This is why the classical guitar has among the steepest learning curves of any instrument and therefore requires the maximum amount of time to develop before the student produces any noticeable results. I have had students who played rock/blues guitar for years before coming to me for classical lessons and when asked to play a basic, single-line classical guitar exercise with their fingers, you would think that they picked up the instrument for the first time. The precision, synchronicity of both hands, and knowledge of the abstract tuning of the strings requires a large amount of motor skills and cognitive ability to play the classical guitar reasonably well. Once the left-hand fingertips are strong enough to accurately press the strings down behind the frets, and without blocking the other strings from ringing clearly, the other 80% of the sound relies on the placement of the right hand, quality of finger stroke, and the strength, texture, and contour of the nails (if the student is playing with nails). Again, at the very basic level, it would seem that the pianist sounds "better" than the guitarist, even though they both have been playing for the same period of time. Whereas, if they were to do the same thing on the guitar, we would hear violent clanging and the buzz of open or muted strings. To put it plainly, a young child who hasn't had any piano lessons, could press a few keys and we might be able to distinguish a nice melody. Conservatory players are at the highest level, however. P ianists have their own challenges to address, such as having to worry about ten fingers instead of a guitarist’s eight as well as their feet on the pedals. During my conservatory days, it was the piano students who were first to sign up for a practice room for the week because their repertoire was the most demanding. This is not to undermine the difficulty of playing the piano by any means. For this reason, it takes an average of two years (maybe more) for the guitarist to produce a nice tone. In the early years, the placement and motion of the fingers for the pianist do not need to be as intricate compared to the guitarist. The quality of sound and the speed at which the pianist can play will often be more developed than that of the guitarist because the learning curve to produce a good sound on the piano is lower than that of the classical guitarist. A student studying the piano for two years will undoubtedly be able to play more pieces than a classical guitarist who has played for the same amount of time. The piano analogy is helpful to understand. Parents may wonder why their child (A), who is learning the classical guitar, doesn't sound as polished as their child (B), who is learning the piano, even though they both have been playing their respective instruments for the same amount of time.
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