Derek's Lob der Thranen
I started learning this piece about a year ago but keep putting away to concentrate on other things such as the challenges and some other pieces I am also trying to learn. I revisited it the other week and realised that I had forgotten most of it but I have now managed to learn the notes. The challenge now is to bring it to performance level which is something I probably find a challenge with most of my pieces.
There are a couple of parts that I find more difficult. Bars 13 to 18 are a struggle to get the left hand fingers close together enough to get a clean sound. The hardest bit for me is at bar 34 (?) Going up from the 2nd position A arpeggio upwards to get the barre on the 10th fret and then get the E and D with 4 and 3 on the 12th fret. This occurs twice. Practising both of these section separately and slowly. There are other tricky bits (e.g sometimes going back to the chord shape for the 'piano introduction' in a few places) but hopefully these will be OK with more practice.
16 replies
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Great choice, Derek! I started working on it maybe about a year ago. I found the first half fairly manageable, but the second half (when the melody goes up an octave) just seemed beyond me, so I eventually put it into my ever-growing pile of pieces to learn in the future!
I'm confident that you will fare better than me, and I look forward to hearing your updates.
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First recording - I think I've done it better but you can see where I'm at with the piece. Hopefully i will get the hang of the 'impossible bits' and maybe play this at the next concert.
I filed my nails yesterday so they are a bit shorter than I usually have them so I didn't feel 100% comfortable with my right hand (excuses, excuses). If I can get this improved in the next few weeks I may have a go at playing it live at our Guitar Club Christmas meeting on the Wednesday before the Tonebase Concert so that's another challenge!
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Lovely playing Derek