Classical guitar lessons are almost always taken on a nylon (gut) string guitar. Classical guitar is a finger style genre that dates back 1600 in the Baroque Era. Although a finger style, traditional it is played with the finger nails and not the finger tips themselves. Classical guitar has roots in Flamenco and Spanish styles as well.
The following article will cover some of the techniques and things that could be covered in Classical Guitar Lessons.
*Finger Identification: for the picking hand, right hand if right handed is identified by four letters that represent each finger. The letters are the first letters of there Spanish names. The thumb is “P” for “Pulgar”, first finger or index finger is “I” for “Indice”, second finger or middle finger is “M” for “Mayor”, third finger or ring finger is “A” for “Anular”, and fourth finger or pinky is “C” for “Chiquito”. The pinky finger is not commonly used. The thumb is used for down strokes and the other fingers for up strokes.
*Right hand technique: Picking techniques for the right hand is broke into two techniques. The “Rest Stroke” where the finger after picking a string rests on the next lower string that produces a more pronounced sound. The “Free Stroke” where the finger after picking a string hits nothing and produces a softer sound, this aids in playing fast. “Alternate Picking” is where notes are played without using the same finger twice in a row, usually alternating between the first and middle finger, this also aids in playing fast.
*Posture: Unlike its cousin the steel string acoustic, sometimes called the folk guitar, the classical guitar is played with body resting on the left leg instead of the right. This allows easy reach for all strings and frets. The left foot is also sometimes placed on a small block or stand to elevate the left leg to aid in this.
*Techniques and theory: Other techniques and theory you may learn in classical guitar lessons are; arpeggios, scales including major and natural minor, chords, “Pizzicato” (palm muting), hammer-on & pull-off’s (for legato), natural harmonics, strumming, and vibrato. Learning to read music notation and to identify time and key signatures in all of the positions of the guitar is very important for classical guitar as well. Due to the wider neck of the classical guitar, you may learn many different stretching exercises to help get your hands accustom to the big stretches needed to span the fret board.
As you can see, taking classical guitar lessons could be very tedious. It requires a lot of discipline and time to learn and master all of the techniques of the classical guitar. This article only covered a fraction of what goes into learning it and what can be expected from your classical guitar lessons.