What Are You Playing? (guitarists) Options

[meerkat]

I wondered what you're working on at the moment?

I've got three pieces 'on the go' - Villa Lobos's Cinc Preludes, Bach's first cello suite, and a lovely sonata by Domenico Scarlatti (L483).

My teacher told me to bring 'something I want to play' to my next lesson, and I'm looking for inspiration!

[Car Expert]

I wondered what you're working on at the moment?

I'm currently doing some bass strings exercises (yes, I've finally learnt them last week (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) ), and two duets called 'Dance' and 'Russian Girl'.

Car Expert

[bronto]

I was practising the Prelude to Suite BWV 1006a (in E major) by J.S. Bach until I got distracted by my new cello... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif)

[meerkat]

Well done for getting going on the bass strings CE!

And cellos have a way of doing that, bronto. They're very distracting things!

[onmageetar]

At the moment I am trying to improve my terrible sight reading by turning over page after page of Tarrega's collected guitar works volume 2 and Sor's complete studies for guitar.
I am just on the verge of perfecting (if that's the word) Bach's prelude (BWV 999) in D minor. That's a nice piece if you want some inspiration.... You can see it played from this page here. It isn't hardly as difficult as you may first think.
Have you tried Lagrima (Tarrega)? Thats a nice short piece, not difficult but sounds the part. You can see that from the link too (play it without the pipe though).

[meerkat]

That's a great website but it's depressed me! He plays the villa lobos prelude 1 - middle bit - at about three times the speed I can manage!!

Can you make your fingers move at that speed, OMG? Scares me sometimes when I see 'real' guitarists!

The Bach you suggested is lovely, I'll see if I can get hold of it, and will look up the tarrega too.

J

[meerkat]

Probably revealing the full extent of my 'self-taughtedness' here. But hey. OMG, I'm looking at my copy of Bach BWV 996, and noticed that on the second page of the prelude the music appears to split into two staves (looks a bit like piano music, but the lower is in the treble clef). I'm assuming those are just the bass notes, separated out - is that right? I've never seen music for the guitar that looked that way. Is it a feature of lute music?

[onmageetar]

That's a great website but it's depressed me! He plays the villa lobos prelude 1 - middle bit - at about three times the speed I can manage!!
Can you make your fingers move at that speed, OMG? Scares me sometimes when I see 'real' guitarists!

Practice is a great thing! There are a great many things I wish I could do better. I dare say we all feel that way about some aspects of playing. I think the trick to master playing anything is to do it really slowly before playing at speed. I can do the rapid bit of prelude 4 at speed now. But I spent 15 minutes a day for 2 weeks on getting it right before I introduced any pace to it.

Probably revealing the full extent of my 'self-taughtedness' here. But hey. OMG, I'm looking at my copy of Bach BWV 996, and noticed that on the second page of the prelude the music appears to split into two staves (looks a bit like piano music, but the lower is in the treble clef). I'm assuming those are just the bass notes, separated out - is that right? I've never seen music for the guitar that looked that way. Is it a feature of lute music?

I can't comment because i don't know which source of it you are looking at.
I have a version of BWV 996 that isn't as you describe.
Which book are you reading it from?

[meerkat]

It's the complete lute works book (chanterelle, I think).

I do practise. I love playing the guitar, and spend a good hour or two most nights playing. I never go a day without practise, and my guitar goes everywhere with me. It's my way of unwinding. But I find trills, and high speed pieces hard - it's not that I can't get the notes, or that I don't know where my fingers need to go, rather it's a sense that my fingers just don't go that quickly! My teacher assures me that my playing is good, and that I'm coming along well, but I find I need to practice an awful lot to get the pieces together, and they're never as polished or as good sounding as either my teacher or that guitarist on the site.

[onmageetar]

It's the complete lute works book (chanterelle, I think).

and they're never as polished or as good sounding as either my teacher or that guitarist on the site.

Don't feel disappointed by that though. For each individual there is always someone who can "do it better than me". The guy in the videos makes mistakes during his performance, which if you are familiar with the pieces he is playing, you can pick up on. We all strive for perfection in performance but even if you perform the pieces you know well for an audience, you will find there are bits of it that you could have done better.
If I take on a new piece, I try to listen to, or view, as many performances of that piece as I can. You will be surprised at the variations in each performers interpretation of the music.
I run through the piece dividing it into chunks and find which bits I find difficult and I polish those first. They may be in the middle of the piece but I slow it down, pick up the music a couple of bars before the hard bit, and run through it until I can do the bit I find difficult while keeping the tempo.
It's only about being tenacious and sticking at it.
As my dad used to say " Don't say you can't do it and it's impossible son! The only thing that's impossible is striking a match on a kipper" (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[bassmadmatt]

I'm learning bass lines from the Red Hot Chilli Peppers and improvising around them. It's good fun and challenging.

Matt (IMG:style_emoticons/default/cool.gif)

[Steven Jones]

I've been having a look at Bach's Prelude Number One (from the well-tempered clavier), although I'm finding it a bit difficult. Anyone else on this forum who can play this piece?

[gwu]

Hi Meerkat

I'm currently working on some Grade 6 pieces (Tarrega's Vals and Pepita, Lindsey Clarke's La Moinerie, Bach's Bourree) and if I have any energy then it's Variations on a Theme of Mozart by Sor (which will keep me going for the next 20 years).

You mentioned Bach's BWV 996 does the splits. Well the Grade 6 piece is the Bourree, 5th Movement, BWV 996. It doesn't do the splits so you may be looking at a different movement. It's a really lovely piece, it's easy to play to an acceptable level (I was playing it when I was Grade 3) and is very accessible to listeners. You can hear it here http://hum.lss.wisc.edu/guitar/bach-suitebouree.mp3 and get a version of the music here http://members.tripod.com/%7EBraumeister/#..._Sebastian_Bach.

Why don't you try that? Or you could try Tarrega's Pepita if you like going up and down the fret board and doing lots of glissandi or La Moinerie for the lovely melody which is my current favourite though it's so difficult to play when nervous (artificial harmonics and it's played slow - not great for shakey fingers).

Anyway, I could go on and on......

Good luck.

G

[onmageetar]

I like Pepita, I did that for the exam at grade 6. I always like to throw pepita in when I'm playing for any sort of an audience.
Even if it's only the dog
He's heard it that many times he can sing the melody and clap the rhythm now.(IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

I've been having a look at Bach's Prelude Number One (from the well-tempered clavier), although I'm finding it a bit difficult. Anyone else on this forum who can play this piece?

I've had a go at it since you mentioned it and I wouldn't say I find it difficult.
I am going to experiment with a few different fingerings because i think I can improve on my first thoughts on it.

[gwu]

"I like Pepita, I did that for the exam at grade 6. I always like to throw pepita in when I'm playing for any sort of an audience.
Even if it's only the dog
He's heard it that many times he can sing the melody and clap the rhythm now.(IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)"

Gosh, I wish I was as musical as your dog!!

For your Grade 6, did you try Tarrega's Vals and if so, did you find it a lot easier than Pepita? If you did find it easier, why did you choose Vals instead? I like Pepita far more than Vals to play and to listen to but my version of Pepita sounds pretty bad versus Vals. Just wondering what your thoughts are.