Most people who trundle through life, battling against the elements and working hard to achieve at work or in the home find that they need an escape. I’m not talking about just a holiday to the Whitsundays or a month off to go hiking in the Himalayas. I’m talking about something more regular. Something that perhaps you can do on a daily basis to help you feel more relaxed.

I have a few. I like to do distance running. At the moment my training regime is almost non-existant because of the stuff that’s going on, but that’s something I’m going to remedy shortly. I’m going to go for runs during lunchtimes again now that I’m somewhere which has a clean shower! I find that a good long run can really make me feel good. Nothing like a bit of cardio excercise followed by a hit of endorphins.

I also play indoor soccer, but that’s going to have to stop due to cost. It’s a bit of a shame, but with the kind of things that are starting to take hold of life (*cough* mortgages *cough*), I’m going to have to tighten the belt a bit and indoor soccer is on the list of things to go.

But the one that really relaxes me, and is really the point of this post, is that I’m now (officially?) a classical guitarist! When I say “officially” I actually mean “I’ve been taking lessons for a year now”. I also try to pick up my guitar and practice every day (which can be a bit of a challenge sometimes). I’m far from the best, but I’m really starting to come along.

A bit of history. For a long time I’ve mucked around with guitars. I started at a younger age when I told my Dad that I was interested in learning. Rather than start with the boring stuff (chords) I dived into fingerpicking. My desire to skip the “boring” stuff was fueled by listening to the likes of John Williams and Tommy Emmanuel. However, I found that my lack of understanding of the theory of music was a little bit of a downer, and I struggled to really come to grips with anything more than regurgitating songs. I wasn’t even very good at it! I was better than most fumblers, but I was far from good. More importantly, I was a long way from where I wanted to be.

As time went on I carried on fumbling through more and more tunes, and I even managed to blast out a few rippers such as Mist by JBT. By this stage I was a little tired of it all for two reasons. The first was that I wasn’t really getting any better. All I was doing was increasing the number of songs that I could play (and I use the word play in its broadest possible sense). The second was that despite the lack of ability, I felt that a lot of the fingerstyle stuff was just too easy.

Yes, that’s a bit of a contradiction. Not improving, and finding it too easy don’t really go together. But bear with me. When I played the fingerstyle guitar, I didn’t feel like there was a great deal of mood. I didn’t think that by improving I’d feel the music any more than I already did. I know that sounds cheesy, but that’s how I felt.

I started to listen to classical guitar again. I got a few CDs of John Williams and Julian Bream and really started to feel it. I decided that it was past time to not only take on something a bit more challenging, but something that I thought would be more fulfilling and more relaxing.

So at the ripe old age of 27, I started looking for a teacher. This turned out to be a bit of a challenge. There are surprisingly few classical guitar teachers in Brisbane, and even fewer who have a passion for it. I found a few guys who said they’d teach it but it wasn’t their priority. That didn’t make sense to me, as I felt that if you’re going to be any good with classical guitar you’d need to make it your priority. So I stayed away.

To cut a long story short, I managed to find a guy to teach me. Or, more correctly, my wife did. She mentioned my desire to learn classical to a work colleague of hers who just happened to be close friends with a “very good classical guitar teacher”. I called him up, had a chat, and signed up for lessons.

Now before I carry on about the stuff I’ve discovered since I started, I’d just like to spend a moment talking about my teacher. First of all, his name is Andre Reginato. He doesn’t have a website up at the moment (something I think I’ll help him with soon) otherwise I’d post a link. This guy is a champion. Not only is he a really nice bloke who makes lessons extremely enjoyable, but his passion for the classical guitar is palpable. On top of that he’s extremely talented, and a pleasure to listen to. It feels like a get a mini personal concert every time I have a lesson. It’s great. He’s the kind of teacher that you dream about. Seriously. He’s a real source of motivation for me. For any of you out there who are seeking a teacher in anything, make sure they’ve got passion for the subject. It makes a huge difference. I’ve been learning from Andre since around October last year, and I have loved every minute of it.

So anyway, back to the music. When I first got together with Andres, my experience with classical guitar as a player was non-existant. My experience as a listener, I thought, wasn’t too bad. Boy was I wrong. I thought JW was the be-all-and-end-all, except for maybe Julian Bream who seemed to put a bit more mood into his playing. It was at this point, thanks to Andre, that I was introduced to a man who is by far the best classical player I have ever heard. It just so happens to be the man who almost single-handedly put classical guitar on the music man. Ladies and gentlemen, if you don’t know him already, please put your hands together for Mr Andres Segovia.

If you’re bored of the text and are interested in listening to him play, have a gander at this little doozy:

That should get the juices flowing a little

Of course, what I’m saying here is all my own opinion, and I’m certainly not preaching. But if anyone thinks that there’s another person currently in existence that plays better than this man, they’re quite simply wrong! Don’t believe me? Let’s have a little face-off shall we?

As I already mentioned, I thought JW was the bomb before I heard of Segovia, so let’s take a look at both of them playing the same tune. Let’s start with JW:

Impressive hey! The man’s tremolo is just mind-blowing. If I could play anything like this guy one day I’d be very happy. Having said that, his playing just feels mechanical. His technique is spot on, but there’s so little mood. No feeling. Very little variation in the notes. It just doesn’t capture the tune in the way that I picture it in my head (if that makes any sense).

So in contrast, let’s take a look at Segovia:

Now I think that the reaction that most people here will have is that it’s not as good And that’s fine. The most obvious point is that the tempo just doesn’t feel the same as JW. But that’s the beauty of it. The mood is so different. There’s much more feeling and, dare I say it, musicality. Segovia’s music, to me, goes to a completely different level to JW.

Despite the fact that I think Segovia is king over JW, I still listen to JW a lot. Then there’s Julian! A man who could play a fridge if it had strings! He’s incredible. In my view, he sits between Segovia and JW on the ranking list. How could he not with performances like this one:

Genius. And despite the crazy facial expressions, he’s a joy to watch.

It’s time to end the post, as it’s gone for a bit longer than I had first intended. I hope you guys enjoyed listening to these blokes. I think they’re absolutely amazing, and the three of them (along with my awesome teacher) are the guys that I really look up to.

Enjoy