ETUDE
March 1939
volume LVII
number 3
page 206

Fundamental Guitar Technique

By George C. Krick

ONE OF THE MOST serious mistakes made by many guitar students especially those trying to master the instrument without the benefit of a teacher, is to attempt to play a composition that is far in advance of their technical ability. In a recent letter the writer complains that after several months hard practice he is still unable to play the Recuerdos de la Alhambra by Tarrega, at the same time stating that he has been playing the guitar for almost two years.

Buenos Aires, the beautiful capitol city of Argentina, boasts of a large number of guitar schools, where no other instrument but the classic guitar is taught. The most renowned is that presided over by the distinguished guitarist, composer and teacher, Domingo Prat. The course for guitar in this school covers a period of seven years; and the above mentioned Tarrega number is listed in its year book as one of the compositions to be studied towards the end of the fourth year. Pupils are pledged to a minimum daily practice period of two hours. Similar to that is the course for guitar at the State Conservatory in Vienna with an average yearly enrollment of fifty students under the direction of Professor Jakob Ortner.

These courses are carefully and intelligently outlined so the students progress gradually and surely, skipping nothing, leading up to the time when they are ready for public appearance.

After all, there are no short cuts in learning to play any instrument and any one wishing to become an outstanding player must pay the price by hard work for a number of years.

Practice and More Practice

ANDRES SEGOVIA devoted six hours daily for almost ten years to the development of his incomparable technic and yet we have known of players of one or two years experience attempting to play the difficult compositions performed by this virtuoso. To do this without sufficient preparation is nothing but folly and eventually leads to discouragement and failure. The foundation of good guitar technic is primarily daily practice of scales and arpeggios. Scales in all keys in two and three octaves should be practiced with alternating first and second fingers of the right hand, slowly at first with a firm decisive movement of the fingers and later with gradually increased speed and a lighter touch. Arpeggios are beautiful and effective on the guitar and should be practiced in all keys and positions. The third finger of the right hand, being the weakest, requires special attention and should be used whenever possible. It is utterly impossible to play a tremolo movement similar to that in Recuerdos de la Alhambra satisfactorily unless the control over the third finger is absolute. The first two “Preludes Op. 83” of Mauro Giuliani, the Etude, 0p 6, No. 11, by Ferdinand Sor and “Six caprices, Op. 26,” by Carcassi are excellent for this purpose.

While the guitar, as far as volume of tone is concerned, cannot be compared with the piano, guitarists will do well to experiment with their instruments and try to bring out all the tone there is in them, putting much energy into their finger action, while practicing scales, chords or arpeggios in a slow deliberate manner. For an audience to appreciate the guitar, it must be able to hear it and it is surprising how the tone volume can be improved by intelligent and systematic practice.

Using at the start a complete “Guitar Method,” such as that by Foden, Carcassi or Albert, this should be supplemented with the exercises and etudes by the classic composers Giuliani, Sor, Carcassi, Legnani, Coste, Aguado and the modern etudes and preludes by Albert and Tarrega. Along with these a repertoire of concert numbers may be taken up for study, carefully graded to fit in with the technical proficiency of the student. The literature for classic guitar is so extensive, that a student can find the right material, which, if properly selected and intelligently studied for a number of years, will help him to reach his goal.

Luigi Boccherini

IN DRAWING ATTENTION, in one of our recent articles, to the chamber music of Luigi Boccherini, we invited several inquiries regarding the life and career of this highly gifted violoncellist, guitarist and composer. Born in Lucca, Italy in 1743 he received instruction in the rudiments of music, violoncello and guitar from his father and later from the Abbe Vannecci. Recognizing his musical ability, they sent him to Rome where in a comparatively short time he became famous as a performer and composer. A concert tour through Italy and France brought him to Paris, where his concerts proved highly successful and publishers vied with each other for the privilege of publishing his quartets and trios. At the suggestion of the Spanish ambassador in Paris, Boccherini now visited Madrid and after a time was appointed composer and virtuoso to the Infante Don Luis, brother of the King. In 1797 ill health compelled him to give up public performances and, having met a generous patron in the person of the Marquis de Benavente, a talented performer on the guitar, he began to devote more time to this instrument. The Marquis commissioned him to write guitar parts for all his orchestral compositions and these were performed with Boccherini and his patron playing the guitar score.

Other members of the aristocracy became interested in him and from then on he was kept quite busy writing guitar solos, guitar parts for his symphonies, quartets and accompaniments to songs. At this period he wrote a “Symphony Concertante” for guitar, violin, oboe, violoncello and bass and twelve quintettes for two violins, viola, violoncello and guitar. His facility in composition was so great, that he has been described as a fountain whose stream never ceased. Over three hundred compositions from his pen were published but it is to be regretted that many of his guitar works were in manuscript and in time disappeared.

The “First Quintett in D major,” the “Second in C major” and the “Third in E minor” were recently published by Zimmermann, of Leipzig, and they call for two violins, viola, violoncello and guitar.

His celebrated Minuet is known to every music lover and this beautiful composition has made the name of Luigi Boccherini known throughout the world.

Towards the end of his career Boccherini suffered many financial reverses brought about through the unfortunate conditions existing in Spain at that period and he was reduced to abject poverty, when death overtook him May 28, 1805.