WEEK 3: Mastering Carcassi's Etudes
Welcome to the Main Thread for the first week of the Carcassi Etudes op.60 challenge!
- Make sure you've read the guidelines before replying (<- click)
- Watch the kickoff livestream to get an overview over the etudes!
- 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 assignments and questions! ↓
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It has been quite a busy week, but for Week 3 I intend to do a major push and hope you will follow through with me!
Here I am noodling around with Carcassi's Etude no.2! I am not at all happy with my right hand sound, but I took Brett Gilbert advice and found myself a new string vendor, wich means I will get my personal set of strings delivered quite soon!
Let me know what you think of the fingerings and dynamic decisions (I haven't made too many, only one important one in the melodic climax).
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Eric Phillips As long as strings are on the guitar, haha (crying a little bit inside as I ordered strings and forgot to order the 6th string
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Emma Thank you so much!
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Martin Thank you for posting this nice lesson on #2. I am struggling so much with the left hand fingering and the pima mimi. Will try the different fingering and pima mama. That barre on the 5th fret always gives me trouble when I want to move to the next chord.
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Martin I just came upon this post (I missed it last week as there was so much going on), but thank you for posting the exact strings you use to verify I ordered the right ones. Mine should arrive this week and I'm going to give the trebles a try! Sorry you forgot the 6th string
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Brett Gilbert That's not the first time that something like this happens to me, so I am not too sad about it
I still have some other strings, those will do for the beginning for the next challenge
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Ok, Martin, I accept the challenge. Quite busy weeks, indeed. But these wonderful submissions you all posted here were really inspiring. So, I did also spend some time to practice and even learn a few studies I never played or even heard before. I have no time for editing and no equipment for really good sound, so I hesitated to record them, but I finally did a few with my phone.
#11 (agitato)
What I like: the dialogue between the 2 voices. Alternating 4-note motifs of either diatonic or harmonic material, chasing one another.
What I found easy; understand the phrasing and harmonic structure; and it’s a short one…
What I found difficult : the agitato thing, so I took a moderate tempo; also quite a hectic job stopping the notes as indicated. I tend to leave the top voice longer than the bass.
I feel like playing the harmonic motifs sort of staccato to avoid ringing middle voices (esp. 3rd and 4th strings)
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joosje I hadn't heard this one yet and it sounds wonderful. Playing a light staccato on the accompaniment notes is very effective.
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joosje Wonderful, Joosje! I think it has the agitato feel. Your dynamics really help to present and clarify the harmonic progression of the piece for the listeners. I'm glad you decided to submit this!
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joosje bravo Joosje, I love your playing and sound. Thank you!!!!
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joosje back in town!!!! So glad to see you participating, wonderful! And what an impressive work, I really didn't want to touch this as it require meticulous fingerings to make it work, you did such a fine job!
I really enjoyed that you were leaving the top voices a little longer than the bass, it gives the piece a beautiful texture. You might even experiment to connect some of the bass notes a bit more and texturize them a little bit as if you were playing with a bow!
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Martin thanks for your comment. I’ll post an update with slightly different interpretation in that direction. Hope tonight.
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joosje or tomorrow. It’s late.
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Here is my take on Etude #8 without the slurs. Yes, I know it is a slur study but I kind of like it without slurs, although I keep one slur for the very end. I am using Carlevaro's fingering and edits in which he takes out the slurs and adds some base notes. Let me know what you think.
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Dale Needles That was really interesting, Dale! I never would have thought to play it like that. The bass line really stood out for me, as I had never paid to much attention to it in the past. You made it sing!
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Dale Needles bravo Dale!!
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Eric Phillips Thanks, definitely a different approach and thanks for the comments on the bass line. As you may notice, my thumb stroke is primarily done with the flesh of the thumb and only for emphasis will I use nail.
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Dale Needles bravo. Thanks for this interpretation. The extra bass notes have a nice effect. It’s true that it sounds less etude-like without the slurs.
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Dale Needles beautiful, once a again, such a defined texture! As joosje mentions, it sounds less like an etude and more like musical piece!
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Study 19.
I am still working on Study 24 (though a bit less as my job is picking up). Just to keep things fun, though, here's a recording of #19.
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Eric Phillips beautiful …….
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Eric Phillips Nicely done as usual!
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Eric Phillips that’s really beautiful Eric. Keep going! ’m happy you submitted this one It’s one of my favorite warming-up pieces. Your interpretation is great and your sound is super, only a bit more nail clicking than before., I guess the (phone) recorder is very close to your right hand/sound hole ..
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Emma Dale Needles joosje Thank you all!
Good catch on the sound change, Joosje. After I recorded it, I noticed my mic was in the "omnI" mode and not my usual "cardioid" mode. I didn't feel like recording it again, though.
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Eric Phillips Awesome, you gotta love the drama of the piece, enjoyed that very much! I suspect the omni pattern picks up more of the harsh reflections which Is what makes the sound somewhat hard and clicky! But good job, transparent and with direction!
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Martin Thanks, Martin!
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