Lesson on Sor Study Opus 6 no. 8 (Segovia's Sor Study #1)

A free lesson on the famous Sor study #1 (opus 6 no.8). I mostly talk about the musical concepts of this study as it is very difficult to play a piece such as this without understanding it's construction. I hope you enjoy it. The score can be downloaded for free here - http://tinyurl.com/bgmncyu All the best to you, Kevin

Left Hand Principles for the Classical Guitarist - Part 1 - Hand and Arm...

Here's a new teaching video detailing one of the common problems in Left hand technique - sometimes leading to carpal tunnel syndrome. Hope you enjoy it.

El Mestre - Miguel Llobet

Passacaglia by Louis Couperin

I've been on haitus these months because I've been looking differently at technique, music, how I play, and how I teach. Part of my search has been to find a more "authentic" sound - one with more complexity and humanity. When I hear the older players that I love, I hear a lot of complexity in the tone - many human "artifacts" if you will. There are numerous elements to this kind of sound, but one of the elements is the use of natural nails.

For 20+ years I have been using fake nails because of a belief that my real nails weren't very good for tone. As it turns out, my natural nails were not as weak as I had assumed, and for the last few weeks I've been developing them for playing. This recording is the first I've done with natural nails and was happy to record on a 1965 Fleta guitar. It is one of my favorite arrangements by the great Andres Segovia.

2 Fantasías by Luis de Narváez (fl. 1526 - 1549) - Kevin Gallagher, guit...

I started getting back into recording to improve my playing. Lately I've been fascinated with the Spanish Renaissance and have been reading the vihuelist's music voraciously. The part writing and imitation in this music is like the European religious vocal music of the time, but it also has some unique and subtle dissonances - an influence from the Moors conquest and subsequent 700 year occupation of Spain starting in the year 711.

Online Music Theory Course for Classical Guitarists

I couldn't agree with Segovia more when he said "study music more than the guitar". In that vein, I've been notified that there will be an online music theory course for guitarists at the www.classicalguitarblog.net

As I've said, to play classical guitar well you must also understand classical music. This course is specifically designed for classical guitarists and is interactive - you can ask questions and get answers about the material much like a "real" class. If you don't know theory and are interested, this can be an excellent course to get you started.

Recordings from the past

I've been taking a bit of a sabbatical from my internet postings which will be over soon. In the meantime, I've decided to put up some live recordings from the past not known to the general public (nor to most who know me personally). These recordings are from 1997 with the fantastic guitarist, Antigoni Goni. For those that don't know Antigoni, I highly recommend getting her recordings. I became friends with Antigoni at Juilliard and we formed a brief duo during the years of 1996-1998. The duo began by concentrating on the Spanish Nationalists - Albeniz, Granados, and De Falla, and using the arrangements of the old guitar masters - primarily Miguel Llobet and Emilio Pujol. Evocation by Albeniz as arranged by Llobet is one of the most colorful guitar arrangements I've had the pleasure to perform. Just studying the score is a complete lesson in guitar orchestration. More can be found at my youtube site