Great Exercises

Left Hand

1: Slurs (Intermediate)

From Mozart's "Turkish March" masterclass.

The following are 2 great Exercises to master slurs. I use the opening section of Mozart's "Turkish March".

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2: Slurs 2 (Intermediate)

From Mozart's "Turkish March" masterclass.

This is another great exercise to master the 4-2, 1-2 fingers combination in slurs.

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3: Slurs 3 (Intermediate)

From Mozart's "Turkish March" masterclass.

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4: Embellishmens (Advanced)

From Mozart's "Turkish March" masterclass.

Here is a great exercise that will help you master the embellishment at the end of staff 2. You ought to practice this exercise back and forth between positions 3 and 1 in order to benefit the most by what it has to offer. Your forearm and the dorso of your left hand will warm up really quickly. If pain becomes unbearable, stop.

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5: Left Hand Stretch (Intermediate)

From: Tárrega "Recuerdos de la Alhambra" masterclass.

The Left hand fingers will often need to stretch beyond the natural 4 frets span. When this happens, it is necessary to use the whole playing apparatus in order to carry on the task using more powerful and more adapt muscle groups. Leaving all the work to the fingers alone will augment the risk of mistakes and the mount up of muscular fatigue. Larger muscle groups achieve greater precision with greater ease. The exercise I perform in the video is from the opening stretch in Recuerdos de la Alhambra. 

Notice how the elbow comes closer to theside of the body and to the front as more stretching is required for finger 1 to reach the notes in the second and third fret.  Read the Complete article on Abel Carlevaro technique and the way to approach the work of the Left Hand here →

Practice this exercise for 3 minutes. Keep the elbow close to the body and push the forearm forward in order to achieve the required stretch. Use the articulation in the wrist in order to stop the notes with greater ease This exercise is based on the opening section of Recuerdos. Study this masterclas with me here →

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6: Double Legatos (Advanced)

The exercise is designed to achieve strenght in the left hand and be able to coordinate the left hand fingers. Play the exercise with the Metronome. After playing the model below on the first fret, move the hand to the second fret and repeat. Move down to the 7th fret and then return to fret 1. Practice the exercise for 3 minutes. 

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7: Change Position on the Fingerboars (Intermediate)

The Exercise is designed to achieve precision and proficiency in position changes obver the fingerboard. This exercise must be practiced with the metronome. Start at a speed where mistakes are impossible and increase gradually. It makes no sense to practice mistakes. This exercise ought be practiced for stretches of 2 minutes non stop.

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