Update for May/2026: a detour on classical guitar?
Since my last update I’ve worked on a number of pieces, with a notable mention to Stairway to Heaven, a long-time favorite of mine. I’ve also studied Dire Straits’ Sultans of Swing and Neil Young’s Comes a Time, tough I did not record any of those. Sultans especially was very challenging but also rewarding, as it unlocked a very nice way of strumming on the electric without a pick.
Then, erlier this year, I started to work on Green Sleeves, which I always liked. That turned into another AVOYP, though this one could be improved a bit, the timming is still very rough due to lack of a metronome. It’s in my plans to record a follow-up to this one sometime soon.
One thing led to another, and from Green Sleeves I started working on Spanish Romance (also known as Romanza and Canção de Amor), and then on Francisco Tarrega’s Lágrima. And all of that meant that I’ve spent more time with my nylong classical guitar, and less with the electric or the steel accoustic; in doing so, I’ve noticed that the string action on this guitar is a bit high on the higher frets, making it more challenging to play than it should be for a beginner such as myself, and the strings which I’m using are a bit harder than those on some other similar instruments I’ve tested, so I should consider changing them too. I’ve also noticed that the bridge is starting to lift, which is something that needs attention sooner rather than later.
My plan is to take the instrument to a luthier this week, and once I have it back dive deeper on these tunes. I’m especially enchanted by Lágrima, it’s such a beautiful piece 