Spanish Guitar for Beginners

Video Transcript

"Hello my name is James Manuele. I'm a classical guitarist and instructor here at Clark College in Vancouver, Washington and I'm here to speak to you about Spanish guitar for beginners. First of all the Spanish guitar took its home in Southern Spain. It derived there from a lot of different influences. For instance Arabic, Moorish influence, Indian and developed into what we now call Flamenco music in Andalucia. A lot of the Spanish composers have written beautiful songs and dances trying to invoke the sound of the Spanish guitar. Today a lot of my students as well as yourself would love to learn Spanish music for guitar. The best way to approach this is to find method books that have Spanish songs or dances simply arranged for a nylon string guitar. A few of the method books that I use have very nice arrangements from very well known Spanish composers simplified to first position. A few of the books are Frederick Noad, Method Book 1 that has been around since the 1960's as well as Christopher Parkening's Guitar Method 1 that has very nice arrangements for songs and dances. A local guitarist and an arranger here in Portland, Oregon that I use his book The New Method by Jeffrey Ashton. He has several different compositions, one I will play for you by Isaac Albeniz originally written for the piano but to invoke the sound of a guitar. A very Spanish piece and a very well known piece that you will probably find in most method books. This is a simple arrangement by Jeffrey Ashton. A very famous piece entitled Asturias or Leyenda with a double title, originally written for a piano by a Spanish composer trying to evoke the guitar. There are several method books out today so the best thing to do is go out and find these method books among others and find simple songs and dances with a very Spanish flair."