Vinny228
Verified buyer
03/25/26
Classical made easy.
This is a great course to expand your acoustic guitar horizons. And you can start playing classical songs the have been made accessible through the arrangements.
Classical Flatpicking Explorations
Classical Guitar Repertoire for Flatpickers
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About this course
The right and left-hand fingerstyle techniques that are commonly associated with classical guitar can be pretty intimidating for flatpickers. Yet, virtually any classical composition can also be played with a pick. Tony Smotherman has arranged 10 solo flatpicking studies inspired by the most popular classical guitarists and composers.
These 10 compelling arrangements will jumpstart your repertoire of flatpicking classical pieces. Play them for family, friends or even on your next solo gig. You’ll also benefit from the engaging melodic approaches common in classical music, which will enrich your solos and compositions, whatever style you play.
”We're going to dig deep inside the magic of classical music and learn from the greatest masters of all time. You'll gain a wealth of knowledge and reap the benefits of all the technique, musicality, and movement from these 10 essential pieces I've chosen.
The best part… you don't have to dedicate your entire life to classical music to perform these incredible pieces! I'm going to show you how using a pick can be just as musically expressive in classical music as your fingers. Not only will you have 10 beautiful pieces to perform, you'll be hooked on the classics just like I am.”
Tony will guide you through all 10 classical flatpicking arrangements. He’ll perform each study for you and then break down the performance emphasizing all of the key techniques and principles you should focus on.
Tony will explain and demonstrate all of the key techniques along the way. You’ll get standard notation and tab for all of the performance studies. In addition, you’ll be able to loop or slow down any section of the performances so that you can work with the materials at your own pace.
Grab your guitar and pick — let's get classical with Tony Smotherman!
These 10 compelling arrangements will jumpstart your repertoire of flatpicking classical pieces. Play them for family, friends or even on your next solo gig. You’ll also benefit from the engaging melodic approaches common in classical music, which will enrich your solos and compositions, whatever style you play.
”We're going to dig deep inside the magic of classical music and learn from the greatest masters of all time. You'll gain a wealth of knowledge and reap the benefits of all the technique, musicality, and movement from these 10 essential pieces I've chosen.
The best part… you don't have to dedicate your entire life to classical music to perform these incredible pieces! I'm going to show you how using a pick can be just as musically expressive in classical music as your fingers. Not only will you have 10 beautiful pieces to perform, you'll be hooked on the classics just like I am.”
Tony will guide you through all 10 classical flatpicking arrangements. He’ll perform each study for you and then break down the performance emphasizing all of the key techniques and principles you should focus on.
Tony will explain and demonstrate all of the key techniques along the way. You’ll get standard notation and tab for all of the performance studies. In addition, you’ll be able to loop or slow down any section of the performances so that you can work with the materials at your own pace.
Grab your guitar and pick — let's get classical with Tony Smotherman!
What you'll learn
- Perform classical compositions using flatpicking instead of fingerstyle
- Navigate harmonic progressions using basic chord shapes
- Apply planted finger technique for melodic stability
- Develop advanced string skipping techniques
- Develop consistent triplet rhythm execution
Release date: 04/04/2018 • 1h 32m runtime
Sample lessons
Minuet
Overview
Minuet
Performance
Minuet
Breakdown
Opus 60 Study No.7 in A Minor
Overview
What's included
32 lessons • 10 charts
Classical Flatpicking Explorations
Hi, I'm Tony Smotherman, and welcome to Classical Flatpicking Explorations. Classical music on the guitar as we know it is relatively young. Maestro classical guitarist Andres Segovia brought the classical guitar to the forefront of modern music, describing the classical guitar as an entire symphony inside of one instrument and the only instrument that's physically held right beside the heart. Classical guitar requires lifelong dedication and requires extreme discipline, focus, agility, and a true love of classical music. A classical musician's outlook is to represent the music of the master as they intended it to be.
In this course, we're going to dig deep inside the magic of classical music and learn from the greatest masters of all time. You'll gain a wealth of knowledge and reap the benefits of all the technique, musicality, and movement from these 10 essential pieces I've chosen. The best part, you don't have to dedicate your entire life to classical music to perform incredible pieces all while gaining multiple benefits of this beautiful music. I'm going to show you how using a pick can be just as musically expressive in classical music as your fingers. Not only will you have 10 beautiful pieces to perform, you'll be hooked on the classics just like I am. Grab your guitar and pick, and let's dig into the music of the masters!
In this course, we're going to dig deep inside the magic of classical music and learn from the greatest masters of all time. You'll gain a wealth of knowledge and reap the benefits of all the technique, musicality, and movement from these 10 essential pieces I've chosen. The best part, you don't have to dedicate your entire life to classical music to perform incredible pieces all while gaining multiple benefits of this beautiful music. I'm going to show you how using a pick can be just as musically expressive in classical music as your fingers. Not only will you have 10 beautiful pieces to perform, you'll be hooked on the classics just like I am. Grab your guitar and pick, and let's dig into the music of the masters!
Minuet
Mozart's music transcribes so well to the guitar. In this minuet, you'll notice lots of string skipping and position changes within the scale runs. Mozart was well known for his harmonies and masterful ability to make his pieces sound elaborate, while often built on very basic musical concepts. This minuet is a great example of how Mozart crafted incredible harmonically rich lines in an almost playful manner.
Minuet
This Mozart minuet employs skips and jumps all over the place. A fun challenge. Be sure to keep your thumb mid-neck in order to pull off those wider stretches. Part two moves through a beautiful minor section full of alternate picked arpeggios. Fingerings are key to move positions gracefully.
Minuet
Accuracy is key here. Some positions have ascending notes, while others have descending notes, which creates a really interesting and unique feel. Lots of single string runs are going to require position and fingering changes.
La Catedral 3rd Movement
The music of Augustín Barrios is held in high regard in the classical guitar world. A Paraguayan born guitarist himself, "La Catedral" is one of his most famous pieces. The section I've chosen is the 3rd movement of "La Catedral", an amazing study in position shifting and picking through arpeggiated chords. On top of that, it's one of the most incredibly written pieces I've ever heard.
La Catedral 3rd Movement
Be sure to keep a steady even tempo throughout to give this piece a waterfall like flow. The arpeggios throughout should be clean, and the position shifts smooth.
La Catedral 3rd Movement
Movement 3 is in the key of B minor. Barrios is known for his interesting chord changes. You'll notice so much going on at one time once you play through everything. Pay close attention to the bass notes, as this is where lots of the action is actually happening. The scale runs are great for picking through as well! Once again, keeping a nice and even tempo throughout is key.
+ 25 more lessons
Reviews
10 results
Sindibad
Verified buyer
03/09/26
Tony Smotherman's Classical Flatpicking Explorations
It's unusual to play on nylon strings with a pick.
Billy
06/21/21
Great idea for any pick player
I've always loved Classical guitar but so hard to approach fingerstyle when playing with a pick so many years. This course provides a way to not only listen to classical but to finally perform it for others pick style. Best of both worlds! Its so hard to find a complete Classical for pick course to like this...all the charts and video performances I need to get going. Thank you so much for making this possible! Sign me up for Vol. 2 whenever it comes out!!
ijovic
Verified buyer
09/02/20
Right hand exercise
Excellent idea to have this course at the first place. Aside from the wonderful choice of music the material also serves as exercise for right picking hand, highly recommended.
jac
11/24/19
Musical Chop Builder
20 years ago I had a book on flatpicking Bach two-part inventions. Being into Yngwie and the other Shrapnel shredders, this book was an awesome. This course expands on that idea by arranging classical music beyond Bach for flatpicking. And of course seeing the pieces played and studying the performance helps with fingering and picking sequence. Definitely a shredders workout with alternate picking, string skipping, and arpeggios - but much more musical than your typical scalar exercises. Arrangements sound great played clean or through mega distortion.
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