The most important aspect of your playing will always be your fundamentals. More than other instruments, the classical guitar relies heavily on the basic mechanics of playing. A single note can take years of development to control tone, dynamic, and sustain. Add another note and you will be working on legato, articulation, tone consistency, and dynamic continuity.

These important lessons can be re-visited many times over the course of your development.

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Orientation Course

Navigate the CGC Academy
If you are new to the Academy this short course will help you get the most out of your experience.

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Fundamentals of Classical Guitar

Develop and refine your fundamentals
Before you embark on the Cornerstone Method study these important lessons.

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Chords and Arpeggios Quickstart

Dive into music
Get right to making music in this short but enjoyable course that is taught by demonstration.

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Frequently Asked Questions

New Member Questions

While it is okay to start out on an acoustic steel-string, we recommend making the transition to a nylon-string classical guitar soon. There are subtle (and not-so-subtle) differences between the instrument that can require an adjustment period when switching between them. This can affect habits you develop and may slow you down when you do finally switch to classical. So it’s okay to start out on acoustic, but we recommend making the switch in the near future. Here are a couple articles to help you with that:

Classical Guitar vs. Acoustic Guitar

How to Buy Your First Classical Guitar

Besides a guitar, we recommend the following accessories to get started (these are only recommendations and not required):

Hardshell case (this is important to protect your instrument not only in terms of bumps and scratches but also humidity)

Humidifier (see more on why and how to humidify your instrument in this article)

Electronic Tuner

Metronome

Music Stand (obviously if you read everything from the computer screen this won’t be necessary)

Please see our guide on how to change strings here:

How to change strings on a classical guitar

No, it is okay to hold the guitar in non-traditional ways — many classical guitarists opt for different positions. However, do know that the sitting position will affect your left- and right-hand positions and so especially when just starting out we recommend using the traditional position with a support of some kind. You can always make adjustments beginning from there.

It is also okay to use a strap, which can get the instrument in a similar position to the traditional sitting position (whether sitting or standing), but please know it doesn’t provide as much stability.

The Coaching Calls are quick, live personal check-ins with a teacher and can be beneficial at every level. You don’t need to wait until you begin playing repertoire. Our teachers can provide helpful feedback on the fundamentals, early notation lessons, and more so you know you’re on the right track.

While a couple of our books do provide TAB as a sheet music option, all music at CGC Academy is in standard notation. However, we teach you to read notation from absolute scratch beginning in Grade 1 of The Cornerstone Method.

General Questions

I recommend that you study each piece listed as “curriculum repertoire”. These pieces will be found in the units. You do not need to perfect or memorize each piece but you should study them along with the lessons that are provided. The curriculum repertoire is chosen carefully to develop various aspects of your musical knowledge and technique. If you skip pieces you will be missing out on important parts of your learning path.

Pieces listed as Extra Repertoire” are provided for variety and fun. If you have finished all the lessons in a grade you can spend some time exploring the extra repertoire instead of moving on to the next grade.

At the top of every unit of lessons you’ll see a button on the top right that says “Take this Course” — be sure to click that and you will have access to all of the lessons on that page.

When you can play each exercise in a lesson at a comfortable tempo (usually around 60bpm here in Grade 1) with the correct notes and rhythms, you can move on to the next lesson.

Here is a video from the orientation course on where to start and when to move on.

No. The exams are available for annual members who want to set a goal for themselves. It can help to have something to work towards and the feedback from our teachers can be very valuable. Feel free to use the exam criteria to do a self assessment should it be helpful.

For more information on the exams have a look at this guide.

We generally recommend allowing 6-18 months to make it through one grade. We realize this is a big span of time, but everyone is different and the time it takes you will depend on your learning style, the quality of your practice, discipline, and other factors, as well as your goals. So be flexible and allow the journey to take as long as it takes. You can certainly push to accomplish certain goals in a fixed amount of time, but plan on allowing more time than you at first estimate.

Feedback can be found in a variety of ways inside the Academy: Progress Journals updates; Coaching Calls; Member Challenges; Performance Seminars; Exams; Forum questions; and lesson comments. Please see our Guide for more info.