Group 1
Improve your tremolo!
Tremolo is one of the defining techniques for classical guitar! Although not used very often in the repertoire, some of the most iconic pieces employ it to create a beautiful singing melody above an accompaniment pattern.
Fellow Participants in Group 1:
Eric Phillips
Blaise Laflamme
peter hancock
Nora Torres-Nagel
joosje
Emma
Rachel Holmes
Bill Young
Carlos Calderon
Brett Gilbert
Robert
Some tonebase productions to get you started
- 8 Steps To A Perfect Tremolo Course by Stephanie Jones
- Scott Tennant - On Tremolo
- Scott Tennant - Recuerdos de la Alhambra
- Thomas Viloteau - On Tremolo
- Artyom Dervoed - Tremolo
How to get the most out of this course
- Start by watching the introduction video and practice the exercises given in the video.
- Write a post with your experiences with tremolo.
- At the same time, start practicing the first eight bars of "Recuerdos de la Alhambra". If you are new to the piece, begin with a chord reduction as presented in Scott's workbook on Recuerdos.
- Share two videos per week and help your course partners through feedback on their submissions!
Zoom Check-In: Friday, May 20th at 8 pm CET (11 am PT)
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2nd update for Week 1.
Practicing everyday trying to get the correct technique but still have to concentrate on every stroke and hoping it will eventually become automatic.
Tempo was too fast in the video, but I always play too fast when recording. I need to take a break for a few days but will come back fresh on Sunday to see everyone's updates and start practicing for week 2!
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Brett Gilbert Fantastic, Brett, keep it up! But keep the tempo down! Some advices on how to tame your hand and something about positioning in the video!
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Martin Thank you so much!
This gives me a lot of focus on for the 2nd week of practice. I like how the thunder came up at the end 
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Brett Gilbert Hi Brett, for me your hand looks more sure than in the first video, but still the relaxation ...is not so clear....isn`t it?
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Hi Martin , this is a very short (first few bars) video I made as a quick follow-up just to see if this is going in the right direction. Also a question: at what point can we start to speed up and by how much? I'm assuming I won't be able to reach "full speed" next week but wondering what a good goal would be for speed. Thank you!
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Brett Gilbert I see a lot of movement in the wrist, the video I recorded for Robert should help you as well!
I'd start to establish a very slow baseline and improve by 1-2 bpm per day! Your hand won't notice the difference, but it'll improve over a longer period of time in a more sustained way!
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Brett Gilbert bravo, the fingers seem relaxing, I can see a lot of improvement I could appreciate it better in the first video, The movement still doesn’t seem natural, but soon… good rhythm . I do practice with the metronome on every bit and it makes it easier and slower .
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Hi, today I am submitting some videos: pami, pima, pami staccato (different camera angles).
Unfortunately, I had to have a break of playing and practicing of about 1 year and still I cannot play constantly more than 10 or 12 minutes... However, it was fun now - but also very frustrating. I cannot feel or see relaxation in the fingers, in particular in a finger. It needs so much focus to bring the finger back - not an automated movement or relaxation, at least it felt not like that at the moment. So I think this will be long but interesting and finally fruitful way.
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Robert Hey Robert, your assignment videos are in private mode so we can't watch them... can you set them «unlisted»?
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Blaise Laflamme aaaah, I forgot to set that, sorry for that! Thanks for that hint! I set them to "unlisted" now.
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Robert Hi Robert, here are some ideas to kick-start relaxation! I hope you'll excuse the poor quality, I've recorded that on my Ipad!
Tremolo Group 1 waiting for your comments here
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Martin Thank you so much for your input! Ipad quality is totally ok, cause I can hear you clearly and see all the important movements of your fingers.
Content is very interesting - and I will immediately try that this evening after work, and hopefully can record then tomorrow latest. Just a question regarding the one-finger-relaxation while having the thumb placed on string 6 or 5: I see that if you - for example - play a "inside the palm" and make a break there, m and i are also moving. So I should not strive for moving a (or m or i) alone? Or does it simply not matter in that exercise?
Again: thank you!! -
Robert That is an extremely important point as I haven't made it clear! When you're hand is absolutely relaxed, the rest of your hand will go with the engaged finger and that is totally fine! Don't try to force the rest of the fingers to stay in their position. It's about engaging a single finger which doesn't mean that the other fingers won't move in sympathy! Absolute relaxation is the key, then you will be able to engage each finger from a relaxed state no matter the tempo!
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Martin Ok, thanks for that very important clarification!
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Robert Hi Robert! in the first two videos, at the beginning I do not see the relaxation but after a while your fingers show a little of the spring effect, but not in an homogeneous way. Your hand seems very stable and with a nice position. With the staccatto I see less relaxation than before and the tempo tends to increase....Looking your hand, does not seem that you are having big problems....I do not have the feeling that you are thinking a lot before playing....it seems "easy". I did not read yet Martin comments. Don`t give up!
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Nora Torres-Nagel Hi Nora, thanks for your comments! At the moment I am thinking a lot during these exercises for the relaxation. It is not that easy at the moment for me but it is good to read that it looks easy. :)
You are right, I am getting faster with tempo during one exercise, maybe in order to finish it quickly ;-). However, I was aware of that while playing and I will try to avoid it next time. And I also feel that it is not homogenous. Some movements are not relaxed, then I realize that and try to relax with "spring effect"...
I do not give up. :-)
Thanks again. -
@Robert I agree with you Robert it was an eye opener for me when I saw Martin work like that. It helped me a lot.
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Robert thank you . I have heard yours and Martin’s video. I think you will achieve it very very soon. Your hand position is good for the tremolo and I thought your fingers were relaxed plenty of times. You are doing great I think
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Emma Thanks for your motivating comment!
I wanted to record yesterday but then I had a small "accident" with one finger. Hope that I can do it within the next couple of hours.
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Zoom Check-In Today at 11 am PT, 8pm CET
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Martin i am already waiting !!!!!
very excited!!!
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Martin nothing happens... bist du da Martin?
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Martin Sorry, I was not able to make it in time. Hope you all had a great Zoom meeting. Thanks to Martin for this great effort to manage this workshop with replies and even a live interactive Zoom meeting.
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Hello, I finally managed to do a video for the assignments. First the sound is terrible... I'm splitting the works space from the practice studio and the take is from my iPad in an empty room...
... I'll try to do best next time when the studio is more organized. As I said before in a comment it's a mind shift to ensure each finger complete the action not within a larger one. I don't feel any apparent tension and my fingers seems to bounce back most of the time but I naturally use a combined fixation for my finger movement so the base of the finger give a small impulsion and the next phalanx complete the movement. Lets see what will be the end result!! -
Blaise Laflamme Thank you! I will have a similar quality as all my equipment will be out for the whole week, haha! I would recommend having a little longer period of touch before you hit the string. This will round your tone!
It's fascinating, I've already talked about that, but pima usually works slightly better as we're working on that combination on a blank page!
Tremolo Group 1 don't forget to comment on each other's submissions
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Martin yeah thanks for the tip, and for sure any new combination not conditioned by previous year of training is easier for mastering the basis, I'll give another shot at recording this week. One thing is I've been trying strings lately, the Aquila variants, and this set the «Rubino» is particularly bad for tremolo and the trebles are made out of a new material based on sugar cane. I'll also try to use the MixPre6 as an audio interface for the iPad, I've seen a tutorial that explains that for a livestream, that would also helps for participating in a community concert
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