Is classical guitar probably the best style to learn?
At the moment im learning classical guitar, but i’m having second thoughts, im interested in soloing and the funk/jazz side of guitar, but i’ve been told that Classical is probably the best style to learn, but you have to stick at this, is this true?
Classical guitarists solo, so I presume you mean improvise or write your own solos.
There is no "best" style, it’s all personal preference. Anyone who claims a certain style is superior to another has deep-rooted insecurity problems. You will find masterpieces and virtuoso players in ALL styles.
The problem with classical guitar is that many people who teach classical guitar or write books have very strong opinions about what is "proper" and "correct" and what is not. For example, some teachers think TAB is evil because you’re looking at numbers instead of notes. Well, if you know what those numbers mean, then they read like notes, so what’s the difference? You certainly can’t put the notation for hammer-on, pull.off, string mute or pick scrape using staff unless you want a messy looking page.
What the classical guitarists seem to overlook is that full staff (bass clef and treble clef) was written for piano. There’s one note on the piano for each note on the staff, Staff also works for most instruments like clarinet or harp because on those instruments, you can’t play the same note in more than one position. But on guitar, that one note can be played in many different positions. If you read TAB, someone has already figured out the best position, so TAB for guitar is like staff for piano. Some classical guitarists with many years experience can play directly from staff because they have their "favorite" finger positions for certain notes. But I think TAB is better for the rest of us because if someone has already messed around and come up with logical fingering, why spend your time reinventing the wheel?
So, I found classical guitar rather cumbersome because I spent more time reading staff and then working out the fingering on guitar than I did playing. Because I played classical piano, I almost gave up playing classical guitar because I got so fed up mapping the fingering for guitar. That’s probably what led to metal guitar, however, because metal is based in classical music, unlike rock, which is based in blues.
But regardless of what style music you prefer – jazz, metal, classical, blues, funk – there is one book which slays them all and if your guitar teacher hsn’t recommended it, then get him/her a copy too. The book is FRETBOARD LOGIC SE. It will help you understand the guitar from a non-biased perspective, show you what you REALLY need to know to play well, and then when you want to solo, you have acquired the knowledge and skill to do so.
I’ve read just about every guitar book on the planet and FRETBOARD LOGIC SE is the only one I keep in my studio.
I say just go with what you are more interested in. I personally love classical guitar, and yes it’s a really good style to learn. Once you get the hang of it you can have a lot of fun with it. But I think you should do what you really want to do.
References :
Classical guitarists solo, so I presume you mean improvise or write your own solos.
There is no "best" style, it’s all personal preference. Anyone who claims a certain style is superior to another has deep-rooted insecurity problems. You will find masterpieces and virtuoso players in ALL styles.
The problem with classical guitar is that many people who teach classical guitar or write books have very strong opinions about what is "proper" and "correct" and what is not. For example, some teachers think TAB is evil because you’re looking at numbers instead of notes. Well, if you know what those numbers mean, then they read like notes, so what’s the difference? You certainly can’t put the notation for hammer-on, pull.off, string mute or pick scrape using staff unless you want a messy looking page.
What the classical guitarists seem to overlook is that full staff (bass clef and treble clef) was written for piano. There’s one note on the piano for each note on the staff, Staff also works for most instruments like clarinet or harp because on those instruments, you can’t play the same note in more than one position. But on guitar, that one note can be played in many different positions. If you read TAB, someone has already figured out the best position, so TAB for guitar is like staff for piano. Some classical guitarists with many years experience can play directly from staff because they have their "favorite" finger positions for certain notes. But I think TAB is better for the rest of us because if someone has already messed around and come up with logical fingering, why spend your time reinventing the wheel?
So, I found classical guitar rather cumbersome because I spent more time reading staff and then working out the fingering on guitar than I did playing. Because I played classical piano, I almost gave up playing classical guitar because I got so fed up mapping the fingering for guitar. That’s probably what led to metal guitar, however, because metal is based in classical music, unlike rock, which is based in blues.
But regardless of what style music you prefer – jazz, metal, classical, blues, funk – there is one book which slays them all and if your guitar teacher hsn’t recommended it, then get him/her a copy too. The book is FRETBOARD LOGIC SE. It will help you understand the guitar from a non-biased perspective, show you what you REALLY need to know to play well, and then when you want to solo, you have acquired the knowledge and skill to do so.
I’ve read just about every guitar book on the planet and FRETBOARD LOGIC SE is the only one I keep in my studio.
References :
professional musician, composer, producer