Aspects of Technique
Published: 1997 Author: Gordon Crosskey
In 1995 Stephen Kenyon, as editor of the EGTA Journal, invited me to contribute an article to the 1996 edition. This I’m delighted to do, but I must point out that the following article is being presented here in conjunction with a seminar to be held at this year’s EGTA UK conference. It took some time to think of a suitable subject, because I am not a specialist in any one particular area of guitar playing. But having taught the instrument at college level for over thirty years I have by now had the opportunity of experiencing many of the shortcomings, both technical and musical, with which most students arrive at the Royal Northern College of Music to take up their four-year undergraduate course. Therefore it occurred to me to write a short piece on those aspects of technique in which I find students are still very weak, and which should have been developed before college entry, by the students’ mid or even early teens.
Of course, it would be very easy to dream up a list of sophisticated and advanced techniques that any teacher would love to see all their first-year students already possessing, but such a list is likely to be totally unrealistic. Right up to their last year at school many students are frequently undecided between a full-blown course at a music college or opting for a university place, often in subjects other than music. Without carrying out a detailed analysis, I would guess that those students entering music colleges who, from a young age, have had a single-minded intention of going on to a conservatory after leaving school, are the exception rather than the rule. Therefore in this article I have tried to indicate some areas of technique upon which teachers could suggest their students work harder – and I obviously have in mind those pupils in their mid teens who may perhaps be thinking of a career on the guitar, but at this stage are not yet fully committed to the idea.
I recall that a seminar presented by Gilbert Biberian, Michael Lewin and myself took place at the Keele Conference a few years ago on roughly similar lines. But that particular session dealt almost exclusively with the musical, rather than the technical problems of students going to music colleges. Although this article will form the basis of a seminar at this year’s conference, I trust that it is sufficiently detailed and descriptive to stand alone, and will be of some help and guidance to those teachers who may have the odd student likely to go on to music college.
The Left Hand
In my experience the overriding weakness here is slurring technique. This is usually not due to lack of strength in the left hand, but lack of independence in the fingers. This often stems from an inability with downward slurs, on strings other than the first, to slur down onto the fingerboard. In my view, the only way to achieve strong and articulate downward slurs is to use this technique. The baroque-lute style of slur, referred to by Mace as the back fall, where the upper finger is merely lifted off the string with no attempt to pull down onto the fingerboard, is hopelessly inappropriate on the guitar. Obviously, slurring down onto the fingerboard requires control, as the slurring finger inevitably comes to rest against the next higher string, and in a repeated action, such as a trill or turn, care must be taken not to catch this higher string, making it sound.
With upward slurs (i.e. hammers, as many players call them) the usual problem is that there is far too much tension in the slurring finger when being raised prior to making the hammer action. The slurring finger needs to be relaxed when being lifted, as essentially all the player should do is accelerate the fingertip down onto the string – the faster the finger is moving when it hits the string, the stronger the slur will be. I’m sure these points are self-evident to teachers, but I have always been surprised when taking my own students, or those at other conservatories and summer schools, how universal this problem is, and I really think that it is because not enough emphasis is placed on developing a strong and fluent slurring technique with young players in their early teens.
The real problem with most left-hand technique is lack of independence between the fingers, and this manifests itself so obviously in poor slurring. The most common weakness, as we all know, is that of executing downward slurs between finger 4 and 3. Finger 3, which should act as the anchor finger, usually gets pulled in the same direction as the slurring finger. To obviate this, most teachers get the student to think of slightly pushing finger 3 in the opposite direction to that of finger 4 as it makes the slur. In general this works well; but another exercise which I think is valuable is to get the pupil to practise downward slurs very softly, making a minimum of effort and controlling the anchor finger so that it doesn’t move. This will also help those players who may be able to articulate the slur, but who press on far too hard with the anchor finger – a very common problem.
Finally, in regard to slurs, it is possible to devise any number of exercises, from very simple to fiendishly difficult; but what I think is crucial is that any such exercise must be used to improve the independence of left-hand fingers, and should be practised with as much relaxation as possible.
The Right-Hand Thumb
In my experience the most widely underdeveloped aspect of right-hand technique concerns the use of the thumb. This shows up particularly in two ways:
1) lack of agility in damping bass notes
2) inability to execute the apoyando stroke with the thumb
For a good technique it really is necessary to develop a high degree of independence in the right-hand thunb, as ultimately one of the most difficult problems is the damping of notes, usually open-string bass notes. The decision to play a particular piece with the bass line detached, or with damped or staccato effects, can frequently magnify the technical problems horribly! A good example is the third from last bar of Walton’s First Bagatelle, where in my view the open A bass notes should definitely not be allowed to ring over.
One simple way to begin developing independence in the right-hand thunb is to play an arpeggio – let us say an A minor arpeggio in first position, p i m a m i – with the thumb playing the bass A staccato. This can be repeated a few times to set up the tempo. Then in between successive strokes of the thumb on the open A string (which are always staccato), the thumb is made to touch (not to play) the 6th string while the fingers continue to play the rest of the arpeggio. This shouldn’t be very difficult – but now try to make the thumb touch both the open 6th and then the open 4th string before it has to play the next bass A. This has to be done without disturbing the flow of the arpeggio.
Already things are getting more difficult, and more independent control of the thumb is necessary. This is a simple example, but at least it’s somewhere to start. It is certainly not difficult to invent much harder exercises! I’m sure that the whole thrust of the early volumes in the EGTA Series, with the emphasis very much on instilling awareness of note duration – especially in the bass, where the thumb has to damp notes at times – will help players to develop this agility and independence in the right-hand thumb from a younger age.
A competent apoyando technique using the right-hand thumb is another thing that I have repeatedly found to be lacking with so many students. Again I have always found this to be true when teaching abroad, so it would seem the problem is international! It can take time and trouble to develop a good apoyando stroke with the thumb. It may involve reshaping the thumb nail somwhat, or even to what degree the last digit of the thumb should be bent back, etc. However, what is certain is that any player who cannot control the thumb apoyando stroke, where needed, is working with a serious technical handicap. Those dramatic points in music where the bass needs depth or gravity, or sheer power, will always elude that player.
It must be emphasised that the thumb apoyando stroke is by no means always used for loudness. It can often be used softly, as there is a depth of resonance that the tirando stroke can’t match. apoyando with the thumb is not normally a problem when only the thumb is playing. The problem comes when the thumb notes have to be combined with notes played with the fingers – these latter could be either single notes or chords.
Normally if the thumb is playing the bass apoyando the fingers will be playing the upper notes tirando. But there are times when, for dramatic purposes, it is necessary to combine a melody note in the treble played apoyando with a bass note also played apoyando – in other words, a double apoyando.
This technique can present problems for some players and certainly requires practice. I have generally found that a good way to teach the thumb apoyando stroke is to get the student to play three consecutive apoyando notes on the open 6th string using the thumb, leaving the thumb resting against the 5th string after the last note, followed immediately by three notes on the open 1st string played tirando with a m i; and then to ask the student to repeat the exercise, but this time combining the bass and treble notes. In that case, every apoyando bass note has to be played simultaneously with one tirando treble note. This can then be extended to playing two or three treble notes simultaneously with the apoyando bass E. No student ever has a problem playing these note separately! The problem always comes when trying to combine the bass and treble notes. The reason is usually because of tension in the right hand, or because the hand dips forward in an effort to play the thumb apoyando. It is surprising how combining two essentially simple actions can cause such difficulties!
The Rasgueado
The final topic in this article concerns strumming and rasgueado techniques. Here the typical problem is lack of rhythmic control when strumming with the fingers in an outward direction using the backs of the nails. It is usually worst between finger a and m. This results in the strummed rhythms being at best only approximated, and at worst completely mangled! Those typical triplet rhythms that occur for instance in the first movement of Berkeley’s Sonatina should be easy and natural to play, but end up being a nightmare for too many students! I personally think that the best way of playing the very first bar of the Aranjuez Concerto (though this is not a triplet rhythm) is by using the outward strumming technique – e.g. p (or i) a m i, p a m i, etc, where everything is played in an outward direction. However this does certainly need a good deal of control.
My question concering the rasgueado technique is, why is this never taught to students in their teens before they come to college? To be fair, of course there is a variety of ways of playing rasgueado, but just one of the usual flamenco techniques is enough. The ability to execute even a half decent rasgueado (we can never compete with real flamenco players!) can make such a difference to pieces like The Miller’s Dance or Ráfaga, or the last movement of Ponce’s Concerto, and a host of other works.
I normally teach the rasgueado by getting the student to strum a six-note chord with the thumb in an upward direction (from string 1 to string 6) with a regular pulse. Then, in between these up-strokes with the thumb, a down-stroke is added, also with the thumb in a crotchet–quaver rhythm (a triplet rhythm with no chord sounding on the middle part of the triplet). Next, the middle part of the triplet can be added by using the i finger strumming in a downward direction, so that the whole sequence is p (up) i (down) p (down) which is then repeated. This gives a triplet rasgueado, which in my view is the best to start with as it is the easiest to learn. The four-note rasgueado can then be acquired, usually without difficulty, simply by adding one more down-stroke either with a or m, so that for the four-note rasgueado the sequence would be p (up) a/m (down) i (down) p (down), etc. The important thing to remember is that with this particular rasgueado the thumb strums upwards on the down-beat of the pulse.
The last strumming technique that I should mention is sometimes referred to as a tremolando, for want of a better word. This is particularly useful for strumming chords consisting of only three of four notes, again with a triplet rhythm. There are two or three variants on this technique, but the one I use consists of strumming outwards with fingers m and i together, and then inwards with fingers m and i separately (m strumming inwards first, followed by i inwards). This technique is very adaptable – for instance it can be played softly, whereas a full rasgueado does not lend itself to quiet playing. By way of example, just two pieces for which it is very suitable are Córdoba and the last variation of Duarte’s Variations on a Catalan Folksong. But of course there are a host of other examples, as the technique is potentially useful for any piece that contains strummed triplet chords.
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I feel that the four aspects of technique cited above – i.e. improvements in left-hand slurring, agility of the right-hand thumb in damping, and control of the right-hand thumb in using the apoyando stroke, together with the various strumming techniques mentioned, especially the rasgueado – are all areas of technique that good young players in their mid teens (or even early teens) should be encouraged to develop. They should not be thought of in any way as advanced techniques, but rather as a normal part of the mechanical equipment of any good pupil, and certainly of all students thinking of possibly going on to music college and making the guitar their career.
Copyright © 1996 by Gordon Crosskey