I picked up a new book this weekend, The Natural Classical Guitar, by Lee F Ryan. Its a great book, and looks pretty deeply into the both the mental and physical aspects of playing guitar. Most of the material is applicable to any guitarist or musician, though alot of the right hand stuff will be of more use to classical or fingerpicking guitarists.
I got the book after my friend reccomended it quite a few times. I feel my technique, especially in the right hand, could be alot better, which in turn would make my music sound more effortless, improve my tone, and just allow things to flow more. In the past i have tried to get there just by playing my pieces more, and occasionally practicing scales and some of Guillanni’s right hand exercises. Whle this has worked a bit, it has not been a detailed enough approach. I really need to break things down to their basic elements, is my right hand wrist staying flat, am i picking from the large knuckle joint, is my nail shape and tone consistent. Its going to take some discipline, as i will just be playing repetitive single notes or simple scales.
The book breaks down into minute detail everything i feel i need to work on, and provides short sample exercises and musical pasaages where you can apply them. Its not something i would reccomend for the complete beginner, but for someone who has been playing a little while and really wants to get down into the nitty gritty of their technique it might worth looking into.
Anton
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Thanks for the recommendation. About six years ago when I started to seriously get into fingerstyle playing I took lessons from a classical teacher to improve my technique, it was money well spent.
Yea, i am always grateful i ended up studying classical guitar for a few years when i first started out. Those basic student method books helped alot in ingraining good technique from the start. I think its something alot of folks could benefit from, even if they end up wanting to play another style later on.
Right now i have been working through the Play-Relax technique in the Natural Classical Guitar book. Basically doing a free stroke with I finger, returning it to the start position, totally relaxing the hand, then planting with the M finger, and doing the same thing. I think eventually if i can consistently plant at the same spot on my finger all the time i will have a more consistent tone overall.
Anton