Your Classical Guitar Input Here

expressing music while playing

by Simant Thapa
(Nepal)

Hi Trevor,

I've been playing classical guitar for the past few years but the problem I realized with my playing is I sound more technical than musical i.e my music sounds fade and becomes meaningless.

So I was wondering if you could kindly give me advice to improve my playing. Also if there is any book that can help me please let me know.

Thank you,
Simant Thapa

Hi Simant,

Firstly, don't be too hard on yourself, I think we all go through that feeling that you describe. I'll give you some tips further below but I think this little story might help you...

Some years ago, before I made this website, I recorded a C.D. of classical guitar pieces to sell at a special event for a school I was working in. The money from the C.D. was to go to the school and I was going to just recover the costs of hiring the studio.

Well, all went well I thought, until I got back the master tape from which to make the copies. I was horrified! My sound, to me, was awful and I was really worried that no one would buy the C.D.

The guy who owned and was running the studio was from a very famous rock band in Australia called "Mental As Anything". He said to me at the time that virtually everyone who goes through the recording process went through the same feelings when they first heard themselves back. But after a while that feeling just seems to fade.

I think it's like when you hear your own voice back on a recording and you say to yourself (or even out loud!)... "I just can't sound like that, it just couldn't be me."

Luckily, he was right. The C.D. sounded o.k. after a while and I went on to sell all the copies + I had to make more for the extra demand. I made money for the school, recovered my costs and got a lot of nice comments from people who bought the C.D. That gave me more confidence for the future, especially when I decided to make this website.

If you want to do something practical though I'd suggest you get this book...Classical Guitar Pedagogy

There are three books contained within it. You want to read specifically Book 3 on "Musicianship". That contains the chapters 16-21 and covers subjects such as: musical aesthetics; dynamics; timbre; articulation; phrasing; mental dynamics; mental orchestration; mental practicing; analysis for interpretation.

This book really helped me with my sound, how I understand the music, phrase the music and even how I "feel" the music. It was quite invaluable in my "journey" on classical guitar and I'd highly recommend you read and absorb the ideas if if you want to improve your own sound quality.

I hope this helps.

Kind regards,
Trevor M.