Ask Selina – Sor or Carcassi?

Hi Michael,

There are of course various factors involved in deciding between these 2 sets of studies not least of which is, current technical, musical and reading ability.
However, even taking this into account, it is my opinion that the Carcassi is an excellent place to start.

Sor’s Opus 60 is very much focussed on learning the notes, positions of notes and chord shapes. There is quite a lot of musical voicing and some lovely melodies but the pieces are very much based around chord shapes and learning the geography of the left hand within the standard keys as well as exploring mostly arpeggio based right hand patterns. The opus does have quite a ’study’ feel throughout.

The pieces in the Carcassi offer more variation of technique, particularly for the right hand with scales, arpeggios, repeated notes and slurs offering different textures across the studies, and rhythms and musical direction creating interesting and musical ‘miniatures’ in all cases, even the more ’study’ like examples. There are also voicing challenges and use of the whole fingerboard whereas the Sor only goes up to fret 7.

To summarise the Carcassi offers a more ‘all round’ challenge combining just about every aspect of basic technique for both hands with interesting musical textures, rhythms, phrasing and ‘feeling’.
The Sor is a very good set of small studies but working more on the reading and fretboard knowledge challenges that a guitarist must overcome and so not offering as much variety and depth, potentially not holding our interest as easily.

Selina