We have talked about different styles of learning to play guitar and one that we covered included classical guitar and what is often referred to as ‘fingerstyle’. We’d like to provide you now with some classical guitar tablature that will enhance your repertoire and hopefully start you on the road to being a more accomplished player.  The following classical guitar arrangement is based on a unique style of classical guitar tablature that was introduced to me recently by ‘Jerry Martin’. Jerry has been kind enough to allow us to share this with you from his recent publication ‘Casually Classic’.

Jerry is a professional with more than 35 years in the music business and in that time has developed his own unique style of classical guitar playing.  He is a perfectionist to say the least.  You will find a tremendous amount of value in his teachings whether you’re a seasoned veteran or just learning to play guitar.  His approach includes a unique blend of open voicing that give a single player an almost orchestral sound with rich full chords and blending of notes.  If you’re just around home or playing as a single in a local club, you’ll love his version of this classic.
 

A note from Jerry:

G R E E N S L E E V E S

Creating a distinctive and personal style is largely the result of a strong individual approach to music and your own taste is the determining factor.

This perennial favourite by "anon," is the first finger-style instrumental I endeavoured to arrange.

1) The 2nd beat of most bars has a soft strum where I gently brush my 1st finger across 2 or 3 strings. Be careful not to accent any notes in this fill chord. The "art" of solo guitar is to maintain a dynamic balance between the melody and the harmonic fill. (You can leave out this 2nd beat from some bars or fill it to your liking.)
 

2) Strum this A7 chord with the 1st finger or "roll" across the strings with T,1,2,3.(BAR 3)
 

3) Traditionally frowned upon by classical guitarists, the practice of using the thumb to fret notes on the low "E" string is fairly common in other styles of guitar playing. BAR 41) A number of chords cannot be formed without resorting to this technique.

Merle Travis and his protégé Chet Atkins were proponents of this method, deeming it respectable.