My new-to-me guitar

blades

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Sine we have some guitarists on the site I thought I would share my newest acquisition, an Almansa 457 classical guitar. It was made in 2011 in the city of Almansa, a little southwest of Valencia in Spain. It is the top of the company's conservatorio series. Very nice guitar in mint condition capable of making better music than I can.

almansa.jpg
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almansa-back.jpg
 
Congrats on the purchase, blades - it’s always a good feeling getting something like that.

@TastyReuben critique coming up :)
What guitar-critiquing I’d ever do would be limited to steel-string acoustics and electrics - those nylon-string classical guitars are a whole other animal.
 
Flaminco???

Russ
No Flamenco yet. Actually Flamenco guitars are different from Classical guitars like this one. They have shallower bodies, different woods like cypress to produce a more piercing sound that can compete with the dancing. They also have very low actions to help in the fast fingering required of that musical style. Low action just means that the distance between the strings and the frets is smaller than normal.

You can play any kind of music on any guitar. The classical is designed to play classical music and the flamenco for its style of music. Specialized tools for their purpose. Different tools for different purposes.
 
TastyReuben critique coming up :)

Russ
So far I have been playing a student guitar. They are built a little stronger as a trade off for projection. They are "overbuilt" as they put it in the guitar world. They are also designed to be easy to play. At the top of the classical guitar world are the professional concert instruments costing many thousands of dollars and having exceptional tone and projection. In the middle are the conservatory instruments like this Almansa. While it did cost 4 figures it has construction elements that are the same as the concert models that can cost way up into 4 figures.

The guitar features a solid red cedar top, solid rosewood back and sides, mahogany neck and ebony fretboard. You would find the same materials in the concert models. It sounds about the same as a concert instrument but with a little less projection. It isn't as loud as one designed to fill an auditorium. It is a very good guitar and way above my level of expertise so I'm busy trying to grow into it. It is helping my technique because it isn't as forgiving as the student guitar.
 
Don't confuse me for a professional musician of any sort. I'm working on an arrangement of Eine Kleine Nachtmusik for guitar. It is played normally by a small orchestra. I worked out an arrangement for piano a few years ago so I'm back at it again.
 
Beautiful instrument, blades!

I am enjoying messing around on my ukulele - I’m terrible at it, but I’m starting to be able to actually play a couple songs. It’s pretty fun!
I feel your pain. Few people understand how much practice is required to play music. Don't be in a rush. Keep working on it. One tip I can provide is that you should try to play small segments of a piece to perfection rather than playing through the entire piece and accepting the imperfections. Do it and do it again and again and again. In time the segments will come together into a satisfactory whole. I started with Greensleeves and Beethoven's Ode to Joy from the ninth symphony. I haven't mastered either one but I can play segments of each pretty well. These are easy pieces and easy is good for learning technique.
 
I played classical guitar as a youngster.
But never got any decent having no ear for rythm etc
Still love the sound of good guitar music though
(The link I posted became a hit, even though it's just guitar music, no vocals etc).
 
One tip I can provide is that you should try to play small segments of a piece to perfection rather than playing through the entire piece and accepting the imperfections
That is very sound advice. I studied piano until I went to uni. My teacher used to make me learn one or two lines at a time, and wouldn't let me carry on until they were "perfect". Solid advice.
 
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