Classical guitar - this is hard!

[Blue Strat]

I'm trying to learn this piece by Bach, Bourree in E minor, and it's a royal bitch! I guess I've been playing electric too long because I can't seem to get my right hand, left hand, or my brain in gear to do this piece.

[mstreck]

That's your problem... stop trying to use your brain.

 

Mike

[Shannon]

That really might have something to do with it... when it comes to music, the more I concentrate the more I screw it up. Last night I came up with some really cool new stuff and I'm not even sure I was there

[Blue Strat]

Originally posted by Shannon:

That really might have something to do with it... when it comes to music, the more I concentrate the more I screw it up. Last night I came up with some really cool new stuff and I'm not even sure I was there

That's usually how it happens. It makes you wonder if the thing about getting wasted before you come up with new songs really works...

[Guitar Geezer]

Bourree in E minor

Isn't that the one that Jethro Tull did???

 

That was one cool piece...You'd hear it and then whistle it all day long.

[Blue Strat]

Originally posted by guitar geezer:

Bourree in E minor

Isn't that the one that Jethro Tull did???

 

That was one cool piece...You'd hear it and then whistle it all day long.

I know that Tenacious D used it in one of their songs.

[A String]

This song is actually very simple. Try to break it up into sections. To start with, keep in mind that it is generally two strings plucked at the same time (the odd time you only hit one). This is a very popular piece, played by many famous musicians. Jethro Tull and Jimmi Page rendering my two favorite versions. It is also the first classical song I learned and the one I use when introducing my students to finger picking.

 

As you finish a section, play it again. Keep repeating the section untill you have it. Then do section number two. Once you have it, play one and two together. Then move on to three. I know it seems a bit daunting at first, but it will all come together as you learn each section. If I can offer any help with this piece, let me know.

[musicalhair]

Follow each melodic line and sing it, the old story goes if you can't sing it then you really can't play it-- which might be more true that it seems on the surface.

 

Make sure you have a good way of fingering it, then memorize and understand it. See where you have to "pivot" your hand to reach anything and just really see the overall scheme of what your fingers are doing.

 

Separate the right and left hands and make sure each knows it's job before forcing them to work together. Sometimes a glitch in one hand is because your whole body is anticipating and compensating for a glitch in the other hand.

 

Just work forward pushing mistakes back getting deeper and deeper in the peice cleanly. Then at some point play the last measure and start working backwards, playing from each successive measure "back" and play from there to the end. Thus the ending will be as comfortable to you as the begining.

 

Any problem passages isolate and work out in super slow motion and once they are square then play them in their immediate context before trying to play from the begining, often we forget the fix we just solved because we didn't play it context and gradually work that context into the tune.

 

WE have there "memories" muscle, aural (ear) and intelectual. Understand the tune, make you fingers remember where they are going, and sing the tune so your ear gets it.

 

No one should just call it "easy" as any Bach or Baroque or earlier music requires us to think in different terms then we're otherwise used to. Besides we all have no idea what you've played comparable to this. Really before you can even say if it is hard or easy you should consider that you might simply be using parts of your brain you've not often used before to play this tune.

[Billster]

I agree with A String and musical hair.

 

Here is technique we used back in college when studying classical caprices:

 

1. Play it from the top. Each time you fumble, mark the score at the spot and continue to the end.

 

2. Go back to your fumbles, and look to see where they fit into the musical phrasing.

 

3. SLOW DOWN, and play from the beginning of the phrase, through your tough spot, and through to the end of the phrase.

 

4. As you can play the tough spot cleanly, gradually increase your tempo until you are up the proper tempo (You are using a metronome, right?)

 

5. Repeat step 4 for each rough patch.

 

6. Play it from the top down.

 

The point is to hear the musical phrasing. When you hear the correct phrase at slow tempo, you will be able to hear in your head how the phrase sounds at tempo. Once you have that, your fingers will begin to find their own way suprisingly well.

 

Good luck!