A Guide to Playing the Baroque Guitar

3. Technique

6 3 TECHNIQUE Left-hand position and fingering for the baroque guitar are the same as for the lute and almost the same as for the classical guitar. Because the width of the baroque guitar’s neck and its string spacing are much narrower than that of its modern counterpart , classical guitarists playing on a baroque-style instrument will find far fewer opportunities to keep their fingers parallel with the frets. Indeed, because baroque scale passages are not usually fingered in one position across the fingerboard but require much rapid shifting up and down the same string, they might find it more convenient to incline the fingers slightly toward the bridge, as a violinist or cellist would do. On the plus side, the baroque guitar’s narrow neck facilitates rapid and complicated chord changes without tiring the left hand as much as it might on a wider-necked classical guitar. Right-hand technique is essentially the same for the baroque guitar as for the lute. Most players held their right hand in a position with the thumb slightly extended toward the rosette and the little finger resting on the soundboard about two inches in front of the bridge, except when they played strummed chords. Typically, only the thumb and the index and second fingers were used, although the ring finger might also be called into service for certain types of chords. few technical instructions are provided in the music sources for baroque guitar, particularly in comparison to the voluminous amount found in modern guitar music and method books. But it seems as if the traditional, lute-like technique described above survived not only through the Baroque period, but also, as fernando Sor’s Méthode pour la Guitarre (Paris, 1830) attests, through the Classical. It is therefore recommended that Sor’s excellent detailed instructions, which include several diagrams, be studied by all guitarists, even those specializing in the baroque instrument. Conveniently, there is a facsimile reprint of A. Merrick’s English translation, which was first printed ca. 1832 and then ca. 1850. (See Selected Bibliography.) for our purposes, be certain to consult the facsimile reprint and not one of the modern editions, since the editors of the latter have taken it upon themselves to rewrite Sor’s text and substitute modern classical guitar technique. As many contemporary lute sources verify, most lutenists and guitarists of the Baroque period did not play with fingernails. This apparently held true during the Classical era as well. for example, on page 17 (of Merrick’s translation), the highly influential Sor wrote: “Never in my life have I heard a guitarist whose playing was supportable, if he 7 TECHNIQUE played with the nails. The nails can produce but very few gradations in the quality of the sound. . . .” Like the guitarists and lutenists of the past who did play with nails, modern guitarists wanting to play double-course instruments (particularly with gut strings) will have to make a few technical adjustments. for example, avoid positioning the right-hand knuckles parallel to the strings; instead hold the hand more obliquely, à la Sor. This adjustment will minimize the double-sounding note caused by nails. The thumbnail, if too long, can prove awkward; if it does, find a happy medium. Rest strokes are rarely called for in baroque guitar music; on a lightweight, lightly strung, double-course instrument built according to historical principles, use free strokes to achieve the best results. ...