This Andantino by Joseph Kuffner is a great easy classical guitar piece for beginners. It only uses four of the strings, and the reading and rhythm are fairly straight-forward.
However, don’t be fooled, there is always a lot to learn from these “beginning” or “easy” pieces. They’re a great chance to go deep into the learning process, guitar technique, and musical phrasing.
In addition to the full lesson videos below, you’ll also find something extra. If you would like to make this into a true learning experience and expand your knowledge, understanding, and abilities to learn music, you can take the full course below.
Video #1: Listen to the Piece
Video #2: Taking an Overview of the Piece
Video #3: What Are the Hands Doing?
Video #4: Forward Motion
Video #5: Dynamics: Swells and Fades
Move Ahead in Your Music by Digging Deeper
So this has been a great introduction to the Andantino. If you’d like to use this easy classical guitar piece as a true learning experience, and delve deeper into your learning process and mastery of this piece and all its facets, take the course below.
Additional In-depth Course on The Kuffner Andantino ($19)
You’ll find all sorts of little tips and methods, and gain new perspectives on how to practice, how to listen, and how to make music beautiful.
The course has
- 21 Short videos focusing on every little detail (some you might have missed!)
- 5 Custom practice resources created especially for this particular piece.
- Step-by-step instruction
- Deep musical insights
- New ways to solve problems
It’s like taking multiple lessons with a teacher. You can bounce around or go in order. Either way, you will definitely come out a better musician.
Extra Practice Resources
In the course, you’ll get these added practice resources to help you learn more quickly, with better understanding:
- Sheet Music: notes only, no fingerings (you fill in fingerings to test your memory!)
- Sheet Music: with fingerings (the master sheet music)
- Sheet Music: color-coded for string changes (for working on the right hand)
- Sheet Music: includes TAB (TAB for you non-music readers)
- Sheet Music: small sections divided for practice (so you can work in manageable chunks)
Sign up now for the full course!
Course Content
Section Five
Section Six
Wrapping Up
Hi Allen,
Thank you!!! The Andantino is lovely, and I am looking forward to working through the entire lesson package. As a beginner, it is rare to have the opportunity to explore anything in depth or consider the nuances and potential in a work. Wonderful! This is exactly what I have been needing to round out my practice materials.
Cheers,
Susan
Thanks Susan! I hope you enjoy the lesson package.
Best of luck!,
Allen
Thanks for this, Allen. I have several other short Kuffner pieces from Schott’s ‘The Guitarist’s Hour’ collection, but this one is new to me.
I have two questions…
1. Do you have any idea where in Kuffner’s work this is from? That is, the Opus and number, or the name of the score it was originally in?
2. During most of this piece, your left thumb is showing over the top of the fretboard, rather than in the position usually recommended. Do you have any opinion about left hand position? (I had a quick skim through your basic concepts, but couldn’t find anything).
Regards,
John
Hi John,
I do not know where in Kuffner’s work this is from. Sorry.
I get asked about the thumb occasionally. When I practice technique work, and when I play the music I am personally working on, my thumb is generally behind the neck. For songs that have less technical challenge for me, I just play however is most comfortable. (as an analogy, when driving on a straight isolated road with good visibility, I drive with one hand and am very relaxed. In the pouring rain in fast moving highly technical conditions, I drive with both hands on the steering wheel and sit straighter in my seat. A new driver will relax less on the country road, because they haven’t built the habits and skills of safe driving yet.)
As a general rule, you are correct, the thumb should be centered behind the fingertips (more or less). That said, sometimes the hand is in a better position for a specific demand with the thumb higher. Ideally, each finger is given the most possibilities of where it can move next (meaning avoid completely straight or bent when possible).
I hope that helps. I’ll try to be on my toes more in future videos so as to avoid the confusion!
Cheers,
Allen
Thank you, Allen. Even though I won’t be delving into this piece, (one of those I learned early on) I do like the way you are presenting it and teaching it. It gives us an opportunity to learn how to learn a piece.
Maybe you’ll do a tutorial on something a little more difficult next time. J.S. Bach’s Prelude in D minor, 999? or anything J.S. Bach is challenging to me, anyway. 🙂
And I do enjoy your analogies!
Hi Karen,
Thanks for the question. Bach is certainly challenging.
There are a couple of reasons I haven’t done tutorials on advanced level pieces.
The first is that (in my opinion) most people playing advanced pieces (present company excluded!) are playing over their heads and would benefit from going deeper on easier pieces first. They can play the notes, but musically, they don’t really understand the basics enough to integrate them into a piece where you have a new issue every three notes. (In my opinion, several of the best known players are in this camp: flawless technique, but nothing really happening musically.) Perhaps they don’t need to go as far back as this one, but playing something simpler allows for attention to the “how” and not just the “what”.
The second reason is that I am trying to create resources that can help the most the people. The more basic pieces allow for beginners to feel comfortable with them, and intermediate players to step back a bit and go deeper into musical issues, concepts and devices. Many people playing advanced music (like the Bach 999) are
(a.) playing “over their heads”, and not really at the level to explore it deeply, as I said earlier;
(b.)not receptive to instruction that challenges their current beliefs, or
(c.) not really looking for tutorials, either because they already have a teacher, or they don’t feel they need them.
So I feel like my reach and usefulness is greater working on more basic music containing universal lessons that also apply to advanced music.
That said, I absolutely love diving into advanced music (like Bach!) with people! It’s my greatest love, and “time disappears” when I do it.
I do plan to offer some intermediate-level courses like this one in the future (and perhaps some advanced ones as well).
Thanks again for the kind words, the encouragement, and the questions!
All the best,
Allen