Week 2: Strings Attached 
Welcome to the Main Thread for the second week of "The Transcriptions" practice challenge!
- Make sure you've read the guidelines before replying!
- Watch the kickoff livestream!
Pick a transcription that was originally composed for another instrument, like piano or violin. Don't be afraid to choose a challenging piece or explore works from composers you haven't played before.
Commit to practicing daily and share your progress with the community. Aim to practice every day and post at least two videos per week showcasing your progress. This will help you stay motivated and accountable, and also allow you to share your transcription journey with others. Whether you're tackling a complex piece, refining your skills with a piece you already play, or experimenting with new playing techniques, the community is here to support you and celebrate your achievements.
Share your favorite piece that you would like to see transcribed or your favorite recording of a transcription. This will not only inspire others in the community but also provide a rich resource of ideas for everyone to explore. Plus, it's a great way to celebrate the creativity and artistry involved in adapting music from one instrument to another.
↓ Happy Sharing! ↓
-
Everybody's making such great progress here!
I feel like I've been making great progress on Cadiz. I've got pretty much the whole thing memorized now. Been working on it every day.
Today I was focusing on what is possibly the most difficult part of the piece. There are these sixteenth note runs that, in the original score (image attached), run in parallel octaves. The various transcriptions I've seen have treated these differently - some doing single-note lines in some places and actually attempting the parallel octaves - sometimes two octaves apart - in other places.
What I've decided to try to do is treat these measures (mm 65-70) with a flamenco type of style - single note runs all apoyando - starting in a higher register and then working my way all the way down the fretboard.
Today I merely just worked out what fingering - both right and left hand - is going to be best. My performance here is about 1/5 the speed that it will need to be. I will also add rasgueado-type strums on the chords to make it a bit more true to the flamenco style.
Also, I know I've got to reel those fingers in. I didn't realize until I watched this video how far my fingers - on both hands - were flying out!
-
Khiem Nguyen Thanks Khiem!
-
Moyses Lopes Thanks Moyses, I will definitely mess around with the timbre. The flamenco style seems to go after a very bright, almost harsh tone. We'll see!
-
Jack Stewart I appreciate you making the remark about inspiring you Jack. Sometimes I wonder who I'm kidding by trying to learn these difficult pieces, and I wonder if I should just give up. Glad to hear my efforts are inspiring others!
-
Steve Pederson What confusion I did! I wrote 'left' hand instead of 'right' hand...
I have edited the text, sorry about the mess. -
Steve Pederson As far as working on difficult pieces, I just watched a video by a pianist about repertoire selection. He said at any given time we should be working on pieces that take something like a week to learn, a month, three months, and a year. He said the easier pieces give us wins and the difficult ones keep us challenged, both of which are required to keep us interested and motivated. I liked that a lot and I also really liked the compounded interest quote you posted about small gains adding up. Very cool.
-
-
Unfortunately I was ill the last 3 days. Here is my progress video for week 2. I am not yet able to commit the piece into memory. I have several memory lapses. My focus is on hitting all the correct notes and making them as clean as possible. In future, once I have memorized the piece better, I will take care of other aspects such as appplying more color contrast, rubato, etc.
-
Khiem Nguyen This is really good, Khiem. You have a great command of his piece, (which I found to be quite difficult) in a very short time. Your arrangement sounds really good, also. Great job.
I need to put this back on my list of pieces to revive. If it is alright by you, I think I would like to try your arrangement (at some future date).
BTW your arrangement is beautifully printed, what software did you use?
-
Khiem Nguyen Fantastic work Khiem! A noticeable improvement! Enjoyable to listen to. Nice humidifier. Is that for you or your guitar...or both?
-
Jack Stewart thank you for your positive feedback Jack! I have loved this piece since I first heard it on piano 13 years ago, although only the first few bars - not whole piece - I could not figure out what piece it was. I discovered the whole piano piece maybe 2-3 years ago. Since then I have always wanted to play it on the guitar. I have listened to different solo piano interpretations many times.
You are more than welcome to use my arrangement. I was intending to welcome anybody to practice this transcription with me - it would be fun. It is nicer when my transcription can be utilized by other guitarists than just myself.
I use "Guitar Pro version 7" as the SW. It is super easy to use and is not expensive. I think Sibelius is more intuitive in editing the graphic look and have more extensive custom settings for size, margin, you can drag like dragging vectors to almost everything. One thing in Guitar Pro 7 that bothers me is that the size of notes can't be made bigger while my eye sights are not favoring the tiny notes at a reading distance :(
-
Steve Pederson hi Steve, thank you a lot. The humidifier is for both the guitar and for myself. During winter and early spring, it gets to 30%RH or below; it makes the skin so dry and irritated. I need it and so do my guitars hehe.
-
Khiem Nguyen Hey, Khiem, you have got a great recording of this piece! It's a difficult one, congratulations! Thanks for sharing!
-
Moyses Lopes thank you very much Moyses! :D It is a rather challenging piece for me. There are so many left-hand movements :D
-
-
I'm kind of excited about this one...
There is a passage of chords in measure 34 of Cadiz where the melody is in the base. I've seen the two transcriptions I have deal with this completely differently, and I don't really care for either of them.
I went back to the piano score and did my own transcription, and I think I've come up with something that I like. It's difficult, and it may prove to be too difficult in the end, but I really like the chord voices, and they are truer to the original score.
In the video I play through the chord progression first, and then I play it in context, starting at m 33...
-
Steve Pederson I think you path the best way to try and learn a piece in your true sense. Doing your own transcription put you in a great position to balance some decisions. Thank you for sharing!
-
Moyses Lopes Thank you Moyses!
-
Steve Pederson this is good Steve. You have your left-hand shapes figured out already. The recording is nice, it is sounding very crisp and punchy! What microphone are you using?
-
Khiem Nguyen Thanks Khiem. I use the SHURE MV88+. It's a great mic! I love it.
-
Steve Pederson Again, great work, Steve. You are really getting into the spirit of this challenge, not just playing transcriptions, but changing them to find your own solutions to obstacles.
-
Eric Phillips Thanks Eric!
-
-
I'm able to play all but 2 measures from memory now.
Still pretty slow, and some sections need much more love and attention than others, but I'm happy with the progress I've made on this in the last couple weeks.
I'll understand if you don't watch all of it. This is just to post my progress.
-
Steve Pederson This is great progress, Steve! I really admire your dedication and perseverance. Yes, it’s slow, but you’re playing it really well, with good articulation and musicality.
-
Eric Phillips Thanks Eric. Nine+ minutes is a long time to try to stay focused!
-
