Chord Guitar to Classical Guitar
Playing Classical Guitar from music sheets cannot be done by reading music first off.
Reading guitar music in fact involves an initial working out and deciphering of guitar music sheets and notation before the piece can be played.
This may seem strange because many people think guitarists simply read music right off.
But it must be remembered that the guitar, as a musical instrument, is not like a piano which has all the notes laid out before you.
In piano notes are found next to each other and piano music mirrors this.
But in Classical Guitar this is not the case.
For guitar we have to carefully work out exactly where all the notes are played on the guitar first through a process of deciphering the guitar piece, and then finding where to put our fingers on the fret board, before we can say we have worked out a classical guitar piece.
Then we have to play the piece over and over, many times and only then does the sheet music act as a reading prompt that we can follow to assist us while playing the piece.
One can say that playing classical guitar is a bit like being a detective.
You get a new guitar piece and then work slowly, bar by bar, through the music to unravel and learn the piece.
Hard work is what is required to put yourself into a position where you can say that you fully understand, own and can now play the guitar piece on the guitar.
While most guitar music notation is written on a 5 line staff it does take quite a lot of skill to read classical guitar music notation and even more skill to transfer the music to the guitar fretboard.
The guitar TAB has recently been introduced to help guitarists who don't know how to read music.
Guitar TAB has 6 lines, exactly like the 6 guitar strings, and is used to show someone (who cannot read music notation) exactly where to put there fingers on the fret board.
TAB is therefore more easy than traditional music scores to use and to work out, if you cannot read music.
Remember that TAB is new and only some classical guitar music can be found in TAB or with music notation and guitar TAB combined together.
The principles for Folk and Fingerpicking guitar, and the principles of Classical guitar are exactly the same.
The first skill is a natural building block to the next.
While a chord guitarist will focus on songs and chords, if you want to get into Classical Guitar you will need to change your focus to music pieces which unlike the chords you are used to are now made up of notes.
When you do find classical guitar chords these are unlike any you currently know and, as a collection of notes played together, need to be carefully worked out before they can be played.
Therefore, to begin learning guitar with music you will need to start with simple well chosen classical pieces of guitar music and learn how to read the music for these pieces.
Then you will need to progress a step at a time until you are able to manage more complex and challenging pieces.
It is very important to be shown which pieces to play initially and which should be played next.
This is to ensure that you don't suddenly embark on a piece that is far to difficult for you current level of ability.
I would therefore strongly suggest that you suppress the urge to rush out and learn classical guitar just yet and rather build a solid base with chord guitar and guitar songs until you are at a sufficient level of guitar playing ability and ready to take on Classical Guitar.
The best way is for a beginner to get into nylon guitar initially is by playing chords and learning to strum and fingerpick for nylon guitar and essentially have fun with the instrument first.
Rather do this initially as Classical Guitar can be quite challenging to learn first off!
Reading guitar music in fact involves an initial working out and deciphering of guitar music sheets and notation before the piece can be played.
This may seem strange because many people think guitarists simply read music right off.
But it must be remembered that the guitar, as a musical instrument, is not like a piano which has all the notes laid out before you.
In piano notes are found next to each other and piano music mirrors this.
But in Classical Guitar this is not the case.
For guitar we have to carefully work out exactly where all the notes are played on the guitar first through a process of deciphering the guitar piece, and then finding where to put our fingers on the fret board, before we can say we have worked out a classical guitar piece.
Then we have to play the piece over and over, many times and only then does the sheet music act as a reading prompt that we can follow to assist us while playing the piece.
One can say that playing classical guitar is a bit like being a detective.
You get a new guitar piece and then work slowly, bar by bar, through the music to unravel and learn the piece.
Hard work is what is required to put yourself into a position where you can say that you fully understand, own and can now play the guitar piece on the guitar.
While most guitar music notation is written on a 5 line staff it does take quite a lot of skill to read classical guitar music notation and even more skill to transfer the music to the guitar fretboard.
The guitar TAB has recently been introduced to help guitarists who don't know how to read music.
Guitar TAB has 6 lines, exactly like the 6 guitar strings, and is used to show someone (who cannot read music notation) exactly where to put there fingers on the fret board.
TAB is therefore more easy than traditional music scores to use and to work out, if you cannot read music.
Remember that TAB is new and only some classical guitar music can be found in TAB or with music notation and guitar TAB combined together.
The principles for Folk and Fingerpicking guitar, and the principles of Classical guitar are exactly the same.
The first skill is a natural building block to the next.
While a chord guitarist will focus on songs and chords, if you want to get into Classical Guitar you will need to change your focus to music pieces which unlike the chords you are used to are now made up of notes.
When you do find classical guitar chords these are unlike any you currently know and, as a collection of notes played together, need to be carefully worked out before they can be played.
Therefore, to begin learning guitar with music you will need to start with simple well chosen classical pieces of guitar music and learn how to read the music for these pieces.
Then you will need to progress a step at a time until you are able to manage more complex and challenging pieces.
It is very important to be shown which pieces to play initially and which should be played next.
This is to ensure that you don't suddenly embark on a piece that is far to difficult for you current level of ability.
I would therefore strongly suggest that you suppress the urge to rush out and learn classical guitar just yet and rather build a solid base with chord guitar and guitar songs until you are at a sufficient level of guitar playing ability and ready to take on Classical Guitar.
The best way is for a beginner to get into nylon guitar initially is by playing chords and learning to strum and fingerpick for nylon guitar and essentially have fun with the instrument first.
Rather do this initially as Classical Guitar can be quite challenging to learn first off!
