Any recommendations for intermediate repertoire.

[Burzum1349]

I am looking to develop a repertoire and was looking for some suggestions the long the better for me personally.

I have been studying Gulianis 120 RH Studies, Segovia's Scales, and was considering taking up Carcassi's 25 Progressive Etudes.

I know intermediate is kind of an open ended misnomer, but I'm not sure where to go is all. I would prefer something faster paced and with maybe a sadder, passionate/angry/dark sound.

Please let me know what you think.

[Gitfiddlemann]

You can't go wrong incorporating scale and arpeggio studies into your practice. That will always be beneficial. As long as.....
You're going about it correctly technique wise.
I personally don't think the Carcassi studies are sequenced progressively, i.e. in an easy to most difficult order.
#1, for example, is as hard and challenging as it gets. Rest stroke, free stroke, scale passages, arpeggios, dynamics, phrasing; it's all in there, never mind the Allegro tempo markings.
If you can do all that, and make it sound good, the ultimate goal, then you'll be able to handle the rest of them.
That's why, again a personal opinion, this kind of practice and endeavor almost demands the presence and feedback of a live teacher to make sure your "sound" compass ultimately is able to be pointed in the right direction.
If you don't have a teacher, make sure to avail yourself of good teaching materials, and lean on your ears (and others if you record yourself) to be your guide as you progress along.
I agree with you that just working on studies might suck the fun out of your playing time, so looking for pieces to learn and play is a good thing to do. Find a piece that you really like a lot, so that you don't get tired of it.

I would prefer something faster paced and with maybe a sadder, passionate/angry/dark sound.

Try Bach. He has it all.
Seriously, something fast is usually more upbeat, whereas the teary eyed material tends to be slower.
For actual studies and pieces that are graded, I would recommend the many books from Frederick Noad. They are excellent for what you are seeking, and span all the ages, from the Renaissance through the Romantic.
A shortage of material to choose from will never be your problem!
Good luck with your progress. You sound determined. Always a good thing.

[dkstott]

try checking out the Delcamp classical forum... Once registered, you can download and take part in their FREE sheetmusic, lessons, etc...

Also, If you haven't done it yet, Check out the book Pumping Nylon by Scott Tennant... It has tons of great exercises that will guide you to improvement

[David Rock]

The Pumping Nylon book is excellent for all levels.

Teacher or mentor is a great idea. I wish I had one. I had hoped to find help through this forum, but while there is great support (Nice job, good work, and such), I have not gotten any constructive criticism from any members. It is almost as if this forum is so PC there is no space for...? Are we all getting a bit too thin skinned? Maybe. There is plenty of support though. That is good.

So undoubtably a teacher will help you. Finding one? That can be difficult.

You sound like a truely self motivated person. Awesome. That will get you far, but it is nice to have input from others, not for self gratification or an ego booster, but maybe just because sometimes it is nice to hear that others appreciate your presence in the world of art.

Instead of plowing on with more classical studies, are you mixing it up with doing transcriptions, avante gard, writing your own, free improvisation and such as that? There is much to be learned being a disciple of everything. You might find a whole new you.

See the thread in this section called "compositionally speaking". Many of us find the need to look beyond the page to find what we need to say. A song doesn't have to be difficult or long to say a lot.

Finally, here's one I reccomend to all... a book called Zen Guitar, Phillip Toshio Sudo. You won't find a single scale, chord, mandate, or direction, just an opportunity to find The Way in music and in life. It is a short simple book of applying Zen or Eastern philosophy to what we do.

Best of luck in your endeavours, you are not alone.
D

[Red_Label]

My favorite intermediate repetoire pieces when I used to play classical in churches, weddings, etc were Sor's "Grand Solo" and Giuliani's "Grand Overture". I also liked many pieces from Parkening Plays Bach. Some of these border the line between intermediate and advanced... but they are doable and contain many different techniques that will stretch your playing... while being pleasing to the listener's ear. They're definitely classic, tried and true pieces. But I still love them after all these years.

[Burzum1349]

Originally Posted by David Rock

The Pumping Nylon book is excellent for all levels.

Teacher or mentor is a great idea. I wish I had one. I had hoped to find help through this forum, but while there is great support (Nice job, good work, and such), I have not gotten any constructive criticism from any members. It is almost as if this forum is so PC there is no space for...? Are we all getting a bit too thin skinned? Maybe. There is plenty of support though. That is good.

So undoubtably a teacher will help you. Finding one? That can be difficult.

You sound like a truely self motivated person. Awesome. That will get you far, but it is nice to have input from others, not for self gratification or an ego booster, but maybe just because sometimes it is nice to hear that others appreciate your presence in the world of art.

Instead of plowing on with more classical studies, are you mixing it up with doing transcriptions, avante gard, writing your own, free improvisation and such as that? There is much to be learned being a disciple of everything. You might find a whole new you.

See the thread in this section called "compositionally speaking". Many of us find the need to look beyond the page to find what we need to say. A song doesn't have to be difficult or long to say a lot.

Finally, here's one I reccomend to all... a book called Zen Guitar, Phillip Toshio Sudo. You won't find a single scale, chord, mandate, or direction, just an opportunity to find The Way in music and in life. It is a short simple book of applying Zen or Eastern philosophy to what we do.

Best of luck in your endeavours, you are not alone.
D

That is a very interesting reply because my problem here is that I only make my own music I don't ever learn any songs by others. As a musician I feel like it would benefit me. I listen to a ton of music of almost any genre that you can imagine. The reason I go classical is because in classical music there is a structure that I like personally that suits my tastes, but I use that for myself rather than applying what I learn to these folks music. I do learn a lot of different genres of music, but just the parts that I want and not whole pieces. So the only thing I'm essentially doing is improvisation in my own way, but there is a part of me that wants the longevity and feeling of being able to play a ten minute piece composed by another person...

As for the Scott Tennant book I have it and I love it lol. I haven't gotten around to using it as much as I think would benefit me yet however. I will have to find a moment to look at it more in depth.

[Burzum1349]

Andre do you happen to have any kind of an opinion on a better order by chance. I actually don't follow the 120 RH studies in their normal order, I use the order suggested in Pumping Nylon. When it comes to the Bach do you have any recommendations. I LOVE Bachs music very much and have started to try playing scales like he does. I enjoy it very much he has a little sound in there I cant find anywhere else.

[amyFB]

Originally Posted by David Rock

.... find help through this forum, but while there is great support (Nice job, good work, and such), I have not gotten any constructive criticism from any members. ....

Hi David,
I'm glad you have found good support here at the AGF. I agree it is a terrific forum space for acoustic guitar enthusiasts!

I will suggest that you post stuff in the Play or Show & Tell sections, and be clear that you are looking for constructive criticism. You might even offer us your own critique of your playing, as a clue to what you are focusing on. this could help us to have more input for you to think on.

It may be that folks hold back because it isn't clear that you do want it.

Not everyone does.

[tbeltrans]

It is when you start to get requests for tunes such as "in the parking lot" or "not here, please", that you have to start to worry.

I agree that you would need to make it clear that you want CRITICISM rather than friendly support, to get what you are looking for.

Of course then it can become difficult to know where one should draw the line in a forum such as this. I don't mean that folks will just blast away, but some things could be said that are not taken as intended. When talking in person, there is much more communication going on than just typed words.

Tony

[David Rock]

Tony,
I absolutely agree that one on one live discussion is the way to open the thinking process. That is exactly why I believe we all should have a teacher, mentor, sage, someone beyond a loved one or friend that might reserve constructive advice.

That said, it is a fine line when we open ourselves to what we don't hear or experience and the chance to grow with (sometimes painful) input. That is part of life for someone who offers themselves to others through whatever they do.

So, we all need to be both teachers and students at the same time.

I will make a new post to compositionally speaking regarding my latest effort and try to be MORE clear that I am willing to listen. That is what I have said ( maybe too indirectly) through my show and tells and...

D

[Gitfiddlemann]

Originally Posted by Burzum1349

Andre do you happen to have any kind of an opinion on a better order by chance. I actually don't follow the 120 RH studies in their normal order, I use the order suggested in Pumping Nylon. When it comes to the Bach do you have any recommendations. I LOVE Bachs music very much and have started to try playing scales like he does. I enjoy it very much he has a little sound in there I cant find anywhere else.

Kudos for having Pumping Nylon. That's an excellent source of info. Scott Tennant has a rationale for the order he chose for those Giuliani studies which made a lot of sense to me too.
As far as the Carassi studies go, I don't have a suggested order per se. But what I would do is to pick out a few of them to work on that appeal to you as musical pieces. I'll suggest three that I think work in this regard:
#3, 9, and 14.
#1 is never a bad idea either, because it is demanding on RH technique in so many ways. I find that one very difficult personally, but it does work to highlight weaknesses (of which I have plenty....)
Once you get these (shorter ones) memorized, or any that you would select apart from those (I don't want to pigeonhole you!) which shouldn't take that long, you can really focus on their musical content, which your improved technique will hopefully highlight.
(Aguado is another wonderful source for these kinds of studies btw.)
Also, you might want to check out some really fine players here who have posted Carcassi studies. Raintreesilence comes to mind (he has posted many of the 25), as well as someone else, whose name I'm sorry to say escapes me at the moment. Do a search and they will turn up. You can use YouTube as well just to check out if any of the 25 particularly appeals to you as a piece you want to spend time on.
As far as Bach is concerned, I'm with you 100%. Nothing is easy, but the genius of the man and his music alone is sufficient to keep practice motivation high.
Do you like "faster paced and with maybe a sadder, passionate/angry/dark sound" ?....
I would recommend, for starters:
The 1st cello suite, BWV 1007.
As fine a piece of music as was ever written, and it works really well on the guitar. It is challenging, but accessible, and it has the many varied elements that you speak about. And if you're looking for a "long piece" to learn and play, well you can always set as a goal to perform all the movements in the suite! It offers that too!

[Gitfiddlemann]

Originally Posted by Burzum1349

Andre do you happen to have any kind of an opinion on a better order by chance.

Hi Burzum,
Just came across a book I had in my library on a series of 100 classical studies graded for difficulty levels by Frederick Noad . For what it's worth, this is how he arranged the order of the Carcassi studies he included: (the first number is Noad's, the second is Carcassi from his Opus 60)
#13: No.6
#17: No.8
#23: No.7
#26: No.1
#27: No.11
#28: No.16
#31: No.3
#33: No.13
#34: No.14
#37: No.2
#38: No.4
#40: No.17
#41: No.15
#42: No.21
#48: No.19
#57: No.5
#68: No.10
#72: No.20
#74: No.12
#75: No.9
#76: No.18
#78: No.23
#79: No.22
#86: No.24
#99: No.25

Noad does point out that the order is purely subjective, and that the earlier numbers require less knowledge of the fretboard and tend to be in simpler keys.
In the end, it probably doesn't matter which order is used. They all offer something valuable.

[creamburmese]

One suggestion that is not free, but a great deal less expensive than private lessons - you might try subscribing to the classicalguitarcorner site run by simon Powis - he has a ton of graded material on there, provides personal feedback on videos and runs a couple of online masterclasses a month. Not to mention the members of the forum who play at a higher level also provide valuable feedback.

Another thought for intermediate repertoire is to get hold of the graded repertoire for the exams - Trinity in particular has some great pieces at grades 4-6 ...
good luck!

[Burzum1349]

Originally Posted by AndreF

Hi Burzum,
Just came across a book I had in my library on a series of 100 classical studies graded for difficulty levels by Frederick Noad . For what it's worth, this is how he arranged the order of the Carcassi studies he included: (the first number is Noad's, the second is Carcassi from his Opus 60)
#13: No.6
#17: No.8
#23: No.7
#26: No.1
#27: No.11
#28: No.16
#31: No.3
#33: No.13
#34: No.14
#37: No.2
#38: No.4
#40: No.17
#41: No.15
#42: No.21
#48: No.19
#57: No.5
#68: No.10
#72: No.20
#74: No.12
#75: No.9
#76: No.18
#78: No.23
#79: No.22
#86: No.24
#99: No.25

Noad does point out that the order is purely subjective, and that the earlier numbers require less knowledge of the fretboard and tend to be in simpler keys.
In the end, it probably doesn't matter which order is used. They all offer something valuable.

Thank you so much for that Andre. I did decide that I want to take up the whole set. I think it will get me around a bit better and helping to understand the technique behind the etudes a bit better.

[rogthefrog]

Originally Posted by Burzum1349

I am looking to develop a repertoire and was looking for some suggestions the long the better for me personally.

I have been studying Gulianis 120 RH Studies, Segovia's Scales, and was considering taking up Carcassi's 25 Progressive Etudes.

I know intermediate is kind of an open ended misnomer, but I'm not sure where to go is all. I would prefer something faster paced and with maybe a sadder, passionate/angry/dark sound.

Please let me know what you think.

Try Pushkin Waltz by Yuri Smirnov.



Or Venezuelan waltzes by Antonio Lauro.