Quick update on Recuerdos and the tremolo technique

My daily posts are on the other blog but I'll continue to update this on a weekly basis. It's been over a month and I'm still taking a gradual approach. Mainly working on right hand tremolo technique focusing on evenness of tremolo over speed. I'm still doing speed bursts. I'm still concentrating on evenness of tremolo by setting metronome to sound on every other stroke. I've added pima tremolo practice to mix things up. I recommend spending at least half of your tremolo practice on the 2nd or 3rd string rather than the 1st.

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Update on Recuerdos/Tremolo Progress

Right now, I'm working at 120 bpm on metronome and setting metronome to sound on p and m of p-a-m-i or p-i-m-a. I'm also doing speed bursts at 120 bpm. I practice equally on 1st and 2nd string. I've noticed my tremolo improving on the 2nd string which I'm very happy about since playing tremolo on all but 1st string is noticeably more difficult. I'm working about 20 minutes a day on tremolo technique (right hand only) and another 20 minutes with Reminiscence.

Originally, I had limited this blog to 60 days but the journey is probably going to be closer to 6 months. Important lesson I've learned is evenness is more important than speed.

Aaron's Shearer's "Reminiscence" as a stepping stone to Recuerdos de la Alhambra

Tremolo for Classical Guitar through Recuerdos de la Alhambra

A nice starter piece before entering the full blown Recuerdos fray is Shearer's Reminiscence - copyright 1965 by Franco Columbo, Inc. Not sure if you will find it in any of Shearer's methods as it is marked as a Guitar Solo. It's a great piece to enter the world of tremolo as it does not require a lot of work for the left hand (you can concentrate more on your tremolo technique). The melody is in the bass line rather than in the tremolo in contrast to Recuerdos.

I started it yesterday and today it sounds much better as I have worked out the left hand fingerings. If you can find it, give it a try. Others have suggested a tremolo version of Romanza.

How aware are you of what you really sound like?

What separates good players from average ones may be as simple as differences in self awareness. How aware are of you of what you are playing? I bring this up because I'm currently working on Bach's Fugue from BWV 998. At a recent lesson, it became clear that I had been skipping over trouble spots in practice. I had taken the attitude that these trouble spots would work themselves out over time. Instead, I had been practicing them into the piece so that when I came to the spot(s), there would be a break/pause in the music until I could grab the chord and move on.

My instructor brought up a helpful analogy. In teaching students to strum chords, he would tell them to never let their right hand (strumming hand) slow down so that the left hand could catch up with the next chord. Your better off slowing down the tempo of the entire chord pattern or piece to the point where you can play it without breaking the rhythm.

I mention this so that when you add the left hand to the mix in learning Recuerdos - don't create breaks in the tremolo so that you can take time to grab a difficult chord or left hand fingering. If that's the case then slow down to where you can get the chord/fingering without pausing or breaking the tremolo. Otherwise, you risk learning the piece with the breaks/pauses you are taking.

Mixing it up: confusing the right hand

Learning Tremolo for Classical Guitar through Recuerdos

I decided to really mix it up today in working on my right hand tremolo technique. With the metronome set at 120 and playing with the metronome beats to sound on the first and third strokes, I tried every possible combination I could think of for playing the tremolo -

pami

paim

piam

pima

pmai

pmia

(You can also start on other fingers besides p as well)

After that, I tried piami, and pamimami

If your practice is getting stale, throw in a few of these to test your right hand coordination. pami should seem much easier afterwards.

More links discussing Recuerdos and the Tremolo Technique

Tremolo for Classical Guitar through Recuerdos de la Alhambra

http://www.classicalguitarnews.com/content/view/2042/62/

http://www.dcguitar.org/wgs/articles/good_tremolo.htm

http://www.guitarramagazine.com/GoodTremolo

Get Secrets to Mastering Recuerdos and the Tremolo Technique

Tremolo for Classical Guitar through Recuerdos de la Alhambra

For a short time, buy Secrets to Mastering Recuerdos and the Tremolo Technique now on ebay.

Don't want to sight read the sheet music?

Here it is in tablature.

Recuerdos journey continues

Tremolo for Classical Guitar through Recuerdos de la Alhambra

I continued on with the exercises set forth in January 13 post. Tremolo seems to be evenning out a bit. It's important to listen closely to what you are doing. Don't just do the drills mindlessly.

The Danger of Wanting Too Much Too Soon

Tremolo for Classical Guitar through Recuerdos de la Alhambra

When I first was learning Recuerdos, I wanted to learn it as soon as possible so that I could play it. At that time, the piece was probably beyond my level of guitarmanship (is that even a word?). Okay, how about beyond my proficiency level. But I slogged through it and performed it after "learning" it. I never really mastered the tremolo technique the first time through so here I am working through it again. This time I'm in no hurry to learn the piece because I've been there and kind of done that before, but I also understand the amount of time and effort necessary to devote to learning the tremolo technique. I'm probably looking at 6 months or so.

I wish I had taken that attitude the first time through. If so, I probably wouldn't be relearning it now. Don't get in too much of a hurry. Don't make my mistake. Take your time and do it right the first time.

Journey to Recuerdos de la Alhambra

Learning Tremolo for Classical Guitar through Recuerdos de la Alhambra

I read Douglas Niedt's site on learning the tremolo and it reminded me of a point that we bring up in our publication concerning evenness in the tremolo. We suggest setting the metronome to beat on the p and m strokes. I've noticed in my own practice that my tremolo gets uneven between the a and m fingers. Setting the metronome to beat on both the p and m strokes really helps forge an even tremolo.

With that in mind, I concentrated on that today with the metronome set to 120. I also accented each m stroke and tapped my foot on each m stroke at the same time in order to try to ingrain my sense of pulse.

Niedt's article is a good read. Check it out at the link below.

Recuerdos de la Alhambra - tremolo links

Learning Tremolo for Classical Guitar through Recuerdos de la Alhambra

Nothing to exciting today. I'll just reiterate some tremolo basics -

1 - Breathe normally when playing

2 - Observe, recognize and dissipate tension in left arm, hand and shoulder

3 - Once you feel comfortable on first string spend most of your time practicing tremolo on second string

4 - Don't overdo it - be prepared to double or triple the months you have set aside to learn this technique

Here are some good resources for tremolo advice:

http://www.recuerdosdelaalhambra.com/

http://www.guitarramagazine.com/goodtremolo

http://www.stanleyyates.com/articles/tarrega/recuerd.html

http://philiphii.com/articles/tremolo.html

http://www.delcamp.net/forum

http://www.douglasniedt.citymax.com/MasteringtheTremoloRevised.html

Recuerdos de la Alhambra - find the melody

Learning Tremolo for Classical Guitar through Recuerdos de la Alhambra

I've added our video on recognizing the melody line to start out with future posts on incorporating the left hand. Enjoy!

Speed bursts on the second string

Learning Tremolo for Classical Guitar through Recuerdos de la Alhambra

Once you feel comfortable with the tremolo technique on the first string, move it to the second string. I employ the speed burst method on the 2nd string as well. I also came across another neat way to practice tremolo on one string or with the thumb on another string.

If, for example, you are practicing the tremolo on the first string (with the thumb playing the first string as well) consider using another finger besides the thumb to play the downbeat.

For example, instead of

p-a-m-i-p-a-m-i (with "p" falling on the downbeat) try

a-m-i-p-a-m-i-p (with "a" falling on the downbeat)

Change it up and start with the "m" and "i" as well

Example of speed bursts on 2nd string

Speed bursts captured on audio

Learning Tremolo for Classical Guitar through Recuerdos de la Alhambra

I recorded myself doing some speed bursts as described in Day 6 just so everyone gets the point. Sometimes, it is difficult to express in words exactly what I am doing. As you listen, you will hear progressively longer and longer speed bursts which is what you should build up to. When I get to the point where I am doing really long speed bursts at a decent tempo then it will be time to add the left hand.

Click here to listen to speed bursts

Day 9 - Recuerdos video

Learning Tremolo for Classical Guitar through Recuerdos de la Alhambra


Recuerdos De La Alhambra - video powered by Metacafe

This player does an admirable job of playing Recuerdos. Listen to him play without watching the video. He has the ability to play the tremolo well, but, gradually, you will hear the thumb and the a-m-i become more and more separate. Especially around the 3 minute mark of the video. This emphasizes the amount of endurance as well as conscious relaxation needed to play the piece. I would suggest a bit more rubato and some more dynamic changes in the piece to really bring the performance up a notch or two. Overall, though, a very good job.

With the smooth integration of the thumb and fingers in mind, I began my practicing today.

1 - A great technique for really being able to determine what you are doing is to mute all the strings with the left hand while practicing speed bursts (see day 6 for more info on speed bursts). By muting the strings, you can really hear whether your rhythm is even during the speed bursts. Remember to hear (in your head) an even rhythm before each speed burst. If you can't produce an even rhythm then slow down your tempo or take a break in your practicing.

2 - Yesterday, I spent some time doing speed bursts with the flamenco tremolo or p-i-a-m-i. I may incorporate this into my practice more later to see if that makes the p-a-m-i tremolo easier.

Day 8 - Recuerdos de la Alhambra

Learning Tremolo for Classical Guitar through Recuerdos de la Alhambra

1 - Learn Recuerdos by learning the right hand tremolo technique first - learning the left hand fingerings first will result in attempts to try to integrate both hands to soon.

2 - Get in a nice, relaxed frame of mind and body before practicing. Try yoga to loosen up.

3 - Speed bursts (see day 6 for more info on speed bursts) - right before you do the burst, hear an even separation of the notes (an even rhythm) in your head. Example - while you are playing each note on the beat, hear the even tempo of the speed burst tremolo right before you actually do the speed burst.

4 - Listen for spaces in between the notes as well in order to develop an even tremolo.

5 - If you can't play even tremolo during a speed burst- quit playing the speed burst and go back to playing every note on the beat, hear the even, speed burst tremolo in your head and then try again.

6 - for more volume - don't play on tips of fingers so much, get more of finger involved.

7 - speed bursts on 2nd, 3rd strings can be very helpful

8 - Practice tremolo often with the thumb and fingers as far apart as possible (span of 1st to 6th string)

Day 7 - continued on with speed bursts

Learning Tremolo for Classical Guitar through Recuerdos de la Alhambra

I've become a big fan of the speed burst exercise and have been doing many of the drills on page 7 of our publication with them.

Day 6 - Journey to Recuerdos - speed bursts

Learning Tremolo for Classical Guitar through Recuerdos de la Alhambra

I added a drill to the tremolo practice - speed bursts. I started at 120 bpm with metronome and played a note on each attack (thumb on open 6th string and a-m-i on open 1st string).

After awhile, I began alternating p-a-m-i on each beat (one beat per stroke) with p-a-m-i on a single beat (four strokes per beat). After doing that for awhile, I then would alternate between p-a-m-i on each beat to p-a-m-i on a single beat to p-a-m-i on a single beat and back to p-a-m-i on each beat. I worked up to three consecutive speed bursts in a row. Basically, your speed bursts get longer. This was a great, little drill.

I'll lay it out just so no one is confused

p----a----m----i
beat-beat-beat-beat (hopefully this keeps the formatting)
This designates a beat on each stroke.

speed burst =

p-a-m-i-p-a-m-i
beat-----beat
This designates a beat per tremolo stroke (pami)

Day 5 on journey to Recuerdos

Learning Tremolo for Classical Guitar through Recuerdos de la Alhambra

I made some recordings of some of the drills and hope to have them up tomorrow!

Day 4 on my journey to Recuerdos de la Alhambra

I probably should offer a recap of what I'm doing. It's been years since I learned Recuerdos, and, I thought for purposes of our publication, I would relearn the piece using the methods and teachings set forth by Karl Wohlwend in our guide to Mastering Recuerdos de la Alhambra. I've started by focusing on the right hand as I am familiar with the left hand fingerings for the piece as we set forth in our publication. The point is to work on each hand separately before bringing them together. This will really help speed up learning the piece (that way, the development of the tremolo technique won't suffer as a result of uncertainty over the left hand fingerings and vice versa).

We pick up learning the tremolo technique at page 7 of our guide book, "The Secrets to Mastering Recuerdos de la Alhambra and the Tremolo Technique." We offer a number of suggestions for learning the technique.

1 - Practice the tremolo pattern (p-a-m-i) on one string, using the metronome at a slow tempo, set to click on every attack.

2 - Move this same pattern to each of the other five strings, always working with the metronome.

3 - With a-m-i on the first string, practice the pattern with the thumb on each of the other strings.

4 - Experiment with using the fingers on the second and third strings as well.

5 - We offer a number of drills using different rhythms to emphasize the working relationship between the thumb and the fingers.

A brief summary of my daily progress - began with #1 at 120 bpm but set metronome to click on p and m attacks. Continued this pattern on each of other strings. Followed #3 at same tempo at first but then got daring and did #3 above with metronome set to click on the p attack only. Tried #4 at same tempo but moving to 2nd and 3rd strings at that pace wasn't working so slowed down to half that tempo. Worked through each of the drills at this new tempo and moved drills to 2nd and 3rd strings as well.

I hope to record this sort of practice session soon and listen to it to see how things are sounding. We often hear things differently from behind the guitar. Until tomorrow, keep on truckin'!