What's "Classical" Guitar then?

There are several sorts of acoustic (ie non-electric) guitar.
My speciality is Classical Guitar. What does that mean?

Well, "Classical Guitar" doesn't restrict you to playing music from centuries long gone.
Indeed, in America they call it the Classic Guitar. More about Classical Guitar Repertoire in a moment...

Strings

What distinguishes the Classical guitar from the Folk Guitar is that the strings are nylon and wire-coated nylon, instead of steel and wire-coated steel.

The sound is more mellow and less tiring to listen to - the strings are more like, well, string than cheese-wire - soft and pliable.

Playing technique

We play the Classical Guitar with thumb & fingers rather than a plectrum or pick, but that doesn't make it harder, it makes it easier - we can feel the strings and we can select the ones we want, rather than having to finger them all.

Learn Classical Technique and you have the skills to move to Fingerstyle Folk, Ragtime, Electric Bass and Spanish Guitar.

Music

We play from ordinary printed music, and if you can't read music, I can teach you - it's surprisingly easy and logical, and I have tricks up my sleeve to help you learn!

Repertoire

While the Classical Guitar is at home playing Bach, it's equally at ease with modern music.
Hear some examples on my Soundclips page.

The Hampshire Guitar Orchestra which I direct has repertoire from Handel to Elton John, from Dvorak to Katie Melua - listen to some of our repertoire on our YouTube channel.

The music you will learn in my lessons will span the ages too - a real variety of styles...