More Passion: Classical Guitar I

So, I just realized that I've titled my blog as Jun's Love & Life, which was meant to portray my love and passion in life, but I've only been posting my passion for Photography. So I've decided to blog about my love for music, specifically classical guitar.

First, what makes someone a guitar player?
Guitar is such a commonly played instrument. Everyone from teenagers who wants to be the next Kurt Cobain, to grownups hoping to woo the girl they are deeply in love with by playing the Delilah song . But there are people who play the guitar out of pure musical appreciation, and I would say that there are two main types of guitarists that fall into this category. One is the Jazz guitar player and second is the Classical guitarist. So in this blog, I'm going to talk about the latter type of guitar.

Second: What is a classical guitar?
Classical guitars are commonly known as nylon string, Spanish, or flamenco guitars. Nylon string is probably the easiest distinguishing characteristics that people can recognize about a classical guitar. The nylon string produces much lower tension and enables to produce much smoother and softer sounds than a steel sting guitar. Also, classical guitars have a slightly smaller body than a regular acoustic guitar and have less frets.

Third: How it classical guitar played?
Classical guitar is played very differently than a ordinary acoustic guitar. Instead of using a finger or a pick to strum and pick, in classical guitar, the 4 fingers of the dominant hand is used to pluck the individual strings. The index, middle and the ring finger are almost always used only for plucking the top 3 strings. Then the thumb is responsible for plucking the last 3 base strings. Also, all the plucking is done through the nail of the fingers, hence, classical guitarist keep a very well kept long nails, which are all individually shaped for the plucking of the string.

Fourth: What kind of music does it play?
Classical music can be very versatile, it can range from traditional classical music, to Spanish flamenco, to jazz and soft pop or rock music.

Here are some of my favorite Classical guitar composers and their music:
1) Recuerdos de Alhambra, by Francisco Tarrega
2) Asturias, by Isaak Albeniz
3) Koyunbaba, by Carlo Domeniconi

So hope that's enough for now and I'll be posting more on my passion for classical guitar on "More Passion: Classical Guitar II"