall or a church. Many engineers and guitarists point out how important acoustics are for the instrument, sometimes even more than the microphones themselves.
For that reason, I’ve always admired the recordings produced by Norbert Kraft for the Naxos Guitar Collection. He manages to capture both clarity and warmth without losing the natural character of the guitar. Many of those recordings took place in churches such as St. John Chrysostom in Canada, where the acoustics give the instrument space to breathe.
Apart from the Naxos productions, one of the recent recordings that I enjoyed the most is the Goldberg Variations for guitar duo, performed by Thibaut Garcia and Antoine Moriniere and produced by Warner Classics. What I especially love is that the sound never feels “manufactured.” You really impress with two instruments breathing together in an acoustic space, which is extremely difficult to achieve with the classical guitar.
In my own experience, every video I recorded with Musik.im.Blick has absolutely excellent sound. Émilie Fend manages to record the tone of the instrument with such clarity every time that it is almost surprising how natural and detailed it sounds, as if you were hearing the instrument live. We have worked on several videos together, published by the GSI and Omni Guitar Foundation Youtube channels and there are also new ones coming soon – both for my solo and guitar quartet projects.
Are you active as a chamber musician?
Yes, very much so. Chamber music feels critical for the classical guitar today, as it opens the instrument up and brings it into a more flexible, collaborative space.
What I especially enjoy is the variety of repertoire. You can play original works written for specific ensembles, but also many arrangements and transcriptions, which are a big part of the guitar tradition. It really broadens what you can explore musically.
I perform regularly with my guitar quartet, Frequency Guitar Quartet, and I’m also in the process of starting a duo with the wonderful Romanian guitarist and close friend Dragoș Ilie, which I’m really looking forward to.
What are some up-and-coming projects (recordings and concerts) you are excited about?
I’m very happy to have a busy and inspiring year ahead. This summer, I’ll be performing and teaching in Asia, with projects in Taiwan and Japan, and in the autumn I’m excited for a series of solo concerts across Europe, including London, Portugal, Norway, the Netherlands, and Greece.
I’m also particularly excited about an upcoming video release: a series I recorded in Germany in November 2025 with Musik.im.Blick. It features around 30 minutes of music by Fernando Sor, performed on an original 1831 instrument by Johann Anton Stauffer. It’s an absolutely beautiful guitar with a very distinctive sound, kindly lent by the Haute école de musique de Genève.
Finally, I’ll be recording my first solo CD in Germany towards the end of the year—something I’m really looking forward to. I’ll be sharing more details about that very soon.
Technique and Performance
How much do you practice? And do you structure your practice in any particular way?
I usually practice between two and three hours a day, although the duration naturally depends on the amount of repertoire I’m preparing at any given time.
I try to make my practice as efficient as possible, always prioritizing concentration and physical well-being to avoid injuries. One simple but essential habit is taking short breaks—two or three minutes every twenty minutes, and longer breaks every hour.
In terms of approach, I’m constantly asking myself questions: how can I make this more convincing? What are the different ways to shape this phrase? What should I be thinking while playing this passage? For me, practice is an ongoing process of identifying problems and finding solutions, both technical and musical.
When it comes to practicing difficult passages, I try to understand the mechanics behind them rather than repeating them over and over: finding the most effective fingering, clarifying the gestures, and deciding where I need to give myself more time. Once these elements are clear, I do not need to spend countless hours on the same passages.
I do record myself regularly when practicing, first in small phrases, then in longer parts of a piece. This helps immensely to understand how I sound and to pay attention to detail. When I record a full piece, I usually listen to it the next day to avoid being too judgmental.
Are there aspects of guitar technique or performance you still struggle with?
Of course, I believe this process is something that never really ends. Being aware of our weaknesses is essential, because that’s how we continue to grow.
One aspect I’m still working on is tension in performance, particularly in my left hand. In practice, I pay a lot of attention to how I press and try to stay as relaxed as possible, and I make a conscious effort to carry that awareness onto the stage.
I also notice that I sometimes tend to rush in concert, often starting at a faster tempo than I had practiced, probably due to adrenaline. To counter this, I try to begin at a tempo that feels slightly slower in the moment, knowing that it will likely come across closer to the intended tempo.
Overall, it’s a continuous process of observation and adjustment.
Do you deliberately memorize music or have a technique that helps you assimilate music into memory?
I don’t treat memorization as a separate task. Because I have relatively absolute pitch, I naturally hear the names of the notes in my head as I play (almost like doing solfège at the same time). This is essentially how I retain my repertoire: I can go through pieces without the instrument simply by “reciting” the notes internally.
This is definitely not a technique that I recommend, but what I do recommend is mental practice. Being able to go through a piece in your head while imagining both hands can be extremely helpful with memorization.
Have you published any editions, or do you plan to publish any editions in the future?
Unfortunately not yet, but I do plan to publish my arrangement of the Valses Poéticos by Enrique Granados soon!
Do you have a favorite drill or set of exercises you use to warm up?
My warm-up consists of some basic arpeggios, slurs, scales, and tremolo (for about 10 minutes), using different finger combinations (for example, playing a scale with I-M, M-I, I-A, A-I, M-A, A-M, P-I, etc.). Then I slowly practice some spots I worked on the day before, as well as some difficult sections from the pieces I will practice that day. My complete warm-up lasts about 20 minutes.
Do you have any pre-concert rituals?
Good sleep, a good breakfast, and a normal day of practicing. Oh, and a banana with some dark chocolate before going on stage 🙂
Advice to Younger Players
What single most important piece of advice about practicing would you offer to younger aspiring players?
Record yourself and be fully concentrated when practicing—it will save you so much time, and it is the most effective way to improve, in my opinion.
What repertoire do you consider essential for young/conservatory students to assimilate? Why?
Although they are sometimes overlooked (perhaps because they are considered too simple), I believe that the studies of Fernando Sor are essential for young and conservatory-level students. They are not only pedagogical pieces but also truly beautiful works through which one can learn a great deal about phrasing, voicing, tone color, and technique.
During my studies with Tilman Hoppstock in Germany, we worked in great detail on many of these études. We would explore different ways of phrasing the same piece, developing multiple interpretations while always remaining faithful to the musical text. This process helped me enormously in deepening my musical understanding, particularly in terms of phrasing and interpretive creativity.
I believe that many students could benefit from this kind of approach, as it encourages both technical and musical awareness.
Are you accessible as a teacher?
Yes, I am currently teaching online, and I am always happy to work with new students. I love to teach, especially on a longer-term basis, as it allows me to really get to know the student and support their development in a more meaningful way. Anyone interested is welcome to contact me through my website.
Tangent
What is the last book that you read? Favorite author(s)?
I am currently reading two books: the first is “The Road Less Traveled” by M. Scott Peck, and the second is “The World Atlas of Coffee” by James Hoffmann. I do read regularly, but I do not have any favorite authors—I usually choose a book about something that interests me at a given period. It can be about music, philosophy, life, or simply about a hobby.
Do you try to stay healthy? Exercise?
Yes! I work out in the gym three times per week, combining weights with some calisthenics and mobility exercises. I also walk as much as I can, and I keep a balanced diet. I find everything very important for musicians, considering that we spend most of the day sitting.
Do you meditate in any way?
I do not, except for visualizing my repertoire through mental practice, for example, when I have a walk.
What is your favorite way to spend time when not practicing?
Cooking, hanging out with friends, going to the gym, and trying new food—I love discovering new flavors, restaurants, and coffee shops. Especially when I travel, I am always curious to explore the food culture of each country.
Anything else you’d like to add?
I would like to thank you for this opportunity, as well as the readers for their time. I am a big fan of Six String Journal, and I feel honored to be featured here!
FOR SALE: Glenn Canin built this guitar in 2019. It is a powerful cedar/cedar doubletop with a beautiful set of Indian rosewood for the back and sides. It is in excellent condition. Glenn Canin’s guitars are compellingly powerful with rich, sparkling trebles and dense, round basses. This guitar is no exception and represents some of his best work. This particular guitar possesses a darker, warmer tone, along with an outstanding first string and very fast attack. Part of the appeal of Glenn’s guitars is that the tone quality has the complexity of the best traditional guitars, like Friederich and Ruck, but with the power, depth, and response of the best modern doubletops. Their rapid response occurs without any loss in the density of the fundamental note, making them both comforting and a joy to play. This is the type of guitar that will make you sound better. It also is effortless to play: perfect action, perfect fret size, and perfectly calibrated intonation. The scale is 650 mm and 52 mm at the nut and comes with upgraded Visesnut tuners and a TKL case.
Famous players all over the world use Glenn’s guitars. With Glenn’s waitlist and demand, here is an opportunity to have one immediately without the 2+ year wait. I’ve been fortunate to have had many of Glenn’s guitars and have tried dozens of them. This one is one of his best.
It is on Reverb but feel free to contact me directly (leo [at] leonardogarcia [dot] org) for more info and for a slight discount if you are ok working directly with me.
I’ve also listed another favorite guitar (2023 Cedar/Madagascar) here.
If you’re practicing diligently and still feel stuck, more hours probably aren’t the answer.
Skill does not respond to effort alone. It responds to specific kinds of effort. Decades of research in motor learning show that certain practice structures reliably produce improvement, while others only create the illusion of work. That distinction matters.
Psychologist K. Anders Ericsson, who is known for his work on expertise, found that improvement comes from deliberate practice, which is highly focused work on specific weaknesses with clear goals and immediate feedback. In other words, playing through a piece from beginning to end is not necessarily practice. It may feel productive, but it often reinforces what is already comfortable. Growth happens at the edge of difficulty.
For classical guitarists, this means identifying the technical bottleneck with precision. Is it the balance between voices in a fugue by Bach? Is it right-hand clarity in a quick arpeggio passage? Is there a left-hand shift that appears unreliable when under pressure? Instead of restarting the piece, isolate the measure. Reduce it to its smallest workable unit. Solve that problem. Record yourself to see if the problem is solved.
Slow practice, often dismissed as old-fashioned advice, is strongly supported by motor learning research. When we repeat a movement, we strengthen the neural circuits responsible for that movement. If we practice sloppily at tempo, we are encoding sloppiness. Precision at a slower tempo allows the brain to build efficient motor “chunks.” Once the movement is encoded cleanly, speed can be added without adding tension. If the body tightens, the tempo is too fast.
Spacing is another principle consistently supported in the literature. Distributed practice—shorter sessions spread out over time—produces stronger retention than massed practice. Two focused 20-minute sessions will often outperform a single 40-minute block. Sleep then consolidates those motor pathways further. For difficult repertoire, it is more effective to revisit problem passages several times a day than to grind them into fatigue.
Interleaving also plays a role. Instead of practicing one piece exclusively for an hour, rotating between sections of repertoire and technique introduces what researchers call “desirable difficulty.” It feels less smooth in the moment, but it improves long-term retention and adaptability—essential qualities in performance.
Finally, rest is not weakness. Attention and motor precision degrade before we consciously notice it. Brief breaks every 25–30 minutes restore clarity and reduce injury risk. Elite athletes train in cycles; musicians should as well.
All of this matters most when the stakes are high. Performance anxiety often exposes whatever is least stable in our preparation. Under pressure, we do not rise to the level of our aspirations; we fall to the level of our training. Clean neural encoding, spaced reinforcement, and deliberate correction create margins of safety. When a shift feels problematic in the practice room, it is far more likely to be a problem on stage. Science does not remove nerves, but it reduces uncertainty—and uncertainty is what amplifies fear.
As I write this, I remember a quote from the Brazilian guitarist Edson Lopes, who said in an interview that, in translation, it was something like, “Humans can be conditioned.” Practicing is behavioral conditioning. Good playing is built through biological adaptation. Practice is about shaping the nervous system with intention. When we approach the instrument like scientists—observing, adjusting, and refining—artistry becomes more reliable, and performances feel less accidental. Maybe instead of “Practice makes perfect,” it should be, “Practicing deliberately using science leads to improvement.”
Want to Go Deeper?
If the science behind effective practice interests you, these two books offer a strong foundation:
Glenn Canin built this guitar for me in December of 2023. It is a spectacular cedar/cedar doubletop with beautifully figured Madagascar rosewood back and sides in excellent condition. If you’ve played Glenn Canin’s guitars, you know that they are compellingly powerful with rich sparkling trebles and dense round basses. This guitar is no exception and represents his best work to date. Part of the appeal of Glenn’s guitars is that the tone quality has the complexity of the best traditional guitars, like Bouchet, Friederich, and Ruck, but with the power, depth, and response of the best modern doubletops. Their rapid response occurs without any loss in the density of the fundamental note, making them both comforting and a joy to play. This is the type of guitar that will make you sound better. It also is effortless to play: perfect action, perfect fret size, and perfectly calibrated intonation. The scale is 650 mm and 51.5 mm at the nut and comes with Kris Barnett tuners and a TKL case.
Famous players all over the world use Glenn’s guitars. With Glenn’s waitlist and demand, here is an opportunity to have one immediately without the 2+ year wait.
There is a listing on Reverb, but I will sell it directly (USA) for $16000. Shipping is $100; I will pay the difference. If you are interested, email me: leo (at) leonardogarcia (dot) org.
Beyond the Basics: Repertoire Recommendations for Late Beginners and Young Classical Guitarists
As children move beyond the initial stages of learning the classical guitar, the world of repertoire opens up in beautiful and inspiring ways. At this transitional phase—when students are comfortable with foundational techniques and literacy—it’s crucial to provide them with material that both challenges and delights.
Over the years, I’ve found a handful of works that resonate especially well with late beginners and young players. These pieces not only support technical development but also deepen musical understanding and ignite artistic curiosity.
A few of my go-to resources include
Shawn Bell’s engaging pieces and literacy supplements, which help reinforce reading skills in a musically satisfying context.
Nikita Koshkin’s Etudes, which offer a special combination of imagination, texture, and humor—perfect for students ready to explore more expressive possibilities.
Tilman Hoppstock’s “Duets for Children and Teachers,” which are not only musically rich but also foster ensemble awareness and mentorship.
Carlo Domeniconi’s Preludes and Klangbild are shorter works that combine evocative soundscapes with accessible technique.
Simone Ianarelli’s Etudes, which are approachable yet musically rewarding, often introduce more contemporary harmonic language.
Leo Brouwer’s Etudes Simples and Nuevos Estudios Sencillos achieve a near-perfect balance between musical depth and technical growth.
The Royal Conservatory Series has carefully curated music that is organized by musical period and meticulously fingered.
And of course, Fernando Sor’s Etudes, timeless gems, remain some of the best pedagogical pieces in the classical guitar canon.
All of these resources are wonderful—but only after the student has developed strong foundational skills.
That’s where structured early pedagogy is so essential.
Over the last two and a half decades, I’ve dedicated myself to developing KinderGuitar, a child-centered curriculum specifically designed for young guitarists. It’s built around intentional scaffolding, sequencing, and musical engagement to set students up for long-term success—not just technically, but musically and emotionally.
Once students complete the core levels of the KinderGuitar curriculum, they’re remarkably well-equipped to approach the repertoire listed above with confidence. Their literacy is solid and their fingers are trained, but more importantly, they possess the building blocks for being musicians.
If you’re an educator who loves teaching children and is passionate about shaping the next generation of musicians, feel free to reach out to learn more about KinderGuitar program. KinderGuitar is slowly growing a small network of licensed teachers who believe that early guitar education can be as structured and joyful as early piano or violin instruction.
Last Christmas, while hunting for stocking stuffers for my sons, I stumbled across a website called The Soundfile. I wasn’t expecting much—after all, a nail file is about as straightforward as it gets. But The Soundfile’s Next Generation Glass Nail File is one of those small but game-changing tools that makes you wonder how you could’ve gone so long without it.
From the very first use of the Next Generation Nail File, I realized its existence wasn’t just a marginal upgrade. The file creates such a fine, polished ramp that I felt using fine sandpaper out of sheer habit afterwards was unnecessary.
What sets this file apart are two things:
Thickness & Rigidity: Unlike the flimsy feel of the standard sapphire file, this one is thick and completely rigid. That stability translates directly into a straighter, more controlled ramp.
Transparency: You can literally see through the file as you work, which provides a unique level of precision. It’s like having an X-ray view of what you’re doing.
For over 35 years, I had been using traditional sapphire nail files. They did the job, but never perfectly. The thinness and slight flexibility of sapphire files meant that achieving a truly straight, polished ramp was always a compromise. If you are wedded to the use of a sapphire metal file, The Soundfile also has a thicker sapphire file, which is a step above the usual.
It’s rare to find a tool this simple that so clearly outperforms what came before it. Sometimes the best discoveries come when you’re not expecting them. For me, the Next Generation Nail File was one of those discoveries.
Here is the first of several new videos featuring the music of Spanish composer Federico Moreno Torroba. I first fell in love with his Nocturno after hearing it on John Williams’s Spanish Favorites album nearly 40 years ago. Enjoy.
What do you call a dwarf who rides the subways of Paris?
A metronome should be your ally in the practice room. While it may seem like a cold, unforgiving taskmaster, it’s one of the most powerful tools you have for becoming a better guitarist and musician. Beyond simply keeping you in time, the metronome develops your internal pulse and reveals where your playing might be rushing or dragging. There is a lot of fun you can have with the metronome. Here are my favorite ways to use it when I’m practicing:
1. Gradual Tempo Building (“Clicking Up”)
Start at a comfortable tempo where you can play the passage cleanly. Slowly increase the tempo in small increments (2-10 bpm at a time) until you reach or even slightly surpass your target tempo. This method builds accuracy first, then speed.
2. Fewer Clicks, Longer Phrases
Keep the metronome at the same speed but reduce the number of clicks per bar—for example, setting it to click only on beats 1 and 3, or just on beat 1. This approach forces you to internalize the pulse and feel longer phrases instead of relying on every beat.
Metronome-Off Challenge
Set the metronome, play along to establish the tempo, then turn it off and continue playing. After a few bars or phrases, turn it back on to see if you stayed in time. This practice is excellent for developing your internal pulse.
4. Offbeat & Subdivision Clicks
Instead of clicking on the downbeats, have the metronome click on the upbeats (the “and” of each beat) or on subdivisions (e.g., sixteenth notes in a fast passage). For perpetual motion pieces, such as a Bach Allegro, this approach keeps you honest and aids in maintaining rhythmic stability and precision.
Half-Time or Double-Time Feel
Set the metronome to half the tempo so it clicks only once every two beats (or every bar). Alternatively, set it to double the tempo so it clicks on every subdivision. Both methods challenge you to maintain a steady groove and avoid rushing.
Random Dropout Practice (Advanced)
Some modern metronome apps allow the click to drop out randomly. This feature forces you to maintain steady timing when the click disappears, which helps train your internal rhythm consistency.
Polyrhythmic Practice
Set the metronome to a different pulse than the meter you’re playing—for example, a 3:2 feel (triplets against duplets). This develops rhythmic independence and makes you far more rhythmically flexible.
Recommended Metronomes
My favoriteold-school quartz metronome is the Seiko Quartz SQ50-V but here are a few more that I’ve used in the past.
Tonal Energy Tuner (App)—combines metronome, tuner, and advanced rhythmic tools.
