I just watched this video. Having spent time in the US Army band system for 20+ years and graduated from the US Navy School of Music I'd like to offer some ideas to go along with your expert advice. I would recommend getting the Mel Bay Method for Modern Guitar complete edition. Yes, it's more jazz oriented, but having studied jazz for awhile I can tell you that this offers a plethora of exercises and pieces that can be used for guitar. Additionally, a favorite at the USNSOM is what's known as Colin Rhythms. They are in all different keys and offer you the opportunity to not only read syncopated rhythms with more contemporary chromaticism, but you can take each exercise (usually only about 2-4 strains in length) and read them in any position. I also like the Berklee Melodic Rhythms for Guitar as well as their Sight Reading for Guitar books. Howard Roberts wrote a guitar site reading book as well and it's CRAZY difficult. The other key, is NEVER read the same thing twice within a few months of each other. After awhile, you're not reading because you've become familiar enough with the exercises that you're memorizing and not reading. I also have the book Gohar mentions. It's a great reading source. I have accumulated so many guitar methods over the years that my literature to use for reading ensures things are seen as new each time I pull them up. I have gotten charts from the Army Band library for other instruments just for reading purposes. I have saxophone duet books, all kinds of crazy stuff. Gohar, I've actually gotten to where I prefer to read flat keys instead of sharp keys. I know, it's very "un-guitar player" like but here's the reason. Having played in the Army band for so long, and played in the jazz ensembles, charts tend to be written in flat keys for the horns. As I'm sure you know, they are transposition instruments and rarely see sharp keys. So I've had to live in flat keys for years.
Don't have a lot of time for practice, this really helps to focus efforts to get a better result. A lot of your observations are just spot on. Thank you!
More useful information here than in 1 year of private lessons from a so-so academic nobody. Once again, thank you Gohar . This video is why I keep coming back to you time and time again. Much peace and love -Robert
Great video! Been playing guitar for over 20 years, mainly chords and some fingering patterns, I was happy with it. A year ago I was striked by Tommy Emmanuel music and Fingerstyle, and little by little I also focused my attention on some classical music. The ones like Francsico Tárrega and Isaac Albéniz (I guess I like that music since I been a follower of the flamenco culture since I can remember, spanish blood flowing in my veins). Anyways, most of those are really hard, or imposible, for someone without music theory knowledge. So I started little by little to self-learn the basics (with the help of my boss whos a piano teacher, knows nothing about guitar lol, but his giving me a hand with the theory). I first had a really hard time reading the notes, but Im doing exercises from Julio Sagreras Book 1 (I already got book two and three) and I also added the Complete Guitar Method by Ferdinando Carulli. My boss also gave me a music theory book and reading too. Now with this video I have another option for a book to practice. For all those out there who think this is imposible or way to hard, if you have the spirit don't let anything stop you. After a few weeks of practicing and struggling I was able to decipher (not sight reading of course) read and finally play Lagrima from Tárrega. Its not a super hard piece, but It felt awesome to be abel to do it by myself (I guess those 20 years of "playing" different kinds of music weren't completely in vain). Im now trying to learn Milonga by Jorge Cardoso a composer from here (Argentina), thats a different level of skill compared to Lagrima, but If I don't push myself I will never get better. I do know I'm still missing a lot of info, techniques and music theory but that does not stop me from trying and moving foward, little by little.
thank you for your useful and insightful lesson for learning sight reading. I think we can learn more if we learn more on advance and basic music theory and figuring out all the fingerings for each music sheet we played. Most guitarists actually do not learn to find out their own fingering instead of blindly follow the pre-printed fingerings on the music score. in process of doing your own fingering, we also can take consideration of musical interpretation and tone quality. If we looked at all Segovia's fingering, some guitarists don't understand why he made such a difficult fingering patterns for guitarists. However, I do learnt that Segovia's fingering maintain the same quality tone for better musical interpretation and maintain the same tone quality. There are many places we can play the same note on the guitar but the tonal quality is different for different interpretation and phrasing the music more expressive and musical.
Very impressive video Gohar. All in one take and all useful. I've just started classical guitar after years of acoustic and lead but always used TAB for notes and the rhythm etc by ear. I've never had a lesson in my life. I've recently taught myself to read music properly but still using TAB. This video has helped a lot. Realising I need to lose TAB I came here with questions about finger placement, i.e. if I see what note is to be played, what string to use etc but this video has answered that for me. I've just bought my first non-TAB book and look forward to the struggle. :) nothing's fun if it's too easy. Thanks for your help. Much appreciated.
Very informative and elegantly done. Being a beginner classical guitarist, I’m sure this information will help immensely. Got a long way to go, but well worth the adventure. Thanks for your help.
Thank you so much Gohar tips to learn the fretboard is really good and you understood the sight reading problem so well. I really get overwhelmed once going to higher position. I am comfortable only with the open strings and not beyond.
I just saw this on the fretboard diagram and thought u should know and include in a lesson. U advised that we should know the notes on the 3/5/7/8/10 th frets. The first 4fret notes follow the circle of 4ths! Eg GCFBb on the 3rd fret. Another way to remember? Amazing!
Very useful lesson! I was struggling for some time to understand the different mindset of a guitarist to a pianist, as I had some piano lessons in the past ( and now learning classical guitar ). Thank you Gohar!
Thank you so much Gohar. I'm an adult late learner too and this lesson was so helpful. It simplified the mystery of how to find the notes and their positions. Whew, I'm not freaked out anymore or not as much anyways.
You have a wonderful skill...I am madly love Classical Guitar..... Thanks for the precious time you allotted among your busy schedule.....God bless you Mam..... From India...😍😍
Thanks for the wonderful insight! I'm learning to read music better and I'm kinda struggling with the "hows" of it. Your tips made it clear and now I have some goals to look forward to.
A very practical video, thank you. Have you noticed that pop music , which can be harmonically "easy" , is often a nightmare to read, because of the syncopations?
I don’t play any pop music, but yes generally, though it is simple harmonically , it can be tricky in rhythm. Classical music can be a nightmare to read for both harmony and rhythm, too, depending on the piece and the time period.
Notes beyond 12th fret are difficult for beginner to play because the technique of playing those higher notes is different from the normal notes from 1st fret to 11 st fret. there are books consists of those studies on 5th fret, 7th fret , 9th fret and even 12 fret.
Generally informative,ty! I believe there is a missing dimension when it comes to learning the fretboard and reading music. Imagine if you could teach a new student to visualize all the natural notes on the first 12 frets,by name of the notes and locations, within a few minutes. You might say it’s not feasible in such a short time. But it is doable; that’s the missing dimension. The dimension equals an approach that has not been tried before.
Hello Gohar! Question: Looking at Regular Staff Notation showing two quarter notes played together at the same time i.e. an Open 6th E string played with Right Hand Thumb (p) and with an Open 1st String E played with First Finger of Right hand (i) is understandable. However, trying to figure out a piece of Fingerstyle Guitar Music "BY EAR, because there is no printed music in existence". Here is the issue: What would the Regular Staff Notation look like in: (A) I hear the Top Open 1st String played just ahead by a millisecond before the Bottom String is played. (B) I hear the Bottom String played just milliseconds ahead of the Top Open 1st String being played. I've see notation of a squiggly vertical line indicated as if the two notes were played like a rolled chord, or else an eighth note and eighth stem with a tie to show both notes were not played exactly at the same time. Which is correct?
Usually when it’s a matter of milliseconds the staff notation would indicate that you’re suppose to be playing them together, so you write them on top of each other, but the guitarist is separating the notes. If it was classical music this wouldn’t really be acceptable, unless there is that squiggly line you’re referring to, telling us to roll the chord or the two notes. but generally in finger style/pop music, people do it all the time. The squiggley line would be best way to notate it, because it’s not really a specific rhythm. If it’s a specific time difference you want between the two notes, then you have to notate it in rhythm, either tiring the previous note, or putting a rest over the bass, then putting the melody note after it, to indicate that the melody note happens at a different time, not at the same time as the bass. But I think, the milliseconds you’re talking about are just two notes separated by a roll.
TAB is for guitarist does not read normal music notation. It does not provide many information compare with the music notation. good to learn the music notation.
Hello Gohar. I notice that you seem to have a fret dot on the 7th fret of your guitar. Do you recommend this? I have had an Jose Oribe classical guitar for over 30 years, and the guitar didn't come with any . So I play without any fret dots and, for the most part, I am fairly comfortable doing this. Do you fee that a fret dot or dots are a good idea? Why the 7th and not the 5th as well? I would be interested in knowing your thoughts. Sometimes I wonder if the better players, generally speaking, use fret dots. Thanks so much.
Yes, I think it helps to find the right fret in a higher position without any hesitation. I can play without the dot being there, by trusting my muscle memory, but it's definitely a big help having that one dot just to use it for quick reference. Concert guitars nowadays are split, some have the dot some don't. My first one had it, this one didn't and I added it myself :) Student guitars have a dot on the 5, 7, sometimes 9th fret... I think that's overkill, you don't need 5 or 9 if you have 7, because you can use 7 as a reference to find the other two.
@@GoharVardanyan Once again, thanks for your advice. If you are ever in the Los Angeles area for either a concert or a masterclass, I would love to attend. All the best.
@@GoharVardanyan I'm glad you have one because I have one too.Mine are permanent installations by a luthier who did a great job on the guitars I own.Love your playing and videos.Thanks!
There is one cheat for that: tablatures. :) Depending on the tablature, it even has note durations, stops, harmonics, etc. I know I know.. it is better to learn classical notation, don't need to school me haha.
Thanks Gohar.I ordered the book,have been playing for years but need to practice sight reading more as I have likely been doing everything the wrong way.But the question I have is-do you have any lessonettes on memory?You play some very complicated pieces,how on Earth do you remember them?My pieces will "go away" if I don't play them all the time.Is that normal?
jerryj bloodworth it depends on how long you’ve played the piece, or rather how long you’ve had the piece memorized. When I first memorize it, it’s not secure enough for me to remember it forever if I don’t play it everyday. The longer you play a piece the deeper it goes in your memory, then longer time can pass between playing it before you completely forget it. You’ll still have to maintain it...
hi... im a medical student, recently i found this classical guitar music very interesting and started to learn... can u pls be generous enough to suggest me good books to learn...
Not really, it depends on what you're reading. If the piece calls for rest stroke, use it. If it's arpeggios or anything else that doesn't require rest stroke, then there is no need to 😀
@@GoharVardanyan I an learning how to sight reading use a book filled with exercises, and they are all fairly simple for beginners, but it does not really tell me if I use free stroke or rest stroke. What would you reccomend practicing with?
@@nescudero7928If it doesn't say and you're playing just single lines use whichever is more comfortable. If the rest stroke is easier for you, use it, but it will most likely only work on lines that are mostly on the same string or have few crossings. If you have to go across strings a lot, free stroke might be easier. The point is, you don't want the difficulty in the right hand to be a hindrance to be able to read smoothly and continuously. Also, becoming a good reader does include the decision on whether to use rest stroke or free stroke, in which case you will have to look at the context. In the case of simple exercises, use whichever is easier for you :)
Essa mulher é um absurdo de bonita, e a sabedoria que ela tem para tocar violão rela num empate com su beleza,não entendo uma letra do que diz,ainda sim amo seu jeito de falar e sou apaixonado pelo seus cabelos,com todo respeito é claro.
It's a good video of tips. Very useful. But to be honest, I don't like the American like attitute. That way it becomes a bit less credible and almost fake-like (altough it is not fake) because it looks like it is done for getting views, etc. Perhaps this is just how the new media is like. Unfortunaly, because you play very well and have good information. Keep up with that. ;)
Thanks for your feedback and comment. Can you explain a little better, what you mean by the "American attitude" and when you say "it's done for getting views", what exactly do you mean by that? Is it that this video didn't have a piece performed, wasn't a performance video, or maybe you found that the information was not correct? In terms of the views, everyone has the choice to watch the video, or not. The title says exactly what the content is... if it's not interesting to someone, they don't have to click on it. I'd like to know what it is that you didn't like about it or found fake about it. Thanks in advance :)
