Rest Strokes and Free Strokes for Solo Fingerstyle Guitar
From Classical Guitar for the
Steel-String Guitarist (00695987)
The technique for playing “lead” on classical guitar is almost always a rest stroke. This technique is called a “rest stroke” because the finger comes to
a rest on the next lower string. Rest strokes produce a louder and thicker sound
than the a free stroke. (You could think of rest strokes as sounding like humbuckers, and free strokes like single-coil pickups). Rest strokes are often used for
playing scale passages and for “bringing out” (i.e., making louder) a particular
note or group of notes.
Simultaneously playing a rest stroke with a finger and a free stroke with
the thumb takes a bit of practice, but it is a very important tool. Keep the
hand in its rest-stroke position and, as you pluck the thumb, bring it “up”
a bit more than usual, away from the guitar. Your thumb should touch (or
almost touch) your i finger closer to the knuckle than it would if you were
playing all free strokes. There are different ways to indicate a rest stroke.
Personally, I feel that it is a musical decision best left to the player, but when
a rest stroke is written it is often indicated by a marcato, or “carrot” mark.
1/2 CV
4
4
1
Fig. 1
3
2
Because a is playing a rest stroke while p is playing a free stroke, a may sound a bit later than p if it gets “caught” on the string. To avoid this,
stiffen a slightly more than usual. Of course, this may be the effect you
want; delaying the melody a tiny bit helps to bring attention to it. But, as
always, let the end result be for a musical reason, not a technical one.
Don’t place the left-hand fingers that are playing the harmony until you
are ready to play them with your right hand (on the “and” of beat 1). In
the next-to-last measure, you will need to place your first finger right on
the beat, as it plays at the same time as the melody. Be sure to make that
shift smoothly, and to not place fingers 2 and 3 on the strings until the
“and” of beat 3. Even though measures 4 and 8 are identical chords, I have
fingered them differently to make the full bar in measure 9 easier to get to.
Also, notice that in measure 9 a moves from string 1 to string 2, and m and
i move from strings 2–3 to strings 3–4.
1
4
2
3
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8
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CV
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CV
CIII
2
3
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5
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6
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66
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66
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1
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10
9
7
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6
8
5
5
5
5
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7
0
0
0
Click here to head to
premierguitar.com/jan2011
to hear an audio clip of the arrangement.
