Sergio Assad 24 Studies Apr 2026

If you are a classical guitarist looking for a mountain to climb that offers a breathtaking view of modern music, open Volume I of Sergio Assad’s 24 Studies . Just be prepared to never listen to a Carcassi etude the same way again. Difficulty Rating: 8/10 (Advanced) Primary Publisher: Editions Henry Lemoine (France) Recommended listening: Odair Assad – Sergio Assad: 24 Studies (GHA Records)

Villa-Lobos’s studies often treat the left hand as the problem-solver and the right hand as the articulator. Assad constantly subverts this. In Study No. 14 (E minor), the right hand must play a steady p-i-m-a arpeggio while the left hand executes complex hammer-ons and pull-offs that change the harmony within the arpeggio. It requires a split consciousness that is terrifying for intermediate players but revelatory for professionals. Sergio Assad 24 Studies

For over two centuries, the guitar etude has lived in the shadow of a single monumental work: Heitor Villa-Lobos’s 12 Studies (1929). While Villa-Lobos expanded the guitar’s color palette, and earlier masters like Fernando Sor and Matteo Carcassi focused on classical decorum, the modern guitarist has often lacked a bridge between raw technique and contemporary musical languages. If you are a classical guitarist looking for