Around The Neck

We as guitarists are constantly looking for new music to play. However, many of our findings lead us to the past. Leopold Weiss is one such composer that those who find can never forget. He was one of the most important and prolific composers of lute music in history. He, unlike most lutenists of the day, was very well known and extremely proficient in his technique.

Weiss hails from Grottkau, Poland. In his time period, Weiss was destined to be a lutenist or maybe it should be said he was expected. Sons grew up and took over the family business. In Leopold’s case, it was to be a lutenist like his father, Johann Jacob Weiss. Leopold took his playing on the road and ended up in the courts of Brelsau, Rome, and Dresden (those are cities with courts to pay for music, if you didn’t know). Eventually he played his last in Dresden.

Before his passing, he left us with around 600 pieces for lute. Most are group into sonatas or suites, which consist mostly of baroque dance pieces. Weiss also wrote chamber pieces and concertos, but only the solo parts have survived.

In later life, Weiss became a friend of Wilhelm Friedemann Bach and met J.S. Bach through him. J.S.Bach and Weiss were said to have competed in improvisation, as the following account by Johann Friedrich Reichardt describes:

“Anyone who knows how difficult it is to play harmonic modulations and good counterpoint on the lute will be surprised and full of disbelief to hear from eyewitnesses that Weiss, the great lutenist, challenged J. S. Bach, the great harpsichordist and organist, at playing fantasies and fugues.”

So there you have it. If you’ve never played Weiss, then it is by far time to locate some of his works. No matter what type of instrument you play (electric, acoustic, nylon) you will be taken to new heights by learning the works of this old master.

I found this video that covers all the basics for shaping fingernails to get good tone. This video is directed toward classical guitar but I find that it is for any fingerstyle player. You will never get a good tone without fingernails on any acoustic instrument. Enjoy.

Alright, there is the circle of fifths/fourths out there. What does it mean and how can we make use of it? Well, it really isn’t that hard and can help with your basic knowledge of theary. Below is the diagram of the circle of fifths/fourths. I will give the information about it in bullets below the pic.

• Rings: Outside = Major Keys, Middle = Number of sharps or flats, & Inside = Minor keys
• Most obvious use is to tell how many sharps or flats are in a particular key (major or minor)
• Keys on right are considered sharp keys (contain at least one sharp)
• Keys on left are considered flat keys (contain at least on flat)
• The order that you write a sharp or flat on the staff is indicated by how they appear around the circle (notice the illustrations on the outside of the diagram)
• The relative major and minor are easily located (a relative major has the same notes as the natural relative minor; i.e. G major & e minor)
• Helps you understand harmonic movement: move clockwise and the keys move from the I of a key to the V of a the same key. This then becomes the I and on and on. This allows you to easily see the most common chord progression in music: I-V. Going counterclockwise moves the keys from I to IV respectively. Tunes to see this type of movement: I Got Rhythm by George Gershwin & In A Mellow Mood by Duke Ellington.
• To get the most out of this circle, commit it to memory.

Many of you fingerstyle, especially nylon string, guitarists may not think much about the tip joint of your right hand. I was reminded of this during a lesson the other day and thought it good to bring to your attention.

There are three joints on the hand. Without using scientific terms we will call them the knuckle joint, middle joint, and the tip joint. Obviously the knuckle joint sits on top of the hand and the tip joint is closest to the nail of the finger. I’ll let you figure out where the middle joint lies.

When playing free strokes on the guitar with your fingers (index, middle, and anular) it is unlikely that you will collapse any of the three joints. However, when using a rest stroke (resting the finger on the adjacent string after firing) many guitarists collapse the tip joint. Why try to avoid this? Let’s take an example from nature. We have all heard stories of someone having to grab a switch from the backyard to . . . I’ll let you finish that sentence. A switch is flimsy. Now compare that with a hard stick or branch. If you hit both against a wall at seperate times, then you will notice that the flimsy flexible switch has a delay in contact. The firm stick makes immediate contact. Therefore, when playing a rest stroke with a flimsy or flexible tip joint, your contact and execution will be delayed. With a firm joint the execution of the stroke and the sound is immediate.

It may take some time to develop a strong tip joint, but it is well worth the effort. As a matter of fact, I cannot even demonstrate a flexible firing of a tip joint because my hands have built up the habit so deeply. Your tone and speed will improve as well.

So, I have had a lot going on and know that I need to get back to the world of guitar blogging. Therefore, I thought I’d begin by featuring an interesting take on Vivaldi. Enjoy!!!