To Rest or Not to Rest: Four Views on the Apoyando
Carlevaro, Romero, Shearer, and Quine on the topic.
Four powerhouses in the 20th-century guitar pedagogy arena are Aaron Shearer, Pepe Romero, Hector Quine, and Abel Carlevaro. These are not the only teachers, just the ones I am comparing based on their written works for this article. I am choosing to succinctly convey their general thoughts rather than my own in this article. I think it is helpful to know how each teacher felt about them. I intentionally left out citation numbers, but do give the sources of each method/technique book.
The rest stroke—apoyando, for those who like a little Spanish in their technique—might seem like one of those basic elements you either learned in your first few lessons or picked up by instinct. But once you start digging into the teachings of various classical guitar masters, it becomes clear that what seems like a simple motion is a small battleground of differing opinions, detailed mechanics, and in one case, outright philosophical rebellion.
If you're coming from Aaron Shearer’s camp, the rest stroke is about as straightforward as it gets. After plucking a string, your finger or thumb lands gently (but intentionally) on the adjacent string. That’s it. And with Shearer, there’s a heavy emphasis on doing it right: preparing the stroke, placing the fingertip and nail firmly before plucking, and letting the finger rest securely after the sound is made. It’s a recipe for consistency, clarity, and the kind of controlled tone production that builds confidence early on.
Pepe Romero also teaches the rest stroke, but with a softer touch, figuratively speaking. He sees only subtle hand position differences between rest and free strokes, and his attention leans toward motion and flow. For Romero, the key lies in maintaining fluidity. Flex and extension of the fingertip help manage tone, especially avoiding what he calls a "mushy" sound. The thumb, in particular, gets special attention: a long, circular motion with follow-through, resting on the next string not as a stop but as part of a graceful orbit. His overall goal? Seamless technique and an open, natural right-hand posture that keeps everything in balance.
Hector Quine offers yet another angle—equal parts technique and physics lesson. His version of the rest stroke hits the string with purpose and continues past it with intention. He’s not just after sound, but sound with fullness and resonance. He even dives into the damping of unwanted resonances on the bass strings, describing how the stroke and palm placement work together to preserve clarity. Where Shearer builds security and Romero cultivates motion, Quine seems to anchor his ideas in tone and mechanical efficiency.
And then there’s Abel Carlevaro.
Carlevaro doesn’t just tweak the traditional rest stroke—he tosses it out entirely. He calls it a “defect,” a leftover from a misunderstanding of how fingers are meant to function. In his view, letting a finger stop on the next string is passive and inefficient. Instead, every stroke must be actively controlled in two parts: an “impulse” followed immediately by a conscious “restraint.” The finger doesn’t rest because it hit something—it stops because you told it to. Through a system he calls fijación, which involves temporarily immobilizing joints to engage stronger muscle groups, Carlevaro teaches that we can achieve greater control, clarity, and dynamic range without leaning on the string below. His bottom line: if it becomes a habit, it becomes a flaw. “Nothing is worse,” he warns, “than systemizing a defect.”
And this is where things get interesting. Shearer sees the rest stroke as a fundamental building block. Romero blends it seamlessly into a holistic technique. Quine emphasizes its tonal richness and structural benefits. But Carlevaro isn’t interested in keeping the tradition alive—he wants us to think harder, move smarter, and ultimately play better by avoiding what he sees as a mechanical shortcut.
So, where do these masters leave us? Probably somewhere between a finger resting gently on a string and a mind questioning whether it should be there at all. Like many things in guitar technique, the rest stroke is more than just a motion—it’s a reflection of what we value in playing: control, tone, ease, tradition, or evolution. And as this comparison shows, even something as familiar as apoyando can be a doorway into much deeper ideas about how and why we play the way we do.
Sources:
Abel Carlevaro, School of Guitar (New York: Boosey & Hawkes, 1984).
Hector Quine, Guitar Technique: Intermediate to Advanced (New York: Oxford University Press, 1995).
Pepe Romero, Guitar Style & Technique: A comprehensive study of technique (New York: Bradley Publications, 1982).
Aaron Shearer, Learning the Classic Guitar Part One (Pacific, MO: Mel Bay Publications, 1990).