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Unlock the secret to virtuosic guitar playing in this exclusive Two-Week Intensive Course, "Improve Your Two-String Trills with Peter Graneis." Led by renowned guitarist and educator, Peter Graneis, this comprehensive program is designed for guitarists looking to elevate their skills and add a new dimension to their playing.

Course Highlights:

🎸 Masterful Two-String Trills: Dive deep into the art of creating seamless trills between two strings. Peter Graneis will share his expert techniques and insights to help you develop precision, speed, and control in your trill execution.

🎵 Technical Exercises: Strengthen your finger independence and dexterity with a range of specially crafted exercises and drills, tailored to enhance your trill proficiency.

🎯 Personalized Feedback: Receive individualized feedback and guidance from Peter Graneis to address your specific challenges and goals. Take your trill technique to the next level with personalized coaching.

🌟 Networking Opportunities: Connect with fellow guitar enthusiasts and musicians, fostering a supportive community of learners.

Don't miss this extraordinary opportunity to enhance your guitar skills and leave a lasting impression with your two-string trills. Join Peter Graneis for this Two-Week Intensive Course and embark on a transformative musical journey.

Enroll now and unlock the potential of your guitar playing like never before!

Timeline:

  • Sign-Up : NOW until Feb 18th
  • Course Period: Feb 19th - March 1st
  • Optional check-In via Zoom: Feb 26, 10am PST

Assignment Week 1

worksheet 1

Assignment Week 2 

worksheet 2 

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    • Barney
    • Barney
    • 2 mths ago
    • Reported - view

    Hi Peter,  When you perform your cross-string trills, do you use your left hand to mute certain adjacent strings so they don't accidently get hit and sound?

    Like 1
      • Barney
      • Barney
      • 2 mths ago
      • Reported - view

      Peter Graneis Left hand muting at all on non-trill strings?

      Like 1
    • Barney sorry I meant left hand!

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      • Barney
      • Barney
      • 2 mths ago
      • Reported - view

      Peter Graneis Got it!  thanks Peter!

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  • Hi everyone, 

    mit was a fun checkin today, keep your exercises and questions coming and I’ll answer/comment. 
     

    like I promised, I filtered my list of recommendations down to a very short and colorful selection of pieces. I encourage you to recycle pieces you already know and am looking forward to your results!

     

    Baroque Repertoire:

     

    Bach: BWV 1006 - Loure

    Scarlatti - Sonata K208

     

    A good exercise is adding ornaments where they shouldn’t be: Sor op. 60, etudes 1&2

     

     

    (Also for switching thumb positions and trilling whilst playing a bass line): David Kellner - Phantasia in D-Major

     

    maybe we can fill this list throughout the week, feel free to contribute!

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    • Peter Graneis great choice of pieces. The Loure is one of my favourites, but frustrating, because I can’t get the ornaments sound easy and natural.

      I’ll try the Sor studies, never thought of doing  2cross string trills there….

      In addition I opt for Carlos de Seixas sonatas 23&24, I hope to post some examples, but first focus on the exercises….

      Like 1
  • Peter, when increasing and decreasing the speed, the clue is to keep the pulse on the first finger (a in your example)? In general I find it hard to keep the pulse and direction clear in those trills, especially when played a tempo.

    Like 1
    • joosje hi Joosje, if you’re talking about keeping a steady tempo it makes sense to accent a certain beat (doesn’t matter which one). This will certainly help keeping track of how many rounds of trills you have played.

      Like
    • Barney
    • Barney
    • 1 mth ago
    • Reported - view

    Hi Peter,

    Would you kindly check with Martin about sharing the Zoom check-in recording with us?   I still do not see it posted.  Thanks!

    Like 1
    • Ernest
    • Ernest
    • 1 mth ago
    • Reported - view

    Greetings All
    I first encountered this type of cross-string trill in 1990 when learning "Elegy" by Stepan Rak. In this, and other works, notably his piece "Balalaika", Rak makes extensive use of this technique and, in this context, it becomes more than a trill and more of a "double tremolo" as I like to call it. You can find a version of Elegy on Youtube from his Ottawa concert circa 1990. You will notice that, after a long section using this "double tremolo", he then combines it with what Stanley Yates calls "left hand tremolando" resulting in a remarkable complexity of sounds.

    I've been using this technique for many years and have found that I need to practices it regularly to maintain the fluidity. It also helps to have a good "regular" classical guitar tremolo. While the "aimp" sequence is fine for trills, for the long passages that Rak plays, the  "pami" sequence works best for maintaining the required tempo. Also, rather than thinking of the i finger as performing a negative string crossing, it helps instead to think of the m finger as being displaced in a regular tremolo. "The thumb then plucks alternately between the second string and the bass, resulting in a texture that projects two interlocking tremolos over a supporting bass ostinato." (Yates)

    I realize that most of you are probably not interested in learning the above mentioned pieces; however, it does demonstrate what can be achieved with this seemingly simple technique.

     

    Cheers

    Ernest

    Like
  • Hi everyone, this marks the end of our course, I’m sure Martin will post the video soon. I hope this was helpful and inspired some of you to make it part of your technical repertoire. 

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      • Barney
      • Barney
      • 1 mth ago
      • Reported - view

      Peter Graneis Your course on the trills was very helpful and much appreciated.  Hope to see you again soon.  Thank you Peter!!

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      • Jack Stewart
      • Retired
      • Jack_Stewart
      • 1 mth ago
      • Reported - view

      Peter Graneis Thanks for a great TWI Peter. Your exercises are now a part of my daily exercises and and are showing improvement - still a ways to go but I will get there.

      Like
    • Peter Graneis thank you for this TWi. It is very helpful to have this set of exercises in my practice schedule. 2 weeks are short to get results, I feel a little progress. Still the most difficult for me are the gradual tempo changes. Ill focus on that, as it’s so important in slow baroque movements. 

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    • Derek
    • Derek
    • 1 mth ago
    • Reported - view

    Peter Graneis Hi Peter. Thank you very much for this TWI. I still haven't cracked it to my satisfaction but I keep working on it. I think the grouping in 5 exercise is very effective (probably works for tremelo also). I shall keep working on this on a daily basis. I am now working on the Suite in D Minor by De Visee to see if I can put this into practice.

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    • martinTeam
    • LIVE
    • martin.3
    • 1 mth ago
    • Reported - view
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