I, GUITARIST
Zulkifly M Noer, 46
How To Get Better? Practise!
TEXT BY IVAN LIM
Dec 5 2023
How does one become good at playing the guitar? It’s very simple and it’s not even a secret. You just need to practise and practise. You keep practising and never give up. It is not easy to play the classical guitar but don’t stop practising. Practise until you play well.
I fell in love with the guitar when I was 7 years old – when my older cousin visited our family and he sang Burung Kakak Tua (a popular Indonesian folk song) and accompanied himself on the guitar. My parents sent me to Yamaha Music School in Indonesia shortly after and I found myself reading notes instead of playing and singing, so it was not fun at all, at first!
I came to Singapore in 2007, hoping to find out more about the following year’s edition of the Singapore International Guitar Festival competition, and was told to come back the next year as it was too early. At that time, I was helping my father’s travel agency business in Jakarta as well as dabbling in management at my grandmother’s small restaurants. I had been doing that since graduating and I found the work very unfulfilling, so since I was in Singapore, I decided to explore the classical guitar scene and went to audition for a place as a guitar instructor at Cristofori Music School. I got a place and I have been there since.
I did also eventually take part in the 2008 guitar competition and was a finalist. Thai guitarist Ekachai Jearakul won the competition that year. I have won 15 competitions – but they were all at a local or national level. I did get into the finals at four international competitions but I never won. Maybe I’m not good enough!
I was diagnosed with focal dystonia in 2015. What it means is that I can’t control my third finger when I play in the correct position – with the left-hand palm above the fingerboard. I have to adjust my hand by pressing the strings in such a way that the palm of my left hand is touching the fingerboard. I’ve had to adapt my playing that way, but it still works for me. My condition is improving, though.
My favourite composer for the guitar is Roland Dyens and my favourite guitarist, Julian Bream. The piece I like best is Choro de Saudade by the Paraguayan composer and guitarist, Agustin Barrios Mangore.
I came to Singapore in 2007, hoping to find out more about the following year’s edition of the Singapore International Guitar Festival competition, and was told to come back the next year as it was too early. At that time, I was helping my father’s travel agency business in Jakarta as well as dabbling in management at my grandmother’s small restaurants. I had been doing that since graduating and I found the work very unfulfilling, so since I was in Singapore, I decided to explore the classical guitar scene and went to audition for a place as a guitar instructor at Cristofori Music School. I got a place and I have been there since.
I did also eventually take part in the 2008 guitar competition and was a finalist. Thai guitarist Ekachai Jearakul won the competition that year. I have won 15 competitions – but they were all at a local or national level. I did get into the finals at four international competitions but I never won. Maybe I’m not good enough!
I was diagnosed with focal dystonia in 2015. What it means is that I can’t control my third finger when I play in the correct position – with the left-hand palm above the fingerboard. I have to adjust my hand by pressing the strings in such a way that the palm of my left hand is touching the fingerboard. I’ve had to adapt my playing that way, but it still works for me. My condition is improving, though.
My favourite composer for the guitar is Roland Dyens and my favourite guitarist, Julian Bream. The piece I like best is Choro de Saudade by the Paraguayan composer and guitarist, Agustin Barrios Mangore.
Roland Dyens. Oct 19 1955 – Oct 29 2016
As a performer, Dyens was known for improvisation. Sometimes he opened his concerts with an improvised piece, and he might improvise the program itself, without planning or announcing beforehand what he would be playing. He said that a journalist once told him he had the hands of a classical musician but the mind of a jazz musician. He played Bach suites and he played with jazz musicians at the Arvika Festival in Sweden. A heavy metal band did a version of the third movement of his Libra Sonatine.
Julian Bream. Jul 15 1933 – Aug 14 2020. Image: Facebook
The English classical guitarist and lutenist was regarded as one of the most distinguished classical guitarists of the 20th century. He played a significant role in improving the public perception of the classical guitar as a respectable instrument. Over the course of a career that spanned more than half a century, Bream also helped revive interest in the lute.
I used to own a Ramirez 1A, a Kohno No 20 and an Asturias A10. Right now, I am using a Raimundo but hope one day I’ll get to own a Matthias Dammann.
Even though it is work for me, playing the guitar actually helps me relax and reduce stress. And I feel that practising is important. I practise almost every day and for a minimum of two hours each day, maybe three if I have more time.
Even though it is work for me, playing the guitar actually helps me relax and reduce stress. And I feel that practising is important. I practise almost every day and for a minimum of two hours each day, maybe three if I have more time.
