EASY PICKINGS
OUTSIDE OF MONK S, there is no more noble vow of poverty than that accepted by the classical guitarist. You’ve seen us performing at your local wedding ceremony or busking on the subway platform, or maybe we’ve served you at Starbucks, gazing blissfully into the distance with images of Carnegie Hall dancing in our heads (you can spot us by the long fingernails on our right hands). Like those humble hermits of lore, our detachment from both popular culture and the pursuit of the all-mighty dollar has given us access to moments of true beauty and, dare I say, great art. When you owe nothing to anyone, you can do anything. And so, without any concern for trends, and in the spirit of sharing something I’m personally very proud of, I present an original solo guitar composition of mine entitled “a Nela,” which I perform on a nylon-string guitar in the classical fingerstyle tradition, but with a novel twist that involves an unorthodox but highly effective tremolo-picking technique.
The inspiration for this little gem came to me while studying in Uruguay, a quiet little South American country nestled between Brazil and Argentina. When I first arrived there,
