Chords for Lesson: Beginner Tremolo Exercise for Classical Guitar

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_ _ _ _ _ This is a lesson in basic tremolo for the classical guitar.
So as an example for this lesson
I'm going to use exercise number five basic tremolo on open strings from my ebook
_ 20 favorite exercises which is available off of this is classical guitar.com
So the first thing I'm going to do is I'm going to walk you through the exercise and then
just nice and slowly and then I'll go back and I'll give you a few tips on how to play the exercise and
If you want you can just learn from the video for free
or you can go and pick up the ebook off the website and
The ebook includes notes and tablature _ _ _ [A] _
exercises, of course, which there's videos for
_ [C]
So like I said first, I'm just going to walk you through it very slowly
And then we'll go [Abm] back and take a look at it [B] and talk _ _ _ _
[N] So it starts off on the outer strings the low E string the high E string with a [E] basic pattern of E
that's your thumb A
your ring finger M
and your middle finger and I which is your index finger, so _ _
_ Basically like that and then you want to think of it as like a circle that keeps turning
_ _ _ [A] _ _ _ _ _
[D] _ _ _ [G] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [E] _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ [Em] _ _ _ _
[E] _ _ _ _ [A] _ _ _ _
[E] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ [Em] _ _ _
_ _ [E] _ _ _ [Am] _ So
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_ [D] _ _ _ [Em] _ _ _ _
_ _ [E] _ _ _ _ _ _
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as you can see [N] the first half of the exercise
The fingers just stay on the high E string and the thumb just kind of gravitate from string to string
Until [E] you end up on the same string, which is a really great exercise because when you [A] practice tremolo on the same string
[E] _ _ You can hear more clearly
_ [G] Whether there's [N] break between the fingers.
Sometimes it's confusing [E] when the bass strings ringing out all the time _
It's hard to tell
_ _ [N] If there's a delay between the fingers
So a single string is really useful and then the second half of the exercise the thumb stays on the on the low E
And the fingers move down through the strings that gives you kind of a well-rounded idea of what your hand would be doing in tremolo pieces
So it's a little more comprehensive _
Now a couple of ideas about practicing _
I think the first thing that you probably want to look at is sequential planting
That is when you always have one finger planted on the guitar
So first the thumb is planted and then as soon as it [E] plays though
The I don't know if you can see that in the camera, but the a finger plants down on the string _
_ so he's planting the a finger then planting the M finger then planting the I finger then planting the thumb finger then it's
Always one finger is planted one after the other
_ _ _ _ _ So _
_ The _ _ _ _ good thing about it is it [N] trains your fingers to be in the correct place
_ For the next note at all times
It also is great for your speed training because if you finger in the right place before you have to play obviously your you'll be able
to play it quicker
[E] _ so you'd go through the
_ _ _ [A] exercise like that _ _
_ _ _ [G] _ _ _ _
Just with nice [N] heavy plants very secure very organized and then of course switch and go to [F] just complete the gato [E] without planting _ _
_ [A] _ _ _ _ _ [D] _
[N] I
Actually practice the idea
_ Keep in mind that in tremolo often the [E] upper voice
[Dm] The repeated notes and the fingers that's the melody like the idea of caramel [N] is really to create the illusion of the sustained
Melody on the top.
That's usually the case
[E] So you want to make sure you're thinking of this as like a continuous melody
[A] _ like this _ [E] except that _
It's _ repeating itself.
So that sustain [A] is included
_ _ [N] So you can go through with sequential planting.
The other thing is about make sure to [E] practice really slowly
Or _
[A] _ _ _ _ [E] if you're doing legato, _ _ _ [A] _ _ _ _
[E] you know, you want practice really slowly [A] to gain [G] control
A lot of people [F] go through tremolo exercises [E] blazing fast.
You know, they do like
_ [A] _
_ [G] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [D] _ _ [A] They do this [C] blazing [F] fast up it's not very even and even like there I was going a little bit fast
It's like not very clear on all the notes not very refined
So whether you're practicing a [E] tremolo piece
Or [Em] _ _ _ _ _
[E] you're just an exercise go nice and slow
And _ [Em] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [N] just like make sure that you're pacing it and making it nice and even
now one other thing is that there's lots of ways to like do correction exercises if your tremolo is sloppy or uneven and
In the post on the article, which there's a link in the bottom of YouTube
you can check out some of the books that have extensive exercises, _ _ _ _ _ but _ a
Big problem with students is often like the there's a delay between the thumb and the a finger.
[E] So it's like thumb
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_ [G] _ _ _ _ [N] One possible way of correcting that if you can make up your own exercises if that's where the delay is occurring
So between the thumb and the a finger try [E] putting those two together
_ [A] _
_ You [G] _ _ _ _ _
practice [E] planting those together that will encourage this finger to be more ready for the next note
_ _ [A] _ _ _
_ _ [Em] _ _ _ _ _ [A] _
_ _ [G] _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [E] And you know no matter what speed [N] you're going to make sure you're working on making your tremolo even so you can always be improving
_ I think that's most of the things I wanted to cover.
But again, this is kind of an introduction to tremolo
for the beginner or intermediate player and
It's just a way of like work
It's like a workout for the hand and all the different places that you might _ _ _ but [F] you can check out those other books with other suggestions _
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