THE ULTIMATE SCALE BOOK

 

Total Guitar’s techniques team have attempted to cram as much as possible into the 30 pages of this Guitar Scale Ebook you have in your hands. As well as a complete run-down of all the most useful and usable scale shapes in several positions, They’ve included soloing tips, a little music theory, plus some chord sheets and tab exercises to try the scales with. Don’t use these scales in isolation though – the book is primarily intended for reference. The only time a scale becomes worth listening to is when you make a great solo out of it… Enjoy this Free Guitar Scale Ebook.

 

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Beatles for Classical Guitar (Arr. L.Beekman)

Beatles for Classical Guitar (Arr. Larry Beekman)

More than 25 of the Beatles greatest hits arranged for classical guitar.

Contents:

- Across The Universe

- Ask Me Why

- Come Together

- Cry Baby Cry

- Day Tripper

- For No One

- From Me To You

- Hello, Goodbye

- Here Comes The Sun

- I Don't Want To Spoil The Party

- I Will

- I'll Follow The Sun

- I'm A Loser

- I'm Happy Just To Dance With You

- I'm Only Sleeping

- I'm So Tired

- In My Life

- Long & Winding Road, The

- Maxwell's Silver Hammer

- No Reply

- Nowhere Man

- P.S. I Love You

- Penny Lane

- Something

- This Boy

- Things We Said Today

- Two Of Us

- While My Guitar Gently Weeps

- Yesterday

- You're Going To Lose That Girl

 

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When Does Interpretation Start?

When does one begin to develop an interpretation of a piece? The common wisdom is that you learn to play it first, then add in the “musical stuff” later.

That’s a flawed conception. It treats a piece as two separate entities: technique and physical movements vs. musical elements and interpretation.

The way we execute a piece physically (technique) is a direct product of interpretation. Playing a diminuendo requires a different sort of technique that just playing at even volume. Forte feels different in the fingers than piano.

So in a sense “learning” a peice first, then adding musical elements is like learning two sets of movements. And considering that most guitarists only interpret as an afterthought to finger wiggling, we’re left with a majority of our practice time devoted to a dry so called “un-interpreted**” version of a piece that comes out on stage because we spent more time practicing that way.

Practice and incorporate musical elements from the start of working a piece, and ingrain those movements from day one. Of course you’ll change things along the way and be able to do more interpretive elements, but it can’t hurt to get a head start.

**There’s no such thing as uninterpreted music. Even the lack of making a choice about a musical element is making a choice about the element, and it still results in an “interpretation” that comes out of the player.

Practice Techniques: Changing the Rhythm

Sometimes there are sections that always sound uneven. Altering the rhythm can give a player more control, and help even out those difficult passages.

It’s as simple as it sounds. Have a passage in fast 16th notes? Try playing in triplets or quintuplets–the notes don’t have to move faster or slower, the accents just shift around. The options are infinite. This technique can work with anything, and it does help expose hidden issues.

For instance: I have a quick chord to play that is essentially rolled, but it’s notated in 32nd notes. The tempo is pretty slow, so the composer obviously meant the chord to be measured and even–the 32nd notes are to sound like 32nd notes. So I tried it with various rhythmic permutations. Here’s the original on open strings, the RH fingering p p i m a:

And here are some of the rhythmic alterations I tried out:

The end result is that I discovered I have the tendency to play m a as a unit. This is not something that happens when I just play a quick ascending arpeggio p i m a. Whenever I have to drag my thumb in time, it throws off my hand position a bit, requiring some compensation. Because I noticed what was going wrong, I can now work on controlling it.

Altering the the rhythm of a passage is a great help.