Art of Guitar Studio
Art of Guitar Studio
Art of Guitar Studio
How To Practice Guitar: The Magic of Quality over Quantity
At the core of learning to play the guitar well is the quality of time you spend with it. A lot has been said about quantity–about the 10,000 hours of practice you need in order to reach mastery. And about how to organise each of those 10,000 hours. These are both important. But the quality of that time is more important.
The Learning Zone
The book “Talent is Overrated” makes the claim that a specific manner of practicing, called “deliberate practice” is what separates the W.A. Mozarts or Tiger Woods of the world from everyone else is something he calls “deliberate practice.”
Here are the elements of Deliberate Practice:
1. It’s designed specifically to improve performance—designed very specifically, for exactly what needs improvement at the specific stage of development.
The Classical Guitarist With No Bad Habits
Have you heard the legend of the guitarist with no bad habits?
It goes like this: “there was this guy, who my friend used to go to school with, a monster guitarist, who’d been taught so well as a child that he never developed any bad habits!”
Music Theory? Why Should I Care?
I still mumble and stumble a bit with music theory terminology, but that’s because my inclination has always been towards the feeling side of things. I think in the language of feelings, not jargon. I always ask myself, in a very visceral sense, what does this bit of theory mean, in terms of how the music sounds, in terms of how it feels? So why should you care about music theory? What does it do for you? And what does it not do for you?
The True Instrument You Must Learn (according to Dr. Firgus-Fortuna Zelfrumzinger Bones)
10th Year Anniversary Edition:I'm revisiting some of my best old posts on playing guitar. Enjoy! When you learn to play an instrument like the classical guitar there's plenty to worry about. Your hand position.Your other hand position.Coordinating your hands (and your...
Learning Music Theory on the Guitar is Just Crazy
When you panic at the complexity of the fingerboard, you may think that what you have to memorize are a bunch of individual notes and chords, so you can jump to the right one at the right time. That’s true, but on a deeper level, what you really need to learn is the deeper musical shapes those notes follow. And these shapes have a lot more humanity to them, they are what we respond to emotionally, and thus they tend to be easier to learn. They have their full power because of the musical scale from which they spring.
How to Integrate Your Technique with Natural Musical Expressiveness: A Video Lesson on Villa-Lobos Etude 1
10th Year Anniversary Edition:I'm revisiting some of my best old posts on playing guitar. Enjoy! If you really want others to enjoy what you play, you need to be enjoying yourself. They call it self-expression, but how can you fully express yourself if you aren't...
Breaking Through The Technical Obsession Barrier
10th Year Anniversary Edition:I'm revisiting some of my best old posts on playing guitar. Enjoy! Playing classical guitar is technically demanding. There are a lot of hurdles even if you want to play a relatively simple piece well enough for it to be satisfying. The...
Classical Guitar Music: A Rondo by Matteo Carcassi
Matteo Carcassi wrote a lot of charming little short pieces, and here is one that I've not heard many people play. It's so short that it's not even really a Rondo---the main theme only comes back one time. Its form is basically A-B-A. I found it in an obscure...
Classical Guitar Music: El Testament D’Amelia by Miguel LLobet
This is a famously beautiful arrangement of a Catalan folk song, by Romantic Era guitarist/composer Miguel Llobet. He wrote/arranged a set of 13 such songs, and this is probably the most famous one, frequently played as an encore. One of the most lovely special...
Classical Guitar Music: Aire de Milonga by Jose Luis Merlin
If you want to be tunely, practice afternoonly. I have to admit something. I haven't been practicing as much as I would like. I haven't been practicing afternoonly. In fact, I haven't been practicing regularly at all lately. I love practicing, and I love playing. It's...
Classical Guitar Music: Aire de Estilo, by Jose Luis Merlin
There is a whole lot of music sitting around in my studio, and I love nothing more than to rifle through it, find something that suits my inclination for the day, and start reading it. Daily sight-reading is a great idea for developing your skills as a...
How To Practice Guitar: The Magic of Quality over Quantity
At the core of learning to play the guitar well is the quality of time you spend with it. A lot has been said about quantity–about the 10,000 hours of practice you need in order to reach mastery. And about how to organise each of those 10,000 hours. These are both important. But the quality of that time is more important.
The Learning Zone
The book “Talent is Overrated” makes the claim that a specific manner of practicing, called “deliberate practice” is what separates the W.A. Mozarts or Tiger Woods of the world from everyone else is something he calls “deliberate practice.”
Here are the elements of Deliberate Practice:
1. It’s designed specifically to improve performance—designed very specifically, for exactly what needs improvement at the specific stage of development.
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Get 10 Free Video Lessons on Building the Perfect Practice Session
I’m Jay Kauffman, a guitarist, teacher, composer, and illustrator. My training is in classical guitar, and I studied performance at the Cincinnati Conservatory and the Juilliard School of Music. I recently moved to Tucson, Arizona, and am seeking to fill my teaching studio both locally and online. I love teaching guitar, all ages and levels. I teach all popular guitar styles (not jazz.) I also teach children and teens.
My highest goal in teaching is to create and hold a space of inspiration, support and challenge in service of your ongoing improvement.
- I offer several stand-alone online courses, including a technique course that is focused on embodied musicianship.
- This is my latest CD, of original classical guitar compositions illustrated by my own watercolors and accompanied by an evolving storyline.
- If you were brought to this site to find the scores for my Youtube recordings of Mozart’s Eine Kleine Nachtmusik or Rossini’s William Tell Overture, then click those links if you wish to go straight to them. Here is a full listing of my scores available, including published works.
- Another experiment of mine has been the creation of watercolor bookmarks–please check these out, since you just might love them. My hope, in a world full of screens, is to contribute eye-rest, and the human enjoyment of reading physical books.