Click to hear "East Of The Sun"
Guitar Lesson by Steven Herron - press "Play"
Play Pause Stop
...................................................Chord Melody Guitar Music.......................................................
1-800-913-9477 -Toll
Free 843-838-2657 - Phone 843-838-7381 - Fax chordmelod@aol.com
Acoustic Guitar Tabs..........Classical Guitar Tabs.............Lick
Library Guitar DVDs
Beginner's Guitar Tabs.......Country
Guitar Tabs..............Play
Along Guitar Book/CDs
Blues Guitar Tabs................Flamenco
Guitar Tabs...........Religious
Guitar Tabs
Brazilian Guitar Tabs..........Jazz
Guitar Music Course.....Robert
Conti Guitar Tabs
Celtic Guitar Tabs................Jazz
Guitar Tabs (A-K)..........Rock
Guitar Tabs
Christian Guitar Tabs..........Jazz
Guitar Tabs (L-Z)...........Spanish
Guitar Tabs
Secure Order Form
Click to hear
"East Of The Sun"
Guitar
Lesson by Steven Herron - press "Play"
Play Pause Stop
Dear Guitarist and Friend,
Welcome to the
February Guitar Lesson of the Month! This month's lesson is a
Bossa Nova style chord melody
solo of the
classic standard "East Of The Sun" arranged by jazz guitarist Chris Buzzelli. This arrangement is from the book with 2 CDs called "Jazz
Guitar Standards - Chord Melody Solos" which is fully described below. It is an
excellent example of how a melody can be harmonized with 3, 4, and 5-note
chord voicings. You will also notice it is written in standard notation (for
those of you who can read music) and tab notation for those of you who can't. In
tab notation, the highest line of the staff towards the top of the page
represents the 1st string or the highest pitched string of the guitar, while the
lowest line of the staff represents the 6th string or the lowest pitched string
of the guitar. The numbers on the various lines tell you what fret to press down
on that particular string. So if you have the number "2" on the highest
line of the staff, it is telling you to press down the 2nd fret on the first
string of your guitar.
Also, I am including a
sound clip from one of the CDs that comes with this book - so that you can hear
exactly how the song should be played. You will also notice that due to
copyright restrictions, I am only presenting the first page of the song.
Here is the book description from our website:
Jazz Guitar Standards - Chord Melody Solos
- Book and 2 CDs. Songs include: "Body and
Soul, Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man, I've Got You Under My Skin, What's New"
-arranged by Ron Berman, "All
The Things You Are, April in Paris, East of the Sun, Honeysuckle Rose, In Your
Own Sweet Way, Just
Friends" -arranged by Chris Buzzelli, "A Foggy Day, I Could Write a Book"
-arranged by Charles Chapman,
"Beautiful Love, Yesterdays" -arranged by Corey Christiansen, "How High the
Moon, Moonlight in Vermont"
-arranged by Mike Christiansen, "As Time Goes By, Bluesette, Bye Bye Blackbird,
Invitation, It Don't Mean a
Thing, You Stepped Out of a Dream" -arranged by Dave Frackenpohl, "All of You,
But Not for Me" -arranged
by Barry Greene, "The Days of Wine and Roses, Have You Met Miss Jones, Smoke
Gets in Your Eyes, You
Go to My Head" -arranged by Sid Jacobs, "I Love You, Watch What Happens"
-arranged by Ken Karsh,
"Alone Together, Lover Man, My Funny Valentine, Night and Day" -arranged by
LaRue Nickelson, "I Can't
Get Started, Satin Doll, Summertime" -arranged by John Purse, "The Way You Look
Tonight, What Is This
Thing Called Love" arranged by Bruce Saunders, "Misty, Speak Low" -arranged by
Rick Stone, "Embraceable
You, Long Ago, Someone to Watch Over Me' -arranged by Jack Wilkins. Notation/ tab / Fingerstyle/ pickstyle...Price
- $24.95
You will notice the traditional classical guitar notation for the right hand is
indicated throughout the piece. P is the thumb, I is the index finger, M is the
middle finger, and A is the ring finger. Be sure to follow the right hand fingerings
I have written in throughout the entire piece very carefully and do them exactly as I indicate. This
arrangement is a good example of Bossa Nova
guitar fingerings. Hopefully you have read the report I sent to you recently that
talked about analyzing a piece of music one measure at a time by visualizing the left and
right hand fingerings in your "mind's eye". If you haven't, here is a link to
that page-->www.chordmelody.com/newpage110.htm
"East Of The Sun" is played in 4/4 time, which
means that there are 4 beats per measure and a quarter note gets 1 beat, a
half-note gets 2 beats, while an eighth note gets 1/2 a beat. This piece
is in the key of G major which means that all of the F notes are sharp unless otherwise indicated. Wouldn't it be nice to actually be able to read music
like a professional musician? Well here's your chance to start.
I play this piece "free
stroke", which means that after one of my right hand fingers strikes a string, it
clears the other strings and follows through into the back of the palm of my hand. This
whole technique /idea of "follow through" is critical to getting the maximum
amount of volume and projection from each note that you play. It will also enable
you to get a fuller tone out of your notes. Try to keep your right hand wrist slightly
arched and elevated so there are 3-4 inches of clearance between the face of the guitar
and your wrist. Keep your right hand wrist straight at all times. This alone will
probably help you avoid tendonitis and carpal tunnel syndrome. Strive to keep your right
hand fingers as straight as possible so that you are moving them mainly from the knuckle
joint instead of the middle joint, like most guitarists do. This way you're using the
muscles of your entire finger instead of just half of your finger.
Some other critical right hand tips are: play on the left side of your
fingertips where the flesh and the nail meet each other. There's only one spot where this
happens and it will feel like there's very little resistance at that point. Your tone will
also be as good as possible at that point of impact. Also, you want to keep your fingertip
segments relaxed and flexible so that they give or bend backwards as they strike the
string, thereby absorbing the impact of hitting a stationary object without hooking or
snagging. This whole idea of relaxation is trained as it is definitely people's natural
tendency to tense up their entire body when they are trying to play guitar. The only way
you will ever become as proficient as you can personally be, is to eliminate all tension
from your hands and fingers as well as your arms and shoulders or for that matter, your
entire body. According to the theory of muscular interaction, if there is tension anywhere
in your body, it will affect your hands and fingers to a certain extent.
There are only 2 tendons in your right hand that control all of
your fingers. Your index finger and your thumb are connected to 1 of them, while your
middle, ring, and little fingers are connected to the other one. Keeping this in mind,
let's work on a finger alternation exercise. I want you to alternate your index and middle
fingers back and forth on the 1st string of your guitar, making sure that each finger
follows through into the back of the palm of your hand after it strikes the string. Since
your thumb and your index finger are connected to the same tendon, you'll probably find
that your thumb tenses up and moves around when your index finger strikes the string.
You'll just have to practice this enough that you can get the 2 of them independent and
separated from each other. Since your middle, ring, and little fingers are connected to
the same tendon, when your middle finger strikes the string you would want all 3 of them
to move together in the same direction - almost as if they were tied together with a
string. If they are relaxed their natural tendency would be to move as 1 group. Also, when
you are alternating your index and middle fingers you want to get them to "directly
alternate". This means as 1 finger is going back into the palm of your hand, the
other finger is coming out of the palm of your hand and moving into position to strike the
next note. This way you are always lined up ahead of time for the next note.
"Direct alternation" is the only way you will ever be able to play single note
passages fast and fluently. Train your fingers to be about 1/8th of an inch above and
1/8th of an inch in front of the string they are about to play. This will not only help
your accuracy, but will also improve the tone of each note. In other words, you are
always striving to keep your fingers so close to the string, prior to striking the string,
that they almost touch the string before they strike it.
Your left hand wrist should be straight and slightly arched with
the wrist itself being directly underneath the guitar neck. Your thumb should stay in the
middle of the back of the guitar neck, opposite the first (index) finger of your left
hand. Keep your thumb perfectly straight - bending your thumb is just another
tension habit that should be avoided at all costs. Your thumb will contact the back of the
neck slightly on it's left side. Keep your left hand fingers arched and play on your
fingertips, close to the fingernails so that you are directly on top of the string. All of
these technique- pointers usually take months of focused thought to get them to be habits.
So be patient and read these pointers at the beginning of each practice session.
I strongly urge you to work
your way through a good series of classical guitar method books such as the ones on the
"Classical" page of our website by Aaron Shearer, who was my teacher when I went
to Peabody Conservatory of Music or the series by Frederick Noad. Both are excellent,
graded methods that will help you become a more confident, knowledgeable
classical/fingerstyle guitarist. I also enthusiastically recommend the series of classical
guitar DVDs by Frederick Hand and the book/DVD by Scott Tennant called "Pumping
Nylon". There's a lot to be said for being able to watch someone
demonstrate all of the subtle nuances involved with playing good classical /fingerstyle
guitar. You will never be sorry if you
take the time to learn how to read music (standard notation), which is much more
descriptive, as far as subtle nuances are concerned, than tab notation is. This
skill will enable you to not just be a guitarist, but a musician as well. Link to ->Classical Page We also have numerous collections of
Bossa Nova book/CDs, and DVDs, on the Brazilian page
of our website.
Warm Regards,
Steven Herron
P.S. If you haven't already received a copy of
my Chord Harmonizations Report - here is a link to that page -
Chord Harmony Report
