Jambole.com – for Guitarists

I use the tremolo technique quite extensively in my guitar playing. I thought it would be interesting to give a basic introduction to this technique.

The technique has its roots in the Flamenco and Classical guitar styles and I think the piece that has done the most to popularize the technique is “Recuerdos de la Alhambra” by Francisco Tarrega, though there are plenty of other great piece of music that use the technique too.

The Basic Guitar Technique.

The tremolo finger movement is a repeating 4 finger pattern which is played over and over again.

This is:-

• Thumb
• 3rd (or ring) finger
• 2nd (or middle) finger
• 1st (or index) finger
• (Then back to the Thumb again)

This creates a simple rolling pattern (thumb,  3rd, 2nd, 1st, thumb, 3rd, 2nd, 1st…) which with a little practice is very easy to achieve very fast speeds with.

When you first work on this, make your aim to be as smooth and even with each note as possible. It’s very easy to overemphasize the thumb stroke, it’s also very easy to have an uneven rhythm between each note. So go for clarity and evenness of tone and rhythm above all else! Believe me, the speed will come.

Classical Tremolo Pattern

Every Classical piece which uses a tremolo follows a similar pattern. Your thumb plays and accompanying bass line while you fingers repeatedly play the same high note.

Here’s a simple example using an A Major Chord.

classical-tremolo.mp3

Just take it easy and go for smoothness and consistancy first.

Developing a Single Note Soloing Technique

Ok, so we have a basic technique. Next lets start getting the thumb more directly involved with the same melody line as the fingers. Perhaps the easiest way of doing that is the next exercise.

As you can see, we’re using the thumb to play the same note as the fingers, also we’re focusing on the inner strings. This means that you have to be much more accurate, in your playing, and look for ways of dampening the strings with your left hand. As always, go for consistency above speed.

Lets also add some left hand/ right hand coordination.

You will notice that there is a three note pattern on the left hand, and a four notes on the right. Get used to this, as most scales are 3 note per string patterns, this will happen all the time!

Now lets do some string crossing.

This time we have a 6 note pattern across 2 strings. The thumb plays the low note on the first cycle, the middle finger plays the low note on the second cycle. This will feel very awkward to start with, but with practice and perseverance, you will be able to do this smoothly.

Let’s introduce a more extended exercise.

Ok, so we have a series of 4 twelve note patterns, each separated by a 3 note run. Why is this? well once you start playing you’ll notice that each 12 note cluster  starts with a different finger. So play the first pattern a few times round, until it gets established, then move onto the next.

Give yourself some time with this, these are not techniques that you get over night. The motor skills take a long time to develop, but if you stick at it you will get there!

Discover some other fingerstyle techniques here.