I'm attempting to learn Cycles in the Avenue by Vincent Lindsay-Clark. Without having formal lessons or a teacher I have 2 questions about the start of bar 9 which starts with the following 4 notes

G# minum
B crotchet
D crotchet
E crotchet

Q1. The E crotchet is slightly to the right of the D with no staff. Is this just because the notes overlap and reads better or should it be played after the D?

Q2. What is the technique for playing all 4 notes (or 3 if Q1 is wrongly assumed)? Use the thumb on the G# then miss a string and play the B, D & E chord as a strum

OR

Use 4 fingers and pluck all together?

I'm having problems visualising what you mean.

When you say staff, d'you mean stem? Or do you mean that the note isn't actually on the staff (stave) anywhere?
If two or more notes are supposed to share a stem but they include one on a line and another on the space immediately next to that line, they're arranged on opposite sides of the stem. Does that sound like what you're looking at?

Any chance you could draw it out in ASCII somehow? Or scan that bar and post an image?

T.

It is difficult to explain in words - here is a photo Bar 9

Also what does the -4 represent here; I know the 4 is fourth finger fingering but -4?? - 4

well, i dont play the guitar, so can't tell you about the finger numbers, but the E and D are a chord, so should be played together, for the same amount of time.

I did this piece for my G6 exam (and got 26/30).

Play all 4 notes together with the thumb on the G sharp, 1st finger (or i) on the B, 2nd finger (or m) on the D and 3rd finger (or a) on the E.

On my copy, there's a misprint on bar 26. 2nd beat should be an E.

If you're using the Five Pictures of Sark book, have you tried playing La Moinerie on page 8? It's one of my all time favourites.

Hope this helps.

G

Yeah, it's just the notation for a chord. If the E was stacked on top of the D, it would be hard to read, so it's written that way.

I'm using the Five Pictures of Sark book. Looks like the notes are correct in my print. I haven't attempted La Moinerie - it's not on Youtube either so will have to try playing it myself to see what it sounds like

Thanks for answering my first question everyone, can anyone help with this bit too "what does the -4 represent here; I know the 4 is fourth finger fingering but -4??"

Thank you

Hi Osknows

I would take that to mean that you slide to E with finger 4, but I dont have a copy so can't be absolutely sure. Good to have a guitar thread BTW!

Sara

That's a misprint too. It's supposed to be 4 i.e. use 4th finger.

Here's an MP3 file of a sample of La Moinerie

Thank you - I really like it too. I'm going to learn this one before the others now

Sounds like that to me too. In other words it's a change of position. (Don't sound the slide - it's not a glissando...)

Is that Vincent playing it?

S