Single String Studies for Classical Guitar

This is an excellent learning tool for both the beginner who has no experience reading music on the guitar, and the advanced student looking to improve their ledger line reading and general knowledge of each string of the guitar. Each exercise concentrates a students attention of one string at a time. This allows a familiarity to form between the written pitch and where it can be found on the guitar along with improving one's "feel" for jumping linearly across the guitar neck. This book is specifically targeted to the classical guitarist who wants to master the full range of his or her instrument. Because guitar literature is usually written using only a few keys and within a limited range this book expands the classical guitarist's command of the entire instrument.Volume one of "Single String Studies" series aims at getting a student proficient at recognizing and playing notes on the guitar. By limiting each exercise to one string the student gains a familiarity with the notes found on each string. This in turn will also help a student to just "feel" where the notes are on each string rather than having to look down at the instrument. Each exercise is accompanied by an audio example. The audio files use midifiles which can be played on a Mac or IBM computer by using a midifileplayer or any sequencer program.Muse Eek Publishing Company also hosts two on-line resources in conjunction with this book. A "Frequently Asked Questions" page (FAQ) is available where students can ask the author questions that may arise as they work. There is also a free "member's section" where book owners can download other files specific to this book and/or other help files to further their music education.The excerpt includes: This book's purpose it to help a student learn the notes on each string of the guitar. There are some definite right and wrong ways to approach this goal. If you are a beginner at trying to read music on the guitar you will find it most challenging. The guitar is unique in that there are so many places to play the same note. For example, the guitar is one of the few instruments that has five middle C's. Example One shows a middle C on the treble clef. Example two shows the five places this note can be found on the guitar. You can easily see that this can present a problem for a guitarist. Just to play one note a decision has to be made on which string to use.To further complicate things the guitar is a transposing instrument sounding one octave below the written note. Therefore, if you see a middle C written on the staff you will play the C on the 3rd fret of the A string (see example 3).Therefore you can see that you are sounding a pitch an octave below any written note when you read guitar music. Many composers do not realize this so you will many times encounter a situation where you have to transpose your part up or down an octave. Just to recap a little, you have 5 actual middle C's pitches on the guitar (see example one) but because the guitar is transposed down one octave you only have one middle C that you play when you read a part written for guitar. Students find this concept to be quite confusing. Therefore here is one more example. If you are reading a part written for guitar it has been transposed. If you see a C written on the third space of the treble clef you can play this note in five places on the guitar. In reality you are sounding a middle C but your middle C pitch is written on the 3rd space of the treble clef when you are reading guitar music.

Table of Contents:
AcknowledgmentsAbout the Author ForewordHow to use this bookSingle String Exercise One: low E string onlySingle String Exercise Two: A string onlySingle String Exercise Three: D string onlySingle String Exercise Four: G string onlySingle String Exercise Five: B string onlySingle String Exercise Six: high E string onlyAll Strings Exercise Seven: all strings

About the Author :
Bruce Arnold (born 1955 in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, USA) is an author, composer, educator and guitarist residing in New York City. His explorations into the applications of 20th century classical theory in contemporary forms such as Rock and Jazz has created a unique compositional and improvisational sound. As a guest artist Arnold has toured Australia, Canada, the Caribbean, Europe, Japan, Mexico, Russia and the United States.His performance and recording activities include work with a wide array of styles. He has played with such diverse musicians as Stuart Hamm, Peter Erskine, Joe Pass, Joe Lovano, Lennie Pickett, Randy Brecker, Stanley Clarke, the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Absolute Ensemble under the baton of Kristjan Jarvi.Bruce Arnold's recording credits include over twenty five CDs and DVDs (on Muse-eek Records, MelBay Recordings, Truefire and other labels), ranging from the standard jazz repertoire to free improvisation to the reinterpretations of classical music with the ensemble Spooky Actions. His compositions are published by Muse Eek Publishing, and MelBay Productions.Mr. Arnold's theoretical works have explored the use of Pitch Class Set Theory within a improvisational setting. He is also written more than 60 music instruction books covering Guitar Pedagogy, Ear Training and Time Studies. He is the director of guitar studies at New York University and Princeton University as well as the creator of the New York University Summer Guitar Intensive He has taught at New England Conservatory of Music, Dartmouth College, Berklee College of Music, New School University, and City College of New York.