Classical guitar exercises, and a nylon guitar that sounds like one
A new Classical division with 12 exercises: arpeggios, rest stroke, scales, slurs, tremolo and études by Giuliani and Carcassi. Nylon-string parts get a sound of their own.
The Classical division is open, with 12 exercises for nylon-string guitar. Each is drawn as tab with the right hand's p-i-m-a under every note, opens in the player with the notation shown, and speeds up from 60% of its goal tempo as you play. They're played to the metronome alone, without drums.
- Right-hand arpeggios. p-a-m-i and p-i-m-i studies through eight bars of chords, in the manner of Giuliani's right-hand studies.
- Free and rest stroke. i and m taking turns, every note twice, and Beethoven's Ode to Joy played with rest strokes over a bass.
- Scales, slurs, tremolo and the barre. G major and A melodic minor in two octaves, slurs between every pair of fingers, the p-a-m-i tremolo, and an arpeggio through barre chords.
- Études. The opening bars of Giuliani's Op. 50 No. 1 and Carcassi's Op. 60 Nos. 1 and 7, checked against their public-domain editions.
Nylon-string guitar parts, in the exercises and in your own scores, used to play with the steel-string acoustic's sound. They now have a sound of their own: a softer, rounder pluck from the fingers, less of the steel string's metallic edge, and a warmer body in a slightly larger room.