Baroque Lute Playing Technique

Video Transcript

"Hello my name is Foti Lycouridis and on behalf of Expert Village I will talk to you about lute technique in general. Where as both hands are used similarly like in the basic principals of classical guitar there are a couple of differences when you play the Baroque lute. One is that the pinkie on the right hand actually rests on the sound board that gives you a point of reference if your using it to play your bass portions. Also, since there are a lot more strings than on the classical guitar you have to be able to differentiate between all those courses. With practice and using the right method correctly you can become very good at it. The reason why I'm saying that is because a lot of classical guitarists want to play historically correct lute music as it was written on the classical guitar, not transcriptions of lute music and they get drawn to this beautiful instrument. In order to play the lute correctly you have to study the practices of the period. Another thing that you may encounter as a difficulty at first is that a lot of classical guitar players use nails to play and most of the lutenists of the Baroque period played without nails. That can be overcome of course if you are playing at a slightly oblique angle with the strings. What you want to avoid is a double sound like this (two chords sounding together) when you strike a string. What you really want to have to this (single chord sound) and for the basses again the same principal. Not that ( two chords sounding together), but that, (single chord sound). So those of you that are classical guitarists and you want to play the Baroque lute with practice as you already know and perseverance you will become a great lute player."