The materials out of which the twenty studies are
developed are first idiomatic patterns of the guitar
and then the variety of musical styles so appealing to
and characteristic of Ernesto García de León. For example, classic examples of the music of the
Caribbean coastal basin in general and the
composer's native state Veracruz in particular appear
unvarnished in #12 (a rumba veracruzana) and #20
(a son). The other studies blend elements of Mexican
music in general-songs of the revolution, native
dances, boleros, children's songs, and so forth-with
elements of European classical music, Beatles, New
Age music, jazz and other musical styles, in a way
intended to appeal to the player and to the listener.
As the summary on pages 34 and 35 illustrates,
the first sixteen studies explore basic formulas for the
right hand. At the same time, they also address the
full range of left hand techniques-including balance
and positioning, independence of the fingers, longitudinal and transversal movements, shifts by substitution, by displacement, by jump, and by positions,
barring, stretches and contractions, damping, pivoting, crossed movements, and movements with fixed
fingers. The last four studies concern the slur.
Though each of the basic right- and left-hand formulas explored in the twenty studies is relatively
simple in itself, each is a building block of a solid
technique. Mastery of the complete set of twenty
studies-less than half an hour of music-integrates
all the formulas and develops the technique to a level
at which an enormous range of the guitar repertoire
becomes available.