Week 1: Play Whatever You Love ☀️🎸
Summer's here. Longer evenings, slower days, and hopefully a little more time with the guitar in your hands.
This one's wide open. No set piece, no required technique, no weekly checklist. Just this: spend some of your summer making music you love, and share it with us.
That could be:
- A piece you've been chipping away at all year and want to finally get on tape
- Something brand new you're picking up just for fun
- A tune that sounds like summer to you, bright, warm, nostalgic, whatever that means for you
Post whenever you've got something to show: a video, an audio clip, or even just a note about what you're working on and how it's going. Cheer each other on. That's the whole thing. Open to all levels.
Dates: August 1 to August 28
How to participate
- Pick something you love, any piece, any style, any level
- Share your goal, tell us what you're taking on this summer
- Post your progress, clips, audio, or just an update as the weeks go
- Engage, cheer on your fellow players and swap encouragement
We'll close things out with a Watch Party featuring your recorded submissions, so make sure your final performance video is posted by the end of the run. 🎥
96 replies
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Llobet - El Mestre (Aug 3)
I actually posted this yesterday morning, but somehow it got flagged "pending review". Today, I literally just copied and pasted the same post and it was not flagged. 🤷♂️
Here is my first attempt at this piece. It's very slow and full of mistakes. The score I am using is attached.
The first section (measures 1-12) is very manageable. But then the trouble comes:
- Measures 20-22: This is a rather odd connecting phrase with some dense and harmonically obscure chords (especially measure 22, which I cannot even imagine playing at tempo).
- Measures 30-33: The chords aren't too difficult, but they need to be played pizzicato, which I find very challenging. I changed the fingering a bit.
- Measures 36-41: This is a section with artificial (octave) harmonics. I'm pretty good at doing this when there is only an upper and lower voice. But there is a middle voice here that needs to be plucked with the ring finger, and I find that quite challenging. The middle voice is harmonically very important, so leaving it out is not a good option.
- Measures 46-50: This is another odd connecting phrase with some clunky chord changes. Starting in measure 49, the score calls for octave harmonics in the upper voice, but I am leaving them out for now, at least until I can get the left hand down better. Interestingly, I found several versions of this piece on YT by some very virtuoso professionals who do not play these notes as octave harmonics. The sudden switch to harmonics does seem a bit random, and they break up the phrase in an odd way.
- Measure 72: More dense 16th-note chords. Thankfully, there's a ritardando!
- Measures 74-77: Chords in natural harmonics, but with one artificial harmonic thrown in just for fun! The left hand spread for the chord in measures 75 and 77 (an E major triad) is pretty challenging. Interestingly, I found a version by Segovia in which he plays this chord straight up, no harmonics at all, which is quite a bit easier. I don't like the change in texture, however.
So, lots to work on. If you actually read through all of this, you're a very good person!
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In memory of Gizmo, my faithful and unwavering friend, I share with you a work by Andrew York, a composer I particularly love, which has served as a "mantra" and comfort to me these past few days.