Alright, I am the last person to assume that there is money behind everything. We have long joked that the magazine only writes reviews of those instruments and products that advertise with them. And, to further the problem, the reviews are “wishy washy” at best and meant to please the advertiser more than objectively inform the reader. But let’s not dwell on this point . . .
This issue, April 2010, has an article on six travel guitars. And I might add, contains reviews of six travel guitars with three coming from those that have no advertisements in the issue (whether there are ads in other issues I do not know or feel like researching it). My problem with the article is that it leaves out the Composite Acoustic Cargo Guitar. This instrument is very similar to the Emerald X5 Life Woody made of carbon fiber. However, the look is much more pleasing to the eye. I cannot comment on the sound of the Emerald because I have not played one. I can comment on the well balanced Cargo from Composite Acoustic. To me, it is very well balanced and has a wonderful sound. Though I do prefer a wood guitar to the synthetic sound made by the carbon fiber.
My biggest question is, “How can you miss such a great guitar for a review on travel guitars?” With politics aside, I am astounded that such a guitar is not mentioned in the article. Again, the little devil on my shoulder says that there must be some kind of political (financial) agenda behind the absence of such a great instrument for travel.
The classical and jazz guitar community is not growing like pop and rock guitar communities around the nation. We see this in lack of attendance in guitar related events around the area. This needs to be combated. I just read an article in the current Soundboard magazine about this very subject and disagree with the proposed solution.
The author makes two points of contention. The first is that there needs to be another torch bearer like Segovia of the past century. It is ridiculous to assume that such torch bearers do not exist. Take David Russell, the Romeros, David Tannenbaum, John Williams, Ricardo Cobo, etc., etc. These players are in fact carrying the torch very well and bringing greater performances and levels of performance across the board. The second point is that the public middle and high schools need to have successful programs. I am a guitar teacher and I personally think this is a far stretch for success. I would never be able to make a living if I taught in a public school because the funding, like it or not, is not there. Also, as a teacher, I have to teach multiple styles of music and, let’s be honest, most middle and high school age students are not into the classical or jazz guitar.
My proposed solution is cell groups around cities that encourage performing. We already see this in “jam sessions” for bluegrass players. As classical players they would be more like “performance sessions” of solo and ensemble playing. These groups would be held in homes or public places like libraries (coffee shops have too many other things going on). All that would be needed is a host of each group that could act as a contact and a place to meet. We already know of one group that meets every third Sunday of the month here in Pittsburgh. It has been very rewarding for those attending to play and hear others play for at least six months now.
Just like a good education begins at home, so does the love of music and the guitar. It is up to the local communities to keep this instrument growing in its participants. If you are interested in forming a group and beginning your participation, then contact me and let’s see if we can get some movement to this guitar thing.
Finally, we get to some suggestions for writing tab and including fingerstyle. In this example, we see that the fingerings for the left hand are on the bottom. These are stacked in order to facilitate easy reading of the right hand fingers. The right hand fingers are i-index, m-middle, a-anular, and p-thumb. The use of rhythm is at the top again as with the other exxamples of standardization.
I am not opposed to using tableture to learn guitar music. As a matter of fact, the first music written for fretted stringed instruments was with a form a tableture. However, it seems that many tabbers (as I will call them) are just plain lazy and give a new guitar student a bad image of the guitar community at large.
What are the main drawbacks from tab? First, the rhythms are usually not presented. Second, there are no fingerings given. I have had many students come in playing pieces they learned from tab using some of the strangest and illogical fingerings. Therefore, I propose a solution as illustrated in the following:
There are programs that can put rhythm in tabs but my concern is with the user submitted tab at the large tab sites. The standard above would give a very clear picture of what, when, and how to play the music. Also, if it were a fingerstyle piece, then placing the fingering of the right hand inside the [] would make sense (i.e. [3-i]). Using a system like this might take a bit more work for the tabber but it would definately show that the tabber has a good musical understanding rather than just a good ear.
Tension causes many problems in guitar playing. However, we must focus on the harmful tension when referring to problems because no matter how good you play there will always be tension. Holding down a string creates a from of tension just as much as tightening your right shoulder to try and play fast creates tension. Therefore, we must find a balance between the normal tension of using the muscles and excessive harmful tension that can lead to injury.
If your hands are unusually sore or tired after playing, especially in a short period of time, then you are probably holding onto too much tension. It is a good idea to give your hands a break and stretch them at the beginning in the middle and at the end of a practice session. Tension in your shoulders and arms has to be consciously noticed and relaxed. Set a timer for every five minutes during random practice sessions and when it rings immediately pay attention to your body to notice any forms of tension. Then, do something to correct it.
One last note is to remember to breathe. Too many students and amateur guitarists breathe incorrectly. They hold their breath during hard sections and then gasp for air as they finish. Holding your breath actually creates more tension in your body. If it helps, then try to breath rhythmically with the piece that you are playing. I don’t mean keep the beat with your breath, but rather breath in sync with how the piece flows.
Many students move from one song to the next and never really understand where they are going on the guitar. It is a good idea to put together a portfolio of all the music you know. This does not mean all the music you have ever worked on. These pieces should be songs that you can play from beginning to end as if (in the case of rock) you were the main guitarist for the group.
I like to be well rounded in my music and I try to push my students to do the same. This means that your portfolio should also include not just your favorite style but others as well. The five main styles as I see it are:
- Rock
- Jazz
- Blues
- Classical
- Pop
You should have songs in each of these categories. You can sub-divide and/or change the categories to your tastes if you like. The idea hear is for you to be in a place that someone could look at you and say, “Play something for me,” and you would have a portfolio of pieces to share with others. The portfolio also allows you to see your improvement and whether or not you are going in the direction you have chosen.
Previously, I looked at Noteflight (www.noteflight.com) and presented an example on the blog of a piece by Sor. After further review, the idea is good but not practical for composition. It is great to be able to collaborate, share, and comment on other people’s compositions. However, the program itself is just too limited for most works. It only allows for two lines and has few special symbols (including string numbers which I use often). You can put text in through the text tool but you have limited control of its output.
Apparently there is an upgrade from the free version to the paid Noteflight Crescendo. This version claims these new features:
- A full palette of over forty professionally recorded orchestral, jazz and rock instruments, from leading sound provider SONiVOX.
- The ability to create scores with parts written in guitar tab format.
- More powerful sharing permissions, such as sharing with only designated users.
- Storage and management of a larger number of scores and compositions.
- Ability to create templates for musical activities by themselves or for others: great for learning activities.
- Selection of stock templates, such as piano score, string quartet and other ensembles
Though all the features listed above are nice, they still are not what I’m looking for in a notation software. The features in the actual notational software are, as of this writing, just not available. The idea of sharing is great and will work for many who use the program. But for those of us who want to write in more than two lines and have much more control over the output, it just won’t fly.
