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You may be asking, "What the hell is up with this one?"
Well...
Over the past few months I've posted some practice challenges, the month of rhythm guitar, the lick compendium...and those were sort of a "hey, if you want to come along for the ride, come along" thing. But the real truth is, those were for me. Motivation for me. Because it's easy for me to get unmotivated. Life is busy.
Its summer, and that means the same thing for me almost every year-- all I want to do is sit outside and play nylon string. It's raining today though, so I sat down in the living room and decided to take on something I've always wanted to be able to do: tremolo.
Now, why tremolo? I'm not, nor do I ever pretend to be a classical guitarist. So what need would I ever have for tremolo? Probably not TOO much of one, really.
But to me, it represents 2 things: one, it's one of the ultimate examples of finger independence-- and that's something im very interested in.
Secondly, it's going to require DISCIPLINE on my part. And that is definitely something I need to push myself with.
So begins the tremolo journey. Feel free to cheer me on, talk me out of it, or if you'd really like (though I'm not expecting anybody to this time) join in.
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07-08-2023 02:55 PM
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Kudos for doing this. These days I'm dead-set on improving my plectrum technique but I do have experience with classical guitar and have practised fingerstyle tremolo in the past, having at one point memorised Barrios's Una Limosna pour el Amor de Dios. I get the impression that fingerstyle takes more patience in a way than plectrum-style, or perhaps that's just me. I still remember constantly fretting over whether I had the correct right-hand position etc. And I was roasted at least once on the Delcamp forum, people saying I had too much tension in my right-hand etc. lol
Anyway, opinions differ on this, but you might want to practice different combinations, so not just PAMI, but PIMA, PAMA etc. Good luck!
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Whew. Godspeed.
Originally Posted by mr. beaumont
Get your Recuerdos de la Alhambra on when you’re done.
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Jeff, are you playing without nails, or very short nails? This guy shows it can be done either way, and gives some tips you should check out:
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I was hoping you might check in, Rob!
Very short nails right now, just a little longer than on my fretting hand.
It was actually Brandon's videos that made me think I could take this on!
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To be honest, I’m not a fan of the technique, and have heard Recuerdos way too many times to ever want to hear it again, but I recognise millions of people love it.
It’s good you’ve started with it on the second string, as achieving a good tremolo on the first string can be misleading, giving you a false sense of control. It’s much harder of the 2nd, 3rd and 4th strings.
Most teachers say work with a metronome, slowly increasing speed as you gain confidence. However, in my teaching I’ve found that that approach leads to a tensioning of the muscles as the student reaches their limit, and that tension stops any further progress.
So as well as doing that (as there are benefits to it) I also get students to start fast and with a relaxed hand, ignoring the dreadful cacophony they are making when hitting two or three strings instead of one. Focus in on that relaxation, then after a while start directing it more and more to a single string while maintaining relaxation. Some students get surprising results this way. Doesn’t work for everybody.
Good luck!
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Thanks!
Yes, ive been big on picking things as quickly as I can stay relaxed at, so that makes sense to transfer over here too.
My goal, believe it or not, is not Recuerdos...it's an arrangement of John Lewis' "Django" I'm hearing in my head
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I did wonder
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I practiced tremolo on a classical guitar when I went to music school. It was obligatory in exams.
This required a great deal of precision and took a lot of time.Just daily classical guitar practice.
I don't do that today because I play mostly jazz.
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Cool!
During my quite long time life with classical guitar in my teens I played a lot of repertory and quite an advanced repertory technically. But never had enough patience to master tremolo to play it with confidence.
My teacher did not insist really - his conception was that some people just can adopt this technique quite easily, some don't... if don't - his idea was it was not that necessary and just up to your personal choice. So I never really got to play it properly)
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Small progress.
Probably need to do more "exercisey" playing rather than trying to make music out of it right away.
I have just sat with a chord and put on the metronome and a tanpura app. That's been cool, kind of medatative.
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Getting better, but notice that your middle finger is giving a slight accent: p a M i.
One exercise to even-out the dynamic of each finger is to take it in turns which finger you will accent: sometimes the a, sometimes the i, etc. Over time you become aware of the weight of stroke you need to use for each finger. In your case you might need to compensate for that strong middle finger. Subtle things, but when they are repeated every beat for the duration of a piece of music, it starts becoming annoying, and it's not always immediately obvious why.
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PS I think you are going too fast too soon. You're in it for the long run, not a quick sprint.
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Yeah, I think so too, though I did want to try your idea of pushing myself and seeing what happens.
Its funny, I knew there was something choppy, but I couldn't hear that accent until you pointed it out.
Also interesting is that I feel more relaxed playing a little faster...I think its because I can't think about what I'm doing as much.
Lots of things to explore. But hey, I have time, no solo concerts booked
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There are special exercises for playing tremolo.
The point is that all fingers sound the same.
You have to start at a very slow tempo.
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Oh yes, I have been working specifically with the exercises in Acker's video above. Definitely see their value. Originally Posted by kris
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How is the Steve Howe 175?
Today, 05:54 PM in Guitar, Amps & Gizmos