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.”