Welcome to one of the most active flamenco sites on the Internet. Guests can read most posts but if you want to participate click here to register.
This site is dedicated to the memory of Paco de Lucía, Ron Mitchell, Guy Williams, Linda Elvira, Philip John Lee, Craig Eros, Ben Woods, David Serva and Tom Blackshear who went ahead of us.
We receive 12,200 visitors a month from 200 countries and 1.7 million page impressions a year. To advertise on this site please contact us.
Composing for classical guitar, Do it yourself stuff.
It's been a long time since I have played and practiced, about five years, so be nice, I'm not really a guitarist. In 2010 I got hit by a car while riding my bicycle, it caused a lot of problems with my playing and guitar building in terms of back pain. So I quit playing with any real intention of ever being good. I have been able to hold onto a little bit of my playing, but I lost about 90% of the material I knew. So now I'm trying to write small studies for classical guitar, just to see what happens. I know most 12 year olds can play better, but I don't really care, I'm more interested thinking about structure and seeing if I can learn to write decent pieces. Let someone else play the hard ones.
This one is sketched out, maybe a bit bland, but I'll keep working on it.
I have been thinking about Phillip Rosheger and all the great music he composed for guitar and I felt, I guess, inspired to make some small pieces. If you don't know his work please look him up, he was a fantastic composer for classical guitar. He was a guitarist from the San Francisco area, most of the flamenco people knew him and he hung with flamencos a lot.
Phil used to love to play Bach on flamenco guitars and would grab a blanca and shred through a violin sonata or play something Spanish while we all stood at the bar with a beer. Phil came to flamenco parties and I remember one New Years Eve after his gig at a hotel NY party he showed up at the flamenco party and basically played classical masterpieces from1 am to 5 am and we all just sat there floored. He was so on.
He as the first American to win the Segovia contest held in Santiago de Compostela, I think it was in 1968 or 69. In his prime he was a world class artist, and then later he played with more guts a soul than just about anyone alive. I really miss hearing him play. This piece is not worthy of his artistry, but it was fun to remember him while putting it together.
Posts: 3458
Joined: Jul. 12 2009
From: Washington, DC
RE: Composing for classical guitar, ... (in reply to estebanana)
Very nice, Stephen, and don't worry about not being in top form. After five years it is enough to take it up again. And it was an especially nice tribute to your friend Phil.
Cheers,
Bill
_____________________________
And the end of the fight is a tombstone white, With the name of the late deceased, And the epitaph drear, "A fool lies here, Who tried to hustle the East."
RE: Composing for classical guitar, ... (in reply to estebanana)
Thank Lenny and Bill, I'l try to keep it up.
I just worked these descending lines and end them with a chord and then ascended back up and ended it. I have a few more parts sketched out to make a small suite, but I need to work up the other to sections. I'm going to listen to Kapsberger the baroque lute composer for a few days, the next section is arrps and his music uses lots of arrps in ways that thread a melody through them.
Something flamenco~
Here is my friend David McLean and his partner Clara Rodriguez..now this is guitar playing.. I was excited to find this we thought it had been lost, but it I found it on an external hard drive.
Printable Version
New Messages
No New Messages
Hot Topic w/ New Messages
Hot Topic w/o New Messages
Locked w/ New Messages
Locked w/o New Messages
Post New Thread