From the Studio of Mike
Herberts:
I think it's fair to say that even extremely experienced
guitarists find Cavatina too difficult. If you've ever tried the
original version then you already know what I mean.
One
of the reasons for the difficulty is the way the tune is constructed.
It actually sounds quite simple doesn't it. It's just a series
of
arpeggios with a simple, but very beautiful melody,
which weaves
in among the repetitive arpeggios and gives us, the listener, a false
impression of its simplicity.
We
are fooled into thinking
it's a simple
piece because it 'sounds' so simple
The difficulty stems from the fact that just about every chord change
involves a barre chord and you probably don't need me to tell you that
barre chords are the single
biggest reason that people give up on guitar.
Just learning to hold one barre chord (we usually start with the 'F'
chord don't we?) is usually enough to put most people off, particularly
when learning on acoustic, where the string tension is a little higher
than electric, and usually the neck is a little wider.
Now imagine playing a comparatively long piece where every single chord
change is a barre chord combined with an intricate right hand pick. The
immense amount of strength and precision
required is usually enough to put most guitarists off for life.
So what we have here is a very beautiful and popular piece of guitar
music which is so well loved and known by non-guitarists (who
have no concept of
just how difficult it is to play) and it doesn't take long before
someone asks 'Can you Play Cavatina?'
But
all those barre chords
make it just
about unplayable for most
people
You then either have to say 'NO'...or.....start to explain how
difficult it is to play Cavatina because . . . blah blah blah. . .
Do you think they are interested in all that?
Right, now stop for a second. Picture a time when you are playing your
guitar and someone says the inevitable 'Can you play Cavatina?' and you
say....yes....and you start to play it.
I guarantee that when you have mastered my easy version of this piece,
even very experienced guiarists are going to be wide eyed and will be
demanding to know how you learned to play Cavatina.
So let's have a look at how we are going to make this happen.
The first thing you need to know is that I am NOT a musical purist. In
fact, when it comes to playing guitar, I am happy to belt out pieces
that sound ok even if I am missing bits out, playing it in a different
key, breaking all the rules and generally getting on the nerves of
'musical purists'.
Warning: If you are a purist and want to learn the Exact Version of
Cavatina as played by the original artist (John Williams I believe in
the
Movie soundtrack) THIS IS NOT FOR YOU.
If
you're NOT a purist and
just want
to
play a version that sounds nice
However, if you are a bit like me and just want an easy to play,
simplified (though slightly cut down) version that will be
recognised immediately you start to play it....then please read on.
The way I produced this easy play version is to completely dismantle
the entire piece.
I looked at every chord position, watched every video I could find
online, listened intently, many hundreds of times, to the complete
recording and even searched for the tabs online (not much use for a
simple version).
It has taken 6 months to chop and change things around. To grade each
section in my own mind for its playability, I'm sure you can imagine
the number of times I asked myself 'could a beginner play this section?'
If you want to get a feel for how laborious and repetitive the process
has been then just mention the word 'Cavatina' to my other half and
wait for her reaction. I must have played it a thousand times over and
I've asked her hundreds of times 'does this bit sound ok?'
Her response towards the end of this process is NOT repeatable here but
went a bit like '"just get the **&&@@@@$$$ thing
finished so that I never have to listen to it again" (Sorry Joy)
It
takes such a long
time to simplify
something
this complicated
Eventually, as I simplified each section, I was finally happy that
I'd removed all the 'obstacles' but that also meant
that I had to leave some fairly hefty chunks out.
Having said all that, what you're left with is a very acceptable
sound-a-like version of the piece. Sufficiently authentic to satisfy
most guitarists who don't want to spend lonely hour after hour, month
after month to just learn a single piece of music.
To my knowledge this is the only version that is going to be playable
by the majority of guitarists. If you have at least some experience of
playing and a normal amount of determination (you don't need to be
super-human) then you are going to be fine.
There are NO full barre chords in this piece. There are a couple of
brief instances of 'three string barres' and that is it.
Also there are not really any instances of conventional chords. So you
don't need to worry if you haven't learned all the basic chords yet.
So even though this is a cut-down version, I promise that the feeling
of
satisfaction for your listeners AND for yourself, will be exactly the
same as if you'd spent a year of your life learning to play it.
For
this version we don't even
need the basic chords that
everyone eventually learns
Because you will still be playing a fairly thorough rendition of the
piece, which YOU are going to be performing from start to finish, you
will still feel that real sense of satisfaction.
I don't know about you, but for me, playing a nice piece like this all
the way through, gives me a tremendous buzz whether I have an
appreciative audience or if I I'm playing it simply for my own pleasure.
I bet you're thinking 'it all sounds great Mike, but will I REALLY be
able to play it?'
Almost anyone with a small amount of playing experience will be able to
master this version. I am quite confident saying this for a reason I've
already mentioned....which is that the piece doesn't even contain any
'conventional' chord shapes.
So even if you are pretty new to guitar I won't be asking you to do
something that I think you should already know. The piece will present
the exact same challenges to experienced players as it does to beginners. Most of the positions you'll
need to hold will be new to you no matter how long you've been playing.
But of course they are all fairly simple anyway.
Guitarists
of even a very
basic level
can
learn to perform this version
So even if you are very new to guitar, you will not be disadvanteged by
not knowing all your chords. In some ways, not knowing them, is
probably a benefit.
I've already had people ask me 'will learning this version be useful as
a stepping stone if I choose to
go on and learn the full original version?
Frankly? NO.
In terms of difficulty there is a world of difference between this easy
play version and the original piece, truthfully they are about as far
removed from each other as it is possible to be.
Let
me just remind you what
this learning
package
for Cavatina consists of.
For the first time ever I have broken the piece down based on how the
tabs are printed. So I've produced one video lesson per page of tab and
there are six pages in total.
This also means that the tabs are printed a bit bigger and more clearly
than usual as some people have asked specifically for me to produce
bigger fonts on the tabs.
Yes I know it's obvious, but only when someone mentions it. It should
have been obvious to me especially since I am now of an age where the
old eyesight is definitely NOT what it used to be.
So you get six printable tab pages, six videos the Tefview
file. I decided NOT to put the tabs 'onscreen' as I did with Classical
Gas for two reasons.
One is that it gives me a bit more 'screen' to play with and two is
that I think it makes life easier to see the whole of each page (that
you'll have printed off) rather than just the little section I'm
talking about in the videos.
I've tried to make this release as complete and learnable as I possibly
can. I have now re-shot the lessons three times in total because I kept
finding little areas for improvement.
The
opening section that I am letting people download as a sample is
taken from the second shooting but that is only because I needed to get
something out quickly because the project was taking a lot longer that
I had hoped.
To
get Instant Delivery of this video download set simply click on the
Paypal button below.
This Video Lesson Set Consists Of:
6 Pages of Tab in .pdf format
6 Video Lessons to play in Windows Media Player (Mac OK Too)
6 TefView files. (Playable tab files and player included)
The whole package is
downloadable to your hard drive so you can watch and learn as many
times as you like. |
|
Yes
Mike I want to be able to say YES, the next time someone says 'Can you
play Cavatina?'
