Schertler From Switzerland With Passion

Transcript

bl Luthiery Achille De Lorenzi Technique SCHERTLER from Switzerland with Passion AGM SARZANA The Meeting and the Artists AGM SARZANA Instruments Show Lasse Johansson Eric Lugosch Bruskers LUCA PEDRONI Out of Sign 1 TEST: Schertler Classic CP - Schertler David Deluxe CD 280 SCE Nat - DPA 4099 GTR - Samson Studio GT chitarra acustica-3Fender twothousandandeleven ct contents A Six Strings Jail I was invited to play last Friday at the District Prison of Varese. Thanks to the passion and enthusiasm of Michele Erpoli, some of the prisoners were already doing an acoustic guitar course. At the end of this course, Michele expressed his desire to organise a concert/workshop to get them even more engrossed and spur them on in a passion that would offer them certain support and help in their current circumstances. As normally happens in such cases, I received an e-mail from Michele asking for my help. Even though he didn’t know me at all, he had placed his trust in Fingerpicking.net with the hope of having positive feedback. I accepted as soon as I received the message, sure that this was an interesting project. Moreover, I was eager to live such an intense experience. The show was planned to last two and a half hours as this was the amount of time that the prisoners were conceded. So, in order to avoid palming the poor unfortunates off with a ‘lethal’ dose of fingerpicking, I asked Giorgio Cordini to come along with me. My idea was that he could give a talk about his experience with De André and prepare a second act to the show dedicated to singing accompanied by the guitar. The concert was planned to start at two o’clock but at half past one we were both in a café trying to agree on the programme for the show. Both Giorgio and I were more than a little anxious, not knowing exactly what we could expect or what was going to be the response to such a ‘difficult’ kind of music. We were cheered up by the fact that the course had only been attended by seven people and so we thought we could expect something that was quite informal and intimate, for the ‘experts’ or ‘passionate fans’ in the field. After going through the various security checks, we entered the room where the amps had already been set up and our public awaited us. There were fifty prisoners, several guards and some social workers all sitting in their seats ready for us. The idea of an intimate gathering vanished and we found ourselves before a crowded audience. I was meant to go first and explain to them what fingerpicking guitar was… I will only tell you the ending – a huge chorus singing “Il Gorilla” (brave intuition by Giorgio) and “Bocca di Rosa”. Everyone applauded and demanded an encore but the time was what it was and we couldn’t transgress. When the guards asked everyone to leave the room, neither Giorgio nor I could forget the long queue that formed as each and every one of them wanted to shake us by the hand and thank us personally before leaving – the image is printed on our eyes and hearts. I’d like to end with just a couple of thoughts. The first is that for Giorgio and me it was certainly one of the most moving concerts with the most attentive, curious and appreciative public. They were silent but ready to burst into rounds of applause at the end of every piece. The second is that perhaps work of this kind should be a sort of obligation in certain situations. Music still manages to create enthusiasm and bring the very best out of every human being. Who knows, maybe next month our magazine will have fifty new readers. Editorial Sarzana, The Lake of Orta, Ferentino, Franciacorta... by Andrea Carpi Reno Brandoni pag. 3 News Un paese a sei corde 2011 pag. 6 Ferentino Acustica 2011 pag. 8 Blog The Evolution of Internet by Mario Giovannini pag. 10 The Guitar and the Web by Daniele Bazzaini pag. 11 Guitar and the Internet? by Beppe Gambetta pag. 12 Places of Music by Luca Francioso pag. 13 Didactics for Dummies? - 2 by Giovanni Pelosi pag. 14 Arranging and Revisiting a Song - 2 by Bruskers pag. 17 My Videos by Franco Morone pag. 18 How is a luthier ‘born’ by Aldo Illotta pag. 19 Reviews pag. 20 3 chitarra acustica 3 twothousandandeleven ct ed editorial Sarzana, The Lake of Orta, Ferentino, Franciacorta… It seems only yesterday that we were on our way back from the great binge of guitar music at the Acoustic Guitar Meeting in Sarzana, which we’ve dedicated two full articles to in this issue. And yet here we are again with new and exciting dates. Artists Luca Pedroni by Mario Giovannini pag. 26 Acoustic Night 11 by Germano Dantone pag. 30 AGM Sarzana 2011 An Italian Miracle by Andrea Carpi pag. 32 Instruments AGM Sarzana 2011: the Exposition by Mario Giovannini pag. 38 Acoustic Guitar Schertler Classic CP by Mario Giovannini pag. 42 Amplifier for Acoustic Guitar Schertler David Deluxe by Mario Giovannini pag. 44 Acoustic Guitar Fender CD 280 SCE NAT by Mario Giovannini pag. 46 Achille De Lorenzi by Alberto Ziliotto pag. 48 Condenser Microphone DPA 4099 GTR by Daniele Bazzani pag. 50 Samson Studio GT by Daniele Bazzani pag. 52 IK Multimedia AmpliTube 3.5 by Mario Giovannini pag. 54 Gas Addiction pag. 56 Technique A Spanish Tinge in New Orleans by Lasse Johansson pag. 58 St. Thomas by Erich Lugosh pag. 63 Fingerstyle Rock by Stefano Barbati pag. 66 Exercises for the right hand by Eugenio Polacchini pag. 74 www.chitarra-acustica.net Editor Andrea Carpi [email protected] Layout Outline s.a.s. di Matteo Dittadi & C. Multimedia Coordination Mario Giovannini Publisher Fingerpicking.net Via Prati, 1/10 40057 Granarolo dell’Emilia (BO) [email protected] www.fingerpicking.net Chitarra Acustica è una pubblicazione mensile Registrazione del Tribunale di Bologna n. 8151 del 07.12.2010 Management and Organization Reno Brandoni [email protected] Manoscritti e foto originali, anche se non pubblicati, non si restituiscono. È vietata la riproduzione anche parziale di testi, documenti, disegni e fotografie. Advertising Tel. +39 349 0931913 [email protected] The ‘Un Paese a Sei Corde’ Festival is about to start and a quick glance at the programme is enough to be left wide-mouthed at the extremely high level of musicians invited. Ferentino Acustica will be happening soon too, where amongst other things we’ll have the opportunity of listening again to the phenomenon Francesco Buzzurro. He has already caused a stir when he performed at the AGM on the Palco della Torre of the Firmafede Fortress, where Fingerpicking.net organised its ‘open mic’ sessions. The new competition organised by Acoustic Franciacorta has also finally been announced. This year’s theme is ‘A Song by Fabrizio De André for Acoustic Guitar’. Last year, we were highly satisfied with the outcome inspired by Beatles songs. Having had the opportunity to appreciate arrangements by numerous participants, we now have reason to have high hopes Two characteristic views of Ferentino (above) and for equally positive proposals and invite you to send your Lake D’Orta ... Man doesn’t live on guitars alone MP3s to [email protected] in order to take part in the selections. We would also like to highlight in particular the magazine’s section dedicated to news and instruments testing. We wanted to reserve this month’s cover-story to a couple of instruments by the Swiss brand Schertler, the Classic CP guitar and the new David Deluxe amplifier, with two articles inside that look into them in depth, backed up by demonstration videos with Dario Fornara and filmed by Reno Brandoni. As always, our demonstration videos can be seen in the section ‘Instruments’ at the address http:// fingerpicking.net/category/strumenti/. Also in the instrument section of the magazine, there is an interesting test of the small condenser microphone DPA 4099 GTR, carried out by Daniele Bazzani, and new items out on the market that go with the new Cort acoustic guitars. Obviously, you shouldn’t gloss over either the section dedicated to instrumental technique with new scores by Lasse Johansson and Eric Lugosch, as well as the new columns by Stefano Barbati and the Bruskers. Happy Reading! Andrea Carpi 4 5 chitarra acustica 3 twothousandandeleven chitarra acustica 3 twothousandandeleven nw nw news Un Paese a Sei Corde 2011 Guitars by the Lake of Orta and that’s not all… The cultural association ‘La Finestra sul Lago’ is pleased to present the sixth edition of ‘Un Paese a Sei Corde’. What seemed to be a risky gamble until a few years ago is today a reality. Guitar music has returned to offer high-quality moments over the summer of 2011. ‘Un Paese a Sei Corde’ offers 19 free concerts in 15 boroughs across Novara and Verbano Cusio Ossola Provinces including some of the greatest world performers of acoustic guitar and young buds of great talent. The festival also offers the opportunity to visit some of the most evocative places in the Novarese valley and Val d’Ossola highlands where you can discover extraordinarily enchanting villages and sites with breath-taking views. From Lake Orta to Lake Maggiore, from the plains to the mountains, 33 musicians offer the best of their creation. Despite the difficulty of such an unfavourable moment, we feel able to affirm that a line-up of the highest quality has been put together that we can’t but be proud of. Over these six years, the contents of ‘Un Paese a Sei Corde’ have grown constantly and this festival has earned its place alongside the best European festivals. We look forward to sharing unforgettable evenings of great music with you. Dario Fornara and Francesco Biraghi can. A true spectacle. – Saturday 2nd July, Briga Novarese, St. Thomas’s Church at 9 pm, free entrance: Pietro Nobile. One of the leading teachers of Italian acoustic guitar, he is capable of creating a delicate and rare atmosphere. The guitarist from Milan has just released a new Cd in which he has proved himself to be at ease with modern techniques too. – Saturday 9th July, Cressa, Cortile del Municipio (Town Hall’s courtyard) at 9 pm, free entrance: Rolando Biscuola. Winner of the 2008 New Sounds Of Acoustic Music in Sarzana – the most prestigious acoustic guitar competition in Italy – he’s one of the most interesting new talents with stunning technique. – Saturday 16th July, Gozzano, Cortile del Municipio (Town Hall’s courtyard) at 9 pm, free entrance: Peppino D’Agostino. He is rightly one of those belonging to the small, restricted group of artists that has made history for acoustic guitar over recent years. He is a musician who you can’t do without when studying this instrument thanks to his innovation and sensibility as well as his command of modern techniques. Luciano Pizzolante will open the concert. – Saturday 23rd July, Gravellona Toce, Public Gardens at 9pm, free entrance: Paolo Giordano. Freddie House, Master of Ceremonies for the 2002 Convention of the Association of Fingerstyle Guitarists, after having heard him play asked, shocked and incredulous: «Is it legal to play like this in the States?» – Saturday 30th July, Casale Corte Cerro, Cortile delle Scuole at 9 pm, free entrance: Paolo Bonfanti & Martino Coppo. One of the few, true bluesmen in Italy. He will be accompanied for the occasion by the mandolin player from Red Wine. A human and artistic brotherhood that has created great surprises and offered unforgettable evenings over the years. – Saturday 6th August, Stresa, Palazzina Liberty at 9 pm, free entrance: Peter Finger. Besides being one of the greatest masters of the six-string in Europe, Peter Finger has certainly been one of the advocates of the rebirth of acoustic guitar over the last few years thanks to his work of artistic production and distribution. Val Bonetti will open the PROGRAMME – Saturday 18th June, San Maurizio d’Opaglio, Lagna Gardens at 9 pm, free entrance: Dario Fornara and Francesco Biraghi. This strange couple made up of a classical guitarist and an acoustic guitarist have depopulated the web with their video that has thousands of visitors. Here, they are going to present a unique evening of its kind full of fusions and mixes of styles. The programme foresees old and new pieces, some evergreen and some standard, not to mention their forays into the classics (Vivaldi) or the blues. It’s a musical flight through 360 degrees, twelve strings and four hands to show that the confines between different ‘guitars’ are often only fragile labels. – Friday 24th June, Orta San Giulio, Palazzo Ubertini at 10.30 pm, free entrance: Gabor Lesko. Guitarist, composer, arranger and much sought after sideman, this artist from Bergamo has been saving the best of his creativity for acoustic guitar for many years now. His new album will be out in 2011. – Saturday 25th June, Crevoladossola, ENEL Green Power Centre at 6.30 pm, free entrance: Guitar Republic – made up of Pino Forastiere, Sergio Altamura and Stefano Barone. These three original musical personalities are united in a very striking project. The ‘Guitar Republic’ of Altamura, Barone and Forastiere is based on experimentation and the need to go beyond the built-up limits of acoustic guitar. – Sunday 26th June, Pella, Piazza Motta at 9 pm, free entrance: Clive Carroll. John Renbourn has wanted him on tour with him for years because the British artist is a true force of nature on stage that never ceases to enthral and enchant as few concert. – Wednesday 10th August, location still to be confirmed at 9 pm, free entrance: Beppe Gambetta & Tony McManus. It’s difficult to write only a few lines about two talents of this calibre who are capable of giving a performance that’s unbeatable for its energy and thrill. They form a team that’s lasted for years and that’s given excellent fruits. – Saturday 20th August, Madonna del Sasso, Piazza dello Scalpellino at 9 pm, free entrance: Volare in alto is an evening dedicated to young promising talents who are coming out on the Italian guitar scene. The performers are: Lorenzo Favero, Nick Mantoan and Alberto Ziliotto. – Saturday 27th August, Soriso, St. Marta’s Church at 9 pm, free entrance: Chitarra Femminile Singolare with Sara Collodel. A young, emerging talent for classical guitar, she has been performing in concerts for years as a soloist and in chamber groups. In particular, she has dedicated herself to the duo of voice and guitar with a repertoire of popular music and folk songs. Teresa Tringali will open the concert. – Sunday 28th August, Orta San Giulio, Fraz. Corconio at 9 pm, free entrance: Luca Pedroni. With two albums as a soloist and various work with groups behind him, this guitarist from Milan is the author of the signature tune from the talk show L’ultima parola broadcast on Rai Due as well as various musical pieces on the same channel. – Friday 2nd September, Galliate, Cortile del Castello at 9 pm, in co-production with the Galliate Master Guitar: Antonio Forcione. They called him the ‘Jimi Hendrix’ of acoustic guitar not only because of his weakness for burning guitars… while continuing to play them. He is considered to be one of the most creative musicians as well as one of the best performers on the European scene. – Saturday 10th September, Nonio, Fraz. Brolo at 9 pm, free entrance: Maurizio Geri Trio. Over the twenty years of his career, Maurizio has come a long way. Starting off with popular music from his homeland Tuscany, he has travelled down barely beaten tracks to end up at Manouche Jazz that he performs with talent and passion. – Sunday 11th September, Pogno, St. Catherine’s Church at 9 pm, free entrance: Edoardo Bignozzi & Sándor Szabó. Bignozzi is a guitarist with Anabel Montesinos a sober and elegant style as well as being a pianist and composer who grew up in the jazz circuit of the capital. In his home country, Szabó is considered to be an authentic sacred monster who is the true driving force behind the movement tied to acoustic guitar that has continued growing over recent years. They are an exceptional duo that creates intuitive ways ahead by using 7, 8 and 16 stringed instruments as well as baritones and steel-strings without keys. – Saturday 17th September, Soriso, St. James’ Church at 9 pm, free entrance: Chitarra Femminile Singolare with Anabel Montesinos. The winner of the most recent edition of ‘Pittaluga’ in Alessandria, she has been a great concert performer since the age of twelve. Anabel Montesinos is one of the most acclaimed female classical guitarists on the European scene. Silvia Faggion will open the concert. – Sunday 18th September, Pella, St. Albino’s Church at 9 pm, free entrance: Pierre Bensusan. True artists such as this Parisian guitarist are able to make the soul’s deepest chords vibrate. This must be why he is one of the few around who is able to make fans of every kind of music get along from Europeans and Americans to traditionalists and experimenters. Info: http://www.unpaeseaseicorde.it Pierre Bensusan 6 7 chitarra acustica 3 twothousandandeleven chitarra acustica 3 twothousandandeleven nw nw news Ferentino Acustica 2011 A Brief Presentation of the Artists Dear Friends, we’ve come to the 9th edition of the festival. Every year, I generally try to put new artists forward for the event but I also feel the extreme need for a kind of continuity. This is because I have always interpreted Ferentino Acoustic as a Fingerpicking.net festival and this means ‘people’ and not just an abstract idea. Therefore, I’m particularly happy to announce that concerts by Fulvio Montauti, with his ‘acoustic Telecaster’ and his jazz, and Roberto De Luca, with his fantastic creativity are in the programme just as I promised. Both of them animated the first edition of the festival back in far away 2003 when we didn’t dare to imagine that it would become a fixed date with growing prestige in the international agenda. Alex Di Reto, Reno Brandoni and I are a bit like the parents of Fingerpicking.net, and Giorgio Cordini is a kind of prestigious uncle. As I’ve said, new faces won’t be lacking. A soft innovation will be brought by the performance ‘in quartet’ by Micki Piperno. For the first time at Ferentino there will be: – Sergio Altamura, with his extremely original ‘acoustic-electrics’. He is from the prestigious CandyRat Records stables just like Pino Forastiere and Stefano Baroni. – The ‘plague’ Andrea Valeri: it was only a very ACOUSTIC FRANCIACORTA & FINGERPICKING.NET A Song by Fabrizio De André for Acoustic Guitar Once again this year during Acoustic Franciacorta there will be a competition for guitarists that’s open to everyone. Whoever wishes to participate should send in an arrangement that has not been publically performed before of a piece from Fabrizio De André’s repertoire, played solely on one guitar and entirely instrumental. Just as in previous years, the arrangement, performance and interpretation will be evaluated. The selections will take place in the same way as before, by sending a recording in MP3 by e-mail to the address: [email protected] by 15th August 2011.
 One of the three finalist pieces will be selected by the public who visit the site Fingerpicking.net. The other two pieces will be selected by a jury made up of six musicians. The players of the chosen pieces will be invited to perform them live on stage at Acoustic Franciacorta on the afternoon of Sunday 11th September. The best performance as voted by the jury will win an SR Technology JAM 150 amplifier. The jury is made up of: Reno Brandoni, Alberto Caltanella, Andrea Carpi, Giorgio Cordini, Franco Morone and Giovanni Pelosi. Veronica Sbergia Clive Carroll small step for him from being a shy boy capable of astonishing everybody to an international performer of great importance. – Max De Bernardi & Veronica Sbergia: whoever has seen their videos on Fingerpicking.net won’t want to miss the chance of listening to them live! Whether they are Dobro, Ukulele or whatever you like, they are lovely and wonderful. – Clive Carroll: he’s not just John Renbourn’s heir. This boy is a patrimony for humanity. One of the greatest in the world, he’s a globetrotter who’s loved everywhere. – Gina Trio: ‘our’ Daniele Bazzani, ‘Gina Fabiani (who’s at least a little bit ours), with counter bass player Lorenzo Feliciati. Their album Segreto (secret) won them the Premio Ciampi 2008 for the best album to be released. They will be with us with a set that has been announced as unforgettable. – Pietro Nobile: I don’t need to say more. He’s one of the few people at the origins of the acoustic guitar’s diffusion in Italy and he’s one of the very few artists of his kind to have signed a contract with a major record label. He’s a song-writer, a teacher and a concert performer and he does everything excellently. – Francesco Buzzurro. I am ashamed of myself. I hadn’t heard of him until only a few months ago. For anybody guilty of the same, he’s a phenomenon of humanity, art and technique. It’s no coincidence that he’s been selected by Antonella Ruggiero to accompany her in several concerts. For many he will be an authentic revelation. Just take a look for curiosity on Youtube to get an idea… He is nothing less than a most prestigious debut in the acoustic festival circuit. He will perform pieces from his Cd L’ esploratore (The Explorer) as well as other pieces from his immense repertoire. – Gabin Dabiré. He will take us to Burkina Faso with his voice and guitar and the most noble world music that it’s possible to listen to. Writer and sponsor of the project “Felicità in Azione” (Happiness in Action) he will reproduce it in an exhilarating set dense with music and humanity. – Jacqueline ‘Jackie’ Perkins: this singer-songwriter and guitarist from New York, who is wellloved for her performances in all the major acoustic guitar festivals, will perform pieces from her most recent CD, The Still Awakening. Delicate but full of energy, it represents American singer songwriters at their very best. – Friday 24th June, Palazzo Consolare, Piazza Mazzini, at 5 pm: “How to look after acoustic sound” workshop led by Daniele Lupi; Piazza Mazzini, at 9 pm: Reno Brandoni, Andrea Valeri, Max De Bernardi & Veronica Sbergia and Clive Carroll. – Saturday 25th June, Cortile del Palazzo RoffiSabelli, via Consolare, at 5 pm: “Open Mic” by Fingerpicking.net; Piazza Mazzini, at 9 pm: Giorgio Cordini, Gina Trio, Pietro Nobile and Francesco Buzzurro. – Sunday 26th June, Palazzo Consolare, Piazza Mazzini, at 10am: Master Class by Francesco Buzzurro (bookings on tel. + 39 348 6521194); Cortile del Palazzo Roffi-Sabelli, at 5 pm: “Open Mic” di Fingerpicking.net; Piazza Mazzini, at 9 pm: Alex Di Reto, Roberto De Luca, Gabin Dabiré and Jackie Perkins – Saturday 9th July, Grottone di Fumone, at 9.30 pm, extra evening with Micki Piperno Delta Blues Quartet. Programme – Thursday 23rd June, Palazzo Consolare, Piazza Mazzini, at 5 pm: “Basic Guitar Techniques” workshop led by Micki Piperno; Piazza Mazzini, at 9 pm: Fulvio Montauti, Giovanni Pelosi, Micki Piperno Delta Blues Quartet and Sergio Altamura. Giovanni Pelosi Info: http://www.ferentinoacustica.it Pietro Nobile Sergio Altamura 8 9 chitarra acustica 3 twothousandandeleven chitarra acustica 3 twothousandandeleven bl blog bl blog The Evolution of Internet Fingerpicking.net 2.0 The Guitar and the Web When a Link Can Change Your Life The conquest of the Internet took off in our country in the late 1990s with the iconic enthusiasm and proverbial passion of the Italians. The main thing was being there, planting the little flag bearing www. myname.it and becoming the proud owner of that sought-after e-mail address. Given the technological limitations of the era and the lack of familiarity with the medium, enthusiasm for the Internet waned just as fast as the financial bubble had burst on world stock markets, leaving the Web dotted with countless little islands devoid of content and entirely unconnected with anything around them. In the musical field, and perhaps to an even greater extent with regard to acoustic guitar, very few managed to exploit the Internet’s huge potential as a medium and point of contact, above and beyond its power simply as a way to circulate information. If anything, the complete availability of access to information and promotional capacities on the Internet can go hand in hand with the exact opposite and the lack of appropriate means to deal with this. Time and again, it has been demonstrated that over-stimulation can stultify our curiosity and our ability to deal with such stimuli. As one might easily have expected, Homo telematicus reacted exactly as humans did in the era of drumbeats and smoke signals: by creating points of aggregation and establishing rules, electing someone to make sure that they’re respected. Communities have multiplied exponentially in recent years and are the real winners of the Web 2.0 challenge: MySpace, Facebook and Youtube have been emerged as the true conquerors in this phase of the evolution of the Internet. While pundits ponder ‘the next thing’, the next step in the evolution of telematics, for Fingerpicking.net the time has come to exploit everything that Web It’s easy to write about things we know well, if it’s our personal experience. At the end of the 90’s I bought my first PC, and discovered the Web. Surfing, I find this website dedicated to the acoustic guitar, it’s italian, run by this fellow, Reno Brandoni. I write, he writes back, he asks me an arrangement of a tune to be published on the website, I tab my version of the italian song “Azzurro”, and that’s it (the Web, what a great thing). A few months later, walking in the Sheraton hotel in Nashville – during the Chet Atkins festival – I run into an italian couple, we all wear nametags with names and country, to make things easier and avoid poor figures remembering names. I see him looking at me, at my tag, and telling me: ”you’re the one who arranged Azzurro!”. In that moment it was clear to me that many things, for many people like me all over the world, would never be the same. technology currently has to offer. We’ll do this with the passion and human warmth that have long been the hallmark of this site and, above all, the forum that has always been the true heart of our community. But we’ll also do it with the competence and professionalism that have always distinguished the site’s various “mutations” over the years. This venture represents an enormous leap in both the quality and quantity of our proposals and new collaborators, who will work alongside our historic staff and the countless enthusiasts who have participated in the forum. One thing won’t change, however, and that’s the underlying spirit of this community, the passion that unites and ‘torments’ us. What’s the next thing? Who knows! But it’s likely to have a rosewood body and a spruce soundboard! Mario Giovannini life like this, and when I say friends I mean people that I have dinner with, travel for vacation, go to gigs or share hotel rooms. I see their children grow or make a phone call when I just want to say hello. It takes years, the net is fast but real world has its times, ten years are gone since many of us met, but if you believe in something, you fight for it. The Web is great, possibilities are almost infinite, someone abuse it writing any given day to so-calledfriends just to show up, but that’s life. I was no one (like now, more or less) but someone knew who I was, and I was on the other side of the world (I’m italian, usually). That couple, Alberto and Luciana, are my friends today, and I know that I would never met them if not for the web. And Alberto made me understand how big guitarists like Guy Van Duser and Jerry Reed are. The Web changed everything. I wonder how musicians like me did before. It’s like living in the same neighborhood, you meet immediately, or never, but we are all potentially close. I sell cds and books in Rome like in Hong Kong, in Australia or Usa, in Cagliari or Dortmund. I play more abroad than in Italy and, like everyone, if I look for something on the internet, in a few clicks I discover new music, new friends, or just waste time. Sometimes it’s confusing, a webpage doesn’t say much, we’re all the same at a first look, and we’re all there, so it’s easier and harder, but quality makes the difference. A good player is a good player, as good music is. Just search. And a website like fingerpicking.net is so important to make contacts, give us a chance, make selection, publish records, make people – that would never meet – work together. Years ago we used to go to record stores looking on the shelves, or waiting for our favorite guitar magazine, to discover that it was out of print. Today we open the browser and it’s all there, maybe it’s not a case if, here in Italy and all over the world, guitar festivals are growing in number and magazines give us more space. We’re all in the same, huge store, webpages like shelves, clicks like steps inside the store, finding good music and crappy stuff, we’ll never have time to listen to everything, but videos help and we came out of our small niche feeling like kings. We’re under the eyes of the world, even if probably no one is watching us. But we have to deserve that space, every day, working hard to let people know that we’re not playing on our own because no one want to play with us. Daniele Bazzani Today many of my friends in music came into my Lascia un commento 10 11 chitarra acustica 3 twothousandandeleven chitarra acustica 3 twothousandandeleven bl blog bl blog Guitar and the Internet? Places of Music For an “old” guitarist like me the Internet is unquestionably a controversial subject. In any event, it represents a completely different world from the one in which I nourished my dreams, passions and hopes. It feels funny for me to start out by saying “in the old days”, but the fact is that, back then, things were completely different. Artistic development and maturation came about by travelling, meeting other musicians, and trying to understand the different mechanisms through direct encounters with the artist, event or musical scene. There was plenty of room for dreams and imagination, and especially for developing the part that was inaccessible and that often turned out to hold the creative side. Everything I discovered during my first trip to the United States, travelling with different means of transport in the hills around Atlanta to the festival in Dahlonega, Georgia, so I could finally meet and see Doc Watson in person, and shake his hand (I didn’t wash mine for a month …), and everything I managed to learn in that month on the road – flying from ex-Yugoslavia because the plane ticket was a lot cheaper and then being jostled around on a southbound Greyhound bus – can now be found in just minutes by clicking on You Tube and Google. The Internet is a goldmine that should not be underestimated. Of course, you can’t smell the campground burgers (!) when you’re sitting in front of a computer, but the movement of Doc Watson’s right hand can clearly be seen. This is a technology that, when studying acoustic guitar, allows people to take marvellous steps and it has forged an international community that was once inconceivable. I’m an incurable dreamer and the part I like most about this world is unquestionably that it puts us in contact with history. The idea of being able to see Django Reinhardt – a cigarette in his mouth – as he plays with Stéphan Grappelli and the whole quintet is astonishing, as are the duet of Eddie Lang and Joe Venuti, the gem of Pasquale Taraffo playing “Stefania” with his fourteen-string guitar, filmed in New York in 1929, the swaying of Jimmy Rogers as he sings and plays, and the master classes of Andrés Segovia, who chastised even the best students (and what’s so the unpardonable is that these videos don’t have at least several million views). Through the Internet I have already exchanged important recordings, discovered previously unpublished material, planned trips, and contacted artists and promoters. With my mailing list, several times a year I manage to get in touch with those who love my music around the world, promoting concerts and Stadiums, sport arenas, theatres, auditoriums, cultural clubs, venues of small societies and pubs are all places where we are used to playing and listening to live music. But are they really the mostsuited places for musical language? Are they really the ideal technical solutions that allow the music to be brought to its fulfilment? It’s true that the bottom line is music can live anywhere and each opportunity to spread it and listen to it is an amazing gift, but analysing the list of places above, only theatres and auditoriums (even if not all of them) can actually be said to be places created for music and where music belongs. It seems to me that, as far as the rest of these places are concerned, music is no more than lent out, like an invalid in a hospital ward or displaced people in gyms. Each one of these locations, in fact, was designed and built with a specific object in mind that certainly wasn’t music, taking into consideration its logistics or acoustics. Stadiums were built to meet the technical needs of sporting events, as were sports arenas. Venues for societies and cultural clubs are often spaces similar to small offices or large houses with unmanageable acoustics. Pubs are places for gatherings where most of the time (not to say always!) the musician is a kind of human radio, forced to wriggle his/her way in between the careless chatter of customers and a general, uncomforting indifference. I believe that what matters is not that despite everything music manages to beat the technical defi- various projects. Using the Internet, for the past ten years we have organized the Acoustic Night at the Teatro della Corte in Genoa, an international night that attracts guitarists from all over the world and audiences that arrive from every part of Europe. For me, this is a new world and I try to exploit its healthiest side, without allowing its insanities to sink me. It undeniably has many negative aspects, and the problem to be overcome is the sheer amount of information, which is so massive that it is completely unmanageable. We are exposed to a huge melting pot and are unable to understand the quality of what is being offered, the limit between amateur and professional, sublime and mediocre, oatmeal and haute cuisine. That’s why we need professional sites that can filter the best and bring it to guitar lovers, the way Fingerpicking.net does. The aim of this project is quality, a love for real music, the search for that feeling of wonder you get when you hear a beautiful and pure piece of music, and the technical quality of what is being offered. Today, discussing acoustic guitar inspired by traditions (as in my case) may seem anachronistic, but in reality the superhuman energy of the American folk revival that continues to give so much to music even now originated from this guitar. Acoustic guitar has been the unstoppable engine of different musical genres, and it continues to be a driving force. In my field, and in Italy in particular, the margin for experimentation and research is still broad and varied, so I’m delighted that there are portals like this that will open up new perspectives and stimulate the growth of a new acoustic community. Beppe Gambetta Lascia un commento 12 chitarra acustica 3 twothousandandeleven S. Lo Turco, The Pub, acrylic tempera on canvas board, 2005 cits of the places that lend it a space, but that this is the bitter reality that needs to be confronted. Places that have been planned and built solely for music do not exist. We always trust in the untameable power of musical language and its ability to penetrate even those surfaces that are most impermeable to its nature. Furthermore, we should remember that the greatest and most prestigious places, such as stadiums, sports arenas and theatres are commercially demanding locations, and hence reserved to those few artists recognised by the market (rightly or wrongly as that may be) to be rather profitable attractions. Those many artists swarming the cultural undergrowth are left with venues such as those for societies, clubs or pubs to perform in. These are places, and this is especially true of pubs, where people do not choose to listen to music but rather they put up with it. Is it possible that a language that is so widelyused, that is so noble and generates such an important power for gathering people has no home of its own? A place, that is, that has been thought up and built especially for it from every logistical and acoustic point of view. Perhaps this is the most realistic reflection of the priorities of our collective entity in the mirror? All things considered, there are even ad hoc places that have been built especially to play bowling. Luca Francioso Lascia un commento 13 chitarra acustica 3 twothousandandeleven bl blog Didactics for Dummies? – 2 The shrewder ones amongst my readers will have lapped it all up by now: I want to speak about music teaching/learning by imitation. This in itself is not original, either from a practical point of view or from a ‘philosophical’ one: for a guitarist, learning the first chords or your first simple improvisations with the help of a more experienced friend is a more than frequent event. From a didactic point of view, in the latter half of the last century the Suzuki Method (v. http://www. suzukiroma.org/ita/metodo.htm), which proposed learning by imitation, became reasonably popular (although not as widespread as its author might have hoped). The purpose of my argument is to propose teaching/learning by imitation certainly not as the only model, but as a prerequisite for theoretical study: if you don’t know a sufficient number of everyday words and expressions in a language, it’s highly unlikely that studying its grammar will be efficacious. to neo-Latin languages in Italy and elsewhere, the only grammar that was taught continued to be Latin grammar. On the other hand, those who studied grammar were a select minority: an ecclesiastical and economic élite. The advantage of grammar and linguistic syntax is that rules are expressed with the same material that they are dealt with – i.e. language. Their relationship with other disciplines such as mathematics, philosophy and music is more complicated (it’s no co-incidence that linguistic precision was one of Wittgenstein’s nightmares.) In the case of music, the language used has been based not inconsiderably on that of mathematics. In the mathematics of my day, it was said that two triangles that have three equal sides and three equal angles were the ‘same’. However, today they are described as congruent if they have three angles and sides that are congruent. As far as I’m concerned, the description of a hundred broaches in a box as ‘congruent’ doesn’t derive from the Italian language; they are the ‘same’ (if they are!). Music rules derive from music and not vice versa. I don’t see how you can think of inverting this on a didactic course. And yet, coming back to language, I am familiar with English grammar and I can write English reasonably well, but I can’t understand a single word of a film, very little of what I hear in songs and even less on the news on TV. Because that is the way I The Rules The birth of writing paved the way for the writing of grammatical texts, in which the first grammarians described the correct way of using the language, based on what were considered to be ‘good examples’. That is to say that general rules were abstracted from what already existed, and therefore from things that predated the enunciation of these rules. But the decision as to ‘which’ form of language was to inspire the rules was not without discretion. As spoken language gradually distanced itself from the original examples, grammar at first took the approach of being “prescriptive” – it outlawed anything that differed from the rules as a mistake. Today, changes in many languages are quickly, if not automatically, absorbed into grammatical rules that have become “descriptive”. In the long period that led from Latin languages bl work, I could say that there are different cerebral areas for our native language, for a second language and for music. Cerebral activity stimulated by listening to music is predominantly in the opposite cerebral hemisphere to that where language presides. It’s not to be taken for granted, but I would assume that the act of reading music calls up structures that are more similar to those activated by language than those activated when we listen to music, with whom in the end they will surely have to answer to. I would say that the development of synapses in the “listening to music” area, especially as a child and teenager, are fundamental for what we would call a “musical ear”. In fact, taking in a piece of music from a score requires the use of a greater number of cerebral areas, and so reading music can be defined as a more cerebral and less instinctive activity than directly taking in a sound. Playing a musical instrument also requires – and this isn’t secondary – specific psycho-motor and neuro-muscular capabilities, that goes beyond those required to perceive music. This is why there are many more good listeners to music than there are good musicians. But here too, imitation and practical exercises should precede and follow any theoretical study, as happens in the majority of manual activities. was taught English… Frederick Leighton, Music Lesson, 1877 A parallel between studying a language and studying music seems possible to me for the following reasons: if it’s true, as would seem so, that different forms of intelligence exist, it’s also true that different methods of learning can be considered in relation to each one: a bird doesn’t learn to fly from books, a child doesn’t learn to walk after he/she’s learnt to read and nor do you learn to drive a car without having been in one together with someone who knows how. And this is not something that occurs at a pre-school age. Didactics for Dummies? – 2 Pedagogical and Neurological Notes The reasons why the Suzuki Method has been directed at pre-school aged children fall into two categories. The first concerns a child’s impossibility to read a written text or to have an accurate idea of fractions of time or tonal relationships in a formal way. The second is a psycho-neurological matter – a child learns everything by imitation; if you offer learning in the form of a game, you get excellent results. From a neurological point of view, the pre-school age is that in which the complicated mechanisms of connection between different areas of the brain mainly develop (to put it simply, new synapses are created, i.e. connections between nerve cells). This is something that according to mainstream neurological study decreases with age. According to certain studies, it would appear that the area for music perception in the brain is located in the right hemisphere (for right-handed people), which is the opposite side to that for the perception and elaboration of language, which is in the dominant hemisphere (in this case, the left). Amongst the neurologists and neuro-radiologists who have worked on these studies, Prof.ssa Daniela Perani, at the Istituto S. Raffaele in Milan, has done and is still doing in-depth research into the location of cerebral functions (v. http://www.unisr.it/ persona.asp?id=342). The part of her research that I consider most pertinent to my argument concerns the cerebral areas activated in bilingualism and in multi-linguists, and her study of cerebral activity in newborn babies exposed to music. Summarizing and unfortunately simplifying her Music Genres The definition of music genres is a road full of traps. I advise you not to take what I’m about to write on the subject to the letter, even though I asked Prof. Andrea Carpi for clarification as he too is rather prudent on this matter. He suggested the following divisions of musicological disciplines that could be of help: – ‘Tout court’ Musicology: classical music. 14 15 chitarra acustica 3 twothousandandeleven chitarra acustica 3 twothousandandeleven bl – Ethnomusicology: folk music or musical folklore from European and Western countries; and ethnic music, i.e. music (not only folk music) from non-European and non-Western countries. – Popular music studies: music genres that has developed from the commercialisation of music, following the birth of capitalism and hence the growth of a cultural music industry (classical music had been ‘economically sustained’ by the nobility and the Church), that has developed with mass culture following the introduction of the radio, discography, musical comedy and cinema, television and so on. Naturally, depending on the viewpoint you wish to take, there are infinite possible classifications. I need not remind you of Ennio Morricone’s definition of music composed for films as “relative”, while music composed for its own sake as “absolute”. The music I identify with belongs without a doubt to popular music. This refers to an enormous mass of pieces composed by a great variety of authors: cultured composers who have written songs or instrumental music for an undifferentiated public; ‘popular’ composers who have had some extremely great ideas and have made them come to life, or have seen them brought to life, without ever having written them down or ever having had any notion of music theory; and composers of intermediary music culture. My extremely humble opinion is that a work born in a written form is best interpreted by reading it; a work born as a sound is best interpreted by listening to it. In both cases, the emphasis is on relating to the “original”. In the case of music that was created for fingerstyle guitar, we are almost always dealing with pieces that were created on the guitar and their score/ tablature was written down by the author, or someone else, after the piece’s composition and in many cases after its recording. We could decide that the original is the first registration of the piece, that corresponds to the idea the author/guitarist wishes to express once the work of composing, arranging and preparing its execution has been completed. It’s more than likely, in fact it’s true, that in the majority of cases, within the music scene we are talking about, the author considers him/herself free to radically change, reinterpret and modify his piece. Within our field, even a simple interpreter should have the same freedom. And it’s evident that this freedom leads to an evolution in terms of music pieces, if we learn by imitation; while it returns to the same starting point in the written score, if we learn from reading music. Even when not deliberate, change that comes about when an interpreter shows a piece to another, who shows it to another and so on, has come to create the so-called folk process. bl blog Didactics for Dummies? – 2 In my opinion, reading “La canzone del sole” [a very popular Italian song by Lucio Battisti with lyrics by Mogol – Ed.] makes no sense: if you’re not familiar with those three chords, you can get a friend to teach you; the same goes for the rhythm, and little by little you can try to introduce some personal touches without needing to have studied music theory. And, if you want to compose a song in the same genre, you ‘only’ need to have a simple, genial idea – and theory won’t necessarily help you with that. Conclusions? I realize that it’s not original and it’s controversial. But… it seems to me that people do it, but won’t admit to it: my humble opinion is that the best teaching method, for anyone who is starting to play the guitar, is by imitation. And that’s not all – for some types of music it may be the only truly important method. Even though I don’t dispute that ‘studying Music’ is indispensable for professionals, or for whoever wishes to be aware of what they are doing and why, when they play. I also consider it indispensable in all those cases where the complexity of the composition and the fixed nature of the musical structure to be executed, are innate characteristics of a certain music genre or work. And it can be pleasant for whoever loves studying. Very often I have happened to meet musicians who have graduated from the Music Academy, who don’t realise that a note is wrong even though it’s been written down; had they been accustomed to listen first and had they been inspired from other music examples, rather than from learning by reading music, they would most likely have noticed the mistake. I had to personally correct my own score for a friend of mine who had graduated in double bass (while also being an excellent guitarist) because he couldn’t avoid repeating the written mistake, even though I had pointed it out to him. Following the availability of a previously unimaginable quantity of written music, thanks to the Internet, a quantity of excellent didactic videos have now also become available by the same means. Some of these are also produced by Fingerpicking.net, and for those who don’t have the economic or organisational possibility for a teacher, they offer the chance to learn by imitation nevertheless. The simultaneous exercise of analysing what we hear, while seeking harmonic and melodic parts, especially when guided by a skilled and generous teacher (who always plays the pieces he/she is teaching), is everything that is needed in my opinion – at least for the initial phases of learning. Bye for now! Giovanni Pelosi Arranging and Revisiting a Song – 2 In this second article exploring arrangements and cover versions we will present several examples of interpretations of well-known pieces. So we will see how some great artists knew how to go beyond original versions with class to create nothing less than masterpieces. We would like to pause for a moment on these cases in order to highlight in particular the elements that were used each time to create an effective re-interpretation. In order to facilitate listening to the pieces we are going to look at, we have also included a link to YouTube for each one. While obviously taking the guitar into consideration, we thought it would be a good idea to include references to artists who were not guitarists since sometimes you can gather inspiration and very interesting ideas from them. Furthermore, it’s important to underline how frequently great artists demonstrate that it’s often enough to knowingly change only a few, simple elements to give your own touch to the pieces you are tackling. Among the first aspects to evaluate when taking on a cover version is the rhythm, the speed and the accenting. In the original version of “So What” by Miles Davis (Video – 1959) the accompaniment on the drums during the theme played on the counterbass follows a classic jazz style accompaniment. However, Marcus Miller (Video) decided to give it a more energetic cut with a taste of R&B inserting a groove on the drums with a strong beat on the 2nd and 4th crotchet of the bar given by the snare drums. The speed has been increased with respect to the original and the energy of the piece is emphasised by the response to the theme on the bass offered by the wind section that’s much more present than in Davis’ version. Staying in the realm of bass players, the great Jaco Pastorius created his very own, very personal version, making it much more ‘bebob’ in character and exploiting one of the fundamental characteristics of this style of jazz – the speed. In this execution of the piece inserted in a medley (Video), Jaco eliminated the presence of wind instruments in the response to the theme, substituting them with a keyboard (in pure ‘80s style) and consequently giving greater attention to the bass. At other times it’s possible to elaborate on an effective cover version of a piece exploiting the characteristics of your own instrument you have to hand. Amongst the innumerable versions of “Blue Moon” we would like to mention how Ella Fitgerald (Video – 1973) and Elvis Presley (Video – 1954) gave life to their own interpretations trusting themselves to their own respectively extraordinary voices and to the capabilities of this instrument to create tender, long-lasting sounds. Their interpretations are undoubtedly much broader than Tommy Emmanuel’s who in his more rhythmic and lively version (Video – 1995) could give more space to the possibility offered by the guitar to produce melody and accompaniment simultaneously. And he managed really well. If we exclude that which could be created by a man of indisputable talent such as Tommy Emmanuel, it’s difficult to think of a guitar interpretation that’s as convincing and effective as “Blue Moon” played at the speed of Fitzgerald’s or Elvis’ recordings. While we’re at it, let’s highlight some noteworthy recordings that it could be worth while taking a longer look at: Stephane Grappelli (Video – 1990), The Mar- cels (1961), Frank Sinatra (1961), Django Reinhardt (1935, Louis Armstrong (1955), Dizzy Gillespie and Tori Amos (1996). A similar line of thought can be applied to the famous “Somewhere over the Rainbow”. With respect to the original sung by Judy Garland (Video – 1939), Eva Cassidy gave the piece new breath and air by rhythmically stretching the phrases, exploiting her own vocal talents to the full. (Video). The arrangement here is bare, which helps the melody to emerge. Referring back to Tommy Emmanuel (Video) once again, you can see how he places his trust in effects that are purely guitar based in order to create his own interpretation. The theme is introduced first with harmonics and through the use of delay and then expanded in a traditional way. The piece could perhaps be considered more of an excellent arrangement than a new interpretation in its own right. Finally we are going to examine what is probably the most interesting among the examples given – the interpretation of a piece of classical music by a modern performer. Specifically, we are going to analyse Django Reinhardt’s version of the famous piano piece “Liebesträume No. 3” (1850) by Franz Liszt (1811-1886). The great Django took on the arduous task of interpreting classical music and he did it by adapting it perfectly to his style. Here is the original (Video) and Django’s version (Video). The key to the cover’s success this time lies in his picking up on a few of his own elements in the original and using these within the piece. He completely de-structures the piano score, taking it apart bit by bit and adapting it with a result that is certainly very effective. Django has taken up the theme, modified it according to his rhythmic and melodic point of view and then filled it with improvised phrases. He has actually only used a fragment of it. This fragment has taken on the function of a ‘glue’ that holds the piece together. The introduction has been picked up on again at the end to give a better sense of completeness to the whole piece. The final result is a version that has lost its dramatic and romantic character that Liszt gave to the piece (Liebesträume means ‘dreams of love’) but it has gained rhythm and freshness. Django acted in complete liberty, demonstrating that by freeing yourself from the original with intelligence and personality, it’s possible to create excellent interpretations, albeit notably different from the author’s intentions for the piece. For whoever would like to analyse Django’s version with the help of the original score for piano, it’s possible to download it legally at the following link: http://erato.uvt.nl/files/imglnks/usimg/2/22/ IMSLP00615-Liszt-_Liebestraum_No_3.pdf Till next time! Bruskers Lascia un commento 16 17 chitarra acustica 3 twothousandandeleven chitarra acustica 3 twothousandandeleven bl blog bl blog My Videos How is a luthier ‘born’ Last week I was in Bologna to meet Reno Brandoni and talk about the project of recording videos on line and other possible co-operations. After a nice chat, in front of a tea-cup, we go to his studio, where several guitars were aligned in stands.
Feeling the air little bit dry I ask him: «Do you have an hygrometer to check the humidity level?» Just some days ago, I had to move all of my guitars in one other room of my country house, as in winter time we have more than 70% of humidity that can seriously damage them: «Probably you might have the opposite problem»… Then we watched earlier videos recorded: really not bad at all! The project to offer guitar lessons on line, could really meet great enthusiasm from a lots of fans! So don’t thinking twice… we start recording right there! 
I quickly set up a medium string gauge in one of his Martins, meanwhile I am thinking Rod Schenk, might not be much happy for this… but I had no idea I was going to record a video, thus my Franco Morone signature guitar, is resting at home, but overall playing different guitars can be good, sometime.
 The first take is for “Flowers from Ayako” (EADEAE) from Melodies of Memories CD. Even if it’s already written on the book, this song is performed using a mixed technique of finger/flatstyle, so a video lesson finalized to show the right hand movements, the first position chords… looks fine to reach the best execution. 
Next tune is the medley “The Star of County Down/Gaelico” (EADEAD) from The Road to Lisdoonvarna CD. Many folks asked me for notations and tabs, so I hope a video lesson could balance and answer, at least partially, these requirements.
 Sometime after years, I use changing something in my arrangements, in a way that a song may sound differently from the original version on the CD. This happens as a natural evolved, or involved way as you better like to consider it, like a ‘folk process’ in opposition to the concept of ‘static music’. 
I’ve always thought there is nothing against adding new ornaments and variations after years, to redefine an original arrangement.
 It’s mainly the case of “Followers of Dulcamara” recorded on the Running Home CD, which recently has been also included on the 10 Duets for Fingerstyle Guitar book in a slow version and in standard tuning. The version on the video is performed with dropped D, for several reasons, mainly to get a bigger sound on the main chorus section, there is a double-picking on basses also, with no big changes on the melody line
. Then it’s time for a couple of blues: “Summertime” from the live DVD Acoustic Guitar Solos (Mel Bay) and “Poor Boy Long Way from Home”, a first repertoire blues in open D, arranged in a version closed to John Fahey’s one.
 “Running Home” (DADGGD) from Running Home CD, whose literal explanation could be also ‘home that runs away’ to mean the condition of traveling My passion for hand-made instruments goes back to 1990 when with the help of a group of friends, I made my first classical guitar. I used it right up to my 5th year diploma at the Music Academy. My interest in the making of musical instruments has gradually taken over my music studies.
In the year 2000, having finished the four-year course at the Milan Civic School for hand-made instruments, I decided to set myself up hand-making instruments professionally. At the same time, I also worked for eight years at the above school teaching workshops on making modern plucked instruments.
In terms of my education, I specialised in the making and restoration of plucked instruments with a thesis on the Guadagnini family’s guitars in the 1800s in Turin.
To begin with, I concentrated on classical guitars as it was an instrument I knew well thanks to my years of study at the Music Academy. However, I later started making a variety of acoustic (folk) models and these now account for the majority of my production. musicians.
 Anyway, it’s a very hard tune to play, that requires a mix combinations of pull off, hammering on and percussions… if you really like to try it, I’d suggest two bars daily before meals…
 The “Tarantella” video lesson (EADEAE) is from the Italian Fingerstyle Guitar (Carisch), where the three basses in the key of A are tonic, subdominant D and dominant E, and as open strings these make the execution easier, specially having an hard melody to play with.
After playing several Irish jigs, having the same 6/8 rhythm of these typical Italian dances, someone called this ‘Celtic Tarantella’, but really syncopations on basses and melody sounds much more interesting. Other hand Italian folk didn’t change a lot comparing with the Irish tradition, specially cause new generations of musicians usually don’t play it very often.
 Ok let’s end up with “Our Fireplace” in standard tuning, a tune from my last Basic Fingerstyle (Carisch), including mostly easy tunes. I play the tune as written in the book the first time and, on the second one, I change something on the notes value, ornaments and other variations. It should be very productive after having the right execution give an example to be flexible and creative.
 The day later I go back to Reno’s to check our recordings… considered we did all in a short time, very good!
 Then I see, with pleasure, a brand-new hygrometer close his guitars… great! The right temperature and humidity is very important to get to preserve guitars! Even more expensive instruments could sound badly or be seriously damaged by not having proper air conditions.
 Well, I give you an Italian ‘arrivederci’ (sorry for my bad English) hoping you have fun with these new videos. And if you like to know more, just subscribe my channel at the page: http://www.youtube.com/pickinonthestrings Also, as usual, I have some new product not well distributed outside Italy, so here my shopping url: http://www.francomorone.it/catalog/ Thanks for watching and picking! Franco Morone derstand how it’s been made, read up on anything and everything to do with lutherie and visit collections of guitars in exhibitions and museums. This theoretical side fuels the practical part of actually making the guitars because the curiosity and enthusiasm in seeking to reproduce what you have discovered is amazing. Buying wood isn’t enough to start making guitars. You need a place where you can work which isn’t the kitchen table as the dust produced is toxic. Even those who have attended a school must find themselves a workshop – it may be a cellar (if it’s not too damp!), a cupboard under the stairs or a garage. It doesn’t have to be big but it must be dedicated solely to this purpose. We mustn’t forget about tools. Planes, files, chisels and drills are all indispensable and you will need other tools too as you progress with the work. At the point in which I began to feel the need to have a teacher and attend courses, I had realised that what I had managed to make so far were simply functional objects. They were beautiful but they lacked personality. Studying instruments that had been made by masters such as Torres, Hauser, Gallinotti, Martin and others who have made their mark in the history of guitar lutherie enabled me to appreciate how a musical instrument must have a soul, a strong personality expressed through the sensibility of whoever had created it, influenced in turn by the cultural context, environment and musical sensibility of the era in which the luthier lived. The ability to grasp these subtleties allows the luthier to create their own personality and transfer it to their instruments, which must also and most importantly meet the needs of the musicians for whom they have been built. Our emotional reward, which I believe to be the greatest satisfaction of our work, lies in fusing the art of lutherie with the art of music. But… how is a luthier ‘born’? Or rather, how do I think a luthier should be born. What follows is only my personal opinion and the likely result of my own professional history. It is therefore open to debate and holds true only till it is proved wrong. This article offers me the opportunity of going back over my 20 year career and weighing up which factors have been essential or simply significant to my personal growth. First and foremost, there is my passion for music and in our case for guitar music in particular. If you allow me, I would like to add that my passion for working with wood was also significant, something which for others might take second place. A smile still comes to my face when I remember the first time I went to Brianza to buy wood for my first guitars: one set to be made out of Fir and Maple and two sets to be made out of Cedar and Indian Rosewood. Back then, going to buy wood was as exciting as going to a party, and twenty years down the line, I’d say it’s even more so! But passion alone isn’t enough. You also need to be well-trained. There’s a good chance that not everyone has the opportunity of starting their career by attending a school, which I believe to be the ideal solution as it precludes a whole series of mistakes and expensive time wasting. A valid alternative however would be to help out in an established luthier’s workshop. Some people do take a self-taught approach to lutherie. I tried it myself at first but I soon felt the need for guidance and a teacher. People who have attended a school have followed courses on Technical Drawing, Organology (the history of musical instruments), Chemistry, Acoustic Physics, Varnishing and Restoration. You need to study a guitar in minute detail to un- Aldo Illotta Lascia un commento Lascia un commento 18 19 chitarra acustica 3 twothousandandeleven chitarra acustica 3 twothousandandeleven rw Daniele Bazzani Luca Francioso Fingerstyle Guitar Easy Fingerpicking.net - Carisch Does a repertoire exist that has been created specifically for teaching fingerstyle acoustic guitar? Just as students of classical guitar can get their hands on ‘studies’ by Sor, Giuliani, Carulli and others, can acoustic guitarists do the same thing while they are learning the techniques that are the basis for modern fingerstyle? Whoever wishes to take on a more rational and constructive approach to studying fingertsyle, but doesn’t yet know ‘what’ to play must either turn to a friend with expertise or entrust him/herself to a teacher. The latter has been obliged to create a teaching course principally based on personal experience and other people’s musical references that haven’t been specifically thought up with a student in mind. The only alternative is for he/she to jump into the huge sea of tablature available on-line with the risk of getting lost, drowning and abandoning his/her six-string on the first shore they are washed up on that is prepared to accept it and hopefully give a playstation in exchange. This is the second title in a new editorial series dedicated to acoustic guitar and produced by Fingerpicking.net for Carisch publishers. It sets itself the task of supplying teachers and students with new musical material specifically thought up for teaching, thanks to the creative vein rw reviews of two of the most prolific Italian acoustic guitarists who pay heed to the melodic aspect of their compositions. Daniele Bazzani and Luca Francioso, with six original compositions each, have contributed to the making of an original repertoire with these works with which a student can try their hand out to find new stimuli and new ideas to develop and deepen. In fact, the composers write in the preface: “We don’t claim to have written the best music you can play. It is only an effort to provide you with something useful and at the same time pleasant. It is an idea to be followed, ideally with the help of other musicians in order to create ‘our’ learning and studying path.” Therefore, the melody is the cardinal element of this manual knowing how to play it, knowing how to interpret it, understanding the ways in which it can be enriched and how to use the bass notes to support and sustain it. There are twelve example pieces – all of them in standard tuning – starting with simple arpeggi and working up to more complex ones and moving on to the classic ‘alternate bass’ and the use of pull off and hammer on slides. The whole thing has been put together with good taste and a no-nonsense style. The texts are in Italian and English while the transcriptions are on a stave and with tablature. There is a cd included with recordings of all the pieces performed by their respective authors that the student will have to listen to attentively if they wish to understand how to reproduce the single notes with the right dynamics and intensity. It is an ‘easy’ acoustic guitar, as its title says, without frills or unnecessary technicalities while being breezy, cantabile and fascinating. It’s a tool that - once it has captured you - will be by your side for the rest of your life. For virtuosity – there’s time! Alfonso Giardino Paolo Bonfanti Bottleneck Guitar Fingerpicking.net – Carisch Did you know that slide guitar was not originally from Hawaii? And that Fred McDowell was Bonnie Raitt’s teacher? These are amongst the brief historical-biographical notes on yesterday’s and today’s slide guitarists that creates the introduction for us to the world of “bottleneck guitar”. Paolo Bonfanti begins at the beginning. He introduces and describes the models to be kept in mind during our journey. He describes their characteristic sounds allowing us to savour the musical aromas of a technique that’s difficult to master but that offers great satisfaction for whoever interprets this music. We proceed little by little, starting with a long series of scales (on single strings and then on multiple ones) to go on to arpeggi, powerchords, a series of exercises on the use of bass notes matched with a simple melodic phrase and examples of how to accompany songs. After that comes a series of twenty exercises that are nothing less than mini-pieces you can try your hand at to consolidate your use of bottleneck. The next step is to illustrate fifteen ‘riff’s that are typical of several great players of slide technique from Charlie Patton to Derek Trucks, including Johnny Winter, Keb Mo’ and Bob Brozman. This long path ends with a presentation of ten original pieces that have all been composed by Bonfanti and performed in the same style as the Masters named throughout the book. The idea is that they mark a point of arrival for whoever has been trying their hand out studying this technique. This manual is the first fruit of the new collaboration between Fingerpicking.net and Carisch, who have got together to create a new series of books dedicated to acoustic guitar. The texts are in Italian and English, musical notations are on a stave and tablature and a cd provides recordings of all the musical examples transcribed. Just like the great professional that he is, Bonfanti thought up and created the rigorous learning path that develops at a gradual pace. He is conscious of the various difficulties his reader-guitarist may face - difficulties that may only be overcome with exercise and patient study. Step by step, you come closer to mastering a difficult technique that is all the more rewarding for the player. Born in Genova in the ‘60s, Paolo Bonfanti began to play the guitar in 1975 when he already played the piano and had studied music theory and harmony. In the early ‘80s, he specialised his technique under Armando Corsi and Beppe Gambetta. In the summer of 1986 he attended a course at Berklee College of Music in Boston. He graduated from D.A.M.S. in Bologna with a thesis on Blues. He has released eleven albums and performed with Italian and foreign musicians, taking part in festivals both in Italy and abroad. He is a guitarist, author, producer and for several years now has become a leading figure on the Italian “roots rock” scene. Alfonso Giardino grass. In fact, a flatpicker has a wider repertoire at his disposal to learn from – that is more characterized by and characterising of a musical genre – than a fingerstyler has. On the other hand, Alberto Caltanella has ventured down a very personal path, putting his excellent technique to the service of his diverse and personalised music, with precise European references. He privileges the melodic aspect of both his compositions and choice of standards to arrange (his interpretation of Franz Schubert’s “Ave Maria” is truly beautiful – would you expect that from a plectrum player?) while he doesn’t disdain returning to his bluegrass origins, in a personal way (as in the piece “My Grass” – exactly!). In this his second CD either, recently released by the label Fingerpicking.net, Alberto felt the need to explore new limits, as is natural that should happen with a musician who matures over time (the use of six different alternative tunings, in addition to the standard one, is a proof about it), and tried to find new sounds with which to accompany himself: Michela Grena’s voice, Mauro Martello’s flutes, Riccardo Alfarè’s strings and Alberto’s own overdubbed guitar are all insertions that give his music new breath Alberto Caltanella L’albero della vita – Tree of Life Fingerpicking.net Coming from someone who is more of a flatpicker than a fingerstyler, perhaps you would expect greater fidelity to a North American musical style, a certain intrinsic predisposition to follow in the footsteps of country and blue- 20 21 chitarra acustica 3 twothousandandeleven chitarra acustica 3 twothousandandeleven and variety, enabling it to live and be free of the limitations of a solo instrument. The nine original pieces and the three arrangements put forward by Caltanella follow each other soberly, alternating genres and colours, full of surprises: after a lively departure with “Festival” and “Flat Fuga Blues”, we come to the Intermezzo from Pietro Mascagni’s “Cavalleria rusticana” and then jump back to listening to Joni Mitchell’s “Both Side Now’ (with vocals by Michela Grena); and placed immediately after a “Saltarello”, you remain in awe before the “Ave Maria”. It might perhaps be a result of its suggestive cover, created by the colours of woodland richer in light than shadow, and by Alberto’s calm expression in harmony with the nature that surrounds him, but listening to this CD (the quality of the recordings also plays its part) manages to transmit a pleasurable sensation of freshness and serenity – it places the listener in the ideal mood for pausing, sitting back and giving oneself over to the stories this excellent musician wants to tell you. Alfonso Giardino rw Davide Citrolo Afterblues www.myspace.com/davidecitrolo Davide Citrolo has been dedicated to studying, playing and teaching blues guitar, mainly in the form of country blues, for nearly thirty years. He has finally reached the point of recording his own first CD, self-produced, in which… there is only a taste of blues. Strange? Perhaps. But, as he himself declares in the cover notes, it might not be pure co-incidence that «suddenly in a moment of great artistic intensity one applies himself to composing music and discovers sounds that are quite distinct from blues and perhaps come closer to Mediterranean atmospheres». Afterblues is, then, a journey towards the discovery of his most intimate roots. He leaves the master’s path to explore sounds and sensations that perhaps he had always carried inside him. And voilà! After his blues Davide rediscovers the colours and images of his Sicily (“Primo giorno d’estate”, “Monte Pellegrino DADGAD”), the ancient rhythms with which he recalls his childhood days (“Tempus fugit”, “L’ozio”), anxieties in facing the unknown and a life yet to be discovered (“L’attesa”, “Insonnia”, “L’ultimo giorno”), a journey and desire for adventure (“Viaggio a Sud”, “Strade”) and the blues that returns (“Pianeta Giove”). No, it wasn’t Citrolo in person who brought these images to my mind, but the beautiful pho- rw tograph on the album cover. It is an old sepia photo from the ’20s or ’30s – maybe a family photo? Of course, Davide isn’t that old! – but seeing the album’s title-declaration coupled with a moment from life long ago seems to me to clearly communicate that after blues means returning to his origins for Davide Citrolo. This is an album solely of guitar music. It is a journey undertaken with the determined steps of traditional fingerpicking, sometimes even like an ostinato. Yet it evolves around unusual sounds for a bluesman and uses tunings that haven’t been used till now, such as DADGAD. The ten original compositions have been created around articulated harmonic structures with few concessions for the melody, as if the will was to further underline the change of direction with respect to a genre that makes the music’s singability its prerogative. The CD, released at the end of 2009, is not Citrolo’s most recent exertion. His new CD Acquerelli has just been recorded. It’s a project Davide created together with the harmonica player Leonardo Triassi. We’re hoping to listen to it very soon! Alfonso Giardino Paolo Gianolio Pane e nuvole RCA Italiana I’ll come straight out with it: I have strong ties with Paolo ‘Paolone’ Gianolio thanks to a long campaign that unites us (we have worked together for more than ten years – all be it from different sides of the field – with Claudio Baglioni) as well as an equally long season of friendship and reciprocal esteem. However, contrary to what someone might be led to think – in perfectly (and understandably) good faith – my reflections here on his Pane e nuvole have not been inspired or conditioned by what we have in common. And the reason is simple: friendship is in actual fact the consequence – not the cause – of a person’s and a musician’s qualities. And the worth of his work does not depend on my friendship or on my words, but both the former and the latter are the result of what anyone’s ears can verify upon listening to this album. It’s true: Gianolio is not strictly speaking a fingerpicker. If we really wanted to, we could define him as a multipicker. Poly-instrumentalist, arranger, orchestrator and producer, he is to all effects and purposes (and it’s more than apparent in these ten tracks) a ‘total musician’ with such a complete training and such vast and prestigious experience (Mina, Morandi, Celentano, Rossi, Ramazzotti, Battiato, Zucchero and Pausini are amongst the numerous artists he has played with) that he can be rightly numbered amongst the ‘high-ranking’ professionals of popular music in our country. However, there’s no doubt that the guitar is his instrument. It’s the alpha and the omega of his relationship with music. His fellowship with the six-string is an intimate one that goes back in time. It began in the season of great rock (Beatles, Stones, Hendrix, Yarbirds, Cream, Led Zeppelin and company) and was followed by the ‘super jazz’ age of minds like Coltrane, Davis, Mingus and Evans and, ‘obviously’, guitarists like Reinhardt, Hall, Pass, Kessel and Christian. But Gianolio’s language is not simply the sum or mix-and-match of all of these tendencies, forms and influences. It is more authentic and more meaningful. It represents the way in which the light of these different traditions and musical cultures has been fractured (and is still being fractured) by the prism created by an authentic and accomplished musician’s sensibility and creativity. The resulting rainbow of colours is well-defined, personal, recognisable and clear. It marks out talent, wisdom, intelligence and taste. You can speak about the concept of a ‘trade’ and obviously about a ‘profession’, as is undeniably the case for so many years of honourable career. But they are all elements that cannot progress if not hand in hand with passion, interest, curiosity, professional honesty and intellect, as well as with the desire and need to discover and learn new things, in order to be able to continue to say and offer up something innovative. We have a head, we have our hands but we also have a heart. And above all we have rich, dense, varied and inspired music from a musician who has seen, heard and played so much. He knows how to fuse the solidity of the earth (pane, “bread”) that created him with the impalpable matter (nuvole, “clouds”) which dreams are made of. What he hands over to us is a precious distillate of what he has heard, seen and played. It narrates the legend that the mythic Filippo Daccò (the great master to whom Gianolio owes the better part of his training) said to him: «I have nothing more to teach you». With the wisdom and irony of a person of quality, Paolo laughs off the comments of those who remind him of it, but listening to this album you realise that the legend hides a grain of truth. «I am music’s farmer» he declares on his website in a measured understatement: «I like to sow notes and harvest them when they are ripe». They are ripe, dear Paolo, they are ripe. Thank you for harvesting them and packaging them for us. Giuseppe Cesaro Paolo Mari Brazilian Guitar Solos Carisch The book-cd Brazilian Guitar Solos is now available as part of the series “Learn & Play” published by Carisch – it contains original arrangements in ‘chordmelody’ created from ten Brazilian standards and has been ed- ited by the guitarist Paolo Mari. In the work’s preface, Paolo clarifies the didactic decisions he has taken very clearly, explaining that the tonalities he has chosen for his arrangements are those whereby «the open strings can facilitate the guitarist’s work». He begins with a simple arrangement of “A banda” in D, to make life easy, before going on to more complex arrangements such as “Água de beber” in B minor, “Manhã de Carnaval” in A minor, “Maria Ninguém” in G and so on until we reach the last piece “Tristeza”, which is once again in D. There is a beautiful version of “Mas que nada”, which you can also find on our website under the “Video” section. The transcriptions have been written down in double notation, using both the stave and tablature, and the lyrics to all the songs have been included in an appendix together with indications of the chords used. The book also comes complete with a CD, so it’s possible to listen to the whole of each piece presented. The execution of each of these pieces is deliberately in keeping with the tempo indicated on each score, without precipitando or ritardando as would be typical of bossa nova music. In fact, Mari wanted to avoid ‘imposing’ his own interpretation – he suggests that his readers listen to the many variations available of these Brazilian classics, until they are able to create their own personal interpretation. This work is the fruit of the Milanese guitarist’s considerable experience, accrued during his twenty-five years of guitar teaching; it also owes much to the enormous passion he holds for Brazilian music, that led him in January and February 2010 to stage a long tour in Brazil, playing in numerous theatres in the open air and festivals with the singer Silvia Parisotto and the group Cuore del Mondo. At the moment, Mari is head of modern guitar at the CMM school in Grosseto and at the ‘Omero Martini’ Academy 22 23 chitarra acustica 3 twothousandandeleven chitarra acustica 3 twothousandandeleven in Massa Marittima. Besides, he holds seminars and workshops on Brazilian guitar (samba and bossa nova) in many institutions including the Nuova Audio Musicmedia and Musicaperta schools in Milan, MusicAcademy 2000 in Bologna and the Modern Music Academy in Milan. In 2008 he published the book-dvd Violão – The Brazilian Guitar, once again with Carisch in Milan. Alfonso Giardino Giampaolo Radicati with Peo Alfonsi Lanime Fingerpicking.net Giampaolo Radicati is an eclectic guitarist who we could say has almost become Swiss, as he has lived in Zurich since 1996. He has had a long and active career to hand, rich with experiences and important collaborations. While he was at St. Cecilia’s Conservatory in Rome, he began to take part in various rock, pop, funk and even jazz bands. He then began work as a session player collaborating with musicians of such calibre as Cesare Chiodo (Laura Pausini’s bass player), Karl Potter (percussionist who also played with PFM) and the Celtic group Rasna. He gained further experience as a session player after his move to Zurich, keeping his passion for live music intact with several local bands. Today, he collaborates with the singer-songwriter Pippo Pollina as well as with many others. As often happens during a musician’s career, multiple collaborations have given birth to the desire to put himself to the test and discover what his own world has rw to offer. To better tackle this research, Radicati has put his faith in the intimate sound of a nylon string guitar, that he experiments with and uses to create new atmospheres. With Lanime, released by Fingerpicking.net, Radicati has without a doubt created a notable product, homogeneous in its sound and setting. Even though he takes on different genres, he never leaves the tiller and sails straight towards a horizon of melodies, of warm harmonies, of subtly melancholic dances (acute “Nostalgia”) but rich with hope and passion (“Oltre i confini”, “I piedi sull’ardesia”, the title track “Lanime” and “Most beautiful” are all exemplary of this). Radicati is not alone in his journey. He is accompanied on the guitar by Peo Alfonsi, a musician who has followed an analogous path to Radicati’s: his Classical studies form a counterpoint to his passion for jazz and world music; he is internationally recognised and has collaborated with prestigious musicians – the list is too long, we would do someone wrong by omitting them… so it’s enough to mention Al Di Meola, whose quartet, New World Sinfonia, Alfonsi is a stable part of being the second guitar. The similarity between their careers and their shared passion for living the guitar as a sincere expression of their own intimate world, have perhaps been the keys that led to the meeting between these two artists and that has made the realisation of this work possible. It is a level creation of ample breath, free from any useless desires to steal the scene for the sake of it, rich with exchanges and intense participation. It is a collection of thirteen original pieces, all composed by Radicati and arranged by Alfonsi. The former wisely weaves the harmonies and suggests the melodies to the latter who develops them, enriches them and allows them to reviews grow before leading them back to the hands of their composer. Alfonso Giardino Giovanni Bailo Partial Capos Carisch Let’s be honest! The world – both virtual and real – is full of guitar manuals. These days an aspiring guitarist, rather than picking up a generic manual for guitar, goes in search of the manual written by his own heart-throb, the guitarist whose footsteps, style and frets he desires to follow. And so it’s a pleasing surprise to find myself in front of a guitar manual that earns my appreciation for its original and stimulating contents. “A new approach to guitar compositions. 10 studies, 10 full tracks” – this is the objective Giovanni Bailo aimed to reach with his Partial Capos, a work that has been published as part of the Carish Music Lab series. After a brief presentation of the accessories used (capo for covering 5 strings, capo for 3 strings, Transpo Capo [http://transpocapo.com], Spider Capo [http:// www.spidercapo.com], Woodies G-Band [http://www.woodiesgband.com/html/home.htm]), the author immediately invites the 24 chitarra acustica 3 twothousandandeleven reader to experiment. Supported by listening to an accompanying CD that has been well played and well recorded, and without too many unnecessary words, you start immediately with the first study recorded on the stave and in tablature, in which the notes played on the open strings held down by the capo are marked by being placed inside a small circle, in order to better understand their function. And to illustrate the positioning of the capo, there is a photo to show how to equip the neck of our guitar. The studies have been developed in order to evoke ideas, suggestions and musical images in the player, as a starting point for building his/her own digressions. All of the full tracks are original pieces, and besides having their own compositional and executive completeness, they are there principally to highlight the sounds and technical solutions that it’s possible to develop with the various capos and by further alternating the acoustic guitar with a National resonator guitar and a six-string banjo. It’s the guitarist’s curiosity that Bailo really wants to whet – beginning with the research into the various capos proposed and ending with the discovery of a new perspective with which to re-evaluate the use of your own guitar. Giovanni Bailo, an oenological consultant, has played the guitar from the age of twelve and got his diploma from Davide Mastrangelo’s Centro Studi Fingerstyle in Arezzo. In fact, Davide Mastrangelo himself introduces the reader to this manual with his opening presentation. Giovanni Bailo has published also with Carish a collection of his arrangements for guitar of Ludovico Einaudi’s compositions, Einaudi for Guitar, and has released three CDs with pieces mostly composed by himself. Alfonso Giardino ar artists Luca Pedroni Luca Pedroni ar wards a bit. And the new album is a rather ambitious project in an attempt to reconcile the acoustic guitar with the world of electronic music – that’s my other great passion. I’m working on it together with Luca Martegani – who has worked with Andy from Bluvertigo, Mephisto, Don Carlos and Xeliusproject as well as being the mention of honour at the L. Russolo International competition of electronic music. We’ve worked together in the past in particular for productions by Rai TV and our project is almost ready. Owing to various editorial problems, we’ve had to postpone the whole thing till the Autumn but we would actually have been ready for the Summer. There will be songs – good and proper – with female vocals. photo by Diego Boldini and Karen Berestovoy Born in 1979, with a varied yet structured training behind him, Luca Pedroni is one of the most interesting acoustic guitarists of the new generation. In 2010, he took part in L’Ultima Parola (The Last Word) on Rai TV – where he performed the signature tune – and since then several of his pieces have been used for television programmes and advertisements broadcast on the same channel. At the moment, he’s in his studio tied down working on the creation of a new album that’s a little bit out of the ordinary and we thought we’d make the most of the opportunity to have a brief chat and a peek at what’s brewing. How are you working in the studio? Basically, the tune is our starting point together with my writing that I create as I’ve already done in the past using the serial method. The pieces are all very minimal with an initial loop that is slowly developed and expanded. Luca takes these pieces and without intervening with ‘active’ electronics – that is without actually modifying the guitar’s sound - he reworks the sounds, filtering them and putting them back together arranging the piece in a completely different key. The most incredible ideas have come out of this process – a sort of orchestration of the You attended a Music Academy, didn’t you? Yes. While studying the electric guitar, I also studied classical guitar – even though I didn’t realise immediately that the academic world could never be the one for me. However, in order to take it up professionally, it was necessary to have this kind of training. In fact, I have to admit that it was these studies that have given me the most out of all the others. They include a rigour and a quest for technical perfection that gives you the means to go ahead. It teaches you how to study. If the electric guitar was the fun part of music and the classical guitar the academic rigour of the instrument, then in the acoustic guitar I’ve found the natural meeting point of these two worlds. And I’ve realized that this is basically my natural calling. You could add that I’ve always been a big fan of Michael Hedges’ music and all of the West Coast, CSN at the front. It couldn’t have gone any other way. The hardest thing was finding the courage to go up on stage alone… it’s not exactly as easy as it sounds. But having got over the first time, I discovered that I actually quite enjoyed it. Shall we begin with a brief run through of your artistic history to introduce you to our readers? I have to confess I began with the electric guitar! I worked a lot here and there, sometimes for bands and sometimes in the studio. Towards the end of 2005, I began to fall in love with the acoustic guitar. In actual fact, I should say ‘fall back’ in love with the acoustic guitar because deep down it was my starting point at the very beginning – even though I had never delved into it. From being a rather ‘maniacal’ electric guitarist, I rediscovered a more intimate and secluded state. At the same time, I transferred many techniques on to these strings that I had learnt over so many years of studying. instrument created by the instrument itself. I myself am often surprised by the end results. It seems incredible that it all comes from only one guitar. It’s quite a courageous experiment and goes against the grain for the acoustic guitar environment at the moment where the tendency is to exalt everything in its natural state. I have always been one to swim against the tide. It’s an intentional attempt to come out of the niche that in Italy over recent years has become a bit too self-referential. Everyone knows everybody and everyone does more or less the same thing. I would like my work to reach people ‘outside’ of the normal circle. It’s not going to be easy but I want to give it a try. How do you work when composing and arranging? I’m very interested in finding out more about your use of seriating… It’s not a rational choice with a didactic basis. It was derived from listening to many innovative musicians of the 20th century such as Leo Brouwer, Steve Reich, Chick Corea and John Cage. Basically, the starting point is a musical cell into which rhythmic or melodic elements are gradually added, changing Are you working on your new album at the moment? Paradoxically, after having travelled around and played so much on my own, I’m now going back26 27 chitarra acustica 3 twothousandandeleven chitarra acustica 3 twothousandandeleven ar Luca Pedroni its tonality or making small variations to reach the overall effect of an orchestral performance. Being the passionate fan that I am of ‘70s Prog, I love arranging Pink Floyd pieces with this method as well as Police amongst others that lend themselves very well to this context. The best example in this sense is definitely the cover of ‘Run Like Hell’ that you can see on my Youtube channel. I begin with the rhythmic peculiarity of the piece to arrive at showing off its melodic aspects. Furthermore, I really like working with typical electric guitar effects that aren’t used by many of us. though their effective return from a commercial point of view at the moment has left me rather perplexed. What kind of instruments are you using at the moment in the studio and when you play live? The main guitar I use is a Collings OM, one of the first I bought several years ago that bled me dry – so to speak. I got it from a private collector in Milan and it was already several years old. It plays really well. Generally speaking, I go to record the guitars at Nobile’s studios that has fantastic equipment and since he himself is an excellent guitarist his ideas about recording are very clear indeed. The Collings is amplified with a Schertler system that was also the starting point for my relationship with them as their endorser. I use their David or Unico amplifiers depending on the size of the room I’m performing in and I’m waiting for their new guitars with fitted LYDiA. I also use two TC Electronics systems – the G Natural and the G Major - as well as a loop machine and several other little boxes that are never missing from my live set. Will your new album be distributed through traditional channels or will you also use internet stores? Generally speaking, what kind of relationship do you have with this new media? The Cd should be produced by Rai Trade. The better part of the distribution will certainly be done through digital channels as has already been the case for my previous albums. In fact, the physical support has a diffusion that is directly linked to live concerts, the various festivals I take part in and where there is a real demand for the album itself. Generally speaking, it’s not easy to manage to manoeuvre this new market successfully as everything is continually changing. The potential is enormous and possibilities are opening up that were unthinkable a few years ago. Despite the fact that I have a rather traditional approach to managing my business, I realise that it’s important to be present and have the possibility of making the most of opportunities should they present themselves. Even though to date this hasn’t happened yet! Communication and visibility are enormously facilitated even Allow me to end with a little provocation – you are the endorser of a company that produces guitars and you also try out instruments for the magazine ‘Musical Instruments’. Does this never create any problems? The real problem is that I’m tempted to buy all the beautiful guitars that I try out [laughing]. Mario Giovannini Luca Pedroni with Luca Martegani 28 chitarra acustica 3 twothousandandeleven ar artists Acoustic Night 11 ar Acoustic Night 11 For us citizens of Milan who are used to seeing only ring-roads and traffic, any excuse to get away to the nearest seaside location is a good one. So Beppe’s invitation to help out at Acoustic Night 11 was a welcome chance to escape from the office and Milan on a hot Friday afternoon and breathe a bit of sea air. And so at three in the afternoon, I was on my way to Genova with the intention of taking a short stroll, breathing a bit of good air, eating a bit of focaccia and turning up dutifully early at the Teatro della Corte to bring Beppe and Federica the cover and the printer’s proof for the new Trattato di chitarra flatpicking that was due to come out in a few days’ time. theme of this edition of the extraordinary event that I’ve had the pleasure to see for the first time. An amazing journey through the souls of American radio broadcasting that, apart from the biggest and most populated cities where pop music in all its most modern forms has invaded the ether, it’s mostly strongly dominated by more ‘popular’ music such as country and bluegrass. It’s difficult to imagine that the heart of America speaks a musical language that’s so different from our fantasy. On the stage of the Teatro della Corte, the four stars of tonight’s concert were Beppe Gambetta, Nick Forster (voice, guitar, slide guitar, electric guitar and counterbass), the presenter and founder of the E-Town program broadcast from Colorado, Peter Ostroushko (voice, mandolin, violin) from the programme Prairy Home Companion that is broadcast from Minneapolis in Minnesota, and Bryan Sutton (voice, guitar, bass guitar), excellent flatpicker and frequent guest on Grand Ole Opry Radio Show at Nashville in Tennessee. For what we can imagine about these legendary radio programmes, the atmosphere was perfectly recreated. This was also thanks to the mix of genres and styles that distinguished each of these shows. The song-list ranged from Beppe Gambetta’s “Slade Stomp”, dedicated to his friend Charles Sawtelle, to a classic by the Monroe Brothers masterly interpreted by Brian Sutton and Nick Forster, and the The creation of this book has allowed me to stay in touch with Beppe for a long time and to follow him on his travels around the USA. In fact, during the work, Beppe has called me often via skype from the remotest corners of the States. And my memory took me back to my last trip on American soil, in which the radio played the leading role accompanying me on those long journeys across California, Arizona, Utah and Nevada. Just like the guests who have animated this edition of the Acoustic Night, that has come and send out their radio transmissions from the furthest corners of America. American Radio Shows was the gospel “Turn Your Radio On” sung by all four with an accompaniment by Sutton. And then there was a beautiful traditional piece from the Ukraine accompanied by a short talk about Peter Ostroushko’s family origins. Tradition, history and life experiences as well as the fun of thrilling “Bad Jokes”, with the musicians taking it in turns to talk about their ‘wit’. The group was then enriched with the presence of Helen Forster for the voice in the classic “Listen to the Radio”, while the beautiful scenery and skilful audio direction provided the finishing touches. Beppe’s joke at the end of their radio connection with Rai Radio 3 is memorable: «Now we’re no longer live, I can say: “Oh, fuck!” [in Genoese dialect]» Shame that they were still on air… It’s difficult for those of you who don’t go to acous- tic festivals to imagine that such an event can bring so many different kinds of people together. The crowd was made up of young musicians, fans and family groups and the whole thing was sold out for three consecutive days in a theatre of this size. For me it was one more confirmation of the success of acoustic music in Italy, that’s demonstrated by the quality and passion that you’ll find in the pages of the magazine you’re leafing through. Of course, Italian radios could learn a lot from those American ones made up of passion, quality, variety, originality and a meeting point between their own choices and a consideration of general popularity. Germano Dantone 30 31 chitarra acustica 3 twothousandandeleven chitarra acustica 3 twothousandandeleven ar artists AGM Sarzana 2011 An Italian Miracle Diane Ponzio on the main stage And so as promised from Wednesday 18th to Sunday 22nd May, Alessio Ambrosi and the cultural association Armadillo Club transformed the delightful historical centre of Sarzana and the austere Firmafede fortress into nothing less than a ‘Guitar City’. In a moment to go down in history such as the one we are living, characterised by an economic crisis that is gnawing at families and by indiscriminate cuts that are killing any revival in production, it seems impossible that the world of acoustic guitar, still considered to be a niche within a musical sector that’s no longer as prosperous as it once was, could create an event such as the Acoustic Guitar Meeting. It’s a superabundant festival full of articulated ideas and presentations, with top-notch guests capable of attracting over a hundred exhibitors with a strong international participation and a faithful public that still throngs to pay the entrance fee to the evening concerts. In its field, it’s a sure benchmark not only for our country but also for Europe. It seems impossible but it’s happened – a small Italian miracle that we hope will soon be followed by many others. the Meeting opened its doors on Wednesday, immediately indicated the new direction that had deliberately been imprinted on this fourteenth edition. In fact, it was indeed beyond the guitar. Because the title instrument of this event has been united in this training course, and in one in particular of the evening concerts, by two other stringed instruments typical of string-band acoustics from the United States – the mandolin and the banjo. And the affair was done with true style. The luthiery teachers were: John Monteleone, one of the most prestigious makers of archtop guitars as well as flat-top guitars and mandolins; Australian Steve Gilchrist, the most renowned maker of North American style mandolins; and Greg Deering, the greatest maker of banjos in the world. They were joined by Carlos Michelutti for a seminar on the fine-tuning of the instruments. The instrumental teaching was also of the highest quality. Traditional and contemporary fingerstyle by Davide Mastrangelo, the co-ordinator of courses in Sarzana since 2005; ‘global’ flatpicking by Beppe Gambetta; ‘universal’ mandolin by Mike Marshall with Massimo Gatti as his assistant; and transcendental banjo by Jens Kruger. The Training Course. The title “Luthiery and didactics for the guitar and beyond”, that was given this year to the traditional training course with which New Sounds of Acoustic Music. The idea of adding other instruments alongside the guitar re- AGM Sarzana 2011 sponds to the desire of not considering the latter only in the light of a solo instrument and encouraging its scope within a group. This also more generally helps to communicate with a vaster public that’s not only made up of specialists. In a similar spirit to last year, a section dedicated to singer-songwriters “in memory of Stefano Rosso” was introduced into the New Sounds of Acoustic Music-Carisch Prize that was in the past traditionally reserved for guitar solos. This greater breadth has also been favoured by a unique system of multiple selection, so that the participants for the final round at Sarzana are chosen separately from different networks, by the cultural association Armadillo Club that organizes the event, by the teaching centres of the Lizard Musical Academies and Centro Studi Fingerstyle, by the magazine GTR & Bass and our gateway Fingerpicking.net. These and other networks have been represented in the jury, that despite its heterogeneity curiously ends up consistently producing results that are substantially balanced. The prize has been awarded jointly on the knife’s edge to the fingerstyle guitarist Lorenzo Favero and the singer-songwriter Enrico Esma, who have respectively received a Godin 5th Avenue and a B-Band amplification system coupled with an SR Technology amp. Everyone else received self-study publications by Carisch and John Pearse strings. ar A lesson with John Monteleone Germano Dantone’s Carisch rewards Lorenzo Favero Young Night. The performance and award ceremony for the emerging young artists was crowned by a concert in their honour. The first artist to go up on stage for the occasion was Giulia Millanta, winner of the last edition of Carisch Prize in the singersongwriter section. Giulia offered us a very positive image, demonstrating she knew how to make the most of the success she had obtained and to have cultivated her own considerable personal growth with dedication and determination. On stage, the understanding reached with second guitar player Paolo Loppi allowed her to focus the more on her own vocal expression and on an efficacious rhythmic use of the guitar, with significant results. Hussy Hicks also demonstrated exponential growth. Since they made themselves known at Sarzana in 2008, they have got better year by year and become the public’s favourite at acoustic festivals throughout Italy. The guitarist Julz Parker appeared right from the beginning as the most representative personality of the group. She is an excellent guitarist with astonishing energy and an incredibly personal style Giulia Millanta Hussy Hicks 32 33 chitarra acustica 3 twothousandandeleven chitarra acustica 3 twothousandandeleven ar AGM Sarzana 2011 AGM Sarzana 2011 Andrea Braido Guitar Republic Roberto Dalla Vecchia and taste as well as being a talented composer and evocative singer. But we have to recognise that the singer Leesa Gentz has somehow managed to equal her partner over these last two years, thanks to extraordinary work on her vocals and her force of presence and energy on the stage. The bass player Tracy Stephens was with them again this year and she seemed to be more ‘included’ in the group with respect to last year, even though with discretion. Accomplished Andrea Braido has presented several personal projects in different styles and forms over the last few years. The AGM was a good opportunity to keep his Duo Acustico Mediterraneo alive. On this occasion he was backed by guitarist Marco Brusa. The evening ended with Pino Forastiere, Sergio Altamura and Stefano Barone’s Guitar Republic. I feared. for a moment, that their music was too near the boundaries of ‘contemporary acoustic guitar’ to be suited to closing the concert and it might suffer from the incipient nocturnal chill and the public’s tiredness after a long show. But their sonorous alchemy between tapping and electronics was well done in its compositions and arrangements for a trio, that won the hearts of Sarzana. complete. And so next it was Beppe Gambetta’s turn, already warmed up by his Acoustic Night and used to stimulating musical synergies. He slowly took the evening by the hand and pulled the trigger for a whirl of duets and trios, calling that other exceptional musician Mike Marshall to his aid. In his solo set, Marshall went from new acoustic music to Brazilian music, from Bulgarian dances to Bach, and won his public over forever by playing a whole composition by Napolitan Raffaele Calace. And praise goes to the grand finale entrusted to the Kruger Brothers, with bassist Joel Landsberg and guitarist and singer Uwe Kruger next to brother Jens. The brothers grew up in Europe in a family of German origins that migrated to Switzerland before moving to North Carolina. Perhaps the group’s particular musical depth is due to these wanderings. They cross old and new directions in bluegrass to the full with classical and Bach reminiscences. They received a very warm welcome from the public, with nothing less than an ovation for their “Appalachian Concert”, a well-structured suite performed in a trio although it was originally conceived with the backing of a string quartet, where a section of dance music goes so far as recalling the rhythm of tarantella. Bluegrass Night. If you can tell a fine day from the morning… the set by Roberto Dalla Vecchia created an excellent opening for what was definitely one of the best concerts that I’ve happened to attend over the years at Sarzana, and anywhere for that matter. As can be seen, Roberto follows in the footsteps of Beppe Gambetta who has been his teacher in many ways: his music is a kind of flatpicking that mixes country-bluegrass roots with open tunings and European melodies; in his city he organizes the event vicenzAcustica with international guests, and he also teaches courses in summer seminars. But he does everything with his own personal touch – with a superb sound coming from his Manne, he presented some of his trump cards and pieces from his new Hand in Hand. And then it was time for the musicians whom we had already seen spinning around the guitar, mandolin and banjo during the training course. Massimo Gatti was the first with guitarist Leo Di Giacomo and the counterbass played by his son Icaro Gatti, who were his companions in the Bluegrass Stuff band, for an introductory full immersion to the tradition as led by Bill Monroe. When extraordinary Jens Kruger was called onto the stage, the bluegrass band became Strings & Voices for Dialogue & Rights. From the United States to Latin America. After having awarded the prize in Woodie Guthrie’s memory and last year to Jackson Browne, the festival wanted to commemorate Victor Jara and Violeta Parra, two of the main representatives of the Chilean movement nueva canción aimed at recovering traditional folk songs. As a frame for this important event, there was a long evening dedicated to music of different peoples, that began with participants connected with World Music – a duo made up of Soumik Datta, who played the sarod, a jewel of classic Indian luthiery not dissimilar from the banjo, and Nico Di Battista, an expert of ‘DB Guitar’, a nylon-stringed guitar with a very long diapason and the two bass notes an octave lower, on which he often adopts thumb & slap techniques with touches of funk-jazz. Datta was trained for a classical Indian repertoire, but he also studied composition at London’s Trinity College of Music, and he manages to adapt with natural talent to Di Battista’s interventions, that are rhythmically and harmonically more contemporary. We then returned to North American tradition with Canadian David Essig, who is very much linked to the years of folk music revival, and Diane Ponzio, ar Jens Kruger, Mike Marshall and Beppe Gambetta Kruger Brothers Soumik Datta a representative of modern songwriting. Then it was Mauro Di Domenico’s turn. He is closely connected to the world of Latin music and has worked for years with the Inti-Illimani, as well as in the past with Musicanova and Nuova Compagnia di Canto Popolare. He introduced and accompanied the per- Massimo Gatti, Leo Di Giacomo and Icaro Gatti 34 35 chitarra acustica 3 twothousandandeleven chitarra acustica 3 twothousandandeleven ar AGM Sarzana 2011 AGM Sarzana 2011 formance of Angel Parra, the son of Violeta. Angel played several pieces on a guitarrón that belonged to his mother. It is a traditional Chilean guitar that was designed to accompany el Canto del Poeta, with twenty-five different strings divided in different groupings. It will be he who receives the prize on behalf of Violeta as well as that awarded to Victor Jara, on behalf of the Victor Jara Foundation. After the ceremony, the South of Italy came into the picture with the Francesco Loccisano Quartet, a true revelation of the evening. Loccisano is a guitarist from Calabria, who trained in classical guitar as well as flamenco guitar. He comes from Eugenio Bennato’s Taranta Power and plays and composes for the ‘battente’ guitar, in a style that is both faithful to the tradition and full of innovative elements and superior technique. The singer Mico Corapi knows flamenco very well too and his extraordinary voice manages to express the subtle links between Calabria’s peasant singing and the cante jondo. The quartet is completed by Vincenzo Oppedisano on the bass and Vincenzo Gagliani on percussion. At the very end Eugenio Bennato himself came out on stage, to give the by now jubilant public all the hymns connected to his idea of ‘Taranta Power’. For the first time over the space of the Firmafede Fortress, spectators transformed themselves shyly at first and then more decisively into ballerinas and dancers, entranced by the intense rhythm of tarantella. Should this be a sign to pick up on for the future? Angel Parra with the guitarrón Francesco Loccisano And nor is everything over after the training course, Carisch Prize and the evening concerts. There are still many other parallel events which here we are only able to give a brief mention to. We’ll start with the free concert on Sunday during the day, that has its own line-up in every respect: Due chitarre per L’Aquila, a performance by musical schools in L’Aquila, using guitars built on the luthiery course last year under the guidance of experts Leo Petrucci and Franco Di Filippo; Paolo Bonfanti, coming from the presentation of his new book Bottleneck Guitar (Fingerpicking.net); Marco Poeta, expert in Portuguese guitar and demonstrator for the splendid Martin 12-string Pete Seeger model; the ‘master’ Pietro Nobile; Riccardo Zappa, the pillar of Italian acoustic guitar; Giovanni Palombo, who has presented several pieces from his new solo CD La melodia segreta / A Secret Melody (Acoustic Music Records); the welcome return of the Dago Red, Eugenio Bennato Banjo Clan with their atmospheric blues; Banjo Clan, amusing ensemble of banjos and much more besides, made up of mostly retired musicians with a repertoire of swing and typical music from the ’30s. So as to emphasise the idea of accompanying the guitar with other instruments, encourage music as a group activity and reach out to a non-specialist public, it’s worth remembering Ukulele Village’s persisting achievement, that has promoted performances and seminars with Max De Bernardi & Veronica Sbergia, Ken Middleton, Lorenzo ‘Ukulollo’, Luca Cocchiere & Marta Terribile, Jontom. And we mustn’t forget the performances in the Fortress’s dry moat of youth orchestras and much more: the Suzuki Guitar Orchestra conducted by Maria Grazia Citterio; the Acoustic Ciac Orchestra conducted by Giovanni Palombo; the ukulele orchestra Sinfonico Honolulu. And the street concerts in the historical centre with Max Prandi, Giulia Millanta, Max De Bernardi & Veronica Sbergia. To end with the traditional contribution of guitar associations. The Centro Studi Fingerstyle has organised seminars with Davide Mastrangelo, Paolo Mari, Micki Piperno, Simone Valbonetti and Pino Russo. The ADGPA has presented four guitars characterised by exceptionally high-quality sound and aesthetics, in collaboration with the shop Prina Musical Instruments in Milan – a Gibson 225 from 1955, a Gretsch Country Club from 1969, a lefthanded harp-guitar built by Massimiliano Monterosso and a Taylor 914 CE Custom Shop presented at NAMM in 2005; these instruments were played by Daniele Bazzani, Stefano Barbati, Andrea Valeri and Fabio Casali, and the film of the event will be visible from September on www.adgpa.it. And lastly Fingerpicking.net animated the ‘Tower Stage’ for the whole of the festival: besides it founders Reno Brandoni, Giovanni Pelosi and Alex Di Reto, the following people played there (hoping not to have forgotten anyone…): Lorenzo Favero, Giuseppe Porsia, Luca Francioso, Giulia Millanta & Paolo Loppi, Gabor Lesko, Giulio Redaelli, Socrate Verona, Andrea Fascetti, Daniele Bazzani, Massimo Valli, Marco Montemarano, Giovanni Palombo, Andrea Valeri, Rolando Biscuola, Simone Ferrari, Matteo Gobbato, Alberto Ziliotto, Roberto Dalla Vecchia, Filippo Cosentino, Paolo Mari, Micki Piperno, the Southside Blues Boys, Girolamo Sansosti, Stefano Barbati, the Hussy Hicks… Without forgetting the memorable performance by Francesco Buzzurro, ar Orchestra Suzuki Sinfonico Honolulu Francesco Buzzurro, photo by Alex Di Reto who had such a great success. Massimo Varini said of him: «He has Tommy Emmanuel’s right hand and Andrea Braido’s left hand!» We’ll speak more about that later. Andrea Carpi Photos by Tiziano Gagliardi 36 37 chitarra acustica 3 twothousandandeleven chitarra acustica 3 twothousandandeleven in instruments AGM Sarzana 2011 AGM Sarzana 2011: the Exposition Everyone is going crazy about the Chatelier brothers this year – particularly for the OM with back and sides in maple wood that you can see in the photo’s background. And in fact… it’s a stupendous instrument. In this case too, we’ll be sure to come back to it in greater depth. Photos by Tiziano Gagliardi A new record has been reached for attendance at the AGM exhibition in Sarzana with a good 112 stands. The event consolidates its position as a ‘guide’ to the acoustic guitar market segment. You can see its relevance rightly recognised not only on an Italian level but also internationally, as was testified by the presence of Monteleone, Larrivée, Gilchrist and Derring (in the photo on the left with the patron Alessio Ambrosi). There is a separate mention for Roy McAllister (see photo above) and his guitar dedicated to the festival that we spoke about at length in no. 2. Bachmann has been present since the very first editions and is one of the very few Italian luthiers to work only with wood of his own production. His guitars with their characteristic rounded forms created by carving and not by bending are as interesting as ever. in Janet and Greg Deering, who were as nice and helpful as ever, were amongst the stars during these days in Sarzana. They are quite the news of the year with excellent instruments and an extremely varied range both in terms of finishes and in terms of prices. As if the guitars themselves weren’t enough to make us too excited to go to sleep… Borghino and Illotta are among the most interesting ‘young’ Italian luthiers. In particular, Borghino’s Shakti, a copy of the historical Gibson by John McLaughlin – with 7 resonance strings over the top and a soundbox made out of birdseye maplewood – has made its mark. We will go into more depth shortly. Gottschall too has taken part in the AGM for several years now and never ceases to surprise us with his original ‘megaphone’ project of the soundbox, that he applies to instruments of various kinds. One of the new things this year and the nth confirmation of the increasingly international coverage of this event is Rozawood. This is the standard-bearer of traditional Czech luthiery. They are impeccably made out of the highest quality materials – to the point of not seeming real – and the result is truly interesting instruments. Liuton’s Tulip Series has enriched itself with a new shape this year – the jumbo – while maintaining those characteristics that make these instruments unique. You really need to try them once to understand. 38 39 chitarra acustica 3 twothousandandeleven chitarra acustica 3 twothousandandeleven in AGM Sarzana 2011 AGM Sarzana 2011 Finally Taylor has arrived at AGM with new things for 2011. His new baritones are really interesting both in their traditional 6-string versions and even more so for the innovative 8-string version with central double strings. in Aramini has put Lakewood, his strong point now for several years, next to the distribution of Larrivée guitars, and he received a special blessing from Jean in person this year who visited the festival. Another consistent presence in the Festival is the French importer of Yairi, with ‘wild’ Giorgio Mazzone in the guise of the demonstrator for these excellent Japanese guitars. We’ve already spoken about it but it’s worth underlining it again. Walden builds excellent instruments at an exceptionally good price. They are distributed in Italy by Casale Bauer. Man doesn’t live on guitars alone (1)… and the Ukulele Village, year after year, is continually attracting a bigger crowd. Full of colours, fun and irreverent, with the ‘excuse’ of involving the littlest ones it sure doesn’t miss the opportunity of making ‘victims’ out of guitarist parents. We’ve already spoken diffusely about EKO Mia Varini, but seeing them all together on exhibition is a great eye-catcher. Man doesn’t live on guitars alone (2)… the assortment of string instruments presented by Musikalia is astonishing. They are made in Italy but designed to reproduce sounds from every corner of the globe. At Martin’s stand, next to the novelties that had already been announced over the last few months – the P series, the new Performer, the SP strings – it was possible to admire the new Pete Seeger Signature, a most particular 12-string long-neck. We will look into it more closely soon. Matteo and Daniele from the Frenexport presented various novelties for the Italian market. These included Bedel Guitars and Great Davide and most significantly Gary Leavinson, the historical founder of the Blade in the ’80s, that launched a series of very interesting products in the acoustic sector. At the Carisch stand, besides the new editorial presentations that never ceased one after the other, the new Godin 5th Avenue did not go unnoticed. It is a semiacoustic that’s noteworthy for its excellent value for money. Once again, a detailed test is in the pipeline. 40 41 chitarra acustica 3 twothousandandeleven chitarra acustica 3 twothousandandeleven in Classical Guitar SCHERTLER CLASSIC CP instruments Classical Guitar SCHERTLER CLASSIC CP weighs it down slightly and inevitably given its size. It’s one of those instruments that immediately feels good when you pick it up and which it’s easy to make friends with. It can’t exactly be spoken of as a classical guitar, owing to its body shape as well as to its set up that is decisively for ‘racing’. Let’s say that it fits authoritatively into the crossover section half-way between acoustic and classical, ideal for many different musical genres. We spoke about authority deliberately, given the quality of this CP. Its definition along the whole range is considerable - full of body and structure. The sustain – and here the size of the head-stock comes back into play – is long, defined and enriched by a touch of natural reverberation. Even going up into the high registers, these characteristics are maintained alongside the keyboard’s perfect intonation. For once, the cutaway body isn’t only ornamental. Definitely suited to fingerstyle jazz, to bossa and everything that comes from South America in general, it’s also the ideal instrument for whoever loves Chet Atkins, Jerry Reed and the like who, not by chance, all played on these kinds of guitars. Let’s look a bit more in depth at the LYDiA on board. It’s a top-notch pick-up system, just like all the other ones made by Schertler, based on an ultra-linear condenser microphone with a solid diaphragm. The ‘air-chamber’ technology owned by Paraphrasing the historical column of a wellknown puzzle magazine, ‘maybe not everybody knows that’ Schertler, the Swiss brand that is synonymous for detectors of high quality in acoustic instruments, has put a new line of guitars on the market in their name for some time now. We’re talking about some very special guitars that have been created with a great deal of thought to their design as well as to the quality of materials used and naturally their amplification on board. Their design was entrusted to Claudio Pagelli. That may well be enough said already and I could end the article here but let’s go on. The production of the steel-stringed guitars took place in selected factories in China while the classical guitars were made in Bulgaria. The materials were chosen directly in Switzerland and the instruments pass through Head Office for quality control and a final set up before being put on the market. There is a luthier on site specifically for this purpose. The model that makes a fine show of itself on the cover-page this month is the Classic CP. This instrument’s design is both enticing and original. Amongst other things, the reduced, ergonomic shape of its body is almost identical for the acoustic and nylon-stringed guitars. It’s a simple, effective way of creating a stylistic image tied to the brand that is also functional in terms of production. The sound-board is in Swiss fir wood of excellent quality. The wood is extremely pale coloured with tightly-knit veins and the frequent presence of ‘bear scratches’ (although that’s not the case in the example we’ve received to try out). The back and sides are in dark rosewood with beautiful patterns. All of this is solid wood, naturally. The join between the sound board and sides has been decorated with a triple black and white purfling while the rosette is embossed ebony in relief. The same material has been used for the fingerboard, which has no circles or decorations, as well as for the bridge, which has been very originally designed and has a sophisticated tuning mechanism and a small and slightly oval hole. The play of curves and resonances between these elements perfectly matches the cut-away shoulder and back of the body that is slightly asymmetric. Truly beautiful. The headstock (that is the same for the acoustic guitars, as should have already been made clear) is sizeable and incorporates six machine heads with ebony pegs all designed exclusively by the Swiss company. They have an above-average ratio – 1:18 – and are precise and well graded. The Schertler logo stares out of its inlay in pearloid on the rosewood veneer. The in the company guarantees an extremely natural and highly dynamic result. It has been put on sale on the public market in this version for 500 euros - that’s almost half the price of the guitar, just to duly give you an idea of its share. The market sector in which the CP is to be found is rather competitive but the ‘girl’ has all the right cards to make herself noticed. Schertler distributes directly in Italy through special selected centres. The list is continually being updated. Mario Giovannini TECHNICAL DETAILS Type: Classical guitar Production: Bulgaria Distributor: Schertler www.schertler.com Price: € 1,308 + VAT Top and bracing: Swiss fir Back and sides: Rosewood Handle: Mahogany Keyboard: Ebony Bridge: Ebony Rosette: Ebony Pickguard: no Binding: B/W/B Mechanics: Schertler Amplification: LYDiA Dual with Resocoil Scale: 650 mm Keys: 18 amplification mounted on the entire line is obviously LYDiA Dual On Board that is the pride and joy of this Swiss company. Although I’m not especially enthusiastic about the controls being on the upperside of the guitar, in this case you have to admit that it’s a pardonable crime given the plate’s dimensions that are relatively small. The instrument’s manufacturing is impeccable without any kind of flaws or imprecision. The guitar is comfortable and a pleasure to hold. The insertion of the neck at the XIII key and the body’s limited dimensions almost give the illusion of having an instrument with a short scale in your hands. But on a guitar with nylon strings… It’s very light and well-balanced although the headstock 42 43 chitarra acustica 3 twothousandandeleven chitarra acustica 3 twothousandandeleven in instruments Amplifier for acoustic guitar SCHERTLER DAVID DELUXE in Amplifier for acoustic guitar SCHERTLER DAVID DELUXE The wait for the Deluxe series of Schertler amplifiers to be released has been a long one for their fans. Announced and then postponed, it finally came about at the Frankfurt trade fair. This is no coincidence, given that the Swiss company is in fact a point of reference in the sector of amplification for acoustic instruments. Their products have represented a benchmark for comparison on the market for several years now. It’s difficult to imagine that you could improve what was already excellent… but they’ve managed to. The test-piece that arrived for us to try out was one of the very first to reach Italy but, by the time we’ll have ‘gone to press’, it shouldn’t be difficult to find them available in the various specialised centres trading for Schertler. Just as usual, we have ‘sacrificed’ ourselves to try out the new David Deluxe without wasting time in useless comparisons with its predecessor that will always remain an excellent product. The new David has 150 Watt power on two independent channels with Class A pre-amplification. The whole thing is contained in a Bakelite box of rather modest dimensions (31 x 37 x 27 cm) but quite considerable weight – 12 kg. The controls have been placed on the upper panel and ordered in three different rows. Starting at the top, there is the Master Volume, Master Reverb, volume for the headphones line out and volume Aux as well as sockets for Line Out, Aux Out, Insert, and DI Out. There is also a switch on the Master for diminishing the bass. The two channels, one for the instrument and one for the microphone, both have controls for Gain, Volume, Reverb, Bass, Medium/Bass, Medium/ High, High. On the first, it’s possible to create phantom alimentation at 10 V that’s ideal for all systems produced by the company. On the second, there’s the standard 48V necessary for microphones of various kinds. Furthermore, on the instrument’s channel, there is a notorious little button called Warm to emphasise middle notes. It’s an accessory that has always created debate amongst fans of these products. You either love it or hate it. Hardly anyone’s indifferent. We’ve spoken about the instrument channel deliberately. Schertler amplifiers are excellent for acoustic guitar but they come designed for broader usage and aren’t tied to this context. It’s no coincidence that they’re systems that are loved by counter-bass players – Stephan Schertler plays the counter-bass – and the scope of the controls has a range that’s much much broader than the spectrum normally covered by a six-string. The main peculiarity of the Deluxe is its ex-novo design that has been created by the Swiss company. All of its internal circuit is the fruit of years of study and experimentation that has been carried out entirely without the use of integrators. Even the TECHNICAL DETAILS pre-amplifier for the headphones socket has been designed ad hoc. The logo that lights up on the front when you turn the amp on is truly a touch of class. Once the guitar has been connected… it’s useless to deny it, the result is thrilling. The sound has an incredible depth that’s almost three dimensional. The instrument’s characteristics are conveyed transparently and effectively. The controls, as mentioned earlier, have a scope that goes far beyond the guitar’s range of projection and allows significant alterations of the incoming signal whenever needed. When coupled with the company’s own products the result is of course excellent. Having the Schertler CP with LYDiA on board (another test-piece) available, we were able to appreciate the linearity with which these systems integrate each other. But even with other companies’ products, it’s not difficult to find the optimum setting. Not even the use of a baritone guitar creates problems for David, which on the contrary seems to have an excellent predisposition for the ‘bass’. We should only point out the imperfect silencing of both channels when the volume is at zero. You can make out a light ‘bump’ when you insert the jack into your instrument. But it might just be a defect of the test-piece we had to try out. Quality has its price and the David Deluxe doesn’t exactly come on a ‘popular’ budget, but its cost is absolutely right for the product’s level amongst the best of its sector and of serious professional value. Schertler distributes directly in Italy through special selected centres. The list is continually being updated. Type: amplifier for acoustic guitar Made in: Switzerland Distributor: Schertler www.schertler.com Price: € 1,608 + VAT Alimentation: 220 V adaptable Controls: Master Volume, Master Reverb Features: Reverb on both channels EQ: Gain, Volume, Reverb, Bass, Medium/ Bass, Medium/High, High In/Out: Line Out, Aux Out, Insert, and DI Out Mario Giovannini 44 45 chitarra acustica 3 twothousandandeleven chitarra acustica 3 twothousandandeleven in Acoustic Guitar FENDER CD280 SCE NAT instruments Acoustic Guitar FENDER CD280 SCE NAT has this particular vocation. More than in fingerpicking, the CD 280 is well suited to a mixed technique, with good results, especially as an accompaniment to vocals. The Presys, which replaced the glorious Fishman Classic, is a more affordable system but one that still offers guarantees. It is versatile, effective and comes complete with onboard tuner and inbuilt guitar mute function. The control plate is small, but the tuner display is clearly visible and easy to use. Once connected to the amplifier, the essential characteristics of the sound are reproduced accurately and mirror the original tone. The laminated sides and back and the lack of microphones in the preamp help to reduce the risk of feedback, which is always a potential problem for anyone who plays in a crowded setting. Overall the guitar is spot on. It might not be destined to become one of the icons of the century, but it is functional and offers excellent value for money. It has a clear plug & play vocation, especially on stage, without too much fuss. Even just a decade ago, it was simply unthinkable to have an instrument of this standard at such a low price. Mario Giovannini Unlike its successor Gibson, Fender has never managed to leave its mark in the acoustic guitar market. Of course, in this market the descendants of Orville can boast an unparalleled excellence and more polished experience. But Leo’s ‘heirs’ have never lacked stubbornness and perseverance, which in this sense have certainly been an inspiration. At the same time, production standards in the Far East, and in China in particular, have progressively improved over recent years to reach levels worthy of note. It is no surprise then that the Fender acoustic catalog currently includes a very wide range, with decidedly affordable prices. There are some interesting experiments in terms of design, such as the Sonora or Dick Dale Malibu series. To experience the Corona-based manufacturer’s revamped series hands-on, however, we opted for the ‘classic’ model - and it doesn’t get more classic than this. The CD 280 is a classic design dreadnought, with a cutaway and Fishman amplification as a standard feature. We played it safe in choosing the woods: solid spruce for the top in two parts joined together, very light and compact, and mahogany – laminated – for the sides and back. With its rich dark colour and grain, this provides a nice contrast to the top, highlighted by flawless binding with triple BWB purfling. The bridge, linear in shape, is made of rosewood like the fingerboard, which is fitted with 21 well-positioned frets with mahogany finish. The fingerboard has classic dot position inlays. And the upper side has a pin for attaching the strap. One less worry if you have to play standing up. The headstock, with the manufacturer’s traditional shape and immortal logo in abalone, has a mahogany finish. The machine heads are unbranded, chromed and perform their task very well. You can find the truss rod access inside the soundhole, where everything is absolutely neat. The standard features are rather spartan – no case, so you get the drift – but still a notch above average: the box contains a spare bridge pin, an extra saddle and a jack cable. Overall, the feeling you get is very reassuring: this instrument is made to very traditional standards, built with care and with good quality materials at an attractive price. The guitar is very light and the weight distribution is optimal. It is easy to hold, both seated and standing. The D-shaped neck is substantial, but not bulky. It sits well in the hand without causing problems. The tone is precise and accurate all along the fingerboard. The sound reproduces the original project idea faithfully: it doesn’t get more ‘dread’ in TECHNICAL DETAILS Type: Acoustic Guitar Manufactured in: China Imported by: Casale Bauer, Via IV Novembre 6-8, Granarolo dell’Emilia (BO) www.casalebauer.it Price: € 415,50 Top: Spruce Back and sides: Mahogany Neck: Mahogany Fingerboard: Rosewood Bridge: Rosewood Pickguard: Black Binding: B/W/B Machine heads: Fender Amplification: Fishman Presys Width at nut: 44 mm Width at bridge: 56 mm Scale length: 650 mm Frets: 21 than this. Middle notes are pronounced, low notes full-bodied and clear, high notes a little held back and not too sharp. Very sensitive to the dynamics of the right hand, which makes this guitar particularly suited to flatpick, bluegrass and country music. Without being ‘boomy’, it has a frequency range that gives it great presence especially as part of a band. In addition, the standard-feature amplification and the cutaway are further proof that the instrument 46 47 chitarra acustica 3 twothousandandeleven chitarra acustica 3 twothousandandeleven in instruments Achille De Lorenzi Achille De Lorenzi in Personally, I think that a guitarist interested in finding his/her own personal and original sound that can make him/her stand out should consider a guitar from a luthier. On the other hand, if you put it like this - ‘a guitar from a specific model that has made history’ – that’s a very different kind of choice that I would agree with. I believe that in America there’s a culture for luthiery in acoustic guitars on a level that just doesn’t exist in Italy. After all, this instrument’s origin was in America, so guitarists are ‘used’ to luthier’s guitars. For this reason, I admire those luthiers that make a lot of extraordinary guitars. Graduated at the Milan Civic School for Luthiery in 2001, Achille De Lorenzi – after the almost ‘dutiful’ rising from the ranks – has commenced the profession of luthier in 2006. His production, focused on acoustic guitars, is varied and articulate. Even though inspired by the historic production in the field, he likes to experiment and find new solutions. His instruments stand out for a high-level achievement and competitive prices. I would like to allow you to take part in a chat I had with Achille Besides being a close friend, he is also an excellent luthier who lives and works in Bannia di Fiume Veneto in North East Italy. What’s your opinion of the situation for luthiery in Italy? It’s difficult to be a luthier by profession. In Italy, in my opinion, there are some very good luthiers who do their work really well, but unfortunately there are an equal number of others who improvise and consider themselves luthiers simply because they’ve stretched a trussrod… Because of this, I believe in the relationship between luthiers and musicians, and that beyond being a professional relationship it should be a friendship or at least a sharing of similar ideas! Achille, tell us about yourself and your history. How did you begin? Who inspires you? I trained at the Civic School for Luthiery in Milan where I got my diploma in 2001. I’ve shared experiences with several luthiers as their assistant and collaborator in various sectors – from the making of guitars to the restoration and reproduction of antique instruments and the making of mandolins and snare drums. Since 2006 I’ve worked professionally as a luthier. Music has always been my passion. I’ve enjoyed playing the bass guitar ever since I was little. Then I realised that what I really wanted to do was make musical instruments. I began by making acoustic guitars, taking the first triple zeros built by Martin as my model and bringing in my own personal modifications to try out new solutions. of my job. I think that it’s experience in the diversity of making that enriches a luthier and thus also his/ her instruments. What types of guitar do you make? I make acoustic guitars in the form of 000, OM and Medium Jumbo. At the moment, I’m working on a semi-acoustic archtop. But I’ve also made electric guitars and acoustic bass guitars in the past. I really enjoy making different types of guitars. I believe that experimenting with different shapes is the best part What woods do you use for your instruments? Tell us a bit about your instruments in terms of how they’re made… I normally use the most traditional materials – rosewood and mahogany for the back and sides, Italian fir wood for the soundboard and mahogany for the neck. I use ebony for the keyboard. I’m very open to finding and using the most sought-after stock and experimenting with new combinations of soundboard, sides and back. As far as the bracing is concerned, I follow the standard ‘X’ modifying a few small things that make the difference on a hand-made guitar, such as the opening of the X or the thickness of the braces. The neck is glued on after having made the body. Do you have any endorsers? What do the guitarists say who have tried your guitars? At the moment I don’t have any endorser. As I said before, if I were to have an endorser, I would like it to be something that came about naturally, from an exchange of opinions between maker and musician to find the instrument most suited to the tastes of one and the ability of the other. I’ve learnt that the sound of the guitar changes radically depending on who plays it. So one guitarist can tell me that such and such a guitar plays well for fingerpicking and another person can tell me that the same guitar is perfect for strumming. Some of my clients say that my instruments have particular sounds that make them similar and differentiate them from other guitars! Where can we try out your guitars? What’s your price range? You can come and visit me in my workshop in Bannia di Fiume Veneto or you can try them out at most of the well-known acoustic guitar festivals. You can find something on-line too. The average price I market my guitars at is around 2500 euros, which varies according to the wood inlays and personal touches. Alberto Ziliotto You can contact Achille on his mobile 338 7007578 or write an e-mail to [email protected]. A website is coming soon! Which is the guitar model you like best? In my opinion, I think that the triple zero guitars with the neck joint at 12th fret and a cutaway body have an excellent sound, in terms of volume, depth, balance between high and low notes and ease of playing. Why should a guitarist buy a hand-made guitar and not a guitar from one of the sought-after brand names? What do you think of American luthiery? Well, at the end of the day, it’s a question of taste. 48 49 chitarra acustica 3 twothousandandeleven chitarra acustica 3 twothousandandeleven in instruments Condenser Microphone DPA 4099 GTR in Condenser Microphone DPA 4099 GTR EQ were used, so everything could sound even better than this. Danish company DPA produces superior quality micro- The Audio Files phones for a range of purposes. The small DPA 4099GTR (€ Martin D-28 480 including VAT) is a su- Larrivée OM-10 percardioid condenser micro- Tozzi nylon phone, designed for acoustic guitars, dobro and the like, The position recommended and offers exceptional perfor- by the manufacturer is in front mance. With its modern design of the fingerboard, between and impeccable craftsmanship, the 12th fret and the hole, but it is small but perfectly propor- there is scope for experiment- tioned in all its components: the ing as the support can be attached in different positions tiny microphone is enclosed in along the body, on both the a protective rubber foam that upper and lower sides. We makes it look larger than it re- found the recordings very ally is, the capsule measures faithful to the instruments, half a centimetre across and is the DPA is quite brilliant but it renders the various 4.5 cm long. It is attached by mental’ positions, such as fitting it to the lower side tonal nuances very well. The microphone requires a black rubber clip to a 14 cm pointing towards the bridge: the overall sound will phantom power and if you were to buy it for live per- long gooseneck that allows it to be more midrange but very strong. Try it! formances you would still have a good microphone be positioned in front of the in- for home recording, so you have a “dual purpose” strument. Joined to the goose- Conclusions microphone. 
 As above, we connected the DPA to neck is a 180 cm cable with a tiny connector at the end, and we already had an XLR adapter to connect to the microphones we used for the test. The gooseneck is in turn mounted on a frame, again nected it to a dedicated acoustic guitar amplifier to a dedicated acoustic guitar amp and tested its per- A high quality product, if you are going to buy it assess its immediate response. We will report back formance. As with all very sensitive microphones, the output is fairly low when compared to the apti- you should thoroughly test it. No matter how well to you soon! you play, this type of microphone is likely to be more tude for audio feedback. We note, however, a su- made of black rubber, which fixes it to the body of The Test the guitar. This frame is very lightweight and will of a problem than a solution on stage, especially if perior resistance to feedback compared to studio First of all, what we can do is play you recordings microphones. The positioning is crucial, moving it a you are not alone. You will need a high quality sound of several instruments, so that you can hear how few centimetres or putting it too close to the hole of system and a very capable engineer to troubleshoot it sounds ‘indoors’: you can find the guitars used the guitar radically changes the response and the the initial set-up. We could test its performance by in many other similar tests on this website (so you overall timbre, as is well-known. The best result we provide a wide range of options. It is designed to be pairing it with a traditional acoustic guitar pickup, can compare the features of many different micro- achieved was by moving it away from the finger- used on stage and its features make it perfect both phones). These include a Martin D-28, a Larrivée board, giving it the chance to capture more sound. for mounting on a single instrument and for moving OM-10 and a classic Bruno Tozzi from 1982. Every- Putting it very near to the strings did not produce a between different guitars if necessary. The locking thing has been recorded using a Presonus Firebox good result, but all positions are worth trying, and system is easy and very quick to use. We have not soundcard on a PC with Cubase SE. The audio files changing instrument means you will have to change had the chance to test it live, though we have con- have not been edited in any way and no effects or the position again. You could even try a few ‘experi- not damage the instrument. It also has an effective locking system that adapts to a specific instrument with sizes ranging from 3.5 cm to 12.2 cm, which as is done with a microphone inside the body. This would produce much better results. Anyhow, thumbs up for the little guy! Daniele Bazzani Lascia un commento 50 51 chitarra acustica 3 twothousandandeleven chitarra acustica 3 twothousandandeleven in Samson Studio GT USB Studio Monitors with Integrated Soundcard instruments Samson Studio GT USB Studio Monitors with Integrated Soundcard When we, who have not been part of the ‘important’ circle until now, see our little dreams finally start to come true. Really? So what has happened to make the dreams come true? The answer is simple: an innovative product with really interesting features, all useful for home-recording enthusiasts. The problems of space that plague our lives are now the order of the day: on our desks (the real ones, not the computer desktop...) we want everything and more, from the right kind of speakers to the soundcard - and space for links between various devices - this is when Samson had the idea to combine everything into a single product. The USB Samson Studio GT active speakers (275,50 Euro) are not only a pair of two-way active monitors, but also have an integrated soundcard capable of providing phantom power to two microphones, with two headphone outputs and can also receive an external audio signal (an MP3 player, for example). Let’s be clear from the start, we don’t like to pass off one thing as another, and we know that manufacturers are keen for us to be honest: at this price we have to assess carefully what we’re talking about. A pair of studio monitors can cost much more, so pay attention because we will write not only about the product, but also the market segment it belongs to. This does not mean that there is no quality – quite the opposite. Product Features Beautifully finished in black and featuring a 4” woofer and a 1” tweeter, the Studio GT looks sturdy and feels heavy, in fact the active speaker weighs just over 4 kg, and the other one about 3 kg. They don’t use traditional audio inputs, but connect to the computer via USB. Once connected they configure themselves making the integrated soundcard immediately available, with no particular installation requirements. Just select them from the PC control panel as devices for listening and recording or from system preferences for Mac users. Now we’re ready to go. Summary of the Main Features The soundcard lets you record and monitor in real time - with no latency - up to two signals at the same time, of any type, from a dynamic or condenser microphone, to an instrument recorded live, keyboard, guitar, or whatever you like. The two inputs are multi-function, we can connect a standard instrument or microphone jack. Phantom power is automatically supplied when you connect a condenser microphone. All controls are on the front panel of the active speaker and allow you to adjust the level instantly. There are several controls: each channel has its own, with a LED that lights up when the input signal is too high, each in headphone also has controls that allow you to mix input and output (you can listen in Mono or Stereo). The monitors turn off if you connect headphones. On the back we have the USB connection, connectors to take the second passive speaker, the power outlet for the first monitor and an additional input via RCA connectors. The Test Once connected to the PC, the Samson produces a beautiful sound, full of nuances for a product in this price range. Sometimes we spend a fortune on monitors that don’t sound that good (and these are much more than just simple speakers). We will certainly not base our professional assessment on these, but they are a great starting point to help anyone new to the world of recording understand that even for just listening to music on your home computer, you can do much, much more. We obviously have no way of letting you hear them, so you will have to look for them and ask for a demonstration, or take a risk and buy them sight unseen. However, we can let you hear the result of some test recordings with two very different microphones, because it is important to demonstrate the quality of the soundcard and share this with you. The test is unique because we have recorded different guitars with two microphones at the same time, using the two channels available on the Studio GT: in front of the fretboard we placed an AKG 414, while we connected a small DPA 4099 GTR (which will be reviewed shortly on this website) attached to the guitar body and placed in a similar position. What you hear are exactly the same notes from two separate sources, passed through the integrated Studio GT soundcard. We used a Martin D-28, a Larrivée OM-10 and a classic Bruno Tozzi from 1982: the sound differences between the two microphones are very noticeable like in real life, a sign that the soundcard works well and clearly captures the nuances of the different input signals. possible the real tonal differences between the guitars and microphones, so all the sounds can be improved in the editing stage. Conclusions If you are thinking of buying something more than just a couple of PC speakers and if you need a soundcard and don’t know what to buy, maybe we’ve just given you the answer. At this price, you normally find either one product or the other, and we’re not even in the premium range, so it really is worth thinking about. Many, too many, people listen to music from speakers of such poor quality that they don’t understand what ‘listen’ really means, and if the files are in MP3 format the problem is made even worse. It’s like watching a good film through a keyhole. We hope we have made it clear that this is a really interesting and innovative product. We believe that many manufacturers will follow this example and launch their own all-in-one versions. Technology nowadays makes it possible to do things that were previously unthinkable, so get ready because it’s going to be fun! Martin D-28 (AKG-414) Martin D-28 (DPA) Larrivée OM-10 (AKG-414) Larrivée OM-10 (DPA) Tozzi nylon (AKG-414) Tozzi nylon (DPA) As usual we have not applied any kind of EQ or effects to the recordings, to bring out as clearly as Daniele Bazzani 52 53 chitarra acustica 3 twothousandandeleven chitarra acustica 3 twothousandandeleven in Amp Modelling Software IK Multimedia AmpliTube 3.5 Free! instruments Amp Modelling Software IK Multimedia AmpliTube 3.5 Free! Despite its brand name and Anglophile website, IK Multimedia is an entirely Italian company based in Modena. In recent years it has grown to be one of the leading companies in the world, for its guitar amp modeling software. To the point where IK competes for first place in the market with the benchmark for this sector: Guitar Rig. With the success of the iPhone and its various forms, IK has focused a lot of attention on developing Apps and making its applications suitable for mobiles. Encouraged by consumer feedback, the company has now launched a very interesting promotional campaign for AmpliTube on PC (or Mac). The 3.5 version of the software, which is free, comes with a limited number of amp models, stompbox and rack effects included. You can buy additional ‘parts’ individually – the prices and conditions are similar to the Apps on iTunes. So you have the chance to expand on the standard package at a very reasonable price and choosing specific options that meet your needs. The program works either standalone or as a VST plug-in. Just go to the website, register, log into the members area and start downloading. in the free version! Even more in fact: parametric EQ, noise gate, different amps or preamp stages, a tuner with adjustable pitch and the ability to set up a very detailed routing configuration. For free. So, even if this program is not ‘tailor-made’ for acoustics (I wonder if anyone will ever come up with one) it definitely deserves a look. Obviously in a targeted way to meet our needs. Once you have registered on the website and downloaded the installer, all it takes is a few clicks and the program is ready to use. You will receive an activation code by e-mail. Assuming that whoever owns a ‘high-function’ soundcard is also able to set it up to function optimally, our unbiased advice for ‘basic’ users of integrated hardware is to immediately install the Asio4All, adjusting the buffer to maximum. Without going into too much detail about what they are and how they work – it would require a mini thesis – they make it possible to get the best out of AmpliTube (and many other music programs) without going crazy with various settings and tweakability. They are easy to find online with a simple search, and with freeware licenses. So the guitar is connected to the PC via Line In – if present – or the microphone input taking care to adjust the input gain (control panel – audio – microphone). All of this takes half an hour tops. Without going into detail about the considerable potential of this program, even the basic version, the best results are obtained with the SIM of the Ok, but what does it offer us acoustic players… Usually, if we connect directly to the amp, all we need is a reverb. If we really want to go all out, we can add a preamplifier, an equalizer and a compressor. If we’re feeling particularly adventurous we can also add a chorus and a delay. All this is included in bass amp. The others are a bit too Hi-Gain for our wooden guitars. Once you set the input and output gain, you’ll find a world of effects to explore at will, including pedals and rack effects. As well as the chance to try out two amplifiers and/or two effects chains in parallel. Of course you can also create endless setups and recall them at will. In general, the sound quality is good, even just using the integrated soundcard in an older laptop. The problem of latency, given the rather modest resources required, is virtually non-existent. AmpliTube can be a useful starting point for trying out and playing with different effects, which would normally be prohibited by the cost of buying those effects. There are guitarists who could spend days on end experimenting with a long delay. The program also has an integrated 4-track recorder, which can import tracks from an external source and slow them down for study. Also, once a track is recorded, you can adjust the effects until you are satisfied with the result. However, as the performance quality is not bad, on a par with many medium/low cost pedals on the market, you might want to use it when playing live. Maybe with a netbook, those little laptops with a battery that lasts a long time, so you don’t have any wiring problems. It’s a dirty job but someone has to do it, so we did some tests. The program runs very well even on machines that are not top of the range, retaining performance quality. The best result is obtained by splitting the signal, perhaps with a dual output DI, and sending both the raw signal from the guitar and the PC signal. With some attention to volume setting, you get good results. Connecting to an amplifier, even for acoustics, however, can create some problems: we must be careful to switch off the simulation of speakers and microphones and ‘tweak’ a little to find the optimum. The only thing that worries us a little is how to use the wah-wah with your mouse… Did we mention it’s free? Mario Giovannini Info:http://www.amplitube.com Lascia un commento 54 55 chitarra acustica 3 twothousandandeleven chitarra acustica 3 twothousandandeleven in instruments News From the Companies Walden Paolo Gianolio Signature Walden guitars have enjoyed considerable market success thanks to their excellent value for money. The Paolo Gianolio Signature has now been born in collaboration with the Italian importer Casale Bauer. This highly regarded artist describes the instrument as follows: «a good character that goes well with melodies and chords. It has refined calibration that gives it excellent intonation and manageability as well as an excellent versatile sound that whets the appetite in whoever plays it as much as in whoever listens to it. The Walden Signature Paolo Gianolio is an acoustic guitar I would recommend to all my colleagues». Its features are: Grand Auditorium format with soundboard in red cedar, back and sides in mahogany, everything is solid wood the capo is bone, nut is 44.45 mm, scale of 650 mm, double action truss rod; graphite strengthened neck. Price to the public: 1095 Euros (VAT sales tax included). Gas Addiction Peerless Acoustics The Korean manufacturer is expanding its product range to include acoustic guitars, introducing to its catalogue three classic dreadnought shapes, also available with cutaway and in electric versions. Given the quality of the their semi-acoustics, both in terms of materials and finish, these are ones to watch. The features in detail: – PD 50E: electrified dreadnought; solid spruce top; laminated mahogany sides and back; mahogany neck with rosewood fingerboard; ‘Lady Lips’ headstock; natural gloss finish; Fishman Classic 4T preamp; case included. – PD 55CE: electrified dreadnought cutaway; solid spruce top; laminated rosewood back and sides; mahogany neck with rosewood fingerboard; ‘Lady Lips’ headstock; natural gloss finish; Fishman Prefix Plus-T preamp; case included. – PD75: dreadnought; solid spruce top; solid rosewood back and sides; mahogany neck with rosewood fingerboard; ‘Lady Lips’ headstock; natural gloss finish; case included. Peerless celebrates this year its fortieth anniversary. www.peerless.it Furch in Italy These guitars from the Czech Republic have finally arrived in our country. And it was about time because they are top-notch instruments that are well-made and excellent value for money. They are distributed by Charon Custom Guitar Gear – Distribution of musical instruments made in USA. http://www.charoncabs.com Greg Bennett 12-string The Greg Bennett D2 12CE, 12-string acoustic guitar with cutaway, is an instrument that draws on the great traditions of the early twentieth century, with classic shapes and combinations of high quality woods. The entire Regency TM series features traditional X-bracing and good build quality, for instruments giving excellent value for money. The features of the D2 12CE include: nato wood Back and sides and back; selected spruce top; rosewood fingerboard; single cream binding; Grover machine heads; two-band active AT3000 EQ; natural finish. www.gregbennettguitars.com ESP AC-30E QM True to its roots, ESP also launches high impact instruments with a very distinctive design, which are clearly intended for use on stage. The new series comes with the trademark LTD Xtone and has full plug & play features with its own amplifier system with built-in tuner. These are AC-30E QM features: electrified cutaway; set-neck construction, 25.5” scale; quilted maple back & sides; quilted maple top; mahogany neck; rosewood fingerboard; 42mm standard nut; Thin U Neck Contour neckshape; 20 frets XJ; gold hardware; ESP machine heads with amber pearl knobs; rosewood bridge; B-Band Electret Film transducer; B-Band T-55 4-Band preamp with tuner; HN, STR, DBSB finish. www.espguitars.com 56 chitarra acustica 3 twothousandandeleven in Cort New Range New colours and new models for Cort acoustics. The whole range extends the palette of colours available, and launches two new models. The SFX E has a solid spruce top, mahogany back and sides, mahogany neck and rosewood fingerboard, Cort CE304T electronics, and is available in natural, black and three-tone sunburst. The MR-E has exactly the same features and colours, but with dreadnought body shape. They are made in. www.cortguitars.com/acoustic_guitars Lascia un commento 57 chitarra acustica 3 twothousandandeleven tc technique tc A Spanish Tinge in New Orleans A Spanish Tinge in New Orleans Solace - a Mexican Serenade Scott Joplin (1909) Guitar arrangement Lasse Johansson It is interesting to discover that the impact of traditions other than African or British, were so strong in New Orleans and all through the southern states of USA. Jelly Roll Morton states in Alan Lomax’s Mr. Jelly Lord: «[…] all my folks came directly from the shores of France, that is across the world in the other world, and they landed in the new world years ago». In New Orleans there was definitely a fierce competition between the ‘more sophisticated’ music supplied by those with French/Spanish ancestry and those with a pure African background. Jelly Roll Morton often talked about some of his compositions as having a «Spanish Tinge», meaning that the rhythms were different like in the habanera rhythm that we have discussed earlier. So where did this Spanish or Latin ingredients come from? It is clear that there was a lot of Cuban-Latin music being played in New Orleans at the turn of the century. For instance the danza genre. If you compare Joplin’s “Solace” to the scores of Ignacio Cervantes “La Celosa”, they are very similar in style and rhythm. Louis Moreau Gottschalk’s contradanza “Ojos Criollos” also has the same essential rhythmic figures. Ignacio Cervantes was a wellknown Cuban composer who died 1905, and Gottschalk had written “Ojos Criollos” in 1895 in Martinique. It is very possible that Scott Joplin had listened to famous pianists like Gottschalk, who toured Cuba, the French Carribean, New Orleans and other American cities. Mexican military bands                      F maj 1 played up and down the Mississippi in the 1880’s, and they became very famous. In 1885 New Orleans hosted the World Industrial and Cotton Centennial Exposition, to which people from many parts of America came to witness inter-cultural fare at the many national pavilions. The band of the Eigth Regiment of the Mexican Cavalry were a success at this Exhibition. Many of the musicians in the first jazz bands had started out in military bands and were veterans of the Spanish-American War. Buddy Bolden’s trombonist Willie Cornish was one, he had spent months in Cuba; as had ‘the father of the blues’ W.C. Handy, who had travelled to Cuba in 1910 with the US Army. In his world famous “St. Louis Blues”, Handy incorporated a habanera section. The music that arose in the New World is a complex of music, not only a distinct set of nationally defined musical genres. It can be explained by the common cultural origins of the people transported from West Africa, who populated the entire Caribbean basin, a vast region extending from Brazil to Tennessee: «[…] it is the historical experience of conquest, enslavement and repression and not just the original West African place of origin, that accounts for the coherence of neo-African modes of expression».* In this gumbo of cultural influences from Africa and different parts of Europe, jazz, blues and ragtime evolved, and the echoes can be heard to this day in the music we call modern and up to date. I have included the last sections of Joplin’s “Solace (a Mexican Serenade)”, as an example of the habanera rhythm being used in the bass line of a fingerstyle ragtime guitar arrangement. Good Luck with it! Lasse Johansson * Timothy Brennan, Secular Devotion: Afro-latin Music and Imperial Jazz, 290 pp., Verso, 2008 E B G D A E 2 D min 0 3 1 3 4 1 0 0               F maj 7 4 T A B 2 3 C7 2 0 2 2 4 0 3 0 2 3 0 1 3 0 2 3 1 0 2 0 T A B 1 0 4     8 1 1 3 3 3 5 2 1 3 1 11 0 1 3 2 0 4 3              0 1 3 0 0 1 0 2 0 2 0 0 3 F maj D min 9 1 2 2 R 1 3 2 0 0 2 3 0 3 1 3 1 2 3 0 4 1 3 0 3            C7 0 1 3 0 4                         C 11 3 0 3 3               G min 1 0 1 2 0 4 1 3 C7 A min 3 2 4 3 1 A min B  maj 1 3 1 C 11 1 3 3 6                10 3 3 5 5 E7 T A B 3 1 B  maj F maj                 7 1 3 G min               0 1 B  maj 1 3 2 3                           X5 F maj 7 4 0 12 0 2 3 1/3 58 59 chitarra acustica 3 twothousandandeleven chitarra acustica 3 twothousandandeleven 1 2 4 0 3 2 1 tc A Spanish Tinge in New Orleans Solace - a Mexican Serenade - Scott Joplin (1909) Guitar arrangement Lasse Johansson Solace - a Mexican Serenade - Scott Joplin (1909) Guitar arrangement Lasse Johansson                               F maj B  maj                        1.                      B dim                C 7 sus4 14 T A B                     F maj7 5 3 13 3 3 5 3 3 6 3 3 5 5 2.        3 3 4 tc A Spanish Tinge in New Orleans 15 2 3 3 2 3 3 3 1 3 2 1 3 2 3 2 3 1 2 3 3                         26 16 0 2 3 0 1 3 3 T A B 3 2 3 6 6 6 5 6 4 5 6 5 6 4 5 5 27 6 6 5 0                     6 5            6 4 6 5 5   6 5 5 5 6 5 B  maj 28 5 5 5 5 3 5 2 3 5 3 3 5 3                                     C 7 sus4 6 4 B dim F6 5 17 18 T A B 6 7 3 3 1 6 6 6 6 5                  6 5 6 4 6 5 6 4 5 5 6 5 19 5 6 5 6 4 5 6 5 5 5 6 4 6 5 T A B 5 5 1 0 0 4 30 1 4 1 3 3 0 3 1 1 1 1 1 2 2                            1.                       D7 F maj7 29 6 6 31 3 3       2. F maj C7 3 20 T A B 5 5 5 3 5 2 3 5 3 3 21 5 3 32 22 1               0 0 4 3 2 1 1 2         3 2 3 3 3 2 2 3 3 T A B 5 5 3 Sl Sl 4 4 Sl Sl 5 5 33 1 2 2 2 0 3 34 3 1 3 3 4 6 3 4 6 3 1 3 1 1 2 3             F maj 23 24 T A B 1 3 3 2 3 3 2 2 3 0 25 3 2 3 1 2 3 1 3 7 3 1 4 0 3 3 2 6 6 3/3 2/3 60 61 chitarra acustica 3 twothousandandeleven chitarra acustica 3 twothousandandeleven 1 3 1 2 1 1 3 0 3 4 tc technique tc St. Thomas St Thomas - Tradional Arranged by Eric Lugosch  Tradional Arranged by Eric Lugosch 2/3 II 1                   2 1 1 1 3 3 T Po E B G D A D 3 2 0 2 0 2 2 0 4 4   T A B               2 1 3 1 1 2 2 0 2 23 2 0 0 3 8   T A B        2 1 1 2 2 0 2 1 3 3 2 0 7 6 7 5 8 7 9 7 B   11 T A B        0 4 1 1 1 H 9 7 H 8 7 7 9  3 0 0 2 3    9 7 7 7  10 9 11 9 B 4 1 1 1 2 3 H 9 7 H 8 7 7 9 1 1 1 3 0 1 3 B 4 1 2 3 B 5 6 7 B 1 B 0 4 1 3 3 3 7 7 3 4 H 5 09 9 6 5 7 0 4    1 1 4 2 3 1    2 1 3 1 5 5 5 6 4 0 0 Page 1 / 3 0 0 B 8 7 9 7 B 3 4 3 1 2 1 3 2      4 3 1 2 1 1 3 1 5 7 5 56 5 0 7 6 5 6 7 6 7 4 5 5 3 0 3 4 4           2 3 2 2 0 6 2  3 H 0 0 5 2 1 1 1 16 0 1      2 1 3 1 3 8 B 2 1 Sl 1 2 1 Sl 2 3 0 1 0 3 1 1 Sl 2 1 Sl 2 4 0 0 1 2 0 3 4 0 0 19 1 T A B   T A B Sl 2 1 Sl 2 3 0 1 0 2 1 Sl 2 4 0 0  Sl 1 3 4 3 2 18 0 Sl 1 0 3 1                    1 2 1 1 0 0 10 9 11 9                                        21 7 6 7 5  6 13 6 1 0 T A B 0 0 1 5 6                     7 17 1 3 10 9 7 7 7 2 3 15 T A B   1 2 1 H 7 4 3 5 5   2/3 II 5                       3 5 4  14 0 2/3 V    2 0            6 7 6 7 1 12 9 B 5 7 7 0 3 4 T              3 7 7 7 7 9 2 4 3 7 8 7 9 7 2 0 2 3 1 2 3 2/3 V        09 3 8 0 7 0        2 1 3 1   Po 2    1 T 3 4 2 1 3 1       9 4              6  3 2/3 VII  2 1 2 0 0 2/3 VII   3 5 0 2 1      2 1 3 1 1 3 4    4 2 3 2 2 2 0 5 2/3 II  2 0 4        1 1 2 2/3 V 2 H H 3 2 4 3 0 4 0 0                    1 1 3 4 3 2 20 0 Sl 1 0 2 H 3 2 H 4 3 0 4 0 0                                  1 1 4 1 4 3 3 2 3 1 1 1 1 4 3 1 1 2 0 2 1 0 T 2 Po Po 4 2 4 4 3 2 22 Sl 0 4 1 3 2 Po 2 0 2 0 4 Page 2 / 3 62 63 chitarra acustica 3 twothousandandeleven chitarra acustica 3 twothousandandeleven 1 0 4 3 0 4      1 2 3 3 23 6 7 6 7 5 5 3 4 0 0 0 4 5 6 tc St. Thomas St Thomas - Tradional Arranged by Eric Lugosch    24 T A B        2 1 1 2 2 0 2 1  3 3 2 0    4 2 3         2 1 3 2 1 3 1 1 1    3 4 1      3 B 8 7 9 7 B 10 9 11 9 8 B   2 1 3 2 1 1 H 28 T A B 0 2 2 4 3 7 7 7 9 B B 5 7 7 0 5 6 7 B       4 3 1 2 T 3 3 6 7 6 7 5 5 3 4 0 0 0 4 5 6 B 2/3 II                  1     1 2 3 27 8 7 9 7 2/3 II  4 26 7 6 7 5 0 0 1 1 1 3 1 25 3   2 1 3 1   3 29 2 3 0 2 3 2 4 2 4 0 2 4 0                         3 1 1 H 30 2 5 0 2 4 0 0 2 4 2 1 3 2 1 0 2 2 2 3 0 2 3 2 4 0 2 4 0 2 4 2/3 II        1 31 T A B 3                  3 1 1 0 2 4 0 0 2 4 2 3 H 32 2 5 2 1 0 2 2 2 3 0 2 3 4 0 Here’s one of my favorites: the famous Sonny Rollins tune called St. Thomas. I include three variations, each of which I play through twice on the MP3 before proceeding to the end. Please take your time in learning this piece: it’s well worth the practice. Remember that the right hand is just as important as the left. I hope you like it, and please let me know if you have any questions. Best,
 Eric Lugosch Page 3 / 3 64 chitarra acustica 3 twothousandandeleven Visita il nostro shop digitale www.fingerpicking.net/digital lezioni di: Beppe Gambetta Bruskers Daniele Bazzani Davide Mastrangelo Eric Lugosh Fabiano Corso Franco Morone Giorgio Cordini Giovanni Palombo Giovanni Pelosi Luca Francioso Massimo Nardi Massimo Varini Muriel Anderson Paolo Bonfanti Paolo Capizzi Paolo Mari Paolo Sereno Peppino D’agostino Pietro Nobile Pino Russo Reno Brandoni Riccardo Zappa Stefan Grossman Stefano Barbati Stefano Mirandola Val Bonetti tc technique Fingerstyle Rock In recent years, acoustic fingerstyle guitar has moved out of its typical folk or folk-blues genre, and many guitarists devoted to this technique have extended their repertoire with pieces from other musical genres such as jazz, pop, funk and rock. It’s clear that rock music is essentially based on a rhythm section of drums and bass and aggressive electric guitar sounds, so it’s important to identify those features that can convey the idea of ‘rock’ when transferred to the acoustic guitar. In my opinion, these features are primarily attributable to the right rhythmic approach. You only have to listen to acoustic ‘masters’ like Michael Hedges, Don Ross, or even Tommy Emmanuel or Tuck Andress to realize how important groove is in their playing. Rhythmic Approach 1. Backbeat. This is the simplest percussion that sounds like a ‘snare drum’ and is positioned in the second and fourth quarter of the measure. The simplest version involves striking the strings over the soundhole with the back of the fingernails on your righthand. You can vary the percussive technique of your right hand by doing the same percussion with just your thumb over the low strings to make the high strings resonate(ex. 1). 2. Double Percussion. An interesting rhythmic variant to the monotone backbeat is to double the second percussion of the measure (that of the fourth quarter) by adding another on the preceding eight by hitting the strings at the twelfth fret with your left hand (ex. 2). 3. Melodic Percussion. Percussion sometimes has to be played together with a note of the melody. In this case, the percussion is played with the thumb on the low strings (as in ex. 1) while the note of the melody is played simultaneously with the back of the fingernail of the index and/or middle finger (ex. 3). Harmonic Approach In most cases, rock music involves immediate and simple harmonies, created predominantly with power chords. Tuning and Power Chords These chords (consisting of the root note and its fifth and octave) can be played on acoustic guitar in a very efficient way, taking advantage of some open tunings (DADGAD or Dropped D and others) by playing a half barré with just the tip of your index or middle finger on the fourth, fifth and sixth string (ex. 4). This method of playing power chords leaves your other fingers free to play other notes. Harmonics Natural or artificial harmonics and slapping can be used to enhance not only the melody/ harmony but also the rhythm of music. In this example we see how natural harmonics can be fitted into a simple series of power chords (ex. 5). The ‘slapping’ technique is a very effective way of playing natural and artificial harmonics. This technique involves using your right index finger to firmly tap the strings at the twelfth fret relative to the power chord you are playing (es. 6). Melodic Approach At this point it is interesting to combine rhythm and harmony with a simple melodic line that has a rock style. The Riff Riffs are the clearest examples of this approach: a riff is a melodic figure (i.e. a sequence of notes which are perceived as a single entity) that is often repeated frequently within a musical composition and is normally used as an accompaniment. In rock music, the riff is very important as it is the signature tune of the whole song (in general a rock song is successful and ‘catchy’ if it has an effective riff). Hundreds of riffs have made the history of rock, but guitar riffs in particular are mostly composed and played on distorted guitars. Our goal is to succeed in getting the same riff effect on an acoustic guitar. There are several tricks that can help us achieve this and many of them go beyond the staff as they relate to the sphere of dynamics, touch and intention. We can summarize them in three points: 1)a sharp attack on the strings; 2) doubling the riff with an open string note; 3)using octaves and slapping. 1. “Purple Haze”. The acoustic transposition of this famous and important Hendrix riff provides an ostinato accompaniment of bass crotchets which the melody fits into. It is important to try and make this riff as aggressive as possible by trying to play it ‘roughly’ (ex. 7). 2. “Voodoo Chile”. Hendrix again, giving us the inspiration for this riff in which the first notes were doubled with the first open string note (ex. 8). 3. “Smoke on the Water”. The famous Deep Purple riff (like others in this style) can be enhanced by ‘slapping’ (ex. 9). … More Percussion Once we are a little more famil- Fingerstyle Rock iar with percussion on strings (ex. 1-2-3) we can embark on giving a musical sense to percussion on wood. There are obviously no rules for this ‘unusual’ way of using the guitar, but by and large there are some areas of the guitar body that produce sounds like a drum kit. I’ve identified a few: – striking the soundboard under the bridge, with the part of your right hand between your wrist and palm, produces a sound similar to a bass drum; – striking the lower side with the fingers of your right hand, however, produces a higher sound similar to a snare drum; – striking first the top (at the height of the upper shoulder) and then the upper side with your right hand brings to mind tom tom drums; – finally, you can also use your left hand for percussion on the side of the lower shoulder or on the top next to the upper shoulder. It is important to remember that percussion should not be overused (the guitar is not a tambourine)! Try to use those elements that make sense for the piece that you are arranging (you don’t have to use them just for the sake of it). “Sunshine of Your Love” Now I will show you an analysis of my arrangement of the riff “Sunshine of Your Love” by Cream, which sums up everything we have talked about. “Sunshine of Your Love” is one of the most representative rockblues songs of the late 60’s and early 70’s. Jack Bruce is said to have composed the famous riff after attending a Jimi Hendrix concert in 1967. The song was completed with a chorus composed by Eric Clapton and lyrics by Pete Brown. The open DADGAD tuning lends itself to the arrangement because, in addition to making it simpler to play the power chords, it also allows you to use many open strings. The main riff is divided into two major sections: the first in D and the second in G (es. 10.1). As a first step I thought I’d double the riff at the low octave to ensure a sharper attack and to play it without using the right hand, but just with the left hand to make the most of the hammer-ons and pull-offs (es. 10.2). The right hand, then, can be used to create an effective percussive accompaniment on the wood to mimic a rock groove. Let’s try and play it together. To avoid complicating the notation on the staff and tab, I decided to add a staff with a notation typically used for drums to transcribe the percussions of the right hand: the x on the F (first space) represents the bass drum; the x on the C (third space) represents the snare drum (es. 10.3). 66 67 chitarra acustica 3 twothousandandeleven chitarra acustica 3 twothousandandeleven tc The next step involves varying the techniques (even if the riff already works well) with little tricks that are intended to break the monotony: First of all, let’s divide each of the two parts of the riff into 2 parts, so we will have a first and a second part in D, and the same in G. The first part in D involves tapping with the right hand while the left hand does the percussion on the body. The second part involves percussion with the right hand and ends with slapping on the last two notes. In G, instead, the first part involves strumming and the second part percussion, ending with tapping with the right hand. So let’s try the complete riff (es. 10.4). That’s all for now, have fun and… keep on (acoustic) rockin’! Stefano Barbati tc Fingerstyle Rock ESEMPIO Example 1 1 percussione semplice Simple percussion no qr p s Traccia 1 Dropped D Tuning =E =D =B =A =G =D P Q B c l Q B B L ! no qr p s Q perc ! 1 : 44 P c l Traccia 1 l c B Q B B L ! Q P k Q Moderate 1 l ! power chord with percussion 4 : E4 $ $ $ P Q Q perc Q B B L ! Q P perc* Q perc P P Q Q perc B ! H Q perc* BB B BB Q B L & & & ! Q perc* B B L ! Q P perc k 1 4 : E4 ! l Example 3 B B ! c h = 100 B B B ! $ ! $ $ $ h = 100 B perc � QB ! P B B L ! ! perc Q P � BQ perc H BB BB B $ $ ! BB ! ! ( DB B L ' ! FB B ! ! H Q perc Q P H B Page 1/1 ( k : E 44 l BB B BB Q BB B B & & & $ $ $ L == = L ! ! ! H Q Q BB B & $ $ $ B B $ ! perc H Q Q BB B BB B L B Q Q UUU BB A Harm. ) ) ) "! B L "# "# "# "! "! "! Slapping Example 6 slap UU U T.H. c H perc Esempio 5 Moderate 1 H Q perc slapping Traccia 1 Dropped D Tuning =E =D =B =A =G =D perc perc power chord with melody ! no qr p s Q Q BB B ! ! ! percussione melodica Melodic percussion perc Esempio Example45 no qr p s Q Q Q Power chord e melodia Moderate h = 100 Q Q perc BB B c h = 100 Traccia 1 Open Dsus4 Tuning =D =D =A =A =G =D Esempio 3 Moderate : 44 Q perc Double percussion ! no qr p s 1 P Q ! Traccia 1 Dropped D Tuning =E =D =B =A =G =D k P perc ES 0 2 Example B Tra ccia 1 k Q ! Traccia 1 Dropped D Tuning =E =D =B =A =G =D Moderate Q P perc Trac cia 1 : 44 P h = 100 T ra ccia 1 1 no qr p s POWER CHORD Example 4 Traccia 1 Dropped D Tuning =E =D =B =A =G =D Traccia 1 Moderate Traccia 1 k tc Fingerstyle Rock ! ! ! 12 h = 100 BB B H Q slap UU U $ $ $ Q H slap UU U T.H. T.H. & & & 17 ! ! ! 12 68 69 chitarra acustica 3 twothousandandeleven chitarra acustica 3 twothousandandeleven Page 1/1 tc Fingerstyle Rock no qr p s Purple Haze Example 7 no qr p s Purple riffHaze riff c l 4 Traccia 1 k 4 :4 B B B B A B B B ) & ( ! ! & B B B B A B B B l $ ! & ! B ! $ ! ! & $ ! & B $ ! & ! ( ! $ B ! B B B B A B B B ! B B B B A B B B $ ! & ! ( $ ! ! BB B BB BB AA B B B B B & & ! ! ! ! & & ( ( ! ! B ! ! U UU UU U U L T.H. c ! ! 12 no qr p s $ $ 15 & k BB ! & h BB BB BB = 90 ! $ ! ! ! $ B B B B B $ $ & $ ! BB ! & BB BB BB AA ! $ ! ! L $ ! 12 l k B B B B Q BH Q E BH c "# "# "! "# ! & Page 1/1 l 4 : E4 c T.H. T.H. & ! & L $ ! 12 $ 15 & $ & 17 ! $ 15 ! 12 h = 100 ( ' Q BH Q H & BB B H B B B B Q BL Q E LB Q BL Q B B B ! & $ ! & $ & "# "" "! & ) & Sunshine of your Example 10.2love riff octave Moderate 1 ' 18 L U U riff single note love Sunshine of your riff single note 4 : E4 no qr p s ' $ 15 H U U U U Sunshine of your Example 10.1love Moderate 1 Q H U U U U U QU U U U UU DDUU FF AA U L ! & 17 H H Sunshine of your love riff octave Traccia 1 Open Dsus4 Tuning =D =D =A =A =G =D Traccia 1 Tracc ia 1 l c Q H Q U riff Moderate 4 :4 4 :4 h = 100 Traccia 1 Open Dsus4 Tuning =D =D =A =A =G =D Example 8 Voodoo Chile Voodoo Chile riff no qr p s 1 Smoke Onriff The Water riff T.H. B Traccia 1 Open Dsus4 Tuning =D =D =A =A =G =D k Moderate 1 l Traccia 1 ! $ ! B B B B A B B B k Traccia 1 1 T ra ccia 1 k h = 100 Smoke on the water Example 9 Traccia 1 Dropped D Tuning =E =D =B =A =G =D Traccia 1 Open Dsus4 Tuning =D =D =A =A =G =D Moderate tc Fingerstyle Rock h = 100 B B B B Q BH Q E BH B B B B B EB "# "# "! "# "# "# "! "# ( ( ' ' Q BH Q H B B BB B BB & & ! ! $ $ ! H H H H B Q Q EB Q B Q B B B B B B EB B BB B BBBB & ! & & & $ $ & & 70 71 chitarra acustica 3 twothousandandeleven chitarra acustica 3 twothousandandeleven B "# "# "" "" "! "! & & B ) ) & & Page 1/1 tc Fingerstyle Rock Vieni a visitare il nostro sito Unisciti alla comunità della Chitarra Acustica online Sunshine of your Example 10.3love riff+perc no qr p s Sunshine of your love riff with percussion Traccia 1 Open Dsus4 Tuning =D =D =A =A =G =D 1 Percussi. Traccia 1 k Moderate l BBBBQ BBBB : E 44 c 1 h = 100 "# "# "! "# H H Q B EB ' ( ^ ^ ^ ^ ] 44 bd sn bd & ' c 5 bd sn l T "# "! "# "# "! "# ^ ] 44 Q L ! ! Q EE BB T L ( ' ( T ^ T S & ' ! & ! $ $ & P P $ $ & & ! ! "# "# "" ^ "" "! "! ! ^ ^ ! ) S ! "# ! ^ ^ P P ) P "# & "" "# sn bd "" sn "! & "! ) & ) & & ^ ^ ^ ^ bd sn bd sn / U B/ B B/ E B/ B U B B B B Q E B Q B Q B UU B B L B B L B UU B B B L L & & & $ bd / B B & $ & ^ ^ ^ ^ sn Q BB Q / B B B B B BB Q EE BB Q BB Q B BB BBBBB L L B & 5 bd & & arr. Stefano Barbati Cream L Traccia 1 Percussi. h = 100 U B/ B B/ U BBBB B : E 44 Traccia 1 P ercussi. k & ! BB B Sunshine of your love arrangement Moderate 1 ! $ H Q B Q BH B B B Example 10.4 S l $ H SUNSHINE OF YOUR LOVE no qr p s 1 ! B ^ ^ ^ ^ sn Traccia 1 Open Dsus4 Tuning =D =D =A =A =G =D k ! & H B B B B Q BB Q EE BB BB B B B BB B BB B EB ( "# "# "! "# Q BH Q H "# U U Q^ L S "# & "# Q ^ L T T T T "! "# ! ( ' & "! "# ! ( ^ ' L S ! & $ ! $ "! "# "! "# ! ! 73 chitarra acustica 3 twothousandandeleven T T T ( ' & ( ^ ' ! ^ ^ P P / B/ B B/ E B/ B B B B B Q E B Q B Q B UU B B L L T ! & ^ ^ L ! ! S B B $ ! P P Page 1/1 $ ! tc tc technique Exercises for the right hand When we play, just as when we speak, it’s fundamental to make ourselves understood. The musical topic that we have in mind at times however may not be perceived with the right intensity. In some cases, this lack of clarity in performance may be caused by the fingers on the right hand that are not satisfactorily independent. I’m proposing some exercises for you that I use with my students. They are aimed at improving this independence. The aspects that you need to seek to improve are the awareness of pressure that each finger must place on each string and a better control over the intensity of each touch. I think it’s really important to make it clear that teaching literature for guitar (both classical and modern) is full of exercises of this type. I simply hope to do people a favour by putting forward my version that I’ve found useful on several occasions. So here are several arpeggios based on fixed fingering for the right hand in which the disposition of the accents should vary according to the different cases. The left hand uses only one position brought forward on the keyboard. I advise you to begin the study of these arpeggios using simple open strings or maintaining a fixed position with the left hand. The fingering is shown on the stave while the symbol > indicates a note with an accent. The first exercise, the simplest and the most intuitive, in compound time 6/8, is aimed at developing the thumb’s independence in terms of the pressure it should apply to the string. The way in which the arpeggio has been structured in the simple succession of thumb, index finger and middle finger means that the two strong accents present in each bar always fall on the note played using the thumb. This should be clearly distinguished with respect to the accompaniment by the index and middle fingers (and where necessary the ring finger) that should be completely unaccented. It’s advisable to repeat this exercise again with the alternative fingering given. This is certainly less natural for the hand but is anyway useful for our purpose. This exercise has its practical application in pieces where the melody is found in the bass lines. An aspect that I consider absolutely fundamental is that of ‘preparing’ the fingers that are going to play the strings after the thumb. This preparation (with reference to the first fingering) consists in placing the thumb, index and middle fingers simultaneously on the respective strings in the instant immediately before the thumb’s movement. The preparation must be repeated each time you come across the sequence of thumb, index finger, middle finger. In this way, you will obtain greater stability in your hand and the arpeggio will become clearer and more fluid and with time more agile and quicker. The second exercise, in groups of four notes, is almost the same as the first exercise but is subdivided in the duple time of 4/4. This leads to the strong accent falling every time on a different finger and here lies the usefulness of the exercise. It falls first on the thumb, then on the index finger and then on the middle finger to return to the thumb. The heart of the exercise lies in developing the left hand’s independence necessary to allow only the first note of the four to be clearly accented. The most common mistake is to accent the correct note but simultaneously to give too much weight to the thumb even when it’s not playing an accented note. Once again for exercise 2, I recommend dedicating yourself with patience to developing the alternative fingering suggested. The ‘preparation’ of the index and middle fingers is still fundamental (I refer back to what has already been said for the first fingering). In exercise 3, the first two arpeggios have simply been united in succession. It’s important to accurately develop this exercise in order to acquire the ability to agilely position the accents according to irregular schemes so that you are then able to apply them with ease to pieces that we will go on to play. I have recorded three musical examples to help you better understand what I mean. I hope that they can be of use to you. I hardly need to say that we begin slowly to accelerate gradually. In my opinion, it’s not necessary to take this kind of exercise to extreme speeds. On the other hand, it’s better to concentrate on the correct performance and clarity of the positions of the accents. Here is a brief technical/musical consideration concerning why I believe it’s particularly important to insist on these exercises that are often considered rather boring. Sometimes I happen to listen to pieces that are incredibly beautiful, played by talented guitarists of great musicality and creativity. However, in my opinion, they have performed the pieces without fully emphasising their melodic or rhythmic potential. Here are some examples to explain what I mean: the melody doesn’t come through properly, the bass is exaggeratedly present or the accompaniment becomes the principal part and the whole thing sounds confused and undefined. I believe that often the performer has the feeling of what they are playing perfectly in mind but at times, owing to some technical weaknesses in the right hand, the message doesn’t come through clearly in all its beauty. Studying exercises based on the arpeggios like those presented here allows you to begin to develop the fingers of the right hand independently. This allows the melody or the bass to come through clearly according to necessity. It’s a starting point that must then be adequately developed. I hope these exercises can be of use to you and above all that they help you express your ideas to the full as they can be immediately applied to your music. Bye and have fun studying! Eugenio Polacchini Bruskers Esercizi per mano destra Exercises forlathe right hand 1.1.Tempo ternario accento Ternary time - -accent onsul thepollice thumb Eugenio Polacchini > diteggiature: 1) p i 2) p m 3) p i       T A B 4       7         0 0    0 0    0  7  12 0   0   0 m a a  4 > p p p   0 5   12 m a a          2 4   7 i m i 2 4  0 0 2 5 7  0 10 12 10 0  10 0 0 Eugenio Polacchini - Bruskers - 2011 74 75 chitarra acustica 3 twothousandandeleven chitarra acustica 3 twothousandandeleven  12 10 0   0     5 7 0    2      0 5 7         4 0    0      0 2 4 0 5  0               12 10   tc tc Esercizi per la mano destra 2 2. Tempo binario - Quartine* > > > > diteggiature: 1) p i m p i m p i m p i m p i m 2) p m a p m a p m a p m a p m a 3) p i a p i a p i a p i a p i a      10     0    13     0    0 16     0 0 0  7  12  4  0  0  0 7 p p p             4 2 4  0 2  0 0 2 5 10 7 12  0 5 10  0  0 0 5 10 7 0 0  12  0   2 0    7 0  0 > > i m p i m p i m m a p m a p m a i a p i a p i a 4 0  0 5 10    0 2 4                         12 0   5 0    12   10 0 0 0   12   4   7  0  0  0    4 2     7 5      12 12  * Prima di affrontare l'esercizio 2 provare lo schema di questo arpeggio utilizzando solamente 3 corde vuote adiacenti, senza introdurre subito i cambi di corda. Eugenio Polacchini - Bruskers - 2011 Exercises for the right hand Exercises the right Esercizi perfor la mano destrahand 2 > > > > diteggiature: 1) p i m p i m p i m p i m p i m 2) p m a p m a p m a p m a p m a 3) p i a p i a p i a p i a p i a       10          0 13         0 0 16      0 0 0  7  12  4  0  0  0             4 2 4  0 2 2  0 0 2 4 7 5 7  0 5 5  0 0 7 12 10 12 10  0 10 0 0  12 2     7    0 12 0   5 0  0   0 0 10   4 0 5 > i m p i m a p m i a p i  0              0             p p p 3. Mix! 3. Mix! Esercizi per la mano destra 2. Tempo binario - Quartine* 2. Binary time - group of four notes*   10 0 0 0   12 > m p i m a p m a a p i a   4   7  0  0  0    4 2 5 12 12       0   4 0 0 i m i m a a          2 4 4  0 2 2     0 0 4 > > > > diteggiature: 1) p i m p i m p i m p i m p i m 2) p m a p m a p m a p m a p m a 3) p i a p i a p i a p i a p i a     22              > p p p m a a 19      7 > diteggiature: 1) p i 2) p m 3) p i 3          0 0    0  4 25    0 0  7             4   0 2 2 4   7 5  0 0 2 0  4 p p p  0 2 0        7 5 0  5 0 0 * Before attempting exercise 2, trylothe pattern of this arpeggio by using only three * Prima di affrontare l'esercizio 2 provare schema di questo arpeggio utilizzando solamente 3 corde vuote adiacenti, senza introdurre subito i cambi di corda. adjacent open strings, without introducing string changes yet. Eugenio Polacchini - Bruskers - 2011 Eugenio Polacchini - Bruskers - 2011 76 77 chitarra acustica 3 twothousandandeleven chitarra acustica 3 twothousandandeleven   0 2 0        2 4 > i m p i m a p m i a p i > m p i m a p m a a p i a     4   2 0 0     7 5 0  4   0        2 4 0       7 5   tc Esercizi per la mano destra 4      28            0   7 0 0  31          0 34      0 0  12  7   12 0            0  0 5 5 7   12  0 5  0 0 7  12 10 0  12  0 10 10 0 10  0 10 0 0  12 0 0     0 10 12 10   5 7       10 12  0 5                0 0 Eugenio Polacchini - Bruskers - 2011 78 chitarra acustica 3 twothousandandeleven 0   7  12   10 0 0 7 0 5         0        10 12   12  0      12 12  