Rest and Free Stroke Together

Lesson 7/62 | Study Time: 5 Min

Course: Classical Guitar

Rest and Free Stroke Together

When playing music consisting of two or more parts, it is necessary to balance the relative volumes of the notes. The melody is usually played louder than the accompanying parts. Where the melody occurs on the 1st and 2nd strings, this can be achieved by playing the melody notes rest stroke, while playing the lower parts free stroke.

Here are two pieces to help you with this technique. The notes with their stems pointing up are played rest stroke with m and a, while the notes with their stems pointing down are played free stroke with p and i.

Notice the key signature of G major, reminding you to play all F notes as F#.

In this piece, rest stroke is used for the first line of the melody. It cannot be used for the second line, because the harmony notes are on an adjacent string and would be stopped from sounding if rest stroke were used. It is often up to the performer to decide where to use rest stroke and where to use free stroke.

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Class Sessions

1- INTRODUCTION 2- Free Stroke With the Fingers 3- The Eighth Note 4- The Major Scale 5- Music in Two Parts 6- Notes on the Sixth String 7- Chords 8- Notes on the Fourth String 9- More About Chords 10- Notes on the Third String 11- Learning All the Notes 12- Notes on the First String 13- Picking the Strings 14- Playing Pieces 15- Right Thumb and Fingers Together 16- Simple and Compound Time 17- More About Major Scales 18- Minor Keys and Scales 19- Relative Keys 20- Sixteenth Notes 21- Tones and Semitones 22- D.C al Fine 23- Chord Progressions 24- Rhythm Notation 25- The G Major Scale 26- Sequences 27- Approach to Practice 28- Left Hand Fingering Numbers 29- Right Hand Co-Ordination 30- Note Summary 31- Free Stroke With the Thumb (<em>p</em>) 32- Notes on the Second String 33- The Octave 34- Using i m and a 35- Electronic Tuner 36- The F Major Scale 37- Sharps 38- Duets 39- Pivot Fingers 40- The Lead-in 41- Arpeggios 42- Notes on the Fifth String 43- Chord Symbols 44- Picking Two Notes Together 45- Using the 4th Finger 46- Parts of the Classical Guitar 47- Other Major Scales 48- The Key of C Major 49- Picking Three Notes Together 50- How to Hold the Guitar 51- Keys and Key Signatures 52- The Chromatic Scale 53- Left and Right Hand Technique 54- Rest and Free Stroke Together 55- Flats 56- The Rudiments of Music 57- Enharmonic Notes 58- Note Values 59- Visualizing 60- Time Signatures 61- Learning the Open Strings 62- Nails

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Rest and Free Stroke Together