Comments on: On My Mind

By: Jacksonville Guitar

Jacksonville Guitar — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 12:25:44 +0000

“An entire program of hard music is not the best way to get better at guitar” I agree with this line, just like many other things in life – every lesson is learned when done starting from the basic, which means the easier ones then from then advancing little by little will lead you to what you are aiming for. Nice tip, thanks for this.

By: Cary Terry

Cary Terry — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 16:42:09 +0000

Key truths!

By: Christopher Davis

Christopher Davis — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 15:56:09 +0000

Singovmblatt, that’s a very fair question. It would depend on the student I was working with. For some I think the first few Carcassi etudes are the ones that are easy. For others, I write them little studies to practice specific things.

I would consider all of those things you mentioned easy. I don’t the Giuliani Folias variations that I’m playing right now (opus 45) is terribly hard, but it does have a few spots are are technically challenging (a few “hot licks” if you will). Musically there’s a lot of challenging material in it. Another example of an easy piece (for me) Bach’s first Cello suite.

That probably doesn’t answer your question, but it gives you an idea. I think my program right now is a bit too hard for me to be honest.

-CD

By: singvomblatt

singvomblatt — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 12:04:10 +0000

Hey Chris,

the question is, at your stage of soon entering a doctoral -program in guitar, what do you consider to be an easy piece of music ?

Is it Lacrima, Romance, Giulliani opus 48 nr.3, un dia de noviembre ?

greetings heidi from Germany, Freiburg

By: David Norton

David Norton — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 01:14:39 +0000

I agree heartily with the idea “easy played well beats hard played poorly.” Ever heard of Manuel Gayol, Dave Starobin’s teacher in the 1960s? A real master of this concept. His LP is quite an object lesson here.

The famous concert pianist Wilhelm Bachaus said in a 1938 interview in The New Yorker magazine, “Why seek difficulty when there is so much that is quite as beautiful and yet not so difficult? Why try to make a bouquet of oak trees, when the ground is covered with exquisite wildflowers all around, waiting to be collected?”

He was speaking of the piano repertoire, certainly, but the same idea applies equally to the guitar.

By: Bradford Werner

Bradford Werner — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 18:49:54 +0000

“Don’t learn interpretation later” This is true. We have to work out all the interpretation before we start solidifying the work. Make sure to “practise” interpretation and musicality, don’t leave it for after the technical completion of the work. If we leave it to last it won’t be in our muscle memory and it will be too easy to revert back to the basic “playing” of the piece which can be mindless.

Also, I think phrasing is all about contrast. If you want the audience to hear the guitar as sounding legato then you need to show them some contrasting ideas to make the legato sound ultra smooth by comparison. When it comes down to it, our instrument is not as legato as a violin, but the audience can be made to forget that.

Thanks for the post, I’ve been a bit too busy lately too. Don’t forget to use some of your older achieved material, it sometimes hard to find on the site and I wouldn’t mind seeing some of the much earlier posts that got the blog started.