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!

I'm currently doing some bass strings exercises (yes, I've finally learnt them last week ), and two duets called 'Dance' and 'Russian Girl'.

Car Expert

I was practising the Prelude to Suite BWV 1006a (in E major) by J.S. Bach until I got distracted by my new cello...

Well done for getting going on the bass strings CE!

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

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).

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

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?

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.




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?

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.

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"

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

Matt

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?

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

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.



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.

"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."

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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



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!!

I can understand the pipe yes..... I would probably bite the end of it If I had it in my mouth while concentrating hard
I only mentioned it to meerkat because it doesn't look good if you are a girl and you smoke a pipe
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.

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.

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

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 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?

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.

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 - I appreciate it!!

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

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

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!!

Can't say i'm familiar with those guitars but you make them sound wonderful, i have an English built guitar made by Kenneth Roberts which is a really nice guitar that i don't do justice to and also a yamaha SLG100N silent guitar which is great for recording with, i use Cubase for recording when i figure how to add them to the net i'll add one of my recordings for you to have a listen to although don't expect miracles, even though i have my grade 8 guitar i am really still learning infact the grades seem a bit of a nonsence at times, they seem to get in the way of the whole learning process. What i have personally observed is that once you overcome the hurdle of grade 8 you then turn your attention to technique and detail, its at this point learning becomes much more interesting. Oh almost forgot, i used to own an Alhambra too, what a great guitar, i think mine was a 11C and have a lovely brooding tone with bags of volume and projection.

Anyone know of an online source for the Pepita music (legal, obviously...)? It's not in my Tarrega anthology, and I think if I buy any more music in the immediate future my partner's going to leave me for someone less musically obsessed!

$1.86 download at everynote which isn't breaking the bank.
If you find it, don't forget to tune 6 = D.

Thanks, OMG. I reckon I can stretch to that.

The Bourree that you recommended - I've had a run through of it and really enjoyed it. I can't believe how my sight reading is coming on (had the piece flowing nicely after 2 run throughs, which was very cool!). But just had a question about it. The version I have (from the complete lute works) has it arranged with the g string tuned to f sharp and the sixth string as a D. Is this the same kind of arrangement that you're playing? I find I'm ok playing with the adjusted tuning once I get it in my head, but it does definitely make it more complicated!

Hey Meerkat

Are you talking to me regarding The Bourree?!

Well if you are, the version I have most definitely doesn't require any scordatura. The version I'm playing appears to be the same one as this on the web (though I've only checked the first 4 bars).

http://members.tripod.com/%7EBraumeister/#..._Sebastian_Bach

You should find the version above a doddle if you found the version you're using easy.

G

Just started working on the Loure from Bach Lute Suite 1006a.

The music is fingered with the g tuned to Fsharp. My teacher doesn't want me to play it that way, as he doesn't think the sound of the G tuned down is particularly good. I'm finding it tremendously difficult not to be confused by the printed fingering! Sometimes I wish they'd just print the music without any fingering at all. My Villa Lobos collected works is like that, and I find it so much easier to read the music.

Is this the same one?

FAO Onmageetar

Thanks for the link to the Kicker website - yet another reason to sit at the computer an not work

I do work! But I am on an M.O.D. pension which enables me to work part time only.... I have spent my entire working life up to the age of 40 being away from my home, my wife and the rest of my extended family for long periods of time, in some or other corner of the globe. Now I've paid for my house,, I'm going to live in it for a bit..

(I think tony meant a good excuse for HIM not to work. I know I tend to treat your fab links that way!)

Yes, that's the suite. I think I'll print that off, as immediately reading it seems easier without the odd fingerings!

Meerkat is right - sitting watching other people play is pure pleasure

I am compiling a list of guitar links including a great gypsy guitar video which I will publish shortly