Hi, all,
I agree, a great link to the Capirola translation. Just a note -- the LH thumb technique mentioned has only recently been universally frowned on in the classical guitar world, and primarily since the Segovia revolution (I know -- here he goes again!). For one example, J. K. Mertz specifically notates for it in several places (see his "Kuckuck"); I don't know off-hand about other, more Spanish sources, but it's also called for in several of the American 19th/early 20th c. guitar books I work from. I'm sure some current composers are using it again. I've used it for this guitar music, though it takes getting used to (like any modification of one's established technique), and I find that usually I can go either way without seriously affecting the music. My lute is 10-course, so I can't try it out with Capirola. As a probably OT aside, brushing several strings with the RH thumb is also far more common in the 19th c. guitar repertoires mentioned (see the thumb rest stroke thread) than other classical genres, as are huge "slides," like 2nd fret to 10th fret, and sometimes back -- potentially disastrous with tied frets! I bet Eugene knows a lot more about this than I do. In re: Dave van Ronk: I'd have to take a closer look, but I think Richie Havens frets at least 3 strings, maybe 4, with his thumb. He's using an "open-chord" tuning, of course, with lots of strummed chords. Best to all, and keep playing. Chris. >>> Daniel Winheld <[email protected]> 1/21/2010 3:04 PM >>> Thank you Stephan for this link. Great to have all this info. As to using that left thumb effectively, I appreciate how you mention "the right" 6 course lute. Mine sure isn't, and it is not a particularly wide neck. On the other hand, coming from (originally) classical guitar which frowned vehemently on such LH usage, I have no skill or experience with this technique- which I have seen used by non-classical guitarists ONLY on very narrow neck guitars; but some of them do it with exquisite skill, rolling the hand into the neck and slipping that thumb over and onto the 6th string quickly, neatly, and accurately- then rolling right off it, and coming around almost instantly to do a full and very correct bar chord. I read somewhere that David van Ronk, (very large hands) could even fret the 5th string with his thumb. Different story for me, and of course anyone with 7 or more courses. I dug out my Capirola and tried out the fingering that I posted hastily last night, (the essence of which involves using the 2nd, middle finger instead of the putative thumb) and all works very smoothly for me at any reasonable tempo. Nice piece, too- I hadn't noticed it before. I hope we can look forward to the day when some lute players- perhaps specialists in 5 and very early 6 course lutes- can show us these techniques in use. Dan >The problem of fretting the sixth string pretty much goes away if >you have the right 6-course lute and can stop it with your thumb. >This is a common technique with electric guitar and seems to be >indicated as a possibility in the introduction to the Capirola MS ( >http://www.marincola.com/lutebot1.txt ). > >Stephen Fryer -- To get on or off this list see list information at [1]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html -- References Visible links 1. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute Hidden links: 2. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/19/jon-stewart-gets-fed-up-d_n_427917.html
