Imagine a world where there is no electricity. A world where instruments have to be performed acoustically, where performers have to rely on stage presence and personal bravado as much as their musical ability to win over their audience and make their living. Imagine performing without amplification for a concert hall audience of a thousand people and wowing them with every note. This is the world of the classical guitarist.
Even today, in world full of pick-ups and amplifiers, the vast majority of classical guitarists prefer to perform acoustically. The result is a deep connection between the performer and their instrument. A bond that can only be produced by years of practice and performance, while giving the utmost attention to tone and clarity, allowing the guitar to become an extension of the musician.
Though many of us know the basic history of the nylon string guitar, and may own one and play it from time to time, most of us are probably not aware of the impact that classical guitar and classical guitarists have had on modern music. We may take for granted that tablature is a fairly modern way of writing for guitar, but it might surprise us to know that tablature is an invention of classical guitar composers, one that dates back to the early fifteenth century.
We can also thank classical guitarist Andres Segovia for helping to invent the modern synthetic guitar string, which was made from wound animal gut up until the early twentieth century. Some of this centuries finest popular musicians have drawn influences from classical guitarists, jazzers Johnny Smith and Lenny Breau, and shredders Yngwie Malmsteen and Randy Rhodes to name a few.
This Primer will explore six of the most influential classical guitarists from the past one hundred years, as well as guide the reader to resources for further study and listening.
The Players
Andrés Segovia (1893-1987)
Andrés Segovia is often considered to be the father of the modern classical guitar movement. Born in Spain, and trained at a young age in Flamenco guitar, Segovia would quickly establish himself as the successor to the leading teacher and performer of the time, Francisco Tárrega. With the classical guitar finding its popularity in steep decline at the turn of the 20th century, Segovia would take advantage of improved travel conditions, advances in recording and the popularity of radio broadcasts to bring his music to a much larger audience than his predecessors and is considered the first “star” of the modern classical guitar field.
His technical innovations on the instrument inspired a whole generation of guitarists to follow in his footsteps, including his use of nylon strings in place of the traditional gut string. His transcriptions of piano music and commissions of new works for the guitar helped to build a repertoire that is considered essential for any current professional classical guitarist to know, and his ability to breathe such intense emotional content into traditional pieces make Segovia one of the finest classical guitar masters of the twentieth century.
At the time when Segovia was first becoming known as a guitarist, the common practice was for guitarists to use only the flesh on their right hands to pluck the strings. This approach produced a warm and mellow tone that guitarists considered to be the desired sound for performance. Segovia, and Miguel Llobet (an early teacher of his), began to use a combination of flesh and nail to strike the strings with their right hand. This produced a tone that was more crisp and sharper than his contemporaries, and allowed for a broader range of timbre and expression during performance.
Most teachers and performers of the time thought that this technique would never catch hold, but Segovia proved them wrong as it is still used by many performers today and is commonly taught by many of the leading classical guitar pedagogues. In order to use his nails to pluck the strings, Segovia had to angle his wrist so that his knuckles were facing the floor, instead of keeping a straight wrist which was common at the time and to some extend taught today. His unique hand position made Segovia one of the most recognizable performs of his day, with many younger guitarists trying to imitate his odd looking right hand.
One of Segovia’s main goals as a guitarist was to expand the current guitar repertoire, which he felt was lacking in both quantity and quality. He approached this task in two stages, the first was to transcribe works written for other instruments onto the guitar (for example taking pieces written for piano and working fingerings out for them on the guitar), and the second was to commission new works for the guitar by famous modern composers.
Many of Segovia’s transcriptions are still in use today including his Twelve Preludes written by Fernando Sor, and many of the Bach harpsichord and lute works. Perhaps his most famous commission was the Preludes and Etudes written for Segovia by the composer Heitor Villa-Lobos. These preludes and studies are considered essential to any modern classical guitarist’s repertoire and are often the melodies and pieces that listeners associate with the classical guitar.
Though some famous guitarists have, in recent years, given criticism as to the merit of Segovia’s performing and teaching, there is no doubt he was a driving force in the revival of the classical guitar during the early 20th century. He was considered a task master with his students and it was not uncommon to find him shouting at them during lessons, or berating them in master classes, but considering the level of students that came out of his studio it is hard to argue with his teaching methods.
One would be hard pressed to find a classical guitarist performing today that did not perform pieces from Segovia’s repertoire or was not influenced by his performances and technical-emotional achievements at one point in their development. It was his hard work and dedication to the instrument that paved the way for the next generation of guitarists such as Julian Bream and John Williams. Keeping the nylon string guitar alive during a time when amplifiers and solid body electric guitars were starting to dominate the marketplace and the airwaves.
Essential Listening
The Best of Andrés Segovia: The Millennium Collection
Julian Bream: The Ultimate Guitar Collection-Volume 2
Essential Publications
Diatonic Major and Minor Scales
Slur Exercises and Chromatic Octaves
Five Short Works for the Guitar
Julian Bream (1933- )
Courtesy Sony BMG Masterworks
Julian Bream is a British born guitarist who is considered to be one of the most influential post Segovia classical guitar performers and recording artists. If Segovia was the instruments prodigal son, than Bream was its wild child. He thoroughly enjoyed life, he drove fast and expensive cars, lived in a castle ala Jimmy Page, became known for his excessive drinking and shunned convention at every turn.
He began his career as a jazz musician, after falling in love with the music of Django Reinhardt, before deciding to focus his attention on classical music. His love of jazz, and especially Django, brought a sense of flare and excitement to his playing that distinguished himself from his purely classically trained peers. He would also become known for his part in bringing the Lute back into modern music.
As the generation before Bream had shunned the Lute as an antiquated instrument, Bream would play the instrument with such finesse and vigor that it has remained a part of the classical music genre to this day.
Aside from his instrumental achievements Bream was essential in developing the modern guitar repertoire, though instead of bringing Romantic style pieces to the instrument as did Segovia, he would be credited with developing the modern and post-modern repertoire used by classical guitarists to this day. His love of new and experimental music became a trademark of his performing style, which gave him the opportunity to premier many new music pieces as he was known for his outstanding ability in performing these often difficult works.
Composers such as Leo Brouwer, “Sonata,” Malcolm Arnold, “Concerto for Guitar and Chamber Orchestra,” Peter Maxwell Davies, “Hill Runes,” Michael Tippett, “The Blue Guitar,” and most notably Benjamin Britten, “Nocturnal after John Dowland,” wrote works specifically for Bream, all of which are still found in the common repertoire.
On the technical side, Bream did not choose to perform with a curved wrist as did Segovia, though he did use both his flesh and nails to pluck the strings. He has said that his decision to keep his right hand wrist straight while performing was due to the greater tonal variety that he felt one could achieve with this technique.
By choosing to straighten his wrist he was going against the teachings of the finest guitarist of his day, Segovia, which could have been a move that damaged his career as both a performer and educator. Instead, since most of his peers followed Segovia to the point of strict imitation, Bream’s technical approach brought him fame for his highly expressive performances and for a distinct tonal quality that helped to separate himself from his contemporaries.
Perhaps the biggest advantage that Bream had over previous generations of classical guitarists, including Tárrega and Segovia, were the advancements being made within the recording industry. While Segovia made many recordings over his lifetime, during his formative years he did not have access to the quality and quantity of recordings that Bream was able to produce.
Bream’s access to cheaper, higher quality recordings at an early age helped bring his music into many more households than Segovia had been able to reach. As well, the home owned record player was becoming much more popular during Bream’s early recordings, which was pivotal in helping him reach a larger audience than his predecessors.
Bream was always known as a very hard working musician that would constantly strive for perfection. This personal quality was never more apparent when, in 1984, he was involved in a serious car accident that severely damaged his right arm. Through countless hours of practicing and grueling physical therapy, Bream was able to return to his previous level of performance within a relatively short amount of time.
It is this dedication to the instrument, alongside his development of the modern repertoire, which has helped propel Bream to the upper echelon of the classical guitar world.
Essential Listening
Essential Publications
Julian Bream: My Life In Music
Julian Bream: Thirteen Guitar Solos
Five Bagatelles for Guitar
John Williams (1941- )
Courtesy Kathy Panama
John Williams is an Australian born classical guitarist who began his career performing in Spain, as a child prodigy at the age of twelve, while studying under master teacher Andrés Segovia. After spending his adolescent years under the tutelage of the famed Segovia, Williams attended the Royal College of Music in London. Though his first choice was to study classical guitar he was forced to study piano as there was no guitar department within the college at the time.
Upon graduation Williams was offered, and accepted, a position from the college to form a classical guitar department, were he would teach for several years and continue to maintain close ties throughout his career. This was a similar circumstance to that experienced by jazz guitar child prodigy Pat Metheny who was hired at both the University of Miami and Berklee College of Music before he was twenty years of age.
Another trait that Williams shares with Metheny is his expansion of the traditional repertoire, Williams with classical and Metheny with traditional jazz, by exploring fusion, rock and world music, including his highly successful album based on the music of Africa with jazz guitarist John Etheridge. Williams has recorded and performed original compositions and arrangements of pieces based on the traditional music of Africa, South America and Asia, and interpreted pieces drawn from the folk traditions of various non Western countries.
His explorations of world music, alongside his contributions as a composer and arranger, has had a strong influence on a new generation of guitarists such as Alex De Grassi, Muriel Anderson and Dusan Bogdanovic, who prefer original material to the traditional repertoire when performing and recording.
Aside from his solo albums, Williams is also known for his performances on movie soundtracks. Perhaps his most famous soundtrack recording is the piece “Cavatina,” written by Stanley Myers, which was used as the theme song for the Academy Award winning film The Deer Hunter. To further his reputation as a multi-talented musician, Williams has also recorded and performed with the Fusion group Sky, which features fellow guitarists Julian Bream and Paco Pena alongside Williams.
He has also performed in duo with legendary rock guitarist Pete Townshend, formerly of The Who, in a rock-fusion context. While exploring fusion music on the nylon string guitar, Williams has inadvertently become a strong supporter of using amplification when performing in large groups and in large halls. This has provoked a small backlash from the traditional side of the classical guitar community, though not enough to have affected Williams’ popularity or reputation among the general public.
Alongside his work as a performer, composer and arranger, Williams has always maintained his reputation as a world class guitar pedagogue. He has pressed the guitar community to further develop a more well rounded guitarist who can not only play solo pieces, but one that can sight read well and work within the context of larger ensembles.
Due to his strong beliefs and talent as an educator, Williams has maintained a steady schedule of master classes and residencies at colleges and conservatories around the world.
Essential Listening
Classic Williams: Romance of the Guitar
The Ultimate Guitar Collection
The Seville Concert
Essential Publications
Guitar Artistry of John Williams
Ralph Towner (1940 – )
Courtesy Paolo Soriani ECM Records
Ralph Towner is one of the most versatile musicians in any genre performing today. Though he is probably best known for his nylon and 12-sting guitar playing, he has also made recordings on piano, synthesizer, percussion and trumpet. As well as being a multi-instrumentalist, Towner has performed and recorded albums in a variety of genres such as jazz, classical, folk, world, fusion and Indian music. He has also been performed with a variety of groups that range in size from solo guitar to a symphony orchestra and is best known as a founding member of the experimental world music group Oregon.
After beginning his career as a jazz pianist in New York during the 1960’s, he was a member of famed trumpeter Freddie Hubbard’s band for a time, Towner quickly shifted his focus to classical guitar, and later the 12-stirng acoustic guitar. His previous studies on the piano had a strong influence on his guitar playing, as his approach has more in common with a classical pianist than to that of a classical guitarist. His ability to weave between chord vocings, single line melodies, bass lines and percussive effects, give the effect that one is listening to a piano or string quartet rather than a solo classical guitar.
What makes Towner stand out the most against other classical guitarists is his ability not only as a performer and composer, but also as an improviser. Drawing from his background in jazz and world music, Towner has managed to blur the lines between classical, jazz, folk and world music within his playing, which has allowed him to reach a wider audience than other classical guitarists who stick closely to the Western art music tradition.
It is not uncommon for Towner to play extended improvisations during a piece, and most of his solo recordings contain several freely improvised pieces. This ability has allowed him to perform with many of the top jazz musicians of his era including bassist’s Eddie Gomez and Gary Peacock, drummer Jack Dejohnette, and the jazz/rock fusion group Weather Report.
Though Towner is know for these collaborations and his solo work, he is probably best known for his work with the group Oregon. The band, Towner guitars-piano, Paul McCandless woodwinds, Glen Moore bass and Collin Walcott drums, have been performing and recording together since 1970, with the exception of Walcott who was tragically killed in a car accident in 1984.
The group has recorded twenty-seven albums during this time and has maintained a busy performance schedule with the group continuing to perform in North America, Europe, South America and Asia on a regular basis.
Essential Listening
Solo Concert
Time Line
Solstice
Diary
Essential Publications
Guitar Works, Vol.1: Ralph Towner
Ralph Towner: Guitar Works, Volume 2
Improvisation and Performance Techniques for Classical and Acoustic Guitar
Christopher Parkening (1947 – )
Courtesy Beth Herzhaft
Christopher Parkening is a multi-award winning American classical guitarist and educator. Parkening was encouraged at a young age to study guitar, specifically classical guitar, by his cousin Jack Marshall, who was a well known L.A. studio musician during the 1960’s.
After graduating from the University of Southern California’s Thornton School of Music, Parkening has become one of the most recognized and well respected classical guitar performers and educators of the twentieth century. He is also widely considered to be the American heir to the Andres Segovia legacy, as Bream was the British heir and Williams the Australian.
Parkening’s performing career is as varied as it is extensive. He has performed with Placido Domingo, at Carnegie Hall’s 100th Anniversary concert, twice at the Grammy Awards show, and on many television shows including the Tonight Show and Good Morning America.
Apart from his solo performances, he has also performed with fellow guitarists John Williams and Joaquin Rodrigo among others, and has performed as a featured guest artist with many of America’s top orchestra’s, including the Philadelphia, Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles and Houston symphonies, and the Boston Pops orchestra.
Parkening is one of the most highly decorated classical guitarists of his, or any, generation. He has won two Grammy Awards, is a Distinguished Alumni at the University of Southern California, has an Honorary Doctorate of Music from Montana State University, is a recipient of the 2000 Orville H. Gibson Lifetime Achievement Award for Classical Guitar, is the 2003 Distinguished Artist Award winner at the University of Michigan and as readers of Guitar Player Magazine know, he has won the annual readers poll as Best Classical Guitarist numerous times, and has been placed in the magazine’s Gallery of Greats as the only American guitarist alongside Andres Segovia (Spain), Julian Bream (England) and John Williams (Australia).
One of Parkening’s greatest contributions to the world of classical guitar has been his tireless effort as an educator and competition promoter throughout the United States and abroad. He recently celebrated the thirtieth anniversary of his annual summer guitar camp at Montana State University and is the Distinguished Chair of Classical Guitar at Pepperdine University in California.
In 2006, Parkening launched the Parkening International Guitar Competition, which features performers from around the world and has the largest prizes of any national or international guitar competition. This competition is to be held every four years at Pepperdine University and was designed to support the next generations of up and coming young classical guitarists by providing them with the money and international exposure they need to begin their careers.
Aside from being an accomplished classical guitarist and educator, Parkening is also an internationally recognized fly fisherman. He has won the International Gold Cup Tarpon Tournament in Florida, which is widely considered to be the World Cup of the fly fishing world.
He is also a devout Christian, and has credited his beliefs in helping him to return to performing the guitar after a long absence, during which time he had doubts about his future with the instrument.
Parkening currently maintains a busy schedule of teaching and performing and continues to release albums under his own name and as a collaborator with many world class classical musicians.
Essential Listening
Christopher Parkening – The Great Recordings
Christopher Parkening plays Bach
Celebrates Segovia
Essential Publications
The Christopher Parkening Guitar Method – Volume 1: The Art and Technique of the Classical Guitar
The Christopher Parkening Guitar Method – Volume 2: Guitar Technique
Grace like a River: An Autobiography
Sharon Isbin (1956 – )
Courtesy J. Henry Fair
Sharon Isbin, alongside Muriel Anderson and Liona Boyd, is one of the finest female classical guitarists to have ever played the instrument. The Minneapolis native trained under some of the most renowned instructors of her time, including Andres Segovia and Oscar Ghiglia, and graduated with her Bachelors and Masters of music performance from Yale University, one of the finest guitar programs in the world. She is well known for her recordings, both classical and commercial, her high level of performance, ability as an author and her dedication to classical guitar pedagogy.
Isbin has released over twenty-five recordings over the span of her illustrious career. She has recorded in a wide variety of styles, from Baroque and Spanish influenced music, to post-modern, crossover and jazz styles, and with a wide variety of players, including Bossa Nova guitarist Laurindo Almeida and jazz/rock fusionist Larry Coryell. Her recordings have consistently been ranked at the top of the Billboard charts for classical music, and her album Drams of a World reached the number one spot on the charts, ousting the famed Three Tenors from the top spot.
Her recordings have done so well that her 1995 album American Landscapes was presented as a gift to the Russian cosmonauts after the space shuttle Atlantis docked at the Mir Space Station. Isbin’s recordings have not only garnered her world wide sales and chart topping recognition, they have also brought several Grammy nominations, including her album Concerto de Aranjuez, which she recorded with the New York Philharmonic, and several Grammy wins, including her hit album Baroque Favorites for Guitar. Isbin was also featured on the soundtrack for the motion picture The Departed, which was nominated for a Grammy award as well.
Alongside her busy recording schedule, Isbin has always maintained a steady schedule of public performances, both in person and on television and radio.She has given solo concerts and appeared as a featured soloist with over one hundred and sixty orchestras throughout the world, including the St. Louis Symphony, the New York Philharmonic, the NDR symphony, the Aspen Music Festival symphony and many others.
Apart from her many accomplishments as a performer, she has become one of the biggest contributors to the guitar concerto repertoire, where the guitar is featured with a symphony orchestra, by commissioning ten new works for the genre. These works have come from many of the top composers of her generation, including John Duarte, Christopher Rouse, John Corigliano and Lukas Foss.
Aside from the concerti that she has commissioned, she has also commissioned solo works written by a wide variety of composers, including Steve Vai, Leo Brouwer and Howard Shore.
Not satisfied with being known as a performer and accomplished recording artist, Isbin is also the author of several well known guitar instructional books. Her two “answer” books, The Classical Guitar Answer Book and The Acoustic Guitar Answer Book, are both highly respected works within the guitar community.
They have also become popular with a new generation of amateur guitarists, both classical and otherwise, who have embraced Isbin’s approach to teaching the guitar. This has helped her to become known outside of the tightly knit classical guitar community, which is a feat that has rarely been accomplished by any classical guitarist.
Isbin has also been highly involved with classical guitar pedagogy. She is the director of the guitar departments at the Aspen Music Festival and the Julliard School, where in 1989 she became the first guitar instructor in the school’s one hundred year history. Outside of her work at these two world class institutions, Isbin continues to give master classes, clinics and workshops throughout the world.
Essential Listening
Dreams of a World
Sharon Isbin Plays Baroque Favorites for Guitar
Artist Portrait: Sharon Isbin
Essential Publications
Classical Guitar Answer Book
The Acoustic Guitar Answer Book
Further Reading and Listening
Other Notable Classical Players
Muriel Anderson
Brad Richter
The Assad Brothers
Dusan Bogdanovic
Scott Tennant
Andrew York
David Russell
Liona Boyd
Crossover Players
Lenny Breau
Gene Bertoncini
Ted Greene
Tommy Emmanuel
Alex De Grassi
Michael Hedges
Phil Keaggy
Yngwie Malmsteen
Randy Rhodes
Brian May
Steve Howe
Further Reading
Pumping Nylon
Classical Guitar Making: A Modern Approach to Traditional Design
The Classical Guitar Book – A Complete History
Mel Bay Presents Classical Guitar Pedagogy: A Handbook for Teachers
Mel Bay Rock Goes Classic: Rock Favorites for Classical Guitar
Mel Bay Jazz Goes Classic Jazz Favorites for Classical Guitar
Mel Bay Concise History of the Classic Guitar 
Further Listening
Essential Guitar: 33 Guitar Masterpieces
300 Years of Guitar Masterpieces
Anthology of Guitar Music: 500 Years of Guitar Composition
