The Classical Guitarist
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 Listen To Classical Guitar Pieces

The Carcassi Method book Here are some short Classical Guitar pieces ready for easy download. They are taken right out of the Carcassi Method and they are easy to play. If you want to play these pieces you can get The Carcassi Method at Amazon

 

 

Musicnotes.comFrom The Carcassi Method 50 Exercises progressing in difficulty ( I will add more pieces to this list over time so bookmark this page and check back regularly)If you are working your way through the Carcassi Method this is a great way for you to hear the pieces so you know you are playing them correctly.

  • Exercise 1 - Andantino grazioso (Slow and graciously) This piece has an adorable little treble run in it around the 28 second mark.
  • Exercise 2 -( mp3 -1.16meg)This is a waltz
  • Exercise 3 (mp3 1.27 meg and 1 min and 23 secs long) Andante This piece has some nice dotted eighth and sixteenth notes which gives it a nice feel
  • Exercise 4 (added Aug 19) mp3, 59 seconds and 954k Allegretto - A pretty piece and reasonably easy to play
  • Exercise 5 (Added Aug 25) mp3 1.03 meg and 1 min in length- Waltz: Nice little piece with a fun alternating bass motif and a nice sounding key change toward the end.
  • Exercisre 6 (Added aug 28) mp3 1min 23 secs - Allegretto in 6/8 time; this is a pretty piece and it is in 6/8 measure so its a good piece to practice if you want a not so common measure.
  • Exercise 7 - (added Sep 16)Nice piece in 3/8 (waltz) It has a nice base alternating pick pattern and does a great switch to a minor key for eight measure. Good piece to practice if you want to get the feeling for a key change.
  • Exercise 8 - (added Sep 19) 1 min and 02 seconds - Nice little piece in the key of A with some pretty, yet easy arpeggio style picking in the end.
  • Exercise 9 - ( added Dec 27) Nice little piece with some left hand pinky finger work so if you need to do some left hand practice this is a good piece.

Easy and fun pieces

New Piece added Sep 15, 08: Andante by Fernando Sor - This is an easy and nice sounding piece by Sor: WAV File 4.18 Mb - WMV File 782 Kb

Fur Elise - (added Jan 19, 07) Beautiful piece of music, sounds great on the classical guitar

Piece from the Carcassi Method (mp3 982 kb)This is a moody piece that I also use as the intro and ending music for my podcast.

Piece in A Minor (Prelude) (mp3 580 kb) - from the Carcassi Method. This is an easy piece but it has a great A minor haunting sound to it.

Andante in A minor (mp3 987 kb) -This is another great A minor piece but it moves much slower than the Prelude.

Saltarello - by Vincentio Galileo (1.7 Meg mp3 1:46) This is a very old Italian Dance written in the 1500's by Galileo's Dad. It is a wonderful piece and listening to it you can imagine a very old italian castle and people dancing around a candle lit banquet. Originally written for the lute and sounds absolutely beautiful. If you want to play this piece the sixth string is tuned down a whole note to D. This is how it gets that gorgeous repeating three note base run.

Greensleeves -(849k MP3 1 min) Everybody knows this piece and it is the perfect piece for the classical guitar.

Andante by Fernando Sor - This is a pretty little piece written by Fernando Sor who lived in 19th century Spain. Sor wrote so much for the guitar that he is often considered "The Beethoven of the Guitar".

 

More Difficult pieces

Spanish Romance - Added Aug 16 (mp3: 1.26meg and 1min 32 secs). - Evocative and haunting piece. Challenging in that it is played all over the fretboard but played andante so reasonably easy to master.

Adelita by Francisco Tarrega - (mp3 711k - 45 seconds) This is a wonderfully haunting piece and one of my favorites. It has some nice sliding around on the fretboard. ........

Leyenda - (mp3 500k - 30 seconds) This is the first 30 seconds from this awesome Spanish piece. This piece simply rocks. The spanish guitar just blows me away!

Stairway to Heaven - (mp3 1 min 57 secs 1.9meg )Not really a classical guitar piece but it sounds great on the classical guitar. Big file and long song so I have abbreviated it and just given you a piece of the song.

Blackbird - (MP3 846k 53 secs) by the Beatles - This is a piece that just sounds fantastic on the classical guitar. There is something about the way it makes use of the full range of sound all up and down the keyboard. Very happy and beautiful piece.

Vincent (Starry Starry Night) (Part 1: mp3 843k, 48 seconds) This is a beautiful piece for the guitar. It is the Don Mclean song and an arrangement by Chet Atkins. I consider it to be one of the most beautiful guitar pieces ever written. It is quite long so here is the first section only. I will add more sections and maybe do a copy of the whole thing for you to download and enjoy. Part 1

Snippets of Classical Guitar and Spanish Guitar pieces

  • Alorno - (MP3 436k and 30 seconds long) This is the first 30 seconds of this piece written by Carlos Montoya - It just has a great spanish flavor to it and it does some really beautiful running around on the bass strings and it really shows off how the spanish guitar makes good use of triplets.
  • A composite Spanish Piece - This piece sounds great and is an assembly of several different spanish guitar pieces. If you like spanish guitar you will like this, It is crisp and fun.

 

Pumping Nylon book Pumping Nylon - If you are an intermediate player and are looking to increase your skill this book is a must have. I own this book and I simply love it. It tackles all those difficult techinical skills that we tend to shy away from There are daily exercises and lots of good left and right hand techniques. I saw significant improvement in my ability after starting this book. It is generally considered the best book of its kind. Product Page at Amazon

 

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