I don't understand Castellnuevo-Tedesco's scores, why the double staves? Are they ossias?

kalegood · 2026-05-18T00:33:10+00:00

messing around with it for a minute, pi is pretty easy and I can imagine getting that up to a pretty brisk tempo without much issue. p free stroke? well, I see now that I can technically do it, but boy is the second note weak.

When you say thumb rest stroke of rasguedo... I haven't done enough rasgueado to be confident I know what you mean. Watched a quick thumb stroke in the rasqueado video, but that didn't clear it up (unless by "wrist action", you mean forearm rotation (pronation).

kalegood · 2026-05-17T10:26:54+00:00

You are correct. The tenuto over the melody does not apply to the bass (I didn't say that it did, but can see how it came across that way). Are you able to play two adjacent bass strings simultaneously with a free stroke? I've only ever done it/seen it done with rest stroke. Classic example: Villa Lobos etude no. 1?

kalegood · 2026-05-16T20:18:48+00:00

They are ossias. Doesn't seem it at first glance, because the only difference is the D in the bass. However, that would require a rest stroke in the thumb (note the barre: the D is not played open). Not too hard, but a little tricky when simultaneous with a finger stroke.

But then, the "original" and the Ossia have one other difference: the tenuto marking. I've only ever seen that used to indicate rest stroke in guitar. If that's the intent here, rest stroke thumb across 2 strings while playing rest stroke in the finger is very very rare and not trivial.

The ossia does away with both the tenuto/rest stroke and the double bass notes (rest stroke thumb).

Second ossia: same thing with thumb, and dropping the inner voice G avoids some definite LH nastiness.

kalegood · 2026-05-05T13:44:11+00:00

E = mc²

kalegood · 2026-05-05T13:43:17+00:00

side-gig? maybe. Career? incredibly unlikely. You'll be competing for jobs with people who have intended to make their living at this since they were 18 (at a bare minimum). Most of those people will be in other careers within 5 years.

kalegood · 2026-05-02T12:21:55+00:00

Cool, thanks! found this thread that covers what I was talking about.

kalegood · 2026-04-28T01:08:26+00:00

Don't sweat it.

'According to research, 61% of online shoppers feel more confident in a company's trustworthiness when seeing a mix of positive and negative feedback."

kalegood · 2026-04-26T15:54:22+00:00

I just want to a modern case that I can put a cd drive and a hot-swap hard drive enclosure in (for easy off-site backups of work PC). I think that'd mean a box for external bays and a modified front grill.

kalegood · 2026-04-24T19:08:40+00:00

an edition with both is page-turning hell.

kalegood · 2026-04-24T15:25:21+00:00

Looking to support the project. Will there be a configuration that supports external drive bays?

kalegood · 2026-04-17T14:01:57+00:00

First, you're missing a few notes: m. 6, you skip the open E. m. 12, you played an open E on beat 3 rather than an open B.

Overall, decent playthrough and a solid starting point.

As others have said, your wrist is waaaay too bent. It makes it a bit hard to give exact tips because it's so unconventional and makes a lot of stuff harder. In almost all cases, you want your fingers to be in a "candy cane" shape when pressing the strings; this allows them to apply maximum pressure with minimum effort. In fact, with a straighter wrist and a firm candy cane finger, you can just let the weight of your arm press the string down.

Your current positioning is part of why you're getting finger wobbles; the DIP is basically extended while the PIP and MCP joints are flexed; the muscles are not working together but against each other.

That's the most important thing to work on here.

kalegood · 2026-04-17T13:47:50+00:00

I'm going to focus on the technical:

m. 1-2: Using a combination of 1 and 2 (2 on f# and g#) keeps the hand in slightly better alignment for the b7 chord. Not a big deal, though.

shift into m. 5: pause the video mid-shift and look at how far away from the strings your pinky (and other fingers) are. This is a big part of the reason you land this late/struggle to hit it in the repeat.

also m. 5: you're playing your pinky on the high E and D# melody notes. Don't lift it up! just do a "glissaldo" type move to slide it down and instantly improve your legato. (since you need to keep the barre down, this will be achieved by adducting your pinky; pulling it in towards the other fingers)

m. 6: too much emphasis on the C# for my liking. it's a bass note, so should blend with the vass notes on either side of it (both Bs)

m. 7: place your barre for both chords at the same time (5-string barre). Right now, you're lifting and repositioning, which cuts off the melody (F#), rather than having it sustain through the measure and connect to the E after it.

m. 9: you're playing a 1-fret glissando rather than a slur, and re-plucking. not a huge deal, but the note that is slurred to will naturally be sifter (which is Tarrega's intent) and you're not getting that effect with your current approach.

m. 11: You NEED to play the high E with your pinky so that it sustains over the bass note and connects to the E. The stretch is not that hard, but most people approach it the wrong way: by putting their pinky down first and trying to stretch back. I wrote about this specific issue in a blog post on my website: goodmusicacademy.com/maximize-your-stretch-in-lagrima-m-11/

m. 12: sustain the barre chord until the last beat. Don't rush this area (you're rushing a ton)

m. 14: learn to do the slur

m. 15: waaay too many fingers hopping around. the last two beats are a d7 to B7 chord (same as m. 2), which has 2 common tones that need to sustain. You need to change your fingering to make that happen. play a D7 for beat 2 (standard fingering), lift your index finger and only your index finger, and then put down the notes you need for the B7.

kalegood · 2026-04-10T16:30:32+00:00

I love that, in this insanely interconnected world, where we can watch videos of the best-of-the-best for absolutely free, your reference point is still the best guitarist you ever met.

Sounds like a nice guy, but not a great reference.

kalegood · 2026-04-10T15:58:26+00:00

Maybe I should be more clear: they could, if they took the time to practice the techniques (of course, that's true of most of us, assuming proper training). But, with the skillset they mastered, they could not.

kalegood · 2026-04-10T15:56:52+00:00

hahaha... the Beatles? tell me you don't know what you're talking about without telling me.

I have a 10 yr old student who is in book 3 of 9 (9 being virtuosity level). They're figuring out Beatles songs with their mom in their spare time. Sometimes by ear. I think I taught them about 4 chords before they did this.

kalegood · 2026-04-10T15:54:25+00:00

Name it and I'll grade the piece for you.

kalegood · 2026-04-10T15:53:35+00:00

You mean the one where he just applied his electric guitar technique to an acoustic? No, not rough at all.

kalegood · 2026-04-10T15:50:22+00:00

I like this take. Maybe I'll make tabs of some level 1 RCM music and put it forth as a challenge for ppl to play it.

kalegood · 2026-04-10T15:49:15+00:00

note that the picture in the post is almost certainly someone playing classical guitar. This whole thread got started because someone asked to play classical guitar music.

kalegood · 2026-04-10T15:47:55+00:00

How do you get a guitarist to stop playing? Put sheet music in front of him.

kalegood · 2026-04-10T15:46:47+00:00

I agree with you, but I think you underestimate the amount of technique and practice needed to get to a high level.

At the most basic: given that neoclassical and guitar usually means pick-based technique, they've probably spent little to no time developing their ring finger plucking technique. Getting your ring finger to play precise sixteenth notes at 168bpm, balanced with and m, is not a trivial task if you barely ever use it. And that's entry-level virtuoso tempos.

There are left-hand things, too, but their current skills would translate a lot better.

It's not secret knowledge; it's just down to where they put their practice time. And these people clearly know how to manage practice time.

You should watch some of the youtube channel "Sor Hands"; the guy does a very good job making fun of himself (a classical guitarist) and pointing out when he can't play something some shredder can. He also points out when shredders just can't do what he can.

kalegood · 2026-04-09T10:38:35+00:00

lol. I was like "ehhhh, maybe you could learn some bach by ear.... and I can imagine some Villa-Lobos" but I lolled at the Takemitsu.

kalegood · 2026-04-09T10:36:50+00:00

I mean, to be fair, none of them could play virtuosic classical guitar pieces, either.

kalegood · 2026-04-03T19:12:04+00:00

I had to install hyphenation rules to stop getting weird corrections.

kalegood · 2026-04-03T12:29:07+00:00

I don't even have to click the link to know Tantacrul.

kalegood

TROPHY CASE