Lesson learned from Thrawn theme sheet music

 

Subtitle: How you can tell when a guitar part is generated by a keyboard player :D

A student really likes film/tv music. I found some sheet music online for the theme for Admiral Thrawn from the Clone Wars animated show.

[Note: I have provided a new set of fingerings in an updated post on this. Here's the LINK TO UPDATED POST. ]

It cost a couple of bucks online purchase. Vendor seemed helpful & friendly. No regrets.

But when i ran through it and got to bar 40, it was clear something was odd. 

You would have to turn your fingers into some kind of tentacled monstrosity in order to play this section as the tabs indicated.

Here's a closeup of the sheet at 40. You're supposed to go from fret 15 to 10 on 1st string. Barely do-able. Then 17 to 10. Then 18 to 10. Believe me, a guitar with a cutout won't really help.

It seems to me the arranger didn't realize you can play the D note that you get at 11th fret, 1st string also on the 2nd string 15th fret. So you start with 2 fingers comfortably side by side on 15th fr. To go up to 17, is just 2 frets, 18th is just 3 frets. You have to go down to 14-15 for the last repeat of the pattern. 

So easiest thing to do is base these few bars on the Dm shape. Keep your middle finger on 15th fr/2nd string. Play 15/15 with ring & middle. Ring can stretch up to 17, while middle stays on 15. Baby plays 18, with middle on 15. We've reserved index finger to play 14, while middle is on 15. 

With a Dm shape, you can  play this passage faster and more accurately. I've done a little video (CLICK HERE TO SEE IT) to show the difference in playing this section as written and then using Dm shape.

The lesson here, I would say, is if you encounter a piece of music that calls for a crazy awkward finger stretch, see if you can find some familiar shapes across neighbouring strings. Don't give up, and don't stop at just what you see.

Cheers!

Price per lesson

 

Mystery Object - 1, b3, 4, b5, 5, b7

One of my guitar students has happily taken me down a path I didn't pay enough attention to in the past - scales.

We've been reviewing major & harmonic minor scales with the goal of setting foundations for the Blues scale.

Which is basically a pentatonic minor scale with an added flatted (b as symbol) 5, so b5.

We went slowly along the low e string in a strictly linear way. And it occurred to me that the played frets could be beads on a string, the unplayed frets (or semi-tones) could be knots. Put the single different colour bead in for the b5.

That gives 1, b3, 4, b5, 5, b7 (8) to represent the hexatonic blues  scale. If you remember to take out the b5, it also shows your minor pentatonic scale.

When she tied it on like a bracelet, we realized we needed to indicate the starting point for the bead scale. At the time we put a different coloured knot on it.  But later i remembered i had these music symbol charms, and that a treble clef could  show where to start.

So there you have it - Blues scale visualization memory aid bracelet! Catchier title - Blues Scale Bracelet.

Pat self on back - job done :D