Mel Bay Complete Sor Studies for Guitar

by David Grimes

The guitar studies of Fernando Sor (1778-1839) have long been valued highly among the indispensable elements of a guitarist's training. A number of prominent virtuosi attribute a large portion of their development to the diligent study of these works. Sor's studies address an impressive array of technical and musical topics, including proper left-hand fingering, training of the right hand, interval and chord formations, scales, arpeggios, repeated notes, ligados, barring, natural harmonics, control of note duration, balance of melody versus accompaniment, and the handling of contrapuntal voices. A careful study of these pieces will lay the groundwork for a solid technique and allow the guitarist to build the control necessary for the expression of his or her musical concepts. In preparing this edition David Grimes worked with Sor's original publications, but incorporated some alterations that appear in those studies that Napoleon Coste chose to include in his Methode complete pour la Guitarre par Ferdinand Sor. Furthermore, Mr. Grimes has corrected misprints, modernized the notation and rectified some inconsistencies. Finally, some developments in technique since Sor's day have been incorporated in this edition.

Genres: Music

160 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1994

About the author

David was a staunch advocate for the guitar in so many ways - as Director of the Classical Guitar Studies at Cal State Fullerton, and as a performer, composer, arranger, writer, and conductor of the Orange County Guitar Orchestra for many years.
David Grimes was first introduced to the guitar when he was a junior math major at Caltech and heard a recording of Andrés Segovia. He completed his degree in mathematics and subsequently worked at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena for several years while he pursued his guitar studies with Guy Horn and Oscar Ghiglia. For eighteen years, he was President of the GFA and served the organization tirelessly. More recently, he was a Reviews Editor for Soundboard magazine. His Mel Bay editions of The Complete Sor Studies and The Complete Giuliani Studies are pedagogical staples.