news items archive - Carlos Bonell

Six – Bach’s favourite number. Five – Villa-Lobos’ lucky number….Why?

28 April, 2022

Zoomed Guitars Workshop: Villa-Lobos: Prelude n1 Bach: prelude from cello suite n1 BWV1007 Bach: 6 cello suites, 6 movements each;...

Zoomed Workshops Coming Up

9 April, 2022

Dates confirmed! Workshops 1 Saturday 21st and Sunday 22nd May / Rep Intermediate We will concentrate on these works: Villa-Lobos: Prelude...

Zoomed Guitar Workshops

29 March, 2022

These are very much hands-on workshops and you get to choose the rep. See below…. To book your place as...

What You Wear On Stage Can Reveal Too Much

19 March, 2022

Dress Disasters Waiting To Happen And How To Avoid Them The default line is that it matters not how artists...

Bach For The Ukraine

12 March, 2022

Like many, I feel there is so little I can do about the war in Ukraine. For myself, I have...

Music In Action

5 March, 2022

My Week On Jersey This week I have spent delightful days on the Island of Jersey in the English Channel....

Carlos Barbosa-Lima

25 February, 2022

17th December 1944 – 23rd February 2022 -A Complete Artist- I am saddened to read of the death of Carlos....

Anyone Up For Sight-Reading? No thank you, we’re pluckers

18 February, 2022

Image courtesy of www.wikihow.com There’s an old joke doing the rounds that contains a sad truth. This is how it...

My Strangest Concerts Ever

11 February, 2022

There was a time when concerts happened in concert halls. Not anymore. As concerts gradually begin to pop up on...

The Complete Bluffer’s Guide To Sounding Like A Good Player

3 February, 2022

– It might just turn you into the real thing – 1 Make a good sound by playing a lot...

Live Music Is Back

28 January, 2022

Could this be the moment to change The Classical Guitar Concert Experience? Rarely, if ever, has the entire human race...

1949

21 January, 2022

image: by Jonathan Borba Acoustic Guitars Rule – For Now… Jo Fender was putting his new model guitar through the...

On The Way To Your Show

14 January, 2022

…Has This Happened To You? Image: Me showing off my brand new ivory suit 1 The taxi driver asks whether...

An Ivory Suit To Dye For

7 January, 2022

And how I said hello good-bye to my stage clothes Having spent much of the past two years hung up...

Guitar Poems for Christmas

24 December, 2021

Image : illustration for The Owl and the Pussycat by Julia Hartling The Owl and the Pussycat by Edward Lear...

Bach tops the charts on Zoomed Guitars Live. Again.

17 December, 2021

Image: Bach manuscript of a page from his Christmas Oratorio For the second year running old JS proves the most...

All About The Music

9 December, 2021

10 Great Quotes 1 “My way towards God has been to write music. I think there will always be a...

Ukelele Wars

2 December, 2021

Guitarists, Don’t Panic! This week the British press has been full of the rise of the ukelele among children learning ...

I Just Met Someone Whose Grandfather Knew Tarrega

26 November, 2021

History Comes To Life When We Hear Their Stories I was having coffee with some friends in a bar in...

1808

18 November, 2021

Image: detail from Goya’s painting “3rd Of May 1808” in El Prado Museum, Madrid Chaos, War, and How Aguado’s Guitar-Playing...

Technique Or Musicality – Chatter In The Guitar Jungle

13 November, 2021

Which comes first, technique or musicality? Pose the question and a discussion can quickly become animated. Put more bluntly, but...

1606

5 November, 2021

Remembering Guy Fawkes, John Dowland the spy, and Girolamo Montesardo the guitarist. Who? Fishing disputes between neighbouring countries, extreme politics,...

Guitar Technique As Nature Intended, And What We Can Learn From Toddlers

30 October, 2021

The Friday Blog – short read The basic elements of guitar technique are based on natural movements. On this basis...

10 Ways To Make Your Interpretations More Personal

23 October, 2021

1 Consider the style and period of the music. 2 Discover the life, times and personality of the composer. 3...

Time For A Guitar Sandwich?

15 October, 2021

– short read – Photo selfie: arriving at the Royal College of Music after 19 months’ absence I have just...

19 Months Hidden Away Come To A Sudden End

10 October, 2021

I heard the sound of live guitar playing by someone else on Thursday. It was the first time in 19...

Today’s Guitarist-Composers Keep Up A Lost Tradition

1 October, 2021

– short read- Image: supposedly of Mauro Giuliani (1781-1829) Within the small confines of classical music there is a sub-section:...

If A Thing Is Worth Doing, It Is Worth Doing Badly (and that includes guitar-playing)

24 September, 2021

Quote and photo: G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936) September is a great month, children back at school, students at College, and with...

10 Steps To Learning While Still Having Fun

17 September, 2021

Caricature by Brazilian artist Mario Mendez (1907-1996) 1 Play through the piece slowly or fast. Mistakes don’t matter. 2 Play...

Essential Rep Unwrapped: Julia Florida by Agustín Barrios

10 September, 2021

– a man possessed, by a note obsessed For YouTube link click here to my own recording of the work....