---
product_id: 12944642
title: "Classical Studies for Pick-Style Guitar - Volume 1: Develop Technical Proficiency with Innovative Solos and Duets Paperback – November 1, 1986"
brand: "william leavitt"
price: "$848"
currency: MXN
in_stock: true
reviews_count: 7
url: https://www.desertcart.mx/products/12944642-classical-studies-for-pick-style-guitar-volume-1-develop-technical
store_origin: MX
region: Mexico
---

# Classical Studies for Pick-Style Guitar - Volume 1: Develop Technical Proficiency with Innovative Solos and Duets Paperback – November 1, 1986

**Brand:** william leavitt
**Price:** $848
**Availability:** ✅ In Stock

## Quick Answers

- **What is this?** Classical Studies for Pick-Style Guitar - Volume 1: Develop Technical Proficiency with Innovative Solos and Duets Paperback – November 1, 1986 by william leavitt
- **How much does it cost?** $848 with free shipping
- **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship
- **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.mx](https://www.desertcart.mx/products/12944642-classical-studies-for-pick-style-guitar-volume-1-develop-technical)

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- william leavitt enthusiasts

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## Description

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## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ This represents Bill Levitt's goal to make a pick style guitar "legitimate".
*by L***Z on May 8, 2013*

First of all, I was a student at Berklee and studied with Bill Levitt. Bill Levitt createdgreat methodologies for pick style guitar. However, I say this with fondness, he hada religious attitude that nothing was played with fingers.I grew up studying with a great Jazz player, Lenny Frank who taught using a pick, using fingers and pick and fingers. But not Bill Levitt. Using the right hand fingers was treated as something evil.While Classical Guitar was finally considered a "legitimate" instrument, there was a schoolof mostly arch top players that were incredible musicians. An example that Bill Levitt selectsas one of the best would be Johnny Smith. It's not unlike Benny Goodman playing a clarinet concerto to get jazz accepted by serious musicians. You have to realize this was all coming from jazz musicians from the bebop era and the great arch top chord solo guitar players.Bill obviously researched through thousands of classical studies for guitar, or in some casessingle note studies for cello or other instrument. He found ones that could be playedwith a pick. Yes, they are great pieces. Yes, they are great for developing clean amazingtechnique. Yes, you should understand the underlying chord theory, best accomplished bystudying the book with a knowledgeable teacher.It's a great book. It's also a great book to play with your fingers but you couldn't saythat to Bill.Bill ran the guitar department with no variations permitted. Students went through theBill Levitt series of books, though very few guitar students ever graduated. To get college credit you had to be able to start at page 60 of book 1. Should a teacherimprovise and teach other stuff, that was outlawed. One should keep Bill Levitt's philosophies and goals in mind to better understand and play the pieces.Each semester a student had to give a recital, selecting a piece from this book, memorize itand perform it before a group of professors for a grade.Bill was a great arranger and all the pieces are sequentially organized in difficulty and learning experiences.All of them are worthy performance pieces. I use the book with students that generallyplay them with their fingers. For example, many of the early pieces are Carcassi studiesand were written to teach how to use one's fingers. Playing them on a pick, great practice,another sound, but many are obviously designed for the use of fingers. Bill's not looking,you can use your fingers too.This book is first and foremost an attempt to help arch top guitar players legitimate acceptance. In the process he created a fine book.I highly recommend it both to pick style players but also for classical studies.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Good selection of classical music for pick-style guitar
*by M***. on November 21, 2024*

Classical guitar is almost always played fingerstyle, and never with a pick. I prefer using a pick, and this book has plenty of studies, etudes & classical pieces that can be played pick-style. I've been teaching guitar since 1988 and the music store where I taught several years ago carried this book. I bought a copy and used it for lessons with intermediate to advanced students, and they loved it. They eventually ordered this book so they can have it for their repertoire. It features compositions by Carcassi, Sor, J. S. Bach and others. It's a great collection.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Well chosen selection of varied difficulty
*by R***L on April 21, 2019*

Long, long ago I learned to play an arrangement from Ernesto Lecuona's "Malagueña" for pick-style guitar. It was great, although Flamenco is almost always finger style.The same can be said of the pieces and arrangements in this book. They are at the heart finger style classical pieces, but they sound fabulous on my archtop. And yes, I've played some of these in the past, classical style, on my Hernadis classic. They sound both different and the same, if you can follow me --- the same at heart but different in expression.These are also technically interesting. The pieces start at a lower intermediate level and build up to reasonably advanced. In addition to making some great music, both the right and left hands get a great workout. Applying plectrum technique to what are inherently finger style pieces really develop right hand picking.In short, if you're a skeptic, you're about to be convinced. You can play these finger style if you wish--- right on your archtop if you like--- but please do play plectrum style as well.The only downside to the book is that the scores, while certainly legible enough, are hand-written. Come on now, the publisher could have typeset these without going bankrupt. I'll still go five stars as a rating but four and half would be appropriate.

## Frequently Bought Together

- Classical Studies for Pick-Style Guitar - Volume 1: Develop Technical Proficiency with Innovative Solos and Duets
- Reading Studies for Guitar: Positions One Through Seven and Multi-Position Studies in All Keys
- Melodic Rhythms for Guitar

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*Product available on Desertcart Mexico*
*Store origin: MX*
*Last updated: 2026-02-22*