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How to Get Rid of String Squeaks

How to Get Rid of String Squeaks

Get Rid of String Squeaks

You must get this in your head once and for all: String squeaks are unbearable and they are one of the main reasons why classical guitarists are often not considered real artists. Just think about it. They are ugly and detract from the beauty of the music you play. In order to get rid of them you must first become very aware of their presence and come to hate them with all your strength.

Imagine that you were playing and someone in the audience made an annoying noise with his mouth every few seconds. I am sure you'd stop and ask that person to "please stop". As a matter of fact, Maestro Andres Segovia did just that in a concert I attended in Bari, Italy. Well, that is exactly the same we do to the audience whenever we throw in a string squeak. It is terribly annoying and the only reason we can stand them is because we become "selectively deaf" to them. 

In the video is a great example taken from Isaac Albéniz Granada where I show how to work around string squeaks. In the example I show squeaks created by the lateral movement of fingers when they are getting off the fingerboard. This type of squeak is more difficult to eradicate. 

You must fine tune your ear to make sure no squeak goes into your playing. Remember that 99% of string squeaks can be taken care of with the proper attention and technique skill. They require work and work with the guitar is whet we do therefore, no more excuses.

It is guitar transcriptions in general that have in a way "forced" or facilitated the incorporation of string squeaks in the guitar technique. This is because the guitar has tried to increase its repertoire by adapting pieces originally written for other instruments and in the process of doing so, the guitar player had to face situations where at first glance the only option to make a musical phrase flow as expected by the composer was to move on the fingerboard in a certain way. The result was a string squeak that killed the beauty of the musical passage. That same musical passage would have not suffered had the player removed a note or two and in the process saved the beauty and spirit of the work. I encourage you to listen to teh playing of Uruguayan player Alvaro Pierri, perhaps Abel Carlevaro most prominent student, and see how this Master is able to make the most beautiful guitar music without making string noise. Pierri dominates Carlevaro technique, the same technique I teach in all the pages of mangore.com. Other great masters that use Carlevaro technique are Eduardo FernandezCesar Amaro, Baltazar Benitez and of course Abel Carlevaro himself and yours truly. 

Read the whole section on String Squeaks here