Another Impressionistic gem transcribed by Gerry Saulter

Greetings All. I hope you enjoyed the last transcription and Mp3 of the Catalana folk song, Canco del Lladre arranged by Miguel Llobet. I enjoy Llobets' music so much that I thought I would include a second selection for this month.

Since we covered some historic perspective about this amazing guitarist in the last transcription, let's get right into this piece.

In this selection, I felt the tablature staff interrupted the song, so I worked with a more traditional notation. One of the tricks with this selection is to understand it's impressionistic nature. Within this simple binary song structure is a subtle melody that develops as a tone-poem to convey the sadness of a lost love. With that emotional content locked in your playing spirit, the most logical string to release that emotion is the 2nd string. By building the melody mostly on the B string with rest stroke, you will create a haunting, shadow-like mysterious tone; just what the melody and song calls for.

The next technical trick to practice is the touch octave harmonics. If this is a new technique for you, I suggest you see a classical guitar instructor for some specific guidance on how to execute this challenging technique. Llobet's arrangement not only demands this touch octave melody, but he then harmonizes the melody with full chord tones. This is not easy to do cleanly, and will take much practice to get a great tone.

Keep in mind that while the song form is simple, the tone poem melody must be handled with grace and beauty.

Check my website @ www.serenadeduo.com for an Mp3 recording of this impressionistic gem. Enjoy your summer!