What Are You Playing? (guitarists) Options

[onmageetar]

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.

No I didn't try Vals. I had heard Pepita played by someone else some while ago and really liked it, so it was a piece of music I was looking forward to taking on. I think it's important that you can find some real enjoyment in the pieces you choose for exam.
I think it makes go that extra yard to learn it.

[TenorClef]

For pure pleasure i am playing the following at the moment-

Reflections (5 pieces) by Tony Skinner
Seascape Suite by Chaz Hart
Five pictures of Sark by V Lindsey-Clark
Four Venezuelan Pieces by Rodrigo Rierra
The Classic collection from the RGT (great site they have too)

A project is 'Cavatina' of John Williams fame but written by Stanley Myers

[onmageetar]

For pure pleasure i am playing the following at the moment-

Four Venezuelan Pieces by Rodrigo Rierra
A project is 'Cavatina' of John Williams fame but written by Stanley Myers

I have done 3 of the four Riera pieces (2,3 & 4) Riera's Valse was the list 3 piece I did for grade 6.
I played Cavatina for an audience of 200+ people just before last christmas, which really got the mouth dry just before I was up.
It's got some real hard to do technical bits on it.

[TenorClef]

The other day i had a look through the LCM guitar syllabus and i see Cavatina is listed as a supplement G 8 piece, last night i managed to play through it but VERY slowly, the tab certainly helped too for some position info.

[onmageetar]

At the bottom of my copy of the the music it says

"Although it wont always be technically possible to hold on to the melody as written, it has been put down like it is to convey the feeling of legato to be aimed at"

It is making reference to the fact that because of the positional movements you cannot hold the notes on the melody line for their full value. I can understand why LCM would rate it as it does because it is far harder to play than you would first imagine it.

[TenorClef]

It sounds like a deceptively easy piece until you throw in the moving arrpegios the bass line oh and the stamina to hold all those ever changing bar positions (IMG:style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif)

[hav]

... 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. ... (play it without the pipe though).

you honor me with the ref link onmageetar - thanks - but yes - for sure - EVERYthing I play will have several (sometimes TERRIBLE) errors - these days I just sort of plink around for the fun of it but I DO enjoy the act of playing - I think I get the feeling that y'all do a well!! Neat!!

IF you watch my face on any of the vids where I didn't have the pipe (the julia florida vid, for example) you will understand why I usually have the pipe in my mouth as I play in front of that dern fool camera (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

...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? ...

I am honored by your comments meerkat - but, really, it IS ust a matter of practice -- those vids of the VL were only a year after returning to plinking around -- you will play it MUCH better than did I with just some good old practice. (a slow metronome will help as you begin - increase the speed as you work it - add in rubato after getting the notes themselves well in hand (so to speak)


Can't seem to get the other note to quote here - so in ref to the ref to the 996 Prelude - yes - I think you're talking about the Presto section - not really a fugue - but fugue-ish in nature - a non-trivial section but fun all the same. Multiple voices are quite common in CG rep - yes.

Are folks here allowed to post recordings of themselves - I would love to visit and listen to the folks here - I spend most of my time on another CG forum. I just joined to make this reply but I think I'll go snarf around the entire forum set more - nice meeting y'all!!

[onmageetar]

IF you watch my face on any of the vids where I didn't have the pipe (the julia florida vid, for example) you will understand why I usually have the pipe in my mouth as I play in front of that dern fool camera (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

I can understand the pipe yes..... I would probably bite the end of it If I had it in my mouth while concentrating hard (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)
I only mentioned it to meerkat because it doesn't look good if you are a girl and you smoke a pipe (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)
Not that I have anything against girls who smoke pipes.

I see you do most of your practice for the dog as well. I notice he/she walking around in the videos trying to get the best position to view.

[gwu]

Hi hav and onmageetar

Just wanted to say thanks for pointing me to the link to hav's website, onmageetar. Hav, I was watching you play at about 1am some of the pieces I used to play about 20 years ago but haven't played since. Hearing and watching you play really inspired me to play them again (Tarrega's Lagrima and Bach's Prelude BWV 999) even though it was 2am by that point. I also thought if you can pick it up again after a long absence, which is the same situation as me, then surely I must be able to.

I thought the pipe was great too.

A fan.

G

PS You made that 4th finger barre in Bach's Prelude look effortless and sound clear. I'm envious.

[meerkat]

welcome to the board hav! I've listened to a load of your recordings now, and really enjoyed them.

[TenorClef]

Well i've been watching hav's short performances whilst my four year old girl was trying to climb all over me so it was a little difficult (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) and i really liked them, it was very interesting to observe your technique and knowledge of the alternative positions higher up the fret board, this has given me pause to think and get to grips with playing less with the known and developing my knowledge of the higher regions of the guitar neck. Tarrega's 'Lagrima' was really good and i like the clever use of harmonics, I think its really good that you made the effort to share these files with the forum users thankyou very much.

Also i wondered what guitar you were using, looks to be a cedar top spanish built guitar, Alhambra or Ramirez perhaps?

[onmageetar]

it was very interesting to observe your technique and knowledge of the alternative positions higher up the fret board, this has given me pause to think and get to grips with playing less with the known and developing my knowledge of the higher regions of the guitar neck.

That draws me back to the point I made earlier about trying to view other people playing pieces. It opens up ideas about alternative fingerings that can benefit you as an individual.
Early on I tried to follow the fingerings as set on the pieces. I decided, after watching a video of Renato Belluci play the BWV 996 Bouree, that the fingerings as set on the piece of music I had, and the fingering he used in the performance of the piece, made far more sense and made it somewhat more fluid.
I'm so glad I came across Hav's site.
I have struggled with the fingering of a particular piece (BWV 996 Allemande) for ages. It's not the actual playing of the piece that does me, it's more like it never feels like I am using the minimum amount of movement. It's like I am snatching at certain parts, the move from one position to another feels bad. I always finish it thinking I could do it better if i could get the fingering better.
Hav gave me some new insight that helped me improve it.

[hav]

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/unsure.gif) I think I need to stop reading for a while - my head is just getting too big from all the praise but I thank you and am truely humbled by your reception.

I hope everyone here will share their stuff -- I think we (well - I) get to know each other more from our playing than from our words only - if ya know what I mean.

And gwu - if I may be bold enough to offer some insight - one once-upon-a-time player to another -- I would avoid any of your old rep for the first year or so after returning -- I didn't but I wish I had - I think that trying to remember old pieces caused me some frustration early on - very old muscle memory peeking out at the most unexpected times and leading to a bit of frustration and (in my case, anyway) sloppiness. Still, I expect we ALL will play at least a couple of the old things when we return.

Anyway - thanks again for the reception y'all - makes me feel at home and welcome and inclined to visit more than seldom (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) - I appreciate it!!

[sarah-flute]

hav, I'm no guitarist (I can play about 4 chords if you give me a couple of minutes to change between each one (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)) but I just checked out some of your recordings and really enjoyed them (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

I don't know if there's any guitar stuff on it yet, but if you want to hear some recordings that have been done so far, then check out http://www.forumrecordings.co.uk

Once again - thanks for sharing your site, I really enjoyed your playing (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[hav]

Oh - Tanorclef -- sorry, I forgot to add... I have an '81 Hernandez (sobrinos de ...) spruce and an '03 Enriquez cedar (exactly the same as an Almansa 457 but imported under a different label).

The Hernandez has terrific volume, sustain and color but I don't have mu hands back enough to really take advantage of its capabilities.

The Enriquez has nice tone but less volume and sustain than the Hernandez -- but, still, not bad as a student level guitar.

And thanks sarah-flute!! I did visit and listen to all of the recordings out there under the strings section - yours was very nice indeed!! Thanks!!