I'm a music teacher but my first instrument is flute, I've got hardly any experience with stringed instruments. I have taught guitar at school, in so much as 'doing' guitar with S1/S2 classes when I was working in secondary, and some help with S.Grade pupils. A few years ago my parents bought me a guitar as I was keen to learn how to play classical guitar properly, however after having a couple of kids the guitar ended up staying at their house. Last August I brought the guitar home and sat my grade 1 in December. I had pupils sitting grade 1 piano at the same time! Unfortunately family life gets in the way and I only just started playing the guitar again this week. I'm going to do grade 2 later in the year. I'm not worried about it musically but technically I'm not sure what I'm doing. I have a couple of old tutor books that I worked through, and I chose pieces from the Time Pieces book for grade 1. I did contact a couple of guitar teachers but as I can't commit to regular lessons they can't take me on, which I understand.

I'm hoping someone can recommend a book or a website or something to help me progress a bit. I'm ashamed to say I have not much of a clue about the positions. Grade 2 scales, and a couple of the pieces, have different Roman Numerals which I know refer to first and second position, and I get that it is a different place for my left hand to be, but I'm getting lost.

I hope someone on here is able to help a bit!

If you Google guitar tutorial or lessons or something like that there are umpteen websites that could point you in the right direction. This one for example http://www.guitarlessonworld.com/lessons/major-scale.htm

I'm sure someone else will have suggestions for sites they've used.

I'm very impressed that you have managed to do the grade one exam and be self taught. It's a bit unfortunate that you can't find a teacher who won't do casual lessons, especially as you are obviously self-motivated to practise and improve.

Second position is - very simple explanation - playing the same notes on lower strings further up the guitar. For example, as well as playing a G on the third string (open), you can play the same note on the fifth fret on the fourth (D) string. (Think of relative tuning....)

Good books are Noad Solo Guitar Playing series, which give lots of technique advice. The Guitarist's Progress is also good, and contains a few grade exam pieces. It's either Time pieces or A tune a day which gives detailed information on the scales, but I can't remember.

Good luck.

Frederick Noad's tutor book is excellent, and will explain positions for you. But you're absolutely right to be concerned about technique if you want to play classical guitar. If a poor technique becomes established, it's alot of work later to re-learn a correct technique. Beware of guitar teachers who tag "classical" onto the end of a long list of other genres they teach. I know a guitar teacher who doesn't even get his classical pupils to use a footstool or hold their instrument correctly, and their right hand technique is appauling and sounds awful, it is heartbreaking to see such a waste.....
A few lessons early on with a classical guitar specialist will get you off to a great start and help prevent injury.
Good luck!

thanks for the replies! I'll look online for the Noad book.

I hope I have a reasonable posture and hand position but of course won't really know for sure! I have a footstool and try to sit the way the book I already have, tells me! I don't find playing the guitar easy, it's certainly not natural to me. Finding the same note somewhere else on the instrument -ie different positions- is a bit of an alien concept to me , although there are alternative fingerings on the flute, it's not quite the same!

I'm also not sure whether I'm supposed to be playing tirando or apoyando for the grade 2 pieces in the Time Pieces book, or do I choose? Also I'm trying to choose my own fingering and not always convinced I'm making the right choices. I don't really want to work from grade exam books, although I'd like to do exams.

better go, dog is barking for his dinner!

The syllabus will tell you about tirando and apoyando for the scales. I would use the fingering given, as well as making up your own. It's hard, but a good discipline, as you learn what will be useful to you later on.

Second position example. Think about how you would play D (second string 3rd fret) and B (open second string) at the same time. You can't play two notes simultaneously on the same string. In second position you would play B on the G string fourth fret. Use finger 1 for the D and finger 2 for the B.

(If you think about each fret raising the string a semitone, you see that the same note can be played in many different places. Ninth fret on the fourth string is also a B. As is the fourteenth fret on the fifth string, and the nineteenth fret on the sixth.) Guess it's the same as on the trombone, where each position goes up a semitone, so you end up being able to play the same note in a different register in different positions. Gosh, what a geek! (I know nothing about the flute though)

Hope that helps. Plenty of repertoire books around too. Go have a good browse in a music shop!!

I like the Julio Sagreras book ( books 1 -3 ). Whilst it is very good at throwing etudes at you (it's excellent for the pesky right hand 'a' finger) it doesn't show any posture/hand position. He really does emphasise the rest stroke (apoyando). Noad is also considered a very good text.
There are two DVD's that are very useful. William Kanengiser's 'effortless classical guitar' and Scott Tennants's 'Pumping Nylon'.
Try to keep wrists in line with the forearm and the left hand wrist not overly bent.
Whilst footstools are common in Classical Guitar playing they certainly are not the only way of supporting the instrument. In fact many people think that the footstool can be hard on the Back. Guitar Strap, ergoplay, Gitano, dynarette are just some of the other options.

I've been thinking about your situation, and I hope you don't feel offended if I suggest that you take the money it would cost to sit the exam, and put it towards a lesson/a few lessons (not sure about exam fees in the UK, I know that the overseas charges would certainly fund quite a few lessons!).

agree with the replies. Neither wrist should be bent. Left hand finger movement should be mainly from the knuckle. Right hand should be completely in line with the forearm, again movement should be mostly from the knuckle. Movement of the right hand fingertip across the string, whether apoyando or tirando, should be diagonal, towards your elbow, rather than up towards your face, you get a much nicer tone that way. If your hand is in line with your forearm this should happen automaticallly anyway. Polish your nails for a nicer sound too.
Apoyando produces a stronger more emphaisised note but is easier to get a nice tone. Tirando takes more skill to control or get a nice tone with, but you can go faster with this technique. So it's a choice, listen to what you sound like and choose according to what you want.
A mistake most beginners make is not to give any thought to the middle and end of the note. All the attention is on starting the note, then they leave the note to it until it decays or get stopped by chance because of doing something on another string or taking your left finger away ready for another note. Think about how long the note is supposed to sound, and control the end of the note; decide whether it will decay by itself, keeping your left finger down, or decide when it will end and how you will end it, either damping with the right hand or removal of the left finger.
You don't have to be in a hurry to be all over the fingerboard. Master first position first, and work on your right hand technique, that will keep you very busy for ages!
Have fun!
Watch Gary Ryan on youtube for his technique, although he can sometimes hunch over slightly, and Xuefei Yang who has immaculate technique.

Sorry, came to this thread late on returning from holiday but . . . . You could have a look at the Delcamp classical guitar website (Google 'Delcamp'), which features on-line lessons from Prof. Delcamp. It's a very good website, although I haven't used the lessons myself so can't say how good they are.

I don't know if it's still the rule but when he started the online lessons he required that everyone participating use their real names. That meant quite a few people having to ask for a name change. Given the high volume of private messages I used to get on that site from (mostly US) men who just wanted to "chat" (I switched off the private messaging) it's not somewhere I'd be comfortable giving my real name. I've had an online stalker who tracked me down in the real world....

I would advise giving this one a miss....

Still and excellent website - with thousands of pieces of free CG music.