Dear Stephen,
Thanks for your kind comments. There are only three ways to finger this
chord: (reading from the top) 1224, 1223, 1324. The only one which is
supported by historical evidence (recommended by Besard) is the first.
The second is tempting, because I hate using the 4th finger on the lower
courses, but is not always practical and the third is the kind of thing
a classical guitarist might attempt but cannot be recommended on either
practical or historical grounds.
There is an interesting wrinkle, however: as Stewart McCoy pointed out
in a talk at the Lute Society Weekend last year, Besard is very precise
in specifying that you don't flatten the finger in a "mini-barre" to
play (in this case) 1224 or in another well-known chord a1b2b3d5, 0113,
but use the tip of the finger. It takes some practise to get used to it
(because we are used to centring the finger on the two strings of a
single course, and it goes against the grain to place the finger between
the courses, effectively fingering both. I find this difficult with my
first finger because it is very tapered at the end, so I have to
"squash" it a bit to cover all the strings, but this is an area where
different people have different difficulties.
Many years ago I asked Paul O'Dette whether he ever fingered d2f3f4c5
using the 4th finger for the middle two notes (also an issue with
d1f2f3c4) and he described it as a "project" - implying that it might be
a good idea, it might be what the old guys did, but so far he hadn't
mastered it. Besard gives separate fingers (as in modern guitar
fingering) but I just wonder what the old guys did - after all, with
octave stringing, there's precious little difference between d2f3f4c5
and d2b1c5 or between d1f2f3c4 and d1a2c4.
Brought up as many of us were in the modern "classical" guitar
tradition, we tend to miss opportunities which jazz and rock guitarists
have exploited for a long time, including the use of the LH thumb which
has been debated on this list before.
Just my thoughts.
Martin
Stephen Arndt wrote:
Dear Martin,
Once again, a very beautiful piece and exquisitely played. Tell me,
how did you finger the chord on the third beat of measure
thirty-eight? Did you hold down the notes on the second and third
strings with the second finger amd use the third finger on the fifth
string (which I absolutely cannot do), or did you use the second and
third fingers on the second and third strings and the fourth finger on
the fifth string (which I find too difficult to play in tempo)? In
either case, I envy your playing.
Best regards,
Stephen
----- Original Message ----- From: "Martin Shepherd"
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "Lute Net" <[email protected]>
Sent: Friday, June 20, 2008 4:08 AM
Subject: [LUTE] New piece of the month for June
Dear All,
I have finally caught up - more or less. The new piece of the month
is up and running at:
www.luteshop.co.uk/month/pieceofthemonth.htm
A wonderfully obscure but rather splendid piece, I think.
Martin
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