Fimwat's Guitar Stuff

iMean dah Classical Guitar...

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A guitar looks something like this: This is a guitar made in 1882 by Antonio de Torres. He's the guy that made the first guitar that resembles the classical guitar we're familiar with today. (see the Guitar Timeline below)

Downloads: Here's an arrangement of a piece from Final Fantasy VIII (you know, the game! ^_^;) which I notated from the MIDI, called 'Breezy': Gif graphics: Page 1 Page 2 Melody Assistant document: breezy.mus instructions: to tune your guitar using this MIDI, tune your strings from the bass up to treble (6th to 1st strings) to the pitches played. Tip: When playing against the tuner, listen for the 'waves' of sound and adjust the tuning until it ceases. This makes sure that the strings are synchronized with the pitch, and in tune. If you don't get what I mean, go buy a tuner :P Here's my 'guitar tuner' midi... really simple... Instructions: guitartuner.mid

Links: Guitar Solo Publications - This is THE place to get sheetmusic for the Classical Guitar, apparently Amazon.com - There's a good selection of guitar books here too Guitar Tutorial Section! A simple guide to playing the classical guitar!

1. Before we begin... Holding dah guitar: In the classical guitar style, a footstool is needed in order to achieve the best possible playing position. The left foot is placed on the foot stool, and legs positioned reasonably apart to accomodate the guitar, and so that the knees are at approximately at 90 degrees. The guitar sits on the left thigh, touches the right thigh and also at an area in between the chin and the bellybutton, thus making a 'pyramid' shape. Posture: Sit at the edge of the chair, keep the back straight, shoulders level, and head straight. The head may swing horizontally, but avoid vertical movements. Keep the wrists (right and left) reasonably straight and relaxed. Nails: Serious players should grow their nails on the right hand in order to produce much clearer tone, and increase volume/projection. These nails should then be sanded with a fine grade sandpaper (1200 or higher) to give then a rounded shape, without corners where the strings could catch. The back of the sandpaper is then used, to give them a smooth-as-glass finish. The underneath should also be sanded to decrease the friction between the nails and the string, thus increasing agility.

2. Dah Basics!! Fingers: Right hand fingers are labelled 'p, i, m, a' for the thumb, the index finger, the middle finger, and the auxiliry finger respectively (the little finger isn't used on the right hand). Left hand fingers are labelled 1, throught to 4, from the index finger to the little finger; 0 means open string (ie. don't press) Note: keep the left thumb down, below the middle of the neck. Imagine a 'grabbing' motion, with the thumb opposite to the area in between where 1st and 2nd fingers are. Use the 'weight' of your hand, do not use excessive pressure; force just enought to prevent buzzing of the strings is enough. Strokes: Basically, there are two types of strokes: the rest stroke, and the free stroke. Free strokes involve plucking the strings normally, following a movement involved in making a fist, but individually on each finger. The rest stroke involves two strings, in that the finger 'rests' on the one above the plucked string. Rest strokes generally create louder sound, and is useful in, for example, accenting the beat and bringing out the melody.

Lesson 1 For download: C major scale and basic first position notes Waltz You may want to print these. Practice the notes, then play the waltz. Try to find the fingerings using the chart. Practice these for half an hour each, for a week.

History of the Guitar Date Guitar Timeline Lute Timeline 1500 BC Persian Tanbur UD 1400 BC Hittite Guitar 0 - 400 AD Greek and Roman Tanbur 400 AD Roman Tanbur AL UD 1200 AD Guitar Morisca and Guitar Latina 1535 - 1600 Vihuela and Four Course Guitar Baroque Lute 1550 - 1750 Five Course Guitar - Lute becomes obsolite after Bach's death - 1680 - 1790 Six Course Guitar 1750 Six single string guitar 1880 Torres Classical Guitar 1900 Twentieth Century Classical Guitar descriptions coming soon! fimwat's mp3's!! coming soon! I'm hoping I'd be able to record my own piece (with the computer microphone...), encode it, and upload it here. Sometime soon. Maybe. fimwat's Guitar News Date What's been cookin' 23/12/2001 Did I tell you I'm getting a new Guitar? It's being hand made by the Australian luthier, Steve Gnatek. My teacher's going to be jealous, I tell you 10/6/2001 Whoa. I've been neglecting this site for too long... OK, I've updated the page with a picture of a *real* guitar (woohoo!), and the first lesson files! In the real world... I've been rather busy, being a year 2 student and all I'm playing a guitar part in an opera by Weill, and I'll also be playing for an American virtuoso guitarist, Jason Vieux, who will be giving master classes on 19 July. I'll be playing a tremolo piece, Una Limosna por Amor de Dios (an Alm for the love of God) by the Paragoayan composer, Augustin Barrios-Mangoré. (MIDI by F. Faucher) 1/11/2000 Exams have finished!! MP3's coming real soon... hopefully. 18/10/2000 Phew... I've just finished my recital! I hope it was good enough 5/10/2000 We've recorded the 'Figure Eight'! Hoping to do 'Echo Fantasy by the end of this month. My recital is coming up soon (17th this month) September 2000 The Guitar Orchestra of Wellington is currently in the process of recording some pieces for a CD! We have already recorded one track, 'Pacific Coast Highway', and hope to do a few more ('Figure Eight', 'Echo Fantasy', 'Elasomorph') soon.

***The background music is 'Julia Florida' by Barrios***

last updated: Sun, 23 Dec 2001