Repeated Notes

Abstract

Repeated notes are used frequently in compositions for the guitar as a way to provide the illusion of greater sustain or as a technique to add brilliance. Modern guitarists usually think of tremolo technique when they think of repeated notes, but tremolo technique is relatively recent. This chapter documents the practices used by early lutenists and 19th-century guitarists to play repeated notes and it provides material for studying the various ways these musicians developed their techniques. The discussion of Fernando Sor’s use of the right-hand thumb and index finger for repeated notes will be of interest to today’s guitarists. This chapter also explores the ways in which 19th-century guitarists played passages that modern guitarists might assume to be examples of modern tremolo technique. The fingering practices in this chapter are not covered in standard modern method books.