Hi Silvia,
I missed that you started hitting things with sticks …hopefully that will have no further effect on the children in the new school year…
Learning triads things suddenly seemed to make so much more sense when I started seeing them over the fret board…that was a great time…lots of light bulb moments…(Also because I went through it way too quickly in the beginning, missed things and fortunately it suddenly started to come together the new and old learned things )
Rogier I want to reassure you…I always try my best not to be a bad example
Love the and the PMT Course ! I think I stopped working on triads a couple of years ago already because I wasn’t able to use them, I now think my basic skills on the guitar weren’t developed enough and also my learning method, probably I wasn’t ready for triads back then.
Checked the calendar and you are good to go, its officially August. Nice to see its all laid out and structured. There was one technique I’ve not learned yet “2 Weeks Off” I’ll have to try that.
Sometimes less is more
I had the whole month off from Classical Guitar studies , it felt like my brain really needed it, I think I was too tired to even enjoy it…and yesterday when I took it…it was wonderful again Giving my brain a long rest did me well, I have now much refreshed new energy!
@SILVIA Your experience is fairly well known in educational circles. Taking time away often helps the learning process as it seems to allow the brain to sort things out so that when you come back to it, it feels easier and you don’t have the subconcious pressure of messing it up. It also works by going away and doing something different, either a different guitar technique, musical piece, or something non-musical entirely.
Even just switching out items in a practice routine seems to work, at least for me. If I’m having trouble with a chord change or passage of music I replace it in my routine for a few days, then it just seems easier when I bring it back. It just seems easier somehow, rather than struggling on and not making any progress.
I agree Stuart, I used to get a bit obsessed in the past, especially with some chord changes and I thought I had to practice a lot to develop more strenght in my fingers…but that wasn’t the case I think, it was more about how I could better curl the fingers or bend the wrist a little bit or even support the change with the whole forearm. It’s still a bit tricky for me to figure out how I support changes more smoothly though. But it’s useless and a waste of time to repeat trying to put too much effort and keep on struggling.
Single Aspects to focus on in the next practice sessions:
Romance:
consolidate the Am to F6 chord change;
count out loud on the 2 deviations from the main pattern;
practice the transition from the Fa e La notes to C/G chord slowly counting out loud;
practice the C/G to G7 chord change slowly counting out loud (ring finger doesn’t move, pinky has to smoothly and confidently land on the Fa bass note)
count out loud the last bar of the two sections.
practice the melody separately with the metronome to get used to the same speed of the fingerpicking pattern;
try to press more and longer the dotted notes in the melody (is that called “vibrato”?)
–》 avoid to hum the melody before all the changes are smooth.
Sagreras Etude
explore where the piano/forte dynamics fits and record straight away (no need of further practice).
Strada facendo
practice the main pattern on muted strings adding the accents on 2 and 4: count out loud, slow and no metronome to automate the adding pressure and release of the pick - try to keep the hand attack on the strings as consistent as possible;
work out the strumming for the instrumental part;
memorise the chords 1 step raising in the last verse;
practice the triad grip for the C#7 (move the regular C one fret but ring finger frets the seventh and pinky add the 5th on the thinnest string)
practice the transition from the last phrase of the verse to the chorus.
Final: “perché domani sia migliore perché domani tu”…how to add the second voice there?
PMT
practice the triads using the mini-barrè;
practice the single changes;
play the progression only with block chords on 1 and 4 - no fingerpicking pattern yet.
First Video Update of the month: I’m in the key of Am and I thought Emin was in that key, but the book says it’s Emaj not minor…I used Em in my Nuovo Cinema Paradiso arrangment …well ok it was just a beginner study, right?
But there’s a mistery here to solve and that is: why in the Am Melodic Scale I play F# and G# when the scale goes up and natural F and G when it goes down? I’ll find out in due time
Trying to apply some piano/forte dynamics and gradually building more confidence with my Dm using pinky (he’s still a little boy after all and a bit clumsy in landing on the frets )
So for natural minor, Em will be in place, for melodic E major. But why there is that kind of distinction while ascending/descending, I can’t remember (or maybe never knew ) from my former piano lessons…
But even if it has nothing to do with natural vs. melodic minor, sometimes chords from outside the key we are playing in are used to “spice up” the piece/song.
The etude sounded sweet, Silvia. Glad you are back recording and sharing! Your classical tunes are always like little treats.
Silvia, very nice. You look so relaxed and the tone in this lovely piece is so pleasing.
I wonder whether this or a similar piece inspired the opening arpeggio to Hotel California. It sounds similar and the live acoustic version used classical/spanish guitars: Hotel California Acoustic 1994 which came to mind when I heard you play.
Notice the closeup of the classical guitar at the 6:10 mark.
There are 3 minor keys, the natural minor, the harmonic minor and the melodic minor. I was wrong it was Bach not Beethoven
This old video from Justin will help explain the difference
Beautiful Silvia ! Seems the old boys back in the day kept changing those minor scales when it did not fit their master plan. Including the old video above I am sure Justin explains it elsewhere as well. Ain’t music theory great ? If it sounds good it is good. If it sounds a bit sus, go monkey around for a bit, find what fits, then rename ! Purists ? Pah !!
Thanks Rick, Justin lesson was very useful…the only way I have to remember all this stuff is analysing which notes I play on the pieces I’m learning and and see in which kind of minor key they are. I’d better let this kind of theoritical knowledge gradually go along with the practical aspect.
…hopefully that will have no further effect on the children in the new school year… 
Rogier I want to reassure you…I always try my best not to be a bad example 
and the PMT Course ! I think I stopped working on triads a couple of years ago already because I wasn’t able to use them, I now think my basic skills on the guitar weren’t developed enough and also my learning method, probably I wasn’t ready for triads back then.
Giving my brain a long rest did me well, I have now much refreshed new energy!
I’ll find out in due time 
) from my former piano lessons… 
can’t we do with just one? Anything is “naturally melodic to me” 
