Tag: guitar lessons

The Best Guided Warm-Up for Your Left Hand, Part 4

Published on by Leo GarciaLeave a comment

Here is Part 4 of a new series of guided warm-ups for my students and Six String Journal readers. In these guided warm-ups, I’ll go through some of the most important drills to help you establish a good routine for warming up before practicing your repertoire.

So go grab your guitar and get comfortable. In this second video, I’ve set the metronome for quarter = 60. We’ll go through the third part of my go-to slur routine, which involves three and four-note slurs (124, 134, 123, 234, 1234). For the right hand, I simply use p for strings 6, 5, and 4, and then use i, m, and a for strings 3, 2, and 1. Follow along, stay aware of good form, stay relaxed, and stick with it until you can start to increase tempo with a good foundation.

If you’re a beginner, take it slowly and don’t wear your hand out. Pause occasionally for rest and let your hand catch up. It might help to just watch the first few minutes to get a sense of how it unfolds for the fingers.

The Best Guided Warm-Up for Your Left Hand, Part 3

Published on by Leo GarciaLeave a comment

I’m in the process of creating a new series of guided warm-ups for my students. Here is Part 3 for Six String Journal readers. In these guided warm-ups, I’ll go through some of the most important drills to help you establish a good routine for warming up before practicing your repertoire.

So go grab your guitar and get comfortable. In this second video, I’ve set the metronome for quarter = 60. We’ll go through the second part of my go-to slur routine, which involves compound slurs (121, 232, 343, 131, 242, 141). For the right hand, I simply use p for strings 6, 5, and 4, and then use i, m, and a for strings 3, 2, and 1. Follow along, stay aware of good form, stay relaxed, and stick with it until you can start to increase tempo with a good foundation.

If you’re a beginner, take it slowly and don’t wear your hand out. Pause occasionally for rest and let your hand catch up. It might help to just watch the first few minutes to get a sense of how it unfolds for the fingers.

The Best Guided Warm-Up for Your Left Hand, Part 2

Published on by Leo GarciaLeave a comment

I’m in the process of creating a new series of guided warm-ups for my students. Here is Part 2 for Six String Journal readers. In these guided warm-ups, I’ll go through some of the most important drills to help you establish a good routine for warming up before practicing your repertoire.

So go grab your guitar and get comfortable. In this second video, I’ve set the metronome for quarter = 60. We’ll go through the first part of my go-to slur routine. For the right hand, I simply use p for strings 6, 5, and 4, and then use i, m, and a for strings 3, 2, and 1. Follow along, stay aware of good form, stay relaxed, and stick with it until you can start to increase tempo with a good foundation.

If you’re a beginner, take it slowly and don’t wear your hand out. Pause occasionally for rest and let your hand catch up. It might help to just watch the first few minutes to get a sense of how it unfolds for the fingers.

Warm Up With Me!

Published on by Leo GarciaLeave a comment

I’m in the process of creating a new series of guided warm ups for my students. Here is part 1 for Six String Journal readers. In these guided warm ups, I’ll go through some of the most important drills to help you establish a good routine for warming up before practicing your repertoire.

So go grab your guitar and get comfortable. In this first video I’ve set the metronome for quarter = 60. We’ll string cross with single and pairs of fingers and go through a great slur routine with all the pairs of left hand fingers. For the right hand, I simply use p for strings 6, 5, and 4, and then use i, m, and a for strings 3, 2, and 1. Follow along, stay aware of good form, stay relaxed, and stick with it until you can start to increase tempo with a good foundation.

Six String Journal’s Complete Technique Course on Sale

Published on by Leo GarciaLeave a comment

Have some time to work on your technique over the holidays? Through December, my course Complete Technique for Classical Guitar will be on sale through Six String Journal’s Podia page. Use this COUPONCODE for a 20% discount.

Six String Journal’s Complete Technique for Classical Guitar Course was developed for the advancing beginner with some experience, the advancing intermediate guitarist, and will even benefit those with lots of playing experience. Though music theory isn’t necessary, a rudimentary understanding of rhythm is helpful.

The course consists of primary movement videos where I will teach the foundational movements that you’ll need in order to master classical guitar. These videos cover topics such as free-stroke, rest-stroke, arpeggios, alternation, scales, hand coordination, slurs, and shifts. These are followed by several series of secondary videos where I’ll apply the techniques and movements in various ways to help you engrain them into your own practice. Stringing the secondary videos into a sequence will teach you how to form an effective practice routine that will maximize your results and get you closer to your musical goals.

Course Includes

  • Hours of focused technique lessons with an award-winning classical guitarist, the founder of Six String Journal, and sought-after educator. 
  • Over 50 extensively detailed but digestible videos demonstrating essential foundational movements, technique tips, exercises, routines, and how to implement them into your practice, carefully edited in small bite size videos for easy assimilation and viewing.
  • Printable PDF summarizing the entire course with a condensed visual of the material presented. 
  • Loads of bonus content from Six String Journal’s Mastering Diatonic Scales.

The Keys to Right Hand Control

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In the videos below, I go through a progression of movements in the right hand that lead to better control of both rest stroke and free stroke. Grab your guitar and follow along. Hope this helps!

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Six Ways to Improve Your Romance

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One of the most played pieces on the classical guitar, the Spanish Romance, is a wonderful piece for students to work on all sorts of musical and technical challenges. In the next two videos I demonstrate several ways to practice the Spanish Romance that will make it more musical and fun to play. Hope it helps!

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Guide Fingers in Leo Brouwer’s Etude Nº6

Published on by Leo GarciaLeave a comment

In this video I talk about using guide fingers to help choreograph the left hand. Guide fingers really make everything flow in the left hand by keeping it in contact with the strings. They also prevent the necessity to lift and place which can cause stress and tension in the left hand. Don’t forget to like, share, subscribe, and leave a comment if you have questions.

Practicing Basic Four String Arpeggios

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In this video I talk about practicing the six basic four string arpeggios with four right hand fingers and the importance of planting for beginners. Planting will stabilize the right hand and will help deepen your hand’s relationship to the span of the strings.

Don’t forget to subscribe to the youtube channel. I’m putting more stuff that is not linked right away to Six String Journal. Leave a comment if you have questions!

Hope it helps!

Great Exercise for Building Your Right Hand Skills

Published on by Leo Garcia1 Comment

by Leo Garcia, © 2022

If you’ve been working on right hand arpeggios or etudes and find that alternation between m and a is not as comfortable as i and m (or i and a) then you’ve come to the right place. The exercises below will help remedy this problem. Simply because of our hand anatomy, independence between m and a is more difficult to develop, so I often suggest adding a bit of extra mama to the basic patterns most students use to develop their right hand position and their arpeggios. Adding a little bit extra mama consistently will pay off over the course of weeks, so keep at it.

Here are the six patterns I encourage students to practice regularly:

Here is pima with extra mama (I like to add some activity in the left hand but it is not necessary):

pima + mama

Continue through the other patterns in a similar way. As always, use a metronome, strive for a consistent sound, and relax your right hand.

piam + amam

pmia + mama

piam + amam

pami + mama or amam

paim + amam

Good luck!

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Leo Garcia