Israeli guitarist extraordinaire, recently sat down to share some of his thoughts, philosophies, and experience through an interview for Six String Journal readers. From his thoughts on practicing and recording to his influences, this is a fascinating glimpse into the world of a true artist. Tal is available for lessons via skype and can be reached at Personal When did you start playing and why? Or, what drew you to the guitar initially? There was always music in the house as I grew up. My father was a big rock fan, he used to play amateur bass and sing, and when I was 9, he took me to a concert of the legendary band Deep Purple.
It left a huge impression on me. That is when I started taking guitar lessons. Every kid wants to be a rock star.
I, too, was counting on becoming one. I also played a lot of jazz music as a kid until one day a friend said he had a free ticket to a classical guitar concert.
Heitor Villa-Lobos 5 Preludes.pdf - Google Drive.
The performer was Aniello Desiderio. That concert completely blew my mind. The next day I started taking classical guitar lessons and since then, it has become an inseparable part of me. What repertoire do you enjoy playing the most? I enjoy playing a variety of styles, but if I have to choose one, I go for Bach. We have to feel extremely lucky to have Bach as part of our repertoire.
Unfortunately most of the great composers did not write for the guitar, or it is not possible to make descent transcriptions to their music, but the greatest one of all, Johann Sebastian Bach, is very playable and that is a blessing. What guitar or guitars do you perform on?
Over my career, I have played and owned many guitars: Paco Santiago Marin, Daniel Friederich, Simon Marty, Jose Romanillos, Andreas Kirmse, and Andrea Tacchi. Since last year I am playing a beautiful Andrea Tacchi made of Birdseye maple back and sides and a gorgeous piece of cedar top.
The quest after the perfect guitar is a journey of a lifetime. As a matter of fact, there is no perfect guitar, but the ongoing search always fills me with enthusiasm.
I have always played Savarez strings. I use a mix of them: 1 st string nylon, 2 nd and 3 rd carbon. All trebles I use normal tension, while the bases are high tension.
I really like the balance this combination makes. Which guitarists/musicians have had the most influence on you? Wow, I could count so many names, but I’ll try to keep it short. Very naturally some of my teachers have had a great influence on me, Marco Tamayo, Carlo Marchione, Ricardo Gallen, Joaquin Clerch and Costas Cotsiolis and my composition teacher, Adam Stratyevsky. All of them are amazing musicians and have influenced me greatly in different ways. From the non-guitarists, I think about two very special musicians to me.
The violinist Leonidas Kavakos and the pianist Grigory Sokolov. Both make you completely forget that they are playing an instrument, they become music, and that should be the goal of all of us. My great friend, Ariel Mann who is one of the most diverse musicians I have ever met. We grew up together in Israel, and since we were kids, were pushing each-other and explored music day and night.
Today he is living in California and is composing music for Walt Disney. I could think about at least 200 more names but I think we better stop here. Being influenced by others is a most important thing. It helps you build up your own character, and if you are smart, you can take all this influence and make something original out of it. This ´something’ is you!
What recording/s are you most proud of? To be honest, I am never really happy about my recordings. I always think to myself, “Oh, if I had another chance I would do this or that better.” This is just my nature.
I feel that the fantasy in my head is always better than the outcome. I prefer live concerts. What I am trying to say is, when you make a recording, you have to accept that in the eyes of your listeners, this is who you are – for good! You can’t change that. I love changing constantly my interpretation and that makes it difficult to live in peace with recordings.
Technique and Performance How much do you practice? And, do you structure your practice in any particular way? I rarely practice more than 1.5 hours a day. I believe that when a guitarist has explored the instrument enough to understand its anatomy and the relation between body-fingers-guitar, namely developed a good technique, he should not over practice.
In fact, over practicing can harm one’s development and eliminate the joy of making music. Music is a mirror of the soul of the artist, and should express feelings. If someone sits down to practice between four walls, eight hours a day, he can’t have much of a life outside of that room. If there’s not much living, there’s not much to express. Also, I rather spend quality time with my guitar and give every note I play full attention and love. If I do that 8 hours a day, I don’t think I could focus my mind the same way. We as performers, have to educate our mind and fingers to always execute with full commitment, so that in a concert situation, we will feel just like any other day.
If someone is used to practice without full attention, he should not expect a miracle to happen come concert day. One of the worst ways to practice is in front of a TV!! My students know that it is absolutely forbidden. Practicing without focus will make you play concerts out of focus. It is important for me to clarify that as a kid and as a music student, I used to work much more every day. I wanted to play cleaner, faster and just to push myself.
However, as I grew older, I realized, I could never be the cleanest player on earth, nor the fastest but what I could do the best, is be myself. Bring out my expression which is unique to me, the best I can. This concept lowers your stress levels and allows you to be a happier person and actually a better artist.
I do however spend much time with the score (no guitar at hands). This helps me to understand the music better and to develop an interpretation. It also definitely increases a musical fantasy. I think that in general, we guitarists, are too preoccupied with the fingers, and too less with the mind. The music comes from the mind and not from the fingers. I also spend much time thinking of the music and visualizing my repertoire, while on trips, a flight, a train, and also before falling asleep. Do I structure my practice?
I used to do it as a student. Actually writing a diary, and write down times that are devoted to any material I was working on at the time, for example: warm up, scales, arpeggios, and individual phrases that I had trouble with. Today I can tell you with all honesty, I haven’t practiced anything like scales or arpeggios for more than 10 years.
I rather devote my time to the interpretation. I sit down with the score, read it once or twice, thinking on how I would like to play it, visualizing it in my head, and then I take the guitar and try find ways to execute ideas. That procedure really saves time, and make you more confident in your interpretation. Do you deliberately memorize music or have a technique that helps assimilate music into memory? Basically there are three main ways to memorize music.
Fingers (muscle memory), inner hearing (hear the music in your head) and photographic memory. I try to devote time to each, and each of them is kind of a back up plan for the other. If you work on all of them, you are basically covered. Have you published any editions or do you plan to publish your own editions in the future? I haven’t published any editions. If someone is curious or interested enough in my opinion, they can always take lessons with me Tal teaches over skype and can be reached at.
However, some of my own music as a composer, is published by Berben editions. Do you have a favorite drill you use to warm up? When I am at home, sometimes before starting to play, I’ll do a a very short warm up, that includes very slow rasgueados.
And single notes for the left hand with vibrato. All in a slow tempo, just to get the blood flowing into the fingers.
That does not take more than 2 minutes. For concerts, I do need more than that of course. Before concerts I perform an exercise I learned from a pianist friend. He claims that this exercise was invented by Franz Liszt. It is practicing on extremely slow and consistent movements of each of the joints on each finger.
I imagine that a weight is tied to my finger and I have to lift it in an upwards movement. On the down movement, I imagine that the finger has to push a heavy weight down. This is an amazing warm-up exercise, that takes quite long to complete, but when I am done with it, I feel fire in my fingers.
Do you have any pre-concert rituals? I do actually. Like many other musicians I find it very difficult to go on stage without having a banana before. It calms down my mind as well as my stomach.
I also do half an hour of the Liszt warm up mentioned above. I have another habit that is quite terrible: over-polishing my nails until they are too short! Do you do anything to your nails or shape them in a particular way? Each of us has different nail form, different technique, and different sound preference.
That means that each guitarist has to find his or her own nail shape that suits him or her better. With that said, I am following the tradition of creating some kind of a ramp on the left side of the nail. That allows a point of grabbing the string, sliding a bit on it like a bow, and then the point of releasing the string. I do try to give attention to both sides of the nail, and use the qualities of both of them. An important rule of thumb for me is not to have them too long to play rest strokes OR not too short for free strokes. It is a delicate balance!
Advice to Younger Players What single most important piece of advice about practicing would you offer to younger players? Train your mind, at least as much as you train your fingers. Don’t let your fingers lead you, the fingers are your servants not your boss. Be more curious about the music you are working on. And most importantly, Practice with full concentration and passion. Once you feel you are not at your best, just take a break.
More general advice would be: choose your teachers carefully. There are no excuses. In this era, we can even study with teachers from other continents. I teach guitarists from different parts of the world on Skype and it is very useful.
What repertoire do you consider essential for young/conservatory students to assimilate? I consider the music from the classical period, like Giuliani and Carcassi, well suited to learn and develop one’s guitaristic abilities.
These composers offer a bit of everything: melodic lines, simple tonal harmony, arpeggios, scales, a little bit of polyphony, and so on. The music from that period is usually very idiomatic to the instrument, too. Music from the Baroque period, for example, is often too complicated for beginners to establish a healthy connection to the guitar.
However, I think it is also important that the pupils are attracted to the music they learn, so that they want to put the effort and the work into it. Recordings that every young guitarist should be familiar with and why?
Every guitarist should know the historic recordings of Segovia, Bream, and Williams. From the modern guitarists, just to name a few, I like the recordings of Carlo Marchione, Marco Tamayo, and Ricardo Gallen.
I think it is more important to focus on recordings from the great pianists, violinists, orchestras, and opera. Learning from them will be the only way to raise the classical guitar to the level of true classical music. I just came across some newly posted videos of Spanish guitarist extraordinaire, performing Leo Brouwer’s Sonata Nº4 Sonata del Pensador. The piece is dedicated to Ricardo and whether or not this is the premier or not, it is a fabulous performance. Then, as often happens, I find myself watching more videos than I really have time for. There is too much to learn. In the next video, Ricardo gives a masterclass with demonstrations and a tremendous amount of insight.
Some of the topics he discusses relate to using percussive practice in the left hand when playing fast, drawing on the metaphor of the difference between walking and running. When we walk, our feet plant fully as we balance to lift and take the next step. When we run, we are pounding lightly a bit more percussively. Translated back to guitar, if the left hand holds down and luxuriates on the fret, energy is lost and tempo slows. Ricardo plays an excerpt of Villa-Lobos Etude Nº2 to demonstrate (around minute 17). The key point is that because the left hand is acting more percussively when playing fast, part of the sound comes from the left hand, so that the right hand can relax, aiding in speed. Another point he makes (around minute 19) is the unbalanced nature of playing guitar.
Instinctually our hands want to act together (thought on this in a about neural coupling), squeeze together, let go together. When playing softly or piano in the left hand but the right hand plays loudly or forte we must practice compensating for the discrepancy in energy between both hands. These are brilliant points to ponder. Undoubtably, there are more insights but I’m dying to go practice. I was going to write about a warm up sequence that builds right hand endurance, speed, pulse, and legato. It was going to be a good one. But, I walked past my music stand and Heitor Villa-Lobos’s Etude Nº2 was taunting me.
So here are a few more thoughts and approaches I’ve found helpful while working on this over the last few weeks. Right Hand Alone We all know the value in practicing the right hand alone. It allows us to focus on what might be a potential lack of understanding as to where the trouble in a passage lies. Focusing on the right hand also allows us to feel the rhythm correctly without the hindrance of a faulty left hand or a left hand that cannot keep up.
In this particular etude, there are two movements that recur often. Practice these movements or if necessary, build them up to comfortably play them at your target tempo (120+ bpm). Sweeping with p: Cross-string arpeggio with various fingerings: Slow and progressive warm up on these two movements helps develop a more ‘in the pocket’ feel and if you can retain the feel when incorporating the left hand, forces the left hand to behave more reliably. Remind yourself that if you cannot play those movements well at your target tempo, you will simply not be able to play the piece at that speed. So, set that metronome and get to work. Left Hand Without Shifts Though shifting in this piece does not present too many challenges, there are a few.
Practicing a passage without a shift allows us to deconstruct a movement with two potential problems: the change in hand position and the shift. Try playing the first measure with no shift and focus on how it feels. Then, once that feels fluid, incorporate the shift while retaining the fluidity.
Resting the Right Hand Thumb Do you know when and on what strings your thumb rests when not using it? Instead of randomly placing it for stability, find spots to rest it that coincide with the next note it will play. Not always possible but it certainly helps when you can get away with it.
Hope that helps. Stay tuned for the super warm up exercise and another Artist Spotlight.
If you all were inspired (or recovered) from watching whip off Heitor Villa-Lobos’ Etude Nº2, you may find this post helpful. While I was a student at the New England Conservatory, the second half of one of my degree recitals was simply Villa-Lobos’ Twelve Etudes. While some of the etudes are manageable, others require relentless and careful practice, and they all have moments that can fill endless practice hours with frustration. To add to the matter, I was studying with the great and despite all of his valuable advice and help, watching him display what was possible on a regular basis conjured both extreme inspiration and a sense of hopelessness at achieving such a level of comfort with these pieces. Needless to say, the year preceding that recital, I was immersed in a figurative amazonian finger jungle and found my own way of surviving.
For those working on this particular etude, there are a few spots where I found less obvious fingerings less problematic. These solutions are personal but if the spots have been frustrating for any of you, give the following solutions a try. Measure 3 (repeats not counted) In order to increase the resonance, I like having the 3rd and 2nd strings open on this one so I shift to 5th position to enable this. There are a few alternate right hand fingerings to explore but I prefer the 1st. Measures 10-12 In this solution, guide fingers are highlighted in red. While the right hand solution is personal, I like switching to rest-stroke on the highest note of the run.
If yo prefer to play free-stroke, you might choose to switch to 1st position by playing the first note of measure 12 on the 1st string open and using that to shift. The second finger would still work as a great guide in this situation. Measures 21-22 In this example, ending the repeat with a slight alteration makes a noticeable difference in playing measure 22. Again, I’ve included some alternate right hand fingerings for exploration but I prefer the 1st. Hope this helps!
BY RHAYN JOOSTE In this digital era of crafted, “perfect” performances, there is a constant motivation for guitarists to be musically and technically better. Striving to achieve ever-higher plateaus involves playing studies, lots of studies. Therefore, it is worth appraising your approach to learning studies. Are your studies played one after the other, in hopes that the mere process will help improve your technique? This article, focusing on the great Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos’ “Etude No. 1,” will introduce you to the concept of creating “micro studies” of musical material, or “educed etudes.” Hopefully, this approach will improve your technique and give you a new way to look at pieces.
It would be beneficial to have a copy of the full “Etude” on hand. Please note that for bar numbers, this lesson is based on the Max Eschig edition, 1990. OVERVIEW “Etude No. 1” is considered a rite of passage for classical guitarists.
Its demanding perpetual-motion right-hand pattern with its colorful barre chords, is, according to Uruguayan composer/teacher Abel Carlevaro (whom Villa-Lobos admired, and vice versa), meant to create an “atmosphere of harmonic resonance.” The piece inaugurates a set of 12 studies, originally composed for the modern classical guitarist in 1928, and still highly relevant today. On the surface, “Etude No.
1”offers only two technical challenges: a continuous right-hand pattern, and a series of static chords. However, by digging a little deeper into Villa-Lobos’ material, it is possible to bring to light methods of working on independence; sequential planting; touch; equal left-hand strength; and coordination. The approach to these challenges will be split into three main parts: The first deals with mastering and controlling the right-hand fingers; the second, with the independence of the left-hand fingers; and the third, with coordination and fluid execution.
Once all three of those objectives have been attained and no longer pose technical challenges, the work begins on making this study musical. Keep in mind that striving for note clarity while executing this pattern is not easy, so engage each micro study with slow, methodical, and mindful repetition. Ideally, this will allow the fibers in your muscles to retain the information and make it available unconsciously, like your heartbeat.
RIGHT HAND The right hand is the central driving force in this etude due to its moto perpetuo movement. In order for this to be viable over the length of the piece, your hand must be totally relaxed, with no extraneous effort or motion. Apart from having four digits playing the strings, your arm will also need to move forward and back as it descends and ascends from string 6 to string 1. Micro study No.
1 utilizes sequential planting (pre-contact, then play) across open strings. This fosters confidence and fine-touch habits and is crucial in order for this micro study to succeed. The process of rhythmic displacement is used for cementing the finger pattern; play through bar 1 as written, then utilize the rhythms in each bar of line 2 (with the right-hand finger pattern) progressing on to line 3’s 16th notes. Begin at a slow tempo, and increase it when it becomes effortless. MICRO STUDY NO. Advertisement Once the right-hand pattern is undisturbed and internalized, the next goal is finger independence within the sequence. This is achieved through highlighting each finger as it plays ( No.
Highlighting does not mean accenting, thereby using more force; in fact it is the opposite—you will be subtracting force. Think of your fingers as having volume dials: Instead of turning up an individual finger—the “accent”—turn down the other three to reveal the finger.
This is done in sequence, focusing on each string in turn. If primed correctly, it allows the pattern to take on a certain rhythmic swing, which will add a level of authentic sophistication to any interpretation.
MICRO STUDY NO. 2 LEFT HAND The left hand in “Etude No.1” is more often than not static and only changes every two bars, apart from a slurred break in bar 25. So the first item to approach is separating chord shapes from the right-hand pattern. Beginning at bar 1, strum through each chord in the progression, while building in the guide fingers and requisite fingering.
This procedure will make for quicker changes when the tempo picks up, as the fingering will no longer require as much thought. Once the chords are internalized, it is worthwhile to spend some time shifting between them. There should be minimum squeaks on the strings; focus on quick releases and on individual finger placement.
The next micro study, No. 3, aims to train left-hand finger independence, employing the legato run from fret 12 down to fret 2 in bar 25. If practiced with the specific left-hand finger combinations, it will build equal strength across the hand. There are further suggestions below the music for right-hand fingers, once the left hand is comfortable.
These will help foster synchronization. One final suggestion: Use your eyes to pinpoint the required fret before shifting the left hand to it, almost like a laser beam. This micro study comes with a forewarning—it should be played slowly at first, and never more than three repetitions per finger combination, at least until stamina and strength are developed. MICRO STUDY NO. 3 BOTH HANDS The focus of the final micro study ( No.
4) is coordination. As “Etude No.1” must sound fluid to be successful, the chord changes need to be stepped up into the virtuoso realm. Don’t worry—this can be done by cutting down the right-hand notes incrementally, one string at a time, thus speeding up the rate of finger alteration within the chords. MICRO STUDY NO. 4 Key to realizing these changes is placing the left-hand fingers sequentially as the pattern unfolds, not all at once; this cultivates excellent synchronization of both hands.
The blueprint of this micro study can be employed to secure any intricate chord changes within “Etude No. 1.” FINAL REFLECTION The central tenet of this lesson is not about playing the piece end to end, so much as using it to maintain and work on proficiency and technique. The bottom line is this: If segmented and played every day, this approach will enhance and strengthen your technique. From there, your first full performance of “Etude No. 1” should be relatively undemanding..