The Classical Guitar

About

The classical guitar is an instrument typically consisting of six strings suspended over a hollow acoustic amplifier ‘box’. This makes it a chordophone instrument. It is related to the lute, the harp and the baroque guitar.

Antonio Torres Jurado established the current design in use today in the late 19th century. Later luthiers improved on his design, and the process continues to the present day. The classical guitar is often confused with the similarly designed flamenco guitar.

Tuning

The classical guitar is typically tuned (from the thickest, lowest pitched string to it’s thinnest/highest) E, A, D, G, B and E, indicated on the treble clef as:

This is the same tuning that is used on standard guitars in general. While this is the instruments most common tuning, others are in frequent use and are typically detailed in the score. In the event of tuning not being indicated, the above so called ‘standard tuning’ applies.

Playing

The student typically holds the instrument on the thigh of the leg on the fretting hand side of the body. In right handed players this is the left side and vice versa. This is in contrast to the most common position adopted by steel string guitar players which is the opposite.

This facilitates the straightening of the fretting hand wrist while playing challenging stretches and minimises the risk of tendon damage over prolonged periods of playing. This also relieves the fretting hand of the added tension of carrying some of the weight of the guitar neck.

The student holds the body anchored at four points; the sternum, the fretting side thigh, the opposite inner thigh and the forearm of the picking hand. This gives the most stability without a guitar strap and lets the back of the guitar resonate in tandem with the rest of the body, producing a slightly louder tone.

The student strikes the strings with either the nails or skin. Whilst these two methods give varying tones, early adopters and guitar composers have been known to use both. However, the use of the skin does make certain techniques more difficult and does limit tonal possibilities.

Staying with the picking hand for the moment, the thumb and three of the fingers are typically used and are given letter names. The thumb is indicated by ‘p’ (for pulgar). The index finger is ‘i’ (indicio). The middle finger is ‘m’ (medio) and the ring finger is ‘a’ (anular). In some advanced music the pinky is indicated by the ‘c’ or ‘e’ letter. The fingers on the fretting hand are indicated in the diagram below.

The above diagram is taken from the Frederick Noad book “Solo Guitar Playing 1”.

Learning Resources

The classical guitar tends to be more formally structured in it’s learning, with most music school systems offering syllabi to suit. The student needs to be able to read staff notation for a well-rounded education. A large quantity of the music typically played on the instrument predates it’s inception and has been adapted from earlier scores.

Systems of formal education include the London College of Music’s grade system for classical guitar, along with the ABRSM, AMEB, RIAM, Trinity, and the Royal Conservatory. While each of these systems are readily available, it is of note that the requirements of most apart from the London College of Music are not self contained in one book. and they require extra scale and arpeggio books to be bought in conjunction with the repertoire volumes.

Aside from these formal grade systems, other volumes of note are the “Christopher Parkening Guitar Method Volumes 1 and 2” and Frederick Noad’s “Solo Guitar Playing Volumes 1 and 2”. Both of these offer a graduated approach to learning the instrument outside of a formal learning structure while including pieces suitable for concert performance.

There are also more specialised books available. Noteworthy anthologies include the Royal Conservatories “Bridges” series, which include studies combined with concert performance pieces divided into the musical eras. On the subject of scales and arpeggios the “Bridges” series includes a technique book which details a graduated approach to scales, arpeggios and techniques needed to perform at a professional level. However no discussion of classical guitar technique should ignore Scott Tenant’s “Pumping Nylon” volume which is a complete workout for both hands for beginner and professional alike, and also contains Guiliani’s 120 Right Hand Studies.

Performers Of Note

Over the past 100 years since the recording of sound became possible a few performers have made their mark on the world of classical guitar. Here is a list of some worth researching.

Andres Segovia

John Williams

Julian Bream

Ana Vidovic

Gary Ryan

David Russell

Rather than be an exhaustive compendium on these performers, this list is intended to be a signpost to some of the luminaries of the genre and to facilitate some internet research of your own.

Are you interested in learning classical guitar?