Group 1
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
Assignment Week 2
-
Hello Peter, It's great to see you again for this TWI!
I never seriously studied this technique, so I look forward to gaining a solid grasp of it. I believe it will also encourage delving into pieces avoided perhaps due to frequent usage of cross-string trills.
It is always nice to share the challenge with my Tonebuddies; this will be a very beneficial and fun one.
-
Barney hey Barney, that’s the spirit! Looking forward to all the progress!
-
-
Hello Peter, Barney and TB friends.
I’m so happy with this TWI, as I was just starting to explore this technique, practicing, but with not much progress for now. I like the approach, as shown in Peter’s video, to start with stable position or the R hand, slow practice, preparation. I started with these exercises, will be very helpful.
I’m practicing a few sonatas from the Portuguese composer De Seixas. Originally composed for harpsichord, the trills and embellishments will sound more natural on two strings (indicated in the guitar transcription by Rebeca Oliveira).
-
joosje hello Joosje, that sounds like a very good goal, I hope these exercises will help!
-
-
Good morning from Vancouver Island, Canada.
Eager to learn to perform trills properly and incorporate tastefully and seamlessly into repertoire pieces. I enjoy Celtic music, as well as standard classical guitar repertoire.
-
Neil Macmillan Hi Neil, hopefully this TWI will help you get there!
-
-
Hello Team 1. Peter Graneis I am looking forward to digging into these exercises to improve in the area of control and evenness of articulation. Thank you for spotlighting technique for us.
-
Rick Lord hi Rick, I hope my exercises help you with that!
-
-
Hello Peter,
I actually just started work on your cross string trills as presented in your TB video. I haven't gotten very far so this will give me a chance to really focus on this technique.. I have added these exercises to my daily exercises.
I usually do cross string trills with a-i-m-I / i-a-i-m. So bringing the thumb into the mix will be a new experience for me.
As I write this I just realized a question I have about this technique. When I practice my 3 finger trills I practice starting on each string since sometimes the trills fall easier one way or the other. Does this technique work starting on the lower string?
-
Jack Stewart Hello Jack,
fair question, it absolutely works both ways. The exercises I wrote down all start on the high note/upper string, but you should be able to start the trill with each finger (once you feel comfortable with it). It doesn’t matter which finger starts, in fact I encourage you to do all exercises with pami/amip/mipa/ipam. This is something we will get into in the live check-in.
for getting to know the new technique, I suggest sticking with the exercises the way they’re written in the worksheet.
-
-
Hello Peter and fellow guitaists
I was shown how to do this a few months ago by my teacher but I haven't seriously practised it since then as the pieces that I am currently playing and working on don't have any trills. I'm hoping that by the end of these two weeks I will be at least fairly confident in playing them so I will return to some of my previous pieces and perhaps some new ones to put it into practice.
-
Derek hi Derek, I hope you find the motivation to learn this technique. Even if you don’t have repertoire to put the it to the test, it could still function as a fine workout for the right hand.
-
-
This is a new technique for me, so I am looking forward to learning it me applying it to my playing.
-
George Aubrey hi George, happy practicing!
-
-
Hi Peter,
As I'm exploring and experimenting with the cross-string trills techniques, I find the "aimp" sequence ( as the basic standard) as the most efficient and secure , as it does not contain negative string crossing. I believe David Russell and many others use this approach as well.
Would it work for you to incorporate discussion and training on this one in your presentation?
Also, will you provide examples of different cross-string trill examples in repertoire, and the fingerings where bass strings are played at same time as the treble string trills, etc.?
Thanks!!
-
Barney hello Barney,
there are many different approaches to executing 2-string trills. Some use ipip, some prefer aimp, some even play a 2-string Apoyando with a-a-m-m or m-m-i-i, as crazy as that sounds.
I will stick to amip for this course, but each exercise can also be applied to learning aimp.
we will definitely discuss this in the checkin, but I will say this: whatever technique works for you, is the right technique. There isn’t one right way.
The second worksheet also includes some techniques of playing a second voice at the same time, it’ll be up soon!
-
Peter Graneis Thank you Peter! That's great, and I appreciate the flexibility to do what works best for each player ( as long as we also achieve an excellent result).
-
Peter Graneis The aa-mm cross-string trill (referred to by René Izquierdo as "the sweep") is one of the earliest cross-string trills I learned from Alice Artzt, who learned it from the great Ida Presti. It remains a useful and easy cross-string trill for a 4-note trill.
-
-
Hi Peter, Thanks for sharing this lesson. I've generally avoided cross-string trills since I have trouble with control so I'm glad to have the chance to just pull the band-aid off and work on them directly. The problem for me is volume. When I try to play them fast enough to fit in time with the music they inevitably get way too loud so I think E4 will be especially helpful.
It's a little off-topic but do you lean towards letting the notes ring in a Baroque cross-string ornament or cutting them off?
Thanks again.
-
Steve Price Hi Steve,
I encourage you to see it through, it’s a very difficult technique that will take a lot of intelligent work and patience to control. Took me forever!
to your question: it depends. If it’s a fast ornament I don’t put in the effort of muting the strings during the trill, but at the end of it I only want to hear one note.
In a very slow ornament I usually mute instead of letting them ring.
-
-
This is where I am after week 1 on the trills exercises. I just made a short compilation of the samples of the exercises. I was trying to be mercifully short. I tried to maintain planting throughout, though I'm not sure I accomplished that on the quicker trills. I start off with 2 notes per 60/bpm and proceed thru 2 string, 3 string and 4 string. I then do 2 notes/ 3 notes/ 4 notes/ 5 notes and try to get 6 notes/. at 60/bpm. Tone production is pretty bad and some of the exercises are better than others. They have gotten better over the week (hard to believe!).
-
Jack Stewart hi Jack, I just watched your video. Looks great for one week of work! I didn’t really see the right hand so it’s a bit difficult to analyze, but here it goes: I’m not worried at all that you’re going to get fast soon with this technique, but now is the time to spend more time paying attention to 3 things:
-find a universal position in which your elbow, forearm isn’t involved
-spend more time planting the fingers at a slow tempo so you avoid buzzing sounds the are occurring when the nail hits the string before plucking it intentionally
-when playing fast, always come back to a slow tempo in between takes to even out impurities and double check hand positioning.
hope it helps!
-
Peter Graneis Great advice, Peter. This technique is becoming more comfortable but I always get impatient, especially when I have made some progress. It is very helpful to be reminded to keep returning to slow, focussed practice.
Thanks for taking the time to provide comments and feed back. This was a great TWI.
-
-
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?
-
Barney hi Barney, I actually don’t use my right hand to mute anything here.
-
