Man, I can’t believe this project is finished.  It’s been in the works a long time.  Again, something that sounded very easy turned out to be involved and lengthy.  This time, despite it being a music project, I was completely ignorant of the effort that was going to be involved.

Basically, I wanted to improve my recording of Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto on the electric guitar.  I recorded it a long time ago with synthesizer tracks replacing the orchestra.  Although I was happy with the recording, the synth sounds had always been the weakness.  Just a year or year and a half ago, a friend, colleague, and fellow guitarist suggested that I redo the MIDI tracks with real orchestral recordings.

I finally got around to looking into this.  However, I was convinced that all that was involved in converting a MIDI file into orchestral sounds was running the MIDI file through some high end samples and call it good.  Man, was I wrong.

I started out by posting a job on Elance requesting someone to convert a MIDI file into a WAV file.  I got numerous responses whose prices ran the gamut from $50 to $500.  This seemed weird, but I didn’t really think much of it.  I ended up picking a really nice and knowledgeable guy in Argentina.  He was way on the low end of the price, but I really picked him because he sounded informed and communicated well.  However, when it came time to share the job with him, I got a nice but firm email stating that he’d misunderstood the requirements and that it was way beyond what he had originally had bidded on.  He was nice enough to spend a lot of time with me to explain exactly what would be involved.  About the same time, I met a guy in China, Xiao Xie, through another friend who, having studied music and was working in the music industry here in Shenzhen as a game and advertisement composer, seemed to be a great fit for the job.  So, I enlisted him.  A great find!

His English was pretty good, better than my Chinese, but at least he had a command of the technical music terms in English, so we could get by.  He basically confirmed what the guy in Argentina had stated:  we needed to render each instrument into a wave file, and usually each track would need to be rendered multiple times.  For example, we’d need to render some violin sections with long bow strokes with pronounced vibrato, other times we’d need to use a swift marcato, and then everything in between.  Strings are always the most difficult, but we had to do the same for winds and brass as well.  On top of that, for the challenging full orchestral moments, we rendered multiple versions of the same track to give it a full ensemble sound.  We neede to separate some tracks, like some of the flute tracks, so we could bring out the melody better.  Then, we went back, mixed it all together, reworking sections multiple times so that the balance would be good.  We added equalization, reverb, and so on.

As you can see, this is way more work than simply turning on orchestral samples, pressing “play” on the MIDI file and “record” on the WAV recorder.  We usually spent one day per weekend, for anywhere from two to six hours working through the piece.  It took about three to four months to do the whole thing.  We worked hard on it, got testy with each other from time to time, but remained friends throughout. A celebration is called for.

Intro:

This smooth, flowing passage containing wide leaps, arpeggios, and challenging grace notes is from Polish violinist/composer Henryk Wieniawski’s first Violin Concerto (F sharp minor, Op. 14).  It’s a great lick for developing left-hand dexterity.

Lick #1:

This selection opens with two similar two-measure licks, both are based on a B major arpeggio, then an F# major arpeggio.  The very first note of this lick can be thought of as an “pickup note” because it doesn’t really belong with the selection; it’s really part of the previous phrase.  So, it’s perfectly fine to start the lick on the 11^th fret low E-string.

The fingerings are optimized to manage the grace notes (G-string 13-15-13) and the F# major arpeggio (second measure, with the half-step leading notes).

Suggestion:  First practice the opening four measures without the grace notes, but with the same fingerings.  It will likely feel like a strange fingering, but will be more comfortable once you add the grace notes in later after you’re familiar with the lick.

Lick #2:

Lick #1 leads smoothly into this one, a flowing passage that is decorated with more grace notes.  The only difference in the two measures here are the grace notes and the G-note.  In the first measure, the notes are natural (G-natural, A-natural) and they are made sharp in the second measure.  It creates a nice effect.

This lick is relatively easy, but pay special attention to cleanly fretting the successive 9^th fret notes on the B and G strings.

Suggestion:  Again, practice the lick without the grace notes.  The fingerings will feel odd without the grace notes, but once you have a good sense of the lick and add them back in, it will feel natural.

Lick #3:

The last section to pay special attention to is an F# 7^th arpeggio.  It begins with a huge leap from the G-string 11^th fret to the E-string 24^th fret.  If you don’t have a guitar with 24 frets, don’t worry; you can simply play the harmonic at the equivalent of the 24^th fret.  Also, because this lick repeats there are two fingerings suggestion in the tab for this arpeggio:

1. The first one sounds a little more smooth and must be played if you do not have a 24-fret guitar.
2. The second fingering (also shown on the left) is simpler because it matches the pattern of the same arpeggio one octave lower (starting on the E-string 12^th fret).

The final notes lead back to D# note (G-string, 8^th fret) that begins the next phrase.

Notice that the second part of the F# 7 arpeggio is fingered with the 3^rd finger (frets 12-9-11-11) instead of the 2^nd finger.  The 3^rd finger is best because this fingering sets up the 2^nd finger to smoothly fret the first of the final notes.

Shred the Classics.

Download the Tab

Intro:

This selection is from Polish violinist/composer Henryk Wieniawski’s first Violin Concerto (F sharp minor, Op. 14). The opening measures of the third movement, presented in this lesson, contain some nice-sounding, lively licks with some styles almost never found in modern shred guitar. It’s great for learning something a little different…

Lick #1:

The opening melody of this lick sounds really nice.  It’s in the key of F# minor, so notice the D# and the E# in the opening measures – there’s the melodic minor scale in action!

Listen to the mp3 file and notice the “dotted rhythm” (named after the dots that you can see after the note heads in the example above) in the opening melody.  In modern guitar music, you hear this pattern every now and then in rhythm guitar (Metallica is one example, though it’s more common to hear the 8^th-16^th-16^th pattern), but virtually never in melody, leads, or solos.

This dotted rhythm in this piece is surprisingly difficult to pull off on the guitar because you need a certain “light touch”.  To play it cleanly and lightly will take quite a bit of perseverance especially if you’ve never played a lick like this before.  Don’t give up!

An especially difficult part is playing the grace notes (see the quick “4-5-4” in tab above) cleanly and lightly.  The fingering suggestion here indicates you play the preceding F# note on the B-string (7th fret).  This itself can be challenging, but is easier and produces a lighter sound than fingering the F# on the 2^nd fret of the E string and playing the grace notes with your 3^rd and 4^th fingers.  If the grace notes were not present, we’d certainly finger this lick a little different, opting to play the F# on the E string.

Suggestion: Before tackling the “4-5-4” grace notes, leave them out, only playing the G# (4^th fret, E-string), and play the preceding F# on the 2^nd fret of the E-string (right).  Doing this, you can work it up to speed with the appropriate lightness and develop a good feel for the lick.  At that point, add in the grace notes with the fingering indicated in the standard tab.

Lick #2:

The second lick takes advantage of “string skipping”, a technique that Paul Gilbert made popular for more efficiently play arpeggios.  However, this lick will likely feel much more awkward than some of the classic string skipping arpeggios.   At first, the suggested fingering will probably make you feel like your fingers are trying to step on each other, especially the 3^rd finger.  But, with practice, you will overcome this cramped feeling.

Fortunately, the lick isn’t required to be played very fast.  Still, this string skipping exercise is great for left-handed acrobatics. Playing this lick in double-time, for instance, will require a lot of practice.

The lick is meant to be played legato, so sharp alternate-picking with a lot of attack is not required.  However, I personally find that it’s easier to play by picking all of the notes lightly and still keep a legato feel to it instead of mixing in hammer-ons and pull-offs.

Have at it.  Keep shredding!

Download the tab