Single String Studies for Guitar Volume One

The exercises presented here are the same that great teachers and world class music schools give to their advanced students. This is the first book to present them formally, and is a milestone of its kind. This book contains hard-core information and exercises that are plainly difficult; only dedicated musicians need apply. But if you are serious about your instrument, learning how to read on it, and learning where the notes are without looking at it, you've come to the right place. This book works in tandem with audio examples that can be downloaded from the internet, which will greatly aid in the absorption of information and the building of skill. Exercises for each string are presented in all keys. The book culminates in a final section which integrates playing on all six strings. This book is a required text at New York Universities and Princeton University Music department.

EXCERPT 1

This book's purpose it to help a student learn the notes on each string of the guitar. There are some definite right and wrong ways to approach this goal. If you are a beginner at trying to read music on the guitar you will find it most challenging. The guitar is unique in that there are so many places to play the same note. For example, the guitar is one of the few instruments that has five middle Cs. Example One shows a middle C on the treble clef. Example two shows the five places this note can be found on the guitar.

You can easily see that this can present a problem for a guitarist. Just to play one note a decision has to be made on which string to use.

To further complicate things the guitar is a transposing instrument sounding one octave below the written note. Therefore if you see a middle C written on the staff you will play the C on the 3rd fret of the A string (see example 3).

Therefore you can see that you are sounding a pitch an octave below any written note when you read guitar music. Many composers do not realize this so you will many times encounter a situation where you have to transpose your part up or down an octave. Just to recap a little, you have 5 actual middle Cs pitches on the guitar (see example one) but because the guitar is transposed down one octave you only have one middle C that you play when you read a part written for guitar.

Students find this concept to be quite confusing. Therefore here is one more example. If you are reading a part written for guitar it has been transposed. If you see a C written on the third space of the treble clef you can play this note in five places on the guitar. In reality you are sounding a middle C but your middle C pitch is written on the 3rd space of the treble clef when you are reading guitar music.

Guitarist Bruce Arnold has developed an extensive reputation as a composer educator and guitar virtuoso. He has created a unique signature sound that stems from his combination of jazz techniques and 20th Century compositional methods. He has played with such diverse musicians as Stuart Hamm, Peter Erskine, Joe Pass, Joe Lovano, Randy Brecker, Stanley Clarke, the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Arnold is also deeply devoted to music education and had written more than 60 music instruction. He heads the guitar departments at NYU and Princeton University and is the director of the New York University Summer Guitar Intensive He has taught at some of the most prestigious music schools in America, including the New England Conservatory of Music, Dartmouth College, Berklee College of Music, New School University, and City College of New York.