Great Guitar Tips - The World's Most Useable Guitar E-Zine ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A free, monthly E-Zine dedicated to providing you with useful information and tips for your guitar playing ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

January 2008 Issue #046 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If you like this E-Zine, please do a friend a big favor and pass it on. If a friend DID forward this to you and if you like what you read, please subscribe by visiting...

http://www.learnclassicalguitar.com/ezine.html

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Table Of Contents

1. News

2. Updated pages/videos

3. Study Point - The Alberti Bass

4. Recommended Resource - Free Online Metronome

5. Don't Forget to add YOUR opinion!

6. This Month's Fr/ee Music

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1. News

Welcome to the January 2008 issue and may I say I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and a happy new year!

I've almost completed changing all the old videos and replacing them with new "close-ups" that I think you'll find are much better for learning the actual monthly music and lessons I provide for you.

I've also added some new videos to old pages that didn't have any before so I hope you get something out of them too.

There's also two brand new pages of information to help you learn your instrument more effectively (see below).

And of course, there's the usual recommended resource for this month and the free monthly music. It's really enjoyable to play...

See below for details of the sheetmusic and video (Don't forget the new password!).

Let's go...

2. Updated Pages & Videos

Indeed, there are two brand new pages & six page changes with seven new videos. Namely...

Slur Study in C by F. Carulli

How to Use a Metronome...

Arpeggio - Close-up of the right hand movement...

Rest Stroke & Free Stroke...

Playing a Trill...

Playing Vibrato...

Playing Pizzicato...

Playing Staccato...

3. Study Point - The Alberti Bass

The Alberti bass is basically a repeated arpeggio and was used by Domenico Alberti who lived a very short life from 1710 to 1740.

He is not one of the well-remembered or popular composers but was a singer, harpsichordist and composer who hailed from Venice in Italy.

Indeed, Alberti used to sing and accompany himself on the harpsichord and was even the Venetian ambassador to Spain in 1736. He studied with another Italian, Antonio Lotti (1667-1740) who became the first organist of St Mark’s Cathedral.

So just what is the Alberti bass? Specifically it is an arpeggiated chord accompaniment that has a repeating pattern of notes of lowest, highest, middle, highest usually in the left hand of the piano but is used in other instruments, including the classical guitar.

Another way of describing the Alberti bass is "Homophonic", which simply means a melodic line supported by a slightly more rhythmic pattern of broken chords.

To say Alberti overused this repeating pattern in his compositions was an understatement. In fact, he didn’t even invent this particular style of harmonisation but it became associated with his name because he used it almost exclusively.

It must’ve made an impression though as musical luminaries no less than Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven employed the Alberti bass in some of their famous compositions.

So how and when is it used in classical guitar?

Well, it was quite popular with the early classical guitarists and composers of the 19th century for example Giuliani in his Divertissement (Opus 78) and Sor often used the Alberti bass as a rhythmic device in his studies, Opus 35, No. 13 is one that springs readily to mind.

Of course, the Alberti Bass is closely related to the arpeggio which is also known as a broken chord and is not that difficult if you follow a proven method of procedure that has stood the test of time.

A common way to perform it is to begin with the thumb and then the fingers used in succession from index to ring finger. But, a guitar arpeggio can have many different finger combinations.

Indeed, it is one of the more frequently used items in the finger style guitar arsenal.

I hope this short discussion of the Alberti bass has made it a little clearer for you.

4. Recommended Resource - Free Online Metronome

5. Don't Forget to add YOUR opinion!

6. This Month's Fr/ee Music

And don't forget the new video page just for YOU. Yes, that's right subscribers to this ezine ONLY get videos of the monthly music.

***IMPORTANT: I change the password monthly so that I can keep the page just for you. This month's password is...

washerin