Despite the mountain of pedagogical publications for the guitar in the 19th century, we still are unsure as to how a student actually learned the instrument – the practical aspects: technique, theory and performance practice. Presumably the student would visit the local teacher, if there was one, and be instructed in posture, basic technique, and reading music, before being fed a diet of Lessons, Exercises and Studies, leading to ‘proper’ pieces. In that respect, the process would be little different from recent teaching practice since the 1950s. However, one area largely neglected in our own time, but very much integrated into 19th-century practice, is the combined study of improvisation and...