Dear Selina
Would you ever play the guitar strings really loud?
I mean as loud as possible, striking across the strings.
I am trying to improve Villa Lobos Prelude No2 the middle section.
It has been some time since I have been given any advice on this piece and as far as I can remember a teacher once told me :—
“Play as loud as possible to reinforce the arpeggiated rhythm combined with the melody made up of parallel fifths on the E and A base strings”
This may help to strengthen the fingers but also adds tension to the right hand; this can be relaxed later of course.
I am not sure.
I know that most practice should be relaxed using the least physical effort.
I would appreciate your help.
Also I wonder if you know the piece or have played it.
For the middle section would you use the following sequence to play the arpeggios across the strings.
‘p’ for the base string then pimami
I know there is at least one other more fanciful way that one can speed up the music but speed for me is not essential.
Thank you for your time
Anthony.
Dear Anthony
I do not think that I would ever necessarily recommend playing as loud as possible to bring out a melodic line – you would definitely lose clarity and definition.
The more you relax through the stroke – especially the thumb – the fuller the sound; so the thumb needs to stroke through the 2 bass strings (relaxed) and the fingers complete the accompanying pattern. Middle Section finger patterns as follows:-
Two bar repeated pattern:–
p i m i a i m i / p i m a p i m a
Bars 5 and 6 pattern :-
p i m i a i m i / a m i a m i a m
These patterns work for me, they become easy with practice and highlight the melody and accompaniment.
Good luck!
Selina
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