Tag Archives: flamenco guitar

Beginners Guitar Articles, Melbourne Guitar Lessons

5 questions Beginner guitar

How to find the notes on the guitar fretboard?

Musical notes represent sounds of definite pitch. When we perform, we are constantly searching for sounds and notes, there fore, we need to learn how to find them on the guitar fretboard.

How to find notes on the guitar fretboard

We generally will not remember, with precision, where they are, by solely memorising, visually the position, or by using any form of logic. You will remember where to find a sound, better said a combination of notes, as no note comes alone, by identifying the sound previous to its location on the guitar fretboard.

Once you are able to sing what you want to play, you will be ready to find the sound on the guitar. All groups of sounds, phrases, melodies, passages, are generally in a specific tonal centre . This means, that the note you are looking for, will be one, of more or less, seven notes to choose from.

Why sing before you play?

At the Creative Guitar School, I will teach you where to find the notes by learning the scale patterns, but above all, how to find the desired note effectively, by recognising its pitch, and singing it before you play it on the guitar fretboard.

Further more, the pitch on the guitar fretboard can increase in different directions. If you first understand that the sound you are looking for, is going up or down in pitch, then you will not be confused, by which direction you take on the guitar, to find this increase of pitch.

In our first lesson, of all beginners guitar courses, we learn all the notes of the C scale, on all strings. We learn them quickly, by singing and naming them in tempo. We quickly identify the distance between notes, and understand the concept of semi tones and tones.

I strongly urge all students, to repeat this exercise daily, in tempo, to get quickly acquainted with the sound, and as a consequence the notes on the guitar fretboard.

When you practice guitar, please keep in mind that all exercises must be repeated daily, to ensure you can properly memorise the task. However, repetition can sometimes be tiring. Do not worry, I am there for you, to give you new weekly challenges, and to modify any exercise, so you may maintain your constant interest in your daily practice routine .

Why do we learn chords on the guitar?

Not all musical instruments can play chords, however, it is presumed that beginner students, first must learn to play chords on the guitar.

A chord is only part of the tools we can use, to create the accompaniment for a song. A song has tempo, groove, melody, background lines, bass lines, harmony and sections. We need to learn all the basic tools, required to play a song from the beginning to the end. A song is really a melody, the vocal line, and all the rest are tools, to help that vocal line come alive.

Chords can be used to define the groove of a song. A drummer definer the groove with sounds that are not specific lyrical pitches, a bass defines the groove by playing melodic lines in the low register, that define the chords.

As a guitarist, when you play a chord, you define the groove of the song, with more than one note at a time, and since the difference in between chords, create changes in intensity, we get a sort of flow, a forward motion in our playing.

However, we also need to learn to play melodies, the vocal line, which is what the song is about. At the Creative Guitar School, you will learn how to play chords, create your own rhythms and especially, learn how to play the melody of the song, and create variations, to keep the flow going.

The melody, the vocal part with no lyrics, is the essence of a song. You need to master how to play melodies immediately, to avoid frustration, and to avoid getting stuck, in what to do on the guitar.

How to create strumming patterns?

At the Creative Guitar School, l I teach you how to develop your own strumming patterns. For such, you only need to know the ingredients of the patterns which are: the subdivisions of the beat , accents, how to identify a groove and reproduce it.

You will be surprised on how quick you are able to create your own powerful grooves and strumming patterns. This is must for all your musical productions.

However, you need constant practice in your daily routine to achieve the musical goal with satisfaction. You must strive to always play in tempo, as such will reduce the time you will take to learn. It helps focus and reduces unnecessary, never ending repetitions. The more you play in tempo, the quicker you will learn .

When should I start concentrating on technique?

In the initial stages of your learning, you must be able to identify melodic values, rhythmic patterns, understand song structure, maintain a tempo, ect.

Once you are efficient in the basic musical knowledge, then you will be ready to develop speed, accuracy and  guitar technique to help you further your expression.

Technique, may come naturally, by completing the exercises and learning of all songs. However, as a teacher, I will quickly identify your learning obstacles, which we all have, and I will give exercises to overcome specific technical difficulties.

In order to improve your technique, you must practice at the slowest speed possible, anticipating position change and sound. You must try to avoid, to place your finger in any position, if your are not sure of the sound you are looking for. Please, have first, the sound you want to reproduce, in your mind, sing it, and then place your finger where you believe that sound is. If you do not have the sound in your head, you will not remember where to find it again.

This obstacle may be overcome by reading, but reading may block our capability of hearing the sound. When we read, we follow placement and tempo instructions, and in the early stages of our guitra learning, we will not hear the sound until we have played it. The process of learning can be daunting and very frustrating.

I already know my scales, what is next?

Scales are groups of 7notes that identify a tonal centre, the resting point of a song. The scale is a tool we use to make melodies, to create bass lines, to improvise, to create variations of chords, to create fill . In other words learn the scale and start playing . The scale will give the location knowledge, where the sounds are, that you are looking for on the guitar.

You will need to learn how to create melodies, bass lines, melodic harmonic groove. At the Creative Guitar School I will teach you how to have never ending fun, with this beautiful instrument in all styles of music, either if it is jazz, rock, blues, funk, flamenco .

Please remember that all students at all levels regularly must compose and record their song at my Recording Studio.

I would like to invite you all to my upcoming concerts in Melbourne and beyond.

How to play the guitar articles, Melbourne Guitar Lessons

 Guitar Learning Solutions

 Guitar Learning Solutions

Do you fit in this profile ?

Are you looking for solutions to any of the following guitar learning problems to play the guitar?

  • So you know how to play some chords, you have learnt some phrases and licks from the internet, you have been playing for years, but still cannot make sense of where to go next.
  • You have a song you love to play, and feel you want to say more with it, but you do not know how.
  • You know a chord is not quite right, in the song, but do not know what other options you have to make it sound right.
  • You have reached the stage that your C, D, Dm, G, and F chords do not do the trick anymore .
  • You have read a lot of guitar theory books,  but still cannot make sense of it.
  • You would love to play with others, but your require skills on how to do it.
  • You ponder on how other guitarists can make a C chord sound so good.
  • You can play on your own, but cannot follow a song for its entire length on you tube.
  • You can figure out, more or less a lick, but cannot figure out how to create your own.
  • You hear some melodies in your head and would like to know how to turn those melodies into a song.
  • You  play in a band and you want to do more than just cover a song. You want to do play your own solo, grooves, riffs and make the song flow with your own emotion.
  • You would like to play on your own, a pop song and play the lyrical line at the same time . How do you play chords and melody at the same time ?
  • You need to sound more bluesy but cannot figure out how.

These are some of the guitar learning problems my intermediate guitar students have. The guitar, at the early stages is fairly easy to learn, since we generally only learn some chords. But all intermediate students face some of the above concerns, when they want more out of their playing.

The guitar learning problems we face, can be a result of internet learning from other guitarists who may also be in the same loop.

What are your guitar learning problems

The solution

The solution, to all the above is, to understand that when we play a song, we must know the melody, the structure and the chords. We must have all the necessary tools to achieve intense emotion both in our interpretation of the melody, or the accompaniment. And last, but not least, only if we have the melody present at all times in our head, we will be able to develop the structure efficiently.

If you can sing it, you can play it 

The less we think about what we are playing,  the more we will be able to perform. The more we are able to hear what is coming next, the more we will be able to enjoy it. No matter how many chords, scales, arpeggios, melody, licks we know, if we are not able to hear the underlining fabrics of the song, we will not be able to play efficiently.

All that you know must fall in sync with a chordal sequence, which in turn generally is  the consequence of a melody.

We will not remember a song by only memorising the chords. We must be able to hear the melody of the song. In order to hear we must be able to sing. In our early stages, it is not necessary to sing in tune, but  we must somehow have the concept in our head, if the sound is going up or down.  The sooner we can, more or less, sing what we want to play, the sooner we will play with ease. No matter how much technique we persist on, if we are not able to hear what we wish to do, we will end up with possible anxiety, muscle cramps, boredom and intense frustration.

You must sync to a tempo

We hear and we remember because the music falls in relation to a time frame. All we play, on our guitar, has to fall in sync with a tempo, with-a  time clock.  We  really do not have to think to much about what we want to do. Thus, the more we concentrate on the tempo, the easier it will become.

Memory and emotional awareness

We will be able le to memorise music, if we are able to understand consciously and classify the emotional intensity of the passage. We generally do not remember chords but  remember the feeling they produce. For example, if you feel a chord with a lot of tension, it will be probably be a dominant.

Also, we all must be aware that chords do not create static emotional categories. When we play a chord, we must create a change in its intensity if not, i will sound boring.

Music make sense when it flows. In the same manner, in nature, water flows because of a difference in pressure, electricity flows between opposite polarities, winds are created by changes of pressure.  Likewie, music comes alive, only we hear and portray these variations in pressure, in emotion or intensity.

All my intermediate and advance guitar lessons and courses, will get the guitar students on the right track,  to pursue their goals.

Styles

In all the above, you will notice that I have not mentioned the concept of style. A style like jazz guitar, blues guitar, flamenco guitar  is just a manner of how we organise the musical vocabulary together.  All of the previous concepts are the same for all styles. Music is like a language . All languages express, communicate and serve the same purpose. What changes between different languages, is how the alphabet is put together and how we use it.

All musical styes share the same concepts of tempo, structure melody, chords and intensity. A style will become easy to learn, once we have all the previous issues resolved, as we then only have to identify the particularity of the style .

Blues, for example, is a structure where we generally try to make major chords sound minor. The more minor we make them sound, the more blues we get. And the more we move away harmonically from the resting point of the song, the more we will need to play more blues sound, so as to maintain the style

In all guitar lessons and courses I develop the fundamentals of learning to help identify the characteristic of each style.

Please refer to the following link to view my music production services  and  music production educational blog.

Creativity leads to well being, Must Read

Creative guitar improvisation

Creative guitar improvisation

Does creativity thrive from the need to organise the chaos in material life?  Our lives are structured in a manner where improvisation, sometimes,  cannot fit into our daily schedules.  I personally,  just feel great when I am able to sit down with the guitar, play what I wish, and express what comes to my mind.

I invite you,  to share with all of us, your creative guitar improvisation at our Guitar Social Club.

Creative guitar improvisation

All students, including beginners at the Melbourne Guitar School,  can participate in group ensembles. You will be immersed in creating music in a social environment, sharing your musical thoughts with other like minded music lovers. The Creative Guitar Social Club organisers frequent retreats to further develop musical skills and consequent creativity.

Students learn skills by completing the course outlines that may be found on the website.  At present, courses are in their 5th week; new courses will be starting on the 2nd week of June. There are still two openings for Thursdays at 6 p.m and 7 p.m,  for level 1 , and on Thursdays at 8 p.m,  for level 4.

Please send me an email, if you would like further information on all our courses and creative guitar improvisation.

How to be creative in your single note guitar solo

In a guitar solo, we may outline a chordal progression, or reharmonisation of such.  One way of approaching a solo is to create a solid learning method focused on the aural understanding of the harmonic context.

I love to get acquainted, with any given tune or harmonic progression, by creating melodic lines that are a diatonic step away between them. These lines define the harmonic intention of my solo.

I also love to sing the bass lines and at the same time play these melodic lines.  After a few  practice sessions, I reach a point where I have a thorough understanding of the harmonic content. I am then able to modify, define, anticipate, delay or reharmonise such based upon the intention I wish to portray in my solo.

At the Melbourne Creative Guitar School I cater for all levels of learning. I believe music should help our thoughts flow. This ease of emotions will produce great personal satisfaction.

Please join us .

Melbourne concerts and events

During the following months,  I will be producing my yearly Melbourne Concert 2017 series, at the Armadale Uniting Church. At these concerts, I will share with the audience my latest musical creations, in an intimate musical setting. Please take a peek at my latest releases.

Book Full Melbourne Concerts: Thomas Lorenzo  2017

  • July 28 at 7pm
  • August  25 at 7pm
  • September 29 at 7pm
  • October 27 at 8pm
  • November 24 at 8pm

Where:
Armadale Uniting Church 86A Kooyong Road, Armadale, VIC, 3143 (03) 9509 8958

Tickets: $ 30 ( General)

Melbourne flamenco guitars for sale

Back in the year 2007, I spent a few days in Madrid, Spain,  auditioning all the guitars, available at one of the Hermanos Conde Guitar Shop.

In the end , I finally selected the flamenco guitar model which I have on sale now. I selected this model,  based upon its timbre,  projection and the overall spectrum, in relation to the room sound.

This guitar emanates sound in all directions. The luthier created a guitar with extremely well balanced mid frequencies . They allow for extreme clarity,  in the projection of sound, in an ensemble setting.

Therefore, ff you would like to audition this guitar,  please send me an email.

Pro Session Guitarists for hire 

Enhance the lyrical character of your music by adding the Spanish guitar to your arrangement. Your musical creations will over shine others.

Check out my music production services, Pro Session Guitarists for hire, for songwriters; my past and present projects. Experience how the flamenco guitar can enhance your desired emotions, that your compositions truly deserve.

Libros de Música

My textbook on  arranging and orchestration, in the Spanish language is called:  Libros de Música,  El Arreglo Un Puzzle de Expresión Musical. This book compiles, in it’s 483 pages, contemporary arranging techniques , which I classify as  tools,  to help the arranger and composer,  understand their creations and deliver them to the audience,  with the utmost harmonic and melodic expression, in relation to the chosen  style .