How to Play Spanish Guitar

The Spanish guitar is not actually a type of guitar, but rather it is the style of playing a classical or acoustic guitar. The basic principle of the Spanish guitar is that the strings of the classical guitar are plucked or strummed to the metronome and rhythm of the Flamenco, a dance that is performed in many places throughout Europe and America. It must be noted that the Flamenco guitar and the Spanish guitar are two different concepts, though they are closely related. In short, the Spanish guitar is nothing but an acoustic guitar that belongs to the chordophones family. The conventional Spanish acoustic guitar is made out of wood and has metallic strings or nylon strings. Modern electric guitars are pretty easy to play and master. Though the Spanish acoustic guitar is played on the principles and notations, there is a vast amount of difference between the two guitars and Spanish guitar is certainly very difficult to master. The Spanish guitar is also the most melodious and sweet sounding among all the other guitars.

Learning to Play a Spanish Guitar

As mentioned above, this guitar is one of the most melodious musical instruments. Personally, I would advise that you learn on your own by which I mean start strumming and keep practicing. This requires a lot of patience, perseverance and practice though.

Plucking Hand
The Spanish guitar is an instrument that is plucked. The process of plucking is referred to as finger plucking. In this playing technique, the individual strings are plucked with fingers while playing the guitar. Finger plucking can be pretty difficult as you need to exert an immensely balanced pressure on the strings. Another very important part of finger plucking is controlling the vibrations on the strings. A very important exercise that I do every day before practicing the guitar is that I simply pluck the strings of the guitar and try to control them. A perfection in plucking can be achieved only through a continuous practice. To get a pure note, the pressure of plucking the strings must be efficient - not too much or not too less. It is also important that you learn to use all your fingers as all the five of them can be put to use. Playing the guitar with all five fingers is rather difficult and requires a lot of patient practice. You can start off by playing with the four fingers, excluding the thumb.

Fretting Hand
The fretting hand is a very important aspect of playing the Spanish guitar, as it determines the scale and notations that you are playing. The fretting hand has to perform basically two functions, playing the chords and playing the scales. A chord is basically a group of notes which can be gripped on the fret board of the guitar. This grip is easy to hold and after a descent amount of practice, you should be able to hold down the strings in the grip in a convenient and comfortable manner. Many people ignore the aspect of practicing the scales once they have mastered the chords. However, it is absolutely necessary to practice the scales along with the chords.

To get the notations of the scales and chords, refer to the Spanish guitar tabs that are available on the Internet. Quite a few books have also been written on the concepts of Spanish guitar lessons. If you are familiar to the concepts of staff and quotes, then you can also enjoy playing the melodious classical compositions. Remember it is important to feel music rather than mechanically play it.

One must always remember a famous comment by noted bassist, Victor Wooten, "the instrument does not make the music... you do!"