William Foden’s Grand Method for Guitar Book 2

A friend let me borrow William Foden’s “Grand Method for Guitar” Book 2 (don’t ask me how he stumbled on this gem). I was interested in it for its 9 page section on the tremolo technique. Foden was one of America’s Pioneers of the Classical Guitar who lived from 1860-1947. He was known as the first American born guitar virtuoso. He teamed with mandolinist Giuseppe Pettine and banjoist Frederick Bacon (each considered leading performers on their respective instruments) to form what later became known as “The Big Trio.” Foden was especially remarkable for his tremolo technique.

In his method, Foden writes of the regular one finger style of tremolo, a one finger style of tremolo where the thumb is placed across the first finger and the finger strikes the string up and down in a plectrum style, the two finger tremolo, the double tremolo (two strings at the same time), the three finger tremolo, the four finger tremolo, and the combination of the tremolo and the trill.

Here are his words on the tremolo trill: “The tremolo and trill are performed simultaneously: that is, the trill is played in the usual manner, while the tremolo alternates from the principal note to the auxiliary note of the trill. It is important, of course, that the tremolo be rapid and uninterrupted for the time value of the note that is trilled; and regardless of the number of notes played tremolo, on either the principal or auxiliary. When occuring on a pause, or the time is retarded, both the tremolo and trill are prolonged, in accordance with the effect desired.”

Classical guitar tips - use common sense when you practice

Learning the tremolo through Recuerdos de la Alhambra

I read a post on a classical guitar forum where a classical guitarist was frustrated with his progress on learning Recuerdos and the tremolo technique. He indicated that he had put in three hours in one day (he didn’t say whether he did this everyday or not) on the piece and the tremolo technique and felt he wasn’t getting anywhere. Boy, that’s a lot of time to spend in one day working on the tremolo technique. My right hand gets pretty tired after 30 minutes and then I need to move on to something else. As with the guitarist that expressed his frustration in the forum, we are all guilty of wanting too much too soon. Look at your time with Recuerdos as a journey that will last several months if not longer. Slow and steady is the way to go and don’t expect noticeable changes in your technique on a daily basis.

I would recommend anywhere from 10 to 45 minutes a day on Recuerdos and the tremolo technique depending on your level of ability. And, most importantly, practice on a regular basis. Practice sessions that last much longer than 45 minutes (on a single piece of music and/or single technique) are generally not productive. Determine what you want to do in your session before you start practicing and work towards accomplishing what you set out. Practice with a purpose and use your common sense. Try to be objective about what you are hearing. Consider studying with a classical guitar instructor if you feel you are not making progress on your own.

Maintain your poker face - classical guitar tips

Oftentimes when we are learning a difficult piece like Recuerdos de la Alhambra or a difficult technique like the tremolo technique, it’s easy to let frustration show itself through our facial expressions. How many times have you found yourself grimacing when you muddle through a difficult section of a piece. Why do we do this? Does this actually help?

I believe it only makes the difficult passage more arduous and impedes the learning process. Grimacing or other facial expressions also create tension that radiates to the neck, shoulders, arms and hands. This tension further slows the learning process. Make it a point to maintain your poker face when working on the tremolo techique, Recuerdos, or any other piece. Doing so will facilitate the learning process by reducing unwanted tension and come in handy during performances. If you don’t give a mistake away or let on that you’re having difficulties, your audience may never know either.

Yoga and its application to classical guitar

I generally make it to my yoga practice once a week. I would like to go more often but I notice that I take less for granted when I only go once a week. I continually notice just how important total body awareness is in the practice of yoga, and every time I realize this it hits me over the head like a completely new discovery. For instance, we were practicing head stands today, and its easy to completely forget about the rest of the body and to only concentrate on the forearms and how much pressure is being put on them to hold this pose. The instructor came over to me and asked me to push my feet up into her hands, pull my sternum and sacrum towards each other, and make some other adjustment which I can’t remember now. What amazed me was the total body awareness that was necessary to successfully perform this pose and any other pose. I had focused in on only one of several areas of my body.

How does this apply to classical guitar? Let’s say you’re working on your tremolo technique in preparation for playing Recuerdos de la Alhambra. Isn’t it amazing how we can practice a technique such as the tremolo and, at the same time, lack being focused or mentally aware of what we are doing or how our bodies are reacting? Are we practicing or just wasting time? I caught myself going through the motions today and then (thankfully) brought my mental awareness around to what I was doing and what my body was doing. It seemed like I was running through deep sand when working on the tremolo technique. So I adjusted my hand and played more on the tips of the fingers. It seemed that trying to produce a loud sound created a choppy tremolo so I played softer. I noticed a lot of tension in my right shoulder, so I relaxed it. Playing softer resulted in less tension as well.

The point is - pay attention to what you are doing: focus in on your practicing. Ask questions, make adjustments, observe what is going on, and pay attention to your body. Otherwise, you are just wasting your time.

Learning the tremolo for classical guitar through Recuerdos de la Alhambra

Please feel free to leave your comments/questions about your own experiences with learning the tremolo technique and/or Recuerdos de la Alhambra. I look forward to participation from others and am interested in your participation. Check back on a regular basis as I add new material almost every day.

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Practicing the tremolo technique when you don’t have much time

For those new to this blog, this is a continuation of my first blog on mastering Recuerdos de la Alhambra and the tremolo technique (located at http://recuerdosdelaalhambra.blogspot.com). In it, I am tracking my progress on Recuerdos and the tremolo technique. So far, I’ve been at it about a month now and wanted to continue my notations on my daily progress here.

I generally like to practice the tremolo technique for about 20 minutes a day and then spend another 20 minutes on Aaron Shearer’s “Reminiscence” (a simpler tremolo piece that I’m using as a stepping stone to Recuerdos). Today, I didn’t have as much time so I spent 10 minutes working on the tremolo technique. I spent all my practice time on the 2nd string. I set the metronome to 125 and had it beat on the p and m strokes. I used my thumb on the 6th string to create the largest distance between my thumb and fingers. At first, I concentrated on evenness of my tremolo by accenting the m finger in my p-a-m-i progression. I then switched it up and did a p-i-m-a progression. I then finished with some speed bursts (all still on the 2nd string - see my January 9 posting on the old blog for discussion of speed bursts) and paid particular attention to the regularity/evenness of my tremolo. If you don’t have much time, I recommend doing something on a daily basis even if only for 10 minutes.