It’s easy to neglect or not pay proper attention to the right hand because it often is taken for granted. This neglect is only heard when you progress to higher grades. Your video helps fix this.
Hi Merce, I'm 68, and picking up the clssical lessons lately. I bought a Yamaha GC 3D 1971 and its quality really pushes me to continue. I played the guitar when I was still young but only had time since my retirement to concentrate playing classical. Your lessons are not only extremely helpfu--it goes into the most basic techniques that others do not cover. Besides, your sincerity is infectious. Thank you !!!
You're a splendid guitarist and incredibly generous for posting all of this for us. Thank you very much Merce, I appreciate you. I've been playing guitar for 12 years with all of the worst habits -- my left hand only used 3 fingers, my right hand only 2, my posture and thumb position on the left hand was wrong and I never learned full songs. You're helping me overcome those issues and move into playing classical pieces. Thank you again. You're wonderful!
Excellent production of the video. The graphical cues are very well done. I have another exercise to add to my routine. All your videos are concise and to the point on what to focus. I’m grateful for the effort and passion you bring to your students. Planting has been a mystery for me. A video on this technique would be welcomed.
haaha Great to hear! Yeah I would have also liked to have such videos back then when I was really working on such exercises! Happy to give you some company during your practice! 🙌🏻😊
I cut off my nails few days ago, experimenting with lover tuning and arpeggios sounds amazing. I push the string more towards the soundboard and sounds is very full and natural. You can even play tremolo but it's harder to get that brilliance.
Indeed, for a full sound you need to aim inwards! Maybe for you it works better a right hand with very short nails! Every player has different preference on that, so now that you have cut them that short you can easily start to see when it gets too long for you until you find your sweet spot of your best sound and length for all types of pluck (apoyando, tirando, tremolo, arpeggios...)
Thank you for all your effort teaching for free keep up the good work...God Bless, and staysafe...this is more beneficial to Begineer and advance...and most of all beautiful and Pretty instructress...have a nice day Madam
Thank you very much for all your hard work, I'm sure you're making meaningful difference to many people's playing. Cuold you please make a video to develop the strength and proper coordination and technique of the playing hand Thumb. Thanks in advance.
P-finger left hand caught fire after 1st week of stretch exercise. I went to 7th fret to reduce tension holding positions and thumb returned to normal.
Brilliant and practical as always from you Merce! Could you add some cords lines for the left hand to warm it up at the same time? From my beginner level I don't see it done by myself easily. Thanks a lot anyway!
Thank you for the class! It will help a lot in my daily arpeggio studies! Could you do a video about more advanced left hand tecnique like ornaments and glissandos? It's a little more difficult to find content about those tecniques but suddenly they appear in some pieces I try to study but I don't really now exatly how to work on them.
Great suggestion William! It would certainly be very interesting to see how different ornaments are performed in different period music. I keep a note on that!! Thanks for the feedback and I wish you a nice practice time! 🤗
Planting has many advantages for control, articulation, relaxation, so maybe I should be uploading a tutorial on that as many already asked about it... :D Thank you for your feedback! I always keep an eye on what you guys have to say! 😊
This is one of the best classical guitar learning channels on UA-cam. I've been playing acoustic guitar for some time now but wanted to improve my left hand technique and speed. One thing led to another and now I'm learning classical guitar. One question: do I need strictly need to buy classical guitar or can I play classical music on acoustic guitar?
Wow, thanks! well, you sure can play it on acoustic if the steel strings don't kill your nails 😆 Sound and tension wise the game changes up a bit though :) thank you for your kind comment and all the best with your classical guitar playing!
I do know planting from lesson book. Another time period planting exercise? A lute job? Seems planting gives confidence in chord shaped changes so PLEASE continue advanced planting control education Merce.Thank you Maestro
OK today 2/1/2023 reviewed along with pdf and found the variety to finger independance ability manageable with the speed m.m. requested. The left hand is practicing slurs,grace notes,2nd positions,scales, and the metronome is used alot for balance at absolute beginner level.thank you for directing me back to the video lesson today.
Gràcies Mercè! Podries parlar mes sobre el dit polze? Sobre temes com si es fa i com un Moviment circular, si tot el polze esta relaxat o la segona falange ha d’estar activada tot i no fer cap moviment? Em costa i la mà se’m mou massa. Gracies pels videos!
If I am doing these exercises on an acoustic guitar and I hold the guitar in the non-classical manner, that changes the ergonomics and angles the hand meets the strings. So, should I apply all of your technical advice exactly the same or should I expect to have to adapt the technical advice considering the difference in orientation I have with the acoustic guitar? (Hope that made sense!) Also, more generally, is it fine for me to follow along your other technique practice videos with acoustic in the normal acoustic position? Or are these techniques classical-specific? Thanks for the great content!
Thank you for the great lesson. Small remark is that as you have a very soft voice, when you talk together with the gutiar in the background, it is difficult to hear what are you actually talking about. At least for the non-native speaker. :)
As always, thanks a million for the effort and the material you share!! 🙂 You did a video on how to practice scales some time ago. How about a 'play-along' routine on scales as well? 🙋🏻♂️
Its all about the tilting movement of the wrist as you approach the bass strings. To avoid the scratchy sound you will need to pluck the strings in a much more vertical position than you need with the trebles.
I’ve had three teachers. None of them taught me about keeping the RH still and plucking from the knuckle. I’m relearning how to play! After working through this video twice, I’ve already noticed my RH is more secure, faster, and more accurate. Woo-hoo!
That is awesome!! I am aware that for classical guitar there are many different schools with different approaches so it might be complicated to know what to follow, but eventually you do the right thing: try out, see if that works/helps your own playing and build your technique with positive and working inputs 😊
@@MerceFont v Very true. Every day I start with this and play each pattern till it’s smooth. The LH gets all the credit but the RH does at least half the work, so I feel this is really important.
Hey Merce -- I can't play these chords - they're all broken! :) Seriously though..this is a great technical workout for arpgeggios, esp. with some of the more .."non-intuitive" (?) fingerings like paim, etc. Matteson has some nice arpeggio studies, but yours really help to focus on technique by using the open strings. I'll give them a try tonight!
yeah, I first wanted to tackle some arpeggios with right hand only because even if one adds two easy chords on the left hand, sometimes the changes are enough to lose the focus on the right hand. Definitely bringing in the future more advanced versions of it and eventually with left hand included! Wish you a nice practice time with it Tim! 🤗
Thank you very much! The tips and exercise are really useful! I wonder if you could also talk a bit about the right hand when playing as Chord instead of Arpeggio? (Notes been played at the same time, or as comping). Would love to hear your perspective/tips on that! Thanks!
@@MerceFont Thank you very much for the reply!! I'm sorry if I wasn't clear. But I'm not talking about arpeggio/broken chord anymore although I commended on this video😅.. I would like to talk about playing chord I watched some other videos where you mentioned to try to move the finger from the knuckle (first joint) instead of middle joint, and we know the benifit of doing it. It might be out of topic, but I have been practicing comping samba. And I noticed when it got really fast, it is very hard to move from the knuckle, i tend to move from middle joint again. And I think it is because that kind of comping involves like continuously same fingers playing, just not like alternate finger playing (not sure if you get what i mean😅?) * But I'm not really asking how to play samba here, but would like to know your perspective when playing chord, what is worth to be aware of. For instance, the relationship between your thumb (bass) and your fingers (chord); how do you minimize your movement but still having a good tone; how do you keep your hand firm enough to move the strings when playing in stead of being moved by the strings; etc Thank you very much! Best *samba "pattern" I was talking about if interested ua-cam.com/video/hopOrS6ohYE/v-deo.html
With so many videos it's hard to find the ones for beginners. I wish there was Beginner Video 1, Beginner Video 2 etc. I'm finding it hard to find the ones specifically for beginners with no experience.
Right hand tension is very common. If you like you can check my tutorial on right hand relaxation. You can do a few easy open strings exercises with a fully relaxed technique so that you slowly can integrate it into your playing.
Please do not use Recaptcha. Recaptcha has veered from their original mandate; all it now does is to make it impossible to get pass the captcha. I’ve already spent like 10 minutes on this captcha and I’m giving up.
@@SxSxG666 It’s not a question of smartness. Recaptcha can run into network errors that take half an hour or more to resolve. Or it can sometimes send you an endless stream of captchas that take 15 mintues or more to finish. If you’ve not seen this consider yourself LUCKY.
I am from India, working with Indian Railway as Sr. Section Engineer. I paid Rs199/- two times ,please ensure me have you received the amount. Good day
It’s easy to neglect or not pay proper attention to the right hand because it often is taken for granted. This neglect is only heard when you progress to higher grades. Your video helps fix this.
Hi Merce, I'm 68, and picking up the clssical lessons lately. I bought a Yamaha GC 3D 1971 and its quality really pushes me to continue. I played the guitar when I was still young but only had time since my retirement to concentrate playing classical. Your lessons are not only extremely helpfu--it goes into the most basic techniques that others do not cover. Besides, your sincerity is infectious. Thank you !!!
I just restarted classical guitar lessons 2 months ago at age 69. I played from ages 9 to 18 and now I have time again to practice.
I am 53. Wanna play classical guitar...but don't know where to start from.....
Great video. Well done. They're absolutely perfect for a brand-new finger picker and awesome warm-ups for any level.
Wonderful! I'm so happy to read the videos are helping other guitarists out there!!! Keep up the good practice and thanks for your feedback 🤗
You're a splendid guitarist and incredibly generous for posting all of this for us. Thank you very much Merce, I appreciate you. I've been playing guitar for 12 years with all of the worst habits -- my left hand only used 3 fingers, my right hand only 2, my posture and thumb position on the left hand was wrong and I never learned full songs.
You're helping me overcome those issues and move into playing classical pieces. Thank you again. You're wonderful!
WOW! Thank you very much Markus!! messages like yous make my day! 😊
I constantly struggle with this! Thanks a lot😊
Your video is exactly what I am looking for. I’ve got too much tension in my right hand and believe this will help me overcome the problem.
Wonderful!
Excellent production of the video. The graphical cues are very well done. I have another exercise to add to my routine.
All your videos are concise and to the point on what to focus. I’m grateful for the effort and passion you bring to your students.
Planting has been a mystery for me. A video on this technique would be welcomed.
Awesome, thank you so much Jose for your feedback!!!! Planting tutorial will be then on the list for the channel! 🤗
You & your music will remain in world forever
Great! Thank you very much and compliments for being such a good teacher!
Beautiful minds produces beautiful things
Your doing a great job
It's so Fruitful for the beginners
Awesome Merce, have been using your workouts to practice the basics of technique that I'd find boring if I was "alone".
haaha Great to hear! Yeah I would have also liked to have such videos back then when I was really working on such exercises! Happy to give you some company during your practice! 🙌🏻😊
Perfect video ! thanks for sharing your lessons !
Glad you like them!
I cut off my nails few days ago, experimenting with lover tuning and arpeggios sounds amazing. I push the string more towards the soundboard and sounds is very full and natural. You can even play tremolo but it's harder to get that brilliance.
Cut off? better use water sand paper the fine one it is much better
Indeed, for a full sound you need to aim inwards! Maybe for you it works better a right hand with very short nails! Every player has different preference on that, so now that you have cut them that short you can easily start to see when it gets too long for you until you find your sweet spot of your best sound and length for all types of pluck (apoyando, tirando, tremolo, arpeggios...)
Thank you for all your effort teaching for free keep up the good work...God Bless, and staysafe...this is more beneficial to Begineer and advance...and most of all beautiful and Pretty instructress...have a nice day Madam
Thank you Bourne!! Wish you a great weekend!
Do you have lessons for middle intermediate players? Thanks
Gracias por compartir tus conocimientos.
De nada Luis! un placer poder ayudar! 😊
Thanks!
Thank you so much!!
Excelente video, muchas gracias por compartir tus conocimientos!
A ti Oscar! espero que te sirva en tu estudio! :)
Thank you very much for all your hard work, I'm sure you're making meaningful difference to many people's playing. Cuold you please make a video to develop the strength and proper coordination and technique of the playing hand Thumb. Thanks in advance.
Will certainly tackle this issue in a future video! Thanks for bringing it up! :)
P-finger left hand caught fire after 1st week of stretch exercise. I went to 7th fret to reduce tension holding positions and thumb returned to normal.
Go up on fret board to 7th position friend, your thumb will thank you for stretch exercise.
Brilliant and practical as always from you Merce! Could you add some cords lines for the left hand to warm it up at the same time? From my beginner level I don't see it done by myself easily. Thanks a lot anyway!
Thank you for the class! It will help a lot in my daily arpeggio studies! Could you do a video about more advanced left hand tecnique like ornaments and glissandos? It's a little more difficult to find content about those tecniques but suddenly they appear in some pieces I try to study but I don't really now exatly how to work on them.
Great suggestion William! It would certainly be very interesting to see how different ornaments are performed in different period music. I keep a note on that!! Thanks for the feedback and I wish you a nice practice time! 🤗
What is the advantage of planting? Is it more accuracy or stability? Also do you have any tips on how to avoid tension in the right hand?
Planting has many advantages for control, articulation, relaxation, so maybe I should be uploading a tutorial on that as many already asked about it... :D Thank you for your feedback! I always keep an eye on what you guys have to say! 😊
This is one of the best classical guitar learning channels on UA-cam.
I've been playing acoustic guitar for some time now but wanted to improve my left hand technique and speed. One thing led to another and now I'm learning classical guitar.
One question: do I need strictly need to buy classical guitar or can I play classical music on acoustic guitar?
Wow, thanks! well, you sure can play it on acoustic if the steel strings don't kill your nails 😆 Sound and tension wise the game changes up a bit though :) thank you for your kind comment and all the best with your classical guitar playing!
Thanks a lot, those exercises you propose are very very helpful and precise !
I do know planting from lesson book. Another time period planting exercise? A lute job? Seems planting gives confidence in chord shaped changes so PLEASE continue advanced planting control education Merce.Thank you Maestro
as soon as I can, I will surely do! 😊
OK today 2/1/2023 reviewed along with pdf and found the variety to finger independance ability manageable with the speed m.m. requested. The left hand is practicing slurs,grace notes,2nd positions,scales, and the metronome is used alot for balance at absolute beginner level.thank you for directing me back to the video lesson today.
Gràcies Mercè! Podries parlar mes sobre el dit polze? Sobre temes com si es fa i com un Moviment circular, si tot el polze esta relaxat o la segona falange ha d’estar activada tot i no fer cap moviment? Em costa i la mà se’m mou massa. Gracies pels videos!
Thank you for this video , good work !!
Can you share advanced arpeggio thank you
Yes for sure! will prepare one soon :)
If I am doing these exercises on an acoustic guitar and I hold the guitar in the non-classical manner, that changes the ergonomics and angles the hand meets the strings. So, should I apply all of your technical advice exactly the same or should I expect to have to adapt the technical advice considering the difference in orientation I have with the acoustic guitar? (Hope that made sense!)
Also, more generally, is it fine for me to follow along your other technique practice videos with acoustic in the normal acoustic position? Or are these techniques classical-specific?
Thanks for the great content!
Is it advisable to use damping technique on level 2?
Thank you for the great lesson. Small remark is that as you have a very soft voice, when you talk together with the gutiar in the background, it is difficult to hear what are you actually talking about. At least for the non-native speaker. :)
Do you play other styles?
As always, thanks a million for the effort and the material you share!! 🙂 You did a video on how to practice scales some time ago. How about a 'play-along' routine on scales as well? 🙋🏻♂️
Great suggestion! Will think of a way to do that as a workout format :)
Excellent lesson have you any advice to lessen or stop the scratchy sound when using fingers on the base strings?
Its all about the tilting movement of the wrist as you approach the bass strings. To avoid the scratchy sound you will need to pluck the strings in a much more vertical position than you need with the trebles.
I’ve had three teachers. None of them taught me about keeping the RH still and plucking from the knuckle. I’m relearning how to play! After working through this video twice, I’ve already noticed my RH is more secure, faster, and more accurate. Woo-hoo!
That is awesome!! I am aware that for classical guitar there are many different schools with different approaches so it might be complicated to know what to follow, but eventually you do the right thing: try out, see if that works/helps your own playing and build your technique with positive and working inputs 😊
@@MerceFont v
Very true. Every day I start with this and play each pattern till it’s smooth. The LH gets all the credit but the RH does at least half the work, so I feel this is really important.
ME HA ENCANTADO! de hecho tomè notas para trabajar técnica de manera organizada con mis alumnos! gracias! me gusta tu proyecto. muchos éxitos!
Genial! buen trabajo con tus alumnos pues! a hacer mucha y buena musica! :)
Muito bom a dica como estudar Arpeggio ,obrigado
Obrigada! 🙏🏻
God Bless you, i will prey for you, this is the real relationship
thank you abu!!! wish you good practice time!
thanks for Your Video
Incredible class valuable tips I will put in my study routine, Congratulations 🙋🏾♂️🙏🏾
Awesome! Thank you!
Wow wow thanks for the class one of the best.
Glad it helped!
A big yes to the workout routine for planting!!! :) Love these workout videos
Yay! Thank you!
I love your content
aw thank you!!! 😊
That was awesome thankyou❤
Glad you enjoyed it!
Thank you very much, wonderful
Glad you liked it!
Hey Merce -- I can't play these chords - they're all broken! :) Seriously though..this is a great technical workout for arpgeggios, esp. with some of the more .."non-intuitive" (?) fingerings like paim, etc. Matteson has some nice arpeggio studies, but yours really help to focus on technique by using the open strings. I'll give them a try tonight!
yeah, I first wanted to tackle some arpeggios with right hand only because even if one adds two easy chords on the left hand, sometimes the changes are enough to lose the focus on the right hand. Definitely bringing in the future more advanced versions of it and eventually with left hand included! Wish you a nice practice time with it Tim! 🤗
I totally messed up at level 3 . Didn't get it which finger goes on which string😢
thank you..this is very helpful
Glad it was helpful!
Hello Madam it’s my favorite topic
😊🙌🏻
Very helpful and thank you🎸
My pleasure!
It’s my favorite one
wonderful!!! more will follow in the future for sure! 😊
Thank you very much! The tips and exercise are really useful!
I wonder if you could also talk a bit about the right hand when playing as Chord instead of Arpeggio? (Notes been played at the same time, or as comping). Would love to hear your perspective/tips on that! Thanks!
Hi joy! What trouble are you experiencing? Sync issues with right-left hand during arpeggio practice?
@@MerceFont Thank you very much for the reply!! I'm sorry if I wasn't clear. But I'm not talking about arpeggio/broken chord anymore although I commended on this video😅.. I would like to talk about playing chord
I watched some other videos where you mentioned to try to move the finger from the knuckle (first joint) instead of middle joint, and we know the benifit of doing it.
It might be out of topic, but I have been practicing comping samba. And I noticed when it got really fast, it is very hard to move from the knuckle, i tend to move from middle joint again. And I think it is because that kind of comping involves like continuously same fingers playing, just not like alternate finger playing (not sure if you get what i mean😅?) *
But I'm not really asking how to play samba here, but would like to know your perspective when playing chord, what is worth to be aware of. For instance, the relationship between your thumb (bass) and your fingers (chord); how do you minimize your movement but still having a good tone; how do you keep your hand firm enough to move the strings when playing in stead of being moved by the strings; etc
Thank you very much!
Best
*samba "pattern" I was talking about if interested
ua-cam.com/video/hopOrS6ohYE/v-deo.html
thank you for your help! I am brand new!
Awesome! Welcome to our guitar family!
It's so Brilliant exercise
😃
Y're the best in thown !! 👌👍🤗
hahahaha thank you dear! never good enough to be the best, there is always room to be better :)
From a true fan Abu Dainn
Peace be upon you Angel Merce font
With so many videos it's hard to find the ones for beginners. I wish there was Beginner Video 1, Beginner Video 2 etc. I'm finding it hard to find the ones specifically for beginners with no experience.
thank you :)
You're welcome!
Thank you
great.
🙏🏻
I'm having the most issue when the thumb is added because it causes the most tension
Right hand tension is very common. If you like you can check my tutorial on right hand relaxation. You can do a few easy open strings exercises with a fully relaxed technique so that you slowly can integrate it into your playing.
PLANTING🤸🤸🤸
I dont have any nails :(
Great
Thank you abu for watching!
Very Helpful - 👌👌👌
Glad it helped!
Ok..... Good
starting soon!!!
Indiana05/29/2022-liked,shared,downloaded PDF
Great...💐💐💐👏👏👏
Thank you! Cheers!
Grazie Merce :-D
Grazie a te Giuseppe!!! 😊
very cool
Please do not use Recaptcha. Recaptcha has veered from their original mandate; all it now does is to make it impossible to get pass the captcha. I’ve already spent like 10 minutes on this captcha and I’m giving up.
Most people are smart enough to make it in less than 10 minutes.
@@SxSxG666 It’s not a question of smartness. Recaptcha can run into network errors that take half an hour or more to resolve. Or it can sometimes send you an endless stream of captchas that take 15 mintues or more to finish. If you’ve not seen this consider yourself LUCKY.
Most of the time just loading the initial screen takes 5 minutes or more.
solid
No clue how pima was supposed to tell me what I was playing, I guess I was supposed to know about arpeggios before the beginner exercise
I am from India, working with Indian Railway as Sr. Section Engineer.
I paid Rs199/- two times ,please ensure me have you received the amount.
Good day
😅
I thought that was tremolo
Tremolo comes a bit later, for complete beginners is best to start with other exercises
Wenn Sie so viel reden dass man von der Gitarre kaum etwas hört handelt es sich wohl mehr um Werbung für das Buch .
This is too hard play electric guitar so much easier and more expressive
You’re clueless 😂😂
Too much speaking ! No need !
It’s actually great instruction about all the subtle details. Excellent teacher imo.
Too much talking over the exercises. too distracting from the fingerings.