WEEK 1: Exploring Carcassi's Etudes
Welcome to the Main Thread for the first week of the composition challenge! This is the place to post updates for the first week.
- Make sure you've read the guidelines before replying (<- click)
- Watch the kickoff livestream for help with the first section!
- Get the Scores here! (<- click)
If you want to describe your process (optional), feel free to use the following template.
- Things you found easy:
- Things you found difficult:
- (Optional): a video of you performing it!
- (Optional:) questions
↓ Reply below with your updates and questions! ↓
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Hi Martin and my friends, I have practiced Etude no. 3 again using the left hand fingering in Martin's feedback above. It is a really nice left hand fingering. I find it is easier to achieve legato, although I of course need to put more practice on this piece to achieve it. Here it is. Thank you Martin and everyone for listening! :) I will polish it again in next weeks.
I have a tiny idea. Measure no. 17 to 18. In measure 17, I think we can place 2 on B, 3 on C#, 4 on F#, instead of 1,2,3. Then slide 2 to B in measure 18. I did not use that idea in my below video though. To keep measure 17 consistent with measure 3, we can still use 1,2,3 on measure 17. It will be easier for our memory to just stick to one version :)
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Emma thank you Emma! :)
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Hello everyone! Hope you're doing great. Here's a video of the Etude nr. 1 by Carcassi, filmed it last night. Been learning it since 2 days ago and still have some doubts when performing it, but well, later I'll post some improvement. It has a bit difficult technical elements for me. I apologize for the poor view on my right hand
will try to film better next time 
- One thing you found easy: Perhaps the left hand shifts and phrasing certain sections.
- One thig you found difficult: Mostly damping the open string with the left hand (like TY says).
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Daniel Beltrán Hello Daniel! I’m glad you have joined in. This is great, especially for just two days of work. You’re playing it at a pretty high tempo already. I’m no expert, but your position shifts look really great to me. Nice job!
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Daniel Beltrán impressive performance after just 2 days of practicing, Daniel!
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Daniel Beltrán great start
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Eric Phillips Thanks Eric! I find most of the shifts not that difficult for my left hand, some are a bit more challenging, but yes, the Etude its great for the shifts in both left and right hand, I'm using it to practice position changes on the right hand as well (wi¿hich goes against Martin's lesson
but I want to practise that ). -
Mark Thanks Mark!
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Khiem Nguyen Thank you, Khiem! Once you get you're memorizing strategies it becomes easier.
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Daniel Beltrán Very good! I like very very much your left hand, little pressure on the fingers and looking so full of flow
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jDaniel Beltrán Great job. Ver6 good control in just 2 days! Thank you for joining
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Daniel Beltrán Lovely and beautifully performance
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Daniel Beltrán Bravo Daniel!!! The 1st one is a very hard one to start with, you did such a fine job after only 2 days of learning that one, it took my quite a while to decipher the exact right hand alternations! While it's another approach than the one I took in my livestream, it is absolutely fine working on the other end of the spectrum as well!
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Emma Thanks a lot Emma! Your comment actually made me more aware of that improvement on my left hand technique, I didn't were so conscious of it, I think I can get it a little better now that I'm more aware, but huge thanks for those nice comments
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joosje Thank you, Joosje!
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wasan Thanks a lot, Wasan!
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Martin Thanks a lot, Martin! Yes, it's quite tricky to do everything as TY explains, I'm still practicing it!
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I was hesitant to release this due to right hand nail problems affecting performance and tone, but here it is! Was hoping nail would grow back but ran out of time. Hopefully it will get better for next week's submission. It's another reminder to me of the importance of protecting your nails. If anyone has good suggestion for nail products ( that really work well) to help protect against tears, etc, please let me know. Thanks!!
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Barney good job and really beaufiful video Barney!
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Barney Great job, Barney, I’m glad you chimed in! Really clear separation of melody and accompaniment. This one has some really interesting harmonies.
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Eric Phillips Thanks Eric! This is not a difficult one, but I agree with Martin that it’s good to re-visit these kinds of studies to sharpen basic skills. This one for arpeggios, maybe next one scales…
I continue to be amazed by your dedication to covering so many of these etudes so well in short time frame. Very impressive my friend!
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Barney wonderful balance and musicality, Barney! Hope your a finger gets in shape again soon. Sadly, I'm not an expert on this topic of nail care. Once I used a hardener enamel (I think it's called like that in english...) when I was beginnig with the guitar that really helped my i finger, because it was always being reduced by the strings, but since I applied a few times the enamel it has been stronger and lasts longer
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Barney oh, and wonderful audio and video quality!
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Daniel Beltrán Thanks Daniel!!
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Daniel Beltrán thanks Daniel. I really owe more thanks Martin for the excellent Recording Academy (Audio and video) training. I knew nothing about recording Guitar prior to those lessons. Check it out, if you haven't already done so.
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Barney Thanks Barney! As a teacher still on summer vacation, I have more time to play right now. Needless to say, that changes really soon!
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End of the Year Challenge: Finish Strong!
