Sakari - 5 Days to Cracking the Code of Classical Guitar Technique

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5 Days to Cracking the Code of Classical Guitar Technique - Day 1 What to Practice, How and Why, So You Can Play Flawlessly ! "The Sakari Method" is not about playing music, it's about training the fingers to control the alphabet. Let me explain because you'll probably never hear these concepts ever again.... from anyone. So, especially for you beginners, pay attention. And as for you intermediate to advanced players, it's time to shine the bright light of scrutiny on your technique. Learning the Classical Guitar is just like learning a foreign language. And improving your skills with that foreign language, if you're already fluent, happens in the very same way. One has to understand how to control the basics and continually practice them to maintain mastery of them. When one learns a foreign language, one doesn’t begin by trying to read long paragraphs out loud in that language. One begins by learning the alphabet of that language and pronouncing the vowels and consonants repeatedly so as to

Transcript of Sakari - 5 Days to Cracking the Code of Classical Guitar Technique

Page 1: Sakari - 5 Days to Cracking the Code of Classical Guitar Technique

5 Days to Cracking the Code of Classical Guitar Technique  - Day 1

What to Practice, How and Why,  So You Can Play Flawlessly !

"The Sakari Method" is not about playing music, it's abouttraining the fingers to control the alphabet. 

Let me explain because you'll probably never hear these conceptsever again.... from anyone.

So, especially for you beginners, pay attention.

And as for you intermediate to advanced players, it's time to shinethe bright light of scrutiny on your technique.

Learning the Classical Guitar is just like learning a foreign language.

And improving your skills with that foreign language, if you're alreadyfluent, happens in the very same way.

One has to understand how to control the basics and continually practicethem to maintain mastery of them.

When one learns a foreign language, one doesn’t begin by trying  to read long paragraphs out loud in that language.

One begins by learning the alphabet of that language and pronouncing the vowels and consonants repeatedly so as tograsp how the mouth, tongue and pallette should interact with the proper air flow and throat aperture.  Then one moves onto whole words, repeating them over and over until they feel natural and normal to pronounce.   Then one combines thosewords into whole sentences, then paragraphs. 

It can and should take weeks and months to integrate these basics before moving into the area of conversational language.

I'm sure you'll agree that any other way of being taught a foreign language would be, “BAD TEACHING.”

The language of the guitar should be approached the same way.

Until you have gained total and independent control of your Leftand Right Hand Fingers, you're wasting your time with traditional

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Classical Guitar Lessons which most likely have you playing scalesand pieces of music right out of the box.  This is nothing more thanBad Teaching and you will suffer slow and agonizing progress, if you'lleven be able to call it "progress".

But that's what most all Classical Guitar Teachers do.  Put musicon your stand very early on in your studies and tell you what to dobefore you even know what hit you.

A language teacher doesn't put a full page of words written in thatlanguage in front of you and then tell you how to speak all thosewords.  That would be incredibly premature and frustrating sinceyou don't even know the basics.

So that's my basic philosophy to learning the foreign language ofthe Classical Guitar.

I view the four Left Hand Fingers and the four Right Hand fingersas the pronounciation tools of the language and the six strings strungover 19 frets on the Classical Guitar, as the alphabet of the language.

That's 120 pitches represented, including the open strings but only44 unique pitches.

As if that is not enough,  here is what the Classical Guitar throwsat you in terms of the notes you can play on it.  There are 76 noteson the guitar that exist in multiple locations.  For instance,  when youpluck the high "E" string, you can find that exact same note on four otherstrings. On the second string 5th fret, the 3rd string 9th fret, 4th string14th fret and the 5th string 19th fret.

Keep in mind that the piano has 88 note pitches, ( 97 notes if you own aBosendorfer Piano ), all of which only exist once with each white key orblack key. 

On the guitar, only the five lowest notes and the five highest notescan be found in only one location on the guitar fretboard.

But then, starting low to high, the next five notes can be found on twodifferent strings and in two different locations on the fretboard.

Then the next five notes can be played on three different strings in threedifferent locations on the guitar neck.

The next four notes are located on four different strings and are in fourdifferent spots on the fretboard.

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The next five higher pitched notes can be played on four different stringsacross four different spots on the neck.

Same with the next five higher notes.

The next five higher pitches can be chosen on three different strings andthree different positions on the neck.

The next five on two strings, two locations.

So........the guitar can only play 10 notes in only one spot.  The remaining 110notes can be found in two, three or even four places on the neck and threeof those actually have five different strings and locations.

On the piano, if you want to play something higher in pitch, you just slideup the bench and play the very same fingerings and you instantly have it.

On the guitar, to do the very same thing, you instantly have at least threeplaces on the neck to to play the same notes with three completelydifferent fingerings across three completely differerent sets of strings tochoose from and to gain control over.

What does all this boomdoggle really mean ?

First, sight reading music is nearly impossible unless you have completecommand of where all the notes are located.

Second, when you have the choice of playing one pitch on four different strings,you also have the benefit of four completely different "tone qualites"at your disposal.

And Guitar music takes advantage of this complex system of tonecolor variation to the max.  Not only that but on the guitar, you can takeeach of those four notes with different natural tone qualities and play themwith the right hand in an almost infinite number of ways.  Near the bridge,creating a thin metallic tone or near the neck to create a full hollow tonequality and everything in between.

BUT......if your fingers aren't equipped to accurately play the noteswith both hands in complete sychronized concert with each other,you can imagine how quickly you'll become lost in the maze when you plopa piece of music on your stand prematurely.

So if guitar music, is the language of fluent conversation, then it also should bethe very last step in the process of  learning its foreign language.

Makes perfect sense, Right ?

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And no matter how long you've been playing, I can almostguarantee, with 99% assuredness, that you have Never, Ever, Ever,sat down even once and gone through a process of systematicallypracticing individual finger movement control.

And if by some miracle, you have, it was for only about 10 minutesand then you went straight back to trying to play your pieces of music.

You're nodding you head, yes, aren't you.  And if you didpractice individual finger control on the micro movement level,it was only with the right hand and never the left.

You're probably nodding your head, yes, again.

( flat out beginners, pay attention to what I'm saying here )

Left hand finger control ?  Why, what in the world is that ?

Does your left hand little finger have all the power, control andaccuracy that your left hand first finger possesses ?

Of course not !  You don't even have to pick up a guitar toknow that.  Just type something on the computer using differentfingers and then start hitting the backspace key to correct the errors.

Will this fact hold your music playing back more than just a touch ?

Of course it will !

Shouldn't you or your teacher have insisted on learning how toachieve total finger control on both hands before you or your teacher had you trying to play music ?

Yes !

This is a foreign language we're talking about here.  Not somepinball game in an amusement park.

Would you try to recite poetry in front of an audience inone of the Romance languages without knowing how topronounce the words, let alone deliver them with feeling,nuance, loud and soft phrase endings, pregnant pausespunctuated with bursts of passion ?

Of course not !

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Well, that's what playing music is all about.  It's reciting poetryout loud.  Maybe to an audience, maybe not.

And you need the skills to do it properly.

The fact is, the Classical Guitar world is full of happen chance encounterswith random teachings that when all added up.....add up to....

Only about .01 % of the participants ever reaching a plateau of playingability worthy of the composer's thoughts.

Hello and Welcome,

Forgive the long narrative rant above but it had to be said so that you havesome idea of the issues that befall the Classical Guitarist.

My name is Sakari Heikkila and I have spent the last thirty years orso, developing, testing and re-testing finger training exercises so thatI could spend more time playing my music rather than practicing mytechnique.

What I have discovered is truly surprising.  Practicing what may appear to be simple exercises for both the left and right hands, first separately,then together, creates levels of ability that simply rocket pastother more traditional exercises when it comes to improving one'soverall playing ability.

But it is more about how one thinks during these simple exercises as much as the exercises themselves and that's what is so remarkable.

"The Sakari Method", as I now call it, is the culmination of testing my theories over time and boiling down finger exercises into the onesthat work and ignoring those exercises that do nothing more than waste precious practice time.  If you happen to have years of ClassicalGuitar experience behind you, I think you'll also be interested in theresults.

***MINI-COURSE WARNING ***

This Mini Course will touch on each of "The Five Disciplines" that myfull Lesson Series develops, in depth, but only the very beginning of theFirst of the Six Phases within each Discipline.  This Mini Course isnot intended as a full course of study and I caution you that there isquite a bit of additional instruction and exercises in my Full LessonSeries that will provide complete training so please don't try to "create"

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a practice routine from these Mini Lessons.  You'll do more harm thangood.

The complete lessons are created in a specific order for the training processand the true value won't be gained with only these small examples.

For beginners,

Fingernails are how one creates good sound tone on the guitar so for thismini course, just have your nails grown just past the fleshy tip of the fingerand sanded in a nice curve with some fine sandpaper.  I have a techniquefor creating the "perfect" nail shape for anyone on the planet and teach thatmethod in my Full Lesson Series.

Now for the First Discipline.  The Right Hand alone playing just a singlestring.  Set your Metronome to 42.  Now hover your index, middle andannular finger in a tight group just over the second string.  Play theopen second string with your index finger to every other click of themetronome.  It's clicking off Quarter Notes and you'll be playingHalf Notes.  Play loudly, with good tone and use the free stroke.  Don'tbring it to rest onto the third string after each stroke and don'tmove the non playing fingers, AT ALL.  Remember to sound the verybest Round Full Tone you can muster, play very loudly and don't moveany other part of your body other than the index finger.

AND NO RESTED STROKES OR PLACING THE THUMB TO RESTON A BASS STRING.

We don't have the luxury,  when playing music,  to rest the fingers on the strings so don't waste time practicing techniques that aren't used in open playthe majority of the time.

Continue playing the open second string with just your index finger andmake note of every movement that is taking place.  As you continue,you will probably notice how difficult it is to consistently play the stringwithout nudging up against the first or third string occasionally.

Your first few strokes will be good ones but that's just beginner's Luck.Continue for 2 or 3 minutes and you'll see what I'm talking about.

Remember, in this exercise, not to move the non-playing fingers AT ALL.

Jump the metronome up to 84, just for fun, and repeat.  You will notice a hugedecrease in skill level, depending on your level as a player in general,but an ease in what I call "Fast Play" which is actually an illusion of

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skill ability.  Kind of like tapping your fingers on a table top.  This"Fast Play" won't help you when it comes to playing music.

Now repeat this entire process with the middle finger and then theannular finger, all separately playing the open second string.

My Full Lessons take you through the major permutations of the First Discipline with each finger on each string.  There are many separate issues and bridges to cross and if you don't cross them, I believe thatyou shouldn't have music on the stand quite yet.

Each exercise takes you through my Metronomic Formula of alternatingspeeds and alternating rhythmic patterns starting out slowly at firstand then increasing to very rapid.  The Formula is designed to ironout any weak points your playing ability has.

And believe me, as the speeds increase, the weaker fingers willreveal themselves.  ( usually the annular finger has the least controlability. )

Tomorrow, I'll discuss "Finger Independence and Thinking About Multiple Right Hand Finger Patterns in a Completely Different Way"

5 Days to Cracking the Code of Classical Guitar Technique  - Day 2

What to Practice, How and Why,  So You Can Play Flawlessly !

"Finger Independence and Thinking About Multiple Right Hand Finger Patterns in a Completely Different Way"

Absolutely everything you do surrounding the pursuit of playingthe Classical Guitar has value and meaning so it really is extremely important to always have your Right Hand finger nails just right.  In anutshell, it is the common use of both the nail and the flesh of the fingertip when executing a stroke that will create your basictone and tone quality.

If your nails are not angled and beveled correctly, your soundwon't be appealing and probably will sound like you are playingwith the tip of a screwdriver.  An old, rusty screwdriver !

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In my Full Lesson Series, I'll teach you the perfect way to shapeyour nails to have them custom beveled to match your uniquenail shape and finger angle relative to the guitar strings.  It's a methodthat works every time and takes the mystery out of the "Search"for the perfect nail shape.

Now for the Second Discipline.  Playing with the Right Hand alone on multiple strings.

Set your Metronome to ticking at MM 42.

Hover your thumb over the 4th "D" string and hover the index fingerover the third "G" string, hover the middle finger over the second "B"string and hover the third or annular finger over the high "E" string.About 1/4' off the strings will be fine.

We're going to play each string on every other click of the Metronomeas we did in Day 1's Lesson.

You are hovering your Right Hand fingers over the strings 4-3-2-1 with your thumb-index-middle-annular fingers.   Draw your thumb back just enough to play the 4th string, play the fourth string and bring your thumb back to rest against the index finger.

Now, keeping your thumb motionless in the very spot where it came to rest against the index finger, "swing" your index finger away from the thumb just enough so that it can play the 3rd string.  Play the 3rd string and let the index finger come back to rest against the thumb, WHICH HAS REMAINED ABSOLUTELY MOTIONLESS AND DIDN’T MOVE AT ALL.

Good !  Now "swing" your middle finger away from the group just enough to play the 2nd string.  Play the 2nd string and bring it back to rest just slightly against the index finger.

Now "swing" your annular finger out away from the group just enough to play the high string, play the high string and bring it back to rest slightly against the middle finger.

Same instruction as in Day 1.  Loud Volume, Great Tone,Full and Round.  Absolutely no movement from the non-playing fingers.

Find a general hand position or angle, a little this way or a little that wayso that all the fingers have a general comfort level when they play but don’t move into a new hand position for each finger stroke.  Find one hand position

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that lets you play the above exercise easily.  This will determine your general hand position.

Repeat this pattern over and over for 5 minutes.  What youshould notice is some mental frustration setting in and also aninability to play cleanly ( as in without nudging up against stringsthat are not in play inadvertantly ) for this long a time period.

If you can't play cleanly for a good 50 or 60 strokes,  your techniqueis not ready to move to the next level of exercise within this Discipline.

Remember, there are many more steps to each discipline but I just want to give you an idea of how I approach technique.....from the very basicsand the very beginning.

Tomorrow's Installment is called :

"A Classical Guitar Lesson from your Stereo System and Wave Surfing ? "

5 Days to Cracking the Code of Classical Guitar Technique  - Day 3

What to Practice, How and Why,  So You Can Play Flawlessly !

A Classical Guitar Lesson from your Stereo System and Wave Surfing ?

What kind of music do you listen to on your Stereo System ?  I'llventure a guess and say that you play only one kind.  The Music you like, Right ?

And what kind of music do you listen to for Hours At A Time ?

One kind !  Only the Music you really Love, Right ?

The pieces of music that you commit to for hours of practice on theClassical Guitar should  ALWAYS be the pieces you like and better still,the pieces you really Love.

Do Not, I repeat, Do Not practice pieces that you wouldn't want to listen to played by a Classical Guitarist on your stereo system.

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Why ?  Because if you don't like to listen to particular piece, you won't enjoy hearing yourself practice it or play it.  And if your heartand soul is not in it, anyone else listening to you play won't havea fullfilling experience either.  Isn't the real point of playing to enjoythe experience ?

I am convinced that this rule of thumb should apply to beginners aswell as Concert Artists as well as the listener.  I had the good fortuneto hear Segovia and Julian Bream play a number of times and it wasjust so profoundly enjoyable that it only reinforced my belief.

This, by the way, is not a popular belief in the Guitar World and I amnot afraid to voice that opinion over and over.  Guitarists are constantlyputting on recitals of "Standard Repertoire" for some reason like someplayer piano sitting up on the stage.

If a player has a Nice Guitar and Nice tone, I suppose the instrumentis soothing enough to listen to even if the performance is devoid of emotionbut to my way of thinking, such playing practices are not worth thetime and trouble.

This all gets to the issue of creating "your" frame of mind when workingwith the Guitar and if you work on pieces that bore you, your frame ofmind will collapse and so will your technique.

You should always feel like a wave surfer when playing.  The wave isthe Music, your surfboard is your technique and the surfer is whatyou instinctively do with the music interpretively, surfing back andforth, faster, then slower,riding within the curl and exploding out atthe other end !

Music should have the same effect on the listener as watching a greatsurfer.

My method revolves around starting each practice session at very slow,meditative speeds because everyone wakes up in a little different mindset than the day before and this meditative approach clearsthe heart and mind of unwanted influences so that one's creativespirit has a chance to come to the surface.

It is only then that real progress will take place.

Now for the Third Discipline.  The Left Hand Alone on a single string.No one practices this Discipline, in any sense,  and is one the mostvaluable yet counter intuitive of them all.

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Place each of your left hand fingers on their respective frets on thesecond string.  Index finger on the first fret (as if to play it ), secondfinger on the second fret, third finger - third fret, fourth finger - fourthfret.  The thumb should be directly opposite on the back of the neckand between the second and third fingers.  This is a good postureto tackle whatever the left hand has coming its way.

Set the metronome to ticking at MM 42.

Now with all four fingers on all four frets, lift only the fourth finger offand place it onto the fourth fret of the high "E" string while keeping theother fingers in place.  Then lift it off and place it back onto the 4thfret of the 2nd string, then lift it off and onto the 4th fret of the 3rdstring and then off and back onto the second string.

Have each movement from string to string happen on every othertick of the metronome.

Now repeat this entire exercise but this time with the 3rd fingermoving back and forth from string to string on the 3rd fret.  Keepthe other fingers on their respective frets at all times ( so your 4thfinger now remains on the 4th fret.)

Repeat the exercise with the 2nd finger on the 2nd frets of thethree strings and then with the first finger on the 1st frets of thethree strings.

If after repeating this entire process for a duration of 5 minutesyou notice tension in your left hand, you are not ready to move on to the next level of exercise within this Discipline.

The object here is to remain calm, breathe and concentrateon the fingers' micro movements. If moving each finger toevery other tick of the metronome at 42 is too rapidinitially ( sometimes the anticipation of the next tickcan cause some anxiety ) then take one finger'stask and move it extremely slowly back and forthbetween the frets until your mind "feels" in completecontrol of the movement. No struggling. Handcompletely relaxed. No "extra" pressure placed onthe fret. And don't place a time limit on when toachieve the goal. If you do, frustration will creepback in. Stop the clock, stop the metronome.

This "feeling" of control is what you want to replicate as youeventually increase the speed on the metronome. There's

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quite a bit more to the full method of increasingthe speed in a controlled way but this is the startingpoint.

Once you have all the fingers in this exercise undercontrol in this manner, try it again with the metronomeas indicated in the instructions.

If this exercise is not as simple as you thought it might have been, you might now think, "No wonder trying to play music frustrates almost every guitarist on the planet !"

Tomorrow's Discussion is called :

"Do Your remember the first time you picked up a Guitar ?"

5 Days to Cracking the Code of Classical Guitar Technique  - Day 4

What to Practice, How and Why,  So You Can Play Flawlessly !

"Do Your remember the first time you picked up a Guitar ?"

Most of us Guitarists remember that moment when we picked up a Guitar for the first time and evoked some sounds on it, probably on theopen strings at first. 

For me, it was when I was about 8 years old.  Knowing absolutely nothing, I accidentally fingered an Em chord in First Position, gave ita slow perfect strum, listened as the chord slowly faded away, feltmy eyes open as wide as they would go and a huge smile form onmy face.

I......Was.......Hooked !

For my next Birthday I received my very first Record Album and itwas an Andres Segovia record. 

One of the greatest lessons I could teach is that each and every timeyou take your Guitar out of its case, feel as if you are about to play it the first time.  The great advantage, however, is that you have theknowledge and experience learned from the previous day's study andyou are a little better technically.

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Just imagine what a feeling it would be to actually pick up the Guitarfor the first time and play "Recuerdos de la ALhambra" like AlexanderLagoya, whose tremelo was as perfectly and musically executedas I've ever heard.

This is the what I mean about maintaining a "Frame of Mind".  Everystep should be taken deliberately but with the sharp blade of knowledge and expertise.  The time it will take to make real technicalprogress is cut in half with this in mind.

One secret to developing great technique and not have yourLeft Hand nearly fall off with muscle fatique or worse, tendinitis ordystonia, is to make use of the Capo ( the devise that clamps ontothe neck of the Guitar at any desired fret location )

For me, playing cleanly in open position is the most difficult to masterbecause the frets are at their most distant spacing from each otherand the Left Arm and Hand need to hyperextend a bit for certainfingerings.

So I practice much of my technical work with a Capo at the thirdfret.  The frets are closer together, the strings aren't as difficult todepress and the arm and hand don't have to go into contorsionsfor difficult fingerings.

I also practice my pieces starting at the third fret and then at thesecond, then with the Capo at the first fret position and then, finally, in open position.  It works. Try it.

Now the Fourth Discipline.  Left Hand alone on multiple strings.  I'lljump ahead within the exercise levels of this Discipline to chromaticsevenths.

Place your first finger on the first fret of the base "E" string and yoursecond finger on the first fret of the 4th "D" string.  Leave them therewhile you then place your 3rd finger on the second fret of the base"E" string and your 4th finger on the second fret of the 4th string.

Now release all four fingers from the fretboard and place yourfirst finger on the 3rd fret of the base string and your 2nd finger on the3rd fret of the 4th string.  Leave them there while you put your3rd finger on the 4th fret of the base string and the 4th finger on the4th fret of the 4th string.

You have just moved up four frets chromatically in seventh note intervals.

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OK.  Set the metronome to ticking at MM 42.  Start at the beginningof the exercise making your movements ( always in simutaneous pairs )to every other tick of the metronome but continue all the way upto the 12th fret and then back down fret by fret to the first fret position.

Now do it without making a single squeak on the strings.  This is theall important "release" technique when one doesn't make string noise.Until you can achieve this, you are not ready for the next level ofexercise within this Disipline.

Tomorrow's Final Installment is called :

"Always Start Each Practice Session with the Basics and You'llAlways be Humbled into Greatness "

Days to Cracking the Code of Classical Guitar Technique  - Day 5

What to Practice, How and Why,  So You Can Play Flawlessly !

Welcome to the Final Day of my Mini-Course designed to giveyou a bit of insight into my methods of perfecting techniquewhether you're just learning or you're a seasoned veteran.

In this Mini-Course, we just touched on a small part of the FiveDisciplines of Technique to give you more of an idea about myMethod and what is entailed.

Remember that I make myself available via e-mail and I alwaysreturn them within 24 hours.

Today's Lesson is,

"Always Start Each Practice Session with the Basics and You'llAlways be Humbled into Greatness "

I am asked quite a bit about how to practice scales even though Iam not a personal devotee of scales as you'll learn later, here we go.

In this lesson I won't bore you with my ideas and philosophies.  I'lljump right to the Fifth Discipline.  Right and Left Hand playing

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together on multiple strings.  No, the Fifth Discipline is not playingmusic.  That would be too kind.

By now, perhaps you have gotten the idea of how I teach and whymost students have music placed on their stand WAY TOO EARLY !

How can anyone be expected to have the brain and hands concentrateon Four of the Five Disciplines what with everything that each oneindividually demands in terms of skill levels (plural) without learningthe true difficulties of each one individually, I'll never know.

I believe that the majority of Guitar Players are lost and cluelessbecause they just have never gone through "Boot Camp" ? ( That'swhat I lovingly call my method ).

So I'll leave you with this exercise from the Fifth Discipline.  If youdon't know any diatonic scales, just play a chromatic scale inFirst (Open) position across the six strings.  Eight, in my case.  Ten,if you have a ten string.

Wait a minute though, before you start.  Remember the lessons learned in the last four days and concentrate on each one as youattempt to play a scale.  Concentrate on maintaining each one.

"Frame of Mind" and that part of yourself that has creativeaccomplishment just waiting to happen.

OK.  Play your scale to the metronome ticking off at MM 42 witha note played on every other tick.  Hold on, there's more . . .

Each time you play a note (except for the open strings of course)stop the fret with just enough pressure to be able to hear the notebut not enough to hear it clearly.  In other words, make each notehave a string buzz to it because you're not pressing the fret hardenough.

When you can perform this easily and at various speeds you can thenpractice your scale with only just enough pressure to stop thebuzzing.  Any more pressure just isn't needed and will producemuscle fatigue.  Playing with speed takes a quantum leap with thisskill firmly under the belt.

Again, in the full lesson series, I'll take you step by step throughall Five Disciplines and all 6 Phases of skill level within each one.

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You'll discover your stengths and weakness, why they exist,how to improve the strengths and correct the weaknesses in a processthat playing music just never provides.

Well, I hope that you found the information in my Mini-Course usefuland I sincerely hope to work with you over the course this yearwith my Full Lesson Series, which covers Six Phases of skill levelsto learn within each of the Five Disciplines.

A great Universal Truth of mine is that one should never forget thatwhen one learns to play Music on the Classical Guitar, even the mostsimple pieces, play it under tempo but with full round tone, controland expression. It will give the player and listener a more lastingmusical experience while maintaining the "Frame of Mind" I alwaystalk about.

One story before I go !

An old Finnish Kantele maker revealed a truth to me over 30 years agowhile I was traveling in Finland visiting relatives.   I went to his shopto take delivery on a Kantele that I commissioned him to make for me.

He offered to play me a little piece and I gladly encouraged him as Iwasn't even aware that he could play the instrument.  He placed mynew Kantele on his lap as if to play and then turned the entire instrument around so that the high strings were closest to him and the base strings were away from him.  The exact opposite of how everyone plays.

He then played the most beautiful folk piece I have ever heard.

When he finished, I proclaimed how wonderful his playing was, but whydoes he play the Kantele backwards and how it must have beenextremely difficult to learn finger technique in reverse.  Playingmelodies with the hand moving in opposite direction than the line.  Itwould be like a piano player playing notes from right to left and havingthe notes increase in pitch.  My God !

He replied with a smile and said, "Because if I try to play like everyoneelse, for some reason, I can't learn music.  I just practice in slowmotion and besides, human beings learn nothing quickly."

Then it all hit me like a ton of bricks !

Mastering the Five Disciplines of Classical Guitar Technique is notsomething that happens overnight.  In fact, it is something that onlyhappens with regular attention and perseverance to the real issues.

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If you are already a competent player and this is how you learnedyour technique, I Can Guarantee You that each piece you play hasat least one spot where you falter, every time you play it.

You're probably nodding your head, Yes.

In my Full Course, I'll take you through all of the Disciplineswith 5 in-depth Lessons on each one and lead you through  6Phases of skill level for each Discipline which will iron out the problem wrinkles in your technique forever.

Plus you'll have daily goals to reach.  No more wondering "Whatshould I practice next ?"

You might think that all this sounds like quite a lot of workbut consider where your playing ability will be one year from now ifyou just continue doing whatever it is that you have been doing for       the last year on your Guitar.

Do you want to have flawless technique and play the music ofyour dreams....or don't you ?                                                                                                                     

I look forward to working with you and remember, I am justan e-mail away to answer questions and I return all my e-mails within24 hours.