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Lesson Series

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Giorgio Serci Creative Fingerstyle Guitar Inspirational Pieces Part 8: Paco

Lesson Notes

** As featured in issue 52 **

In this column, I would like to share a new composition of mine written for the Guitar Interactive community, called ‘Paco’ dedicated to the late Paco DeLucia, one of the greatest guitarist of all times. This piece is in standard tuning and utilised a simple type of rasgueado (fingerstyle strum) to add rhythmic propulsion to this piece, which is in 3/4. The harmonic content of this piece is prevalent and still popular in most music styles, and it is illustrated in the table below:

|   Bm      |    A11      |   Gm/D      |        D       |  Bm      |     A11     |   A/C#       |        D         |

|   Bm      |    A11      |   Gm/D      |        D       |  Bm      |     A11     |   A/C#       |  D6/9   D7  |

|   G         |    C#m7b5   A#O7   |     Bm   A11     |  Gmaj7  D/F#      |    Em        |     A13b9   |

|   Dmaj7 |    Em13    Bbmaj7   |     Bm    |  A11  |   Gm/D     |    D      |    Bm     |     A11           |

|  A/C#     |      D        |   Bm       |  A11     |     Gm/D          |      D         |     Bm     |      A11         |

|  A/C#     |    D6/9      D7    |    G     |  C#m7b5    A#O7  |  Bm    A11  |  Gmaj7  |  D/F#  |  Em  |    

|   A13b9  |  Dmaj7  |    A13b9   |   Dmaj7   |   A13b9    |    Dmaj7    |    A13b9    |   Dmaj13      |

   

(*) All the Bm are should be voiced like an Em9/B

NB. Gm/D = Gm chord over D bass.

This piece provides an opportunity to improve interpretation skills and presenting the melody in a singing-like manner (Cantabile), while complementing it with countermelodies happening in various registers.

For example, inversions have been utilised to create melodic bass lines, which act as countermelodies in the lower register. This is evident throughout. The term inversion refers to the way a harmonic structure (a chord) is voiced or organized).

Triads can be voiced in three different positions/inversions:

a): Root position: root is lowest note in the chord

b): 1st inversion: 3rd is the lowest note in the chord – (b)

c): 2nd inversion: 5th is the lowest note in the chord – (c)

Seventh chords could also be voiced as a 3rd inversion (7th in the bass) For example D/C = D7 3rd inversion, described by (d)

One of the technical hurdles of this piece is the need to keep the melody at the fore of the arrangement. To do this, it may help singing and playing it at the same time, to be sure we are emphasising it as needed.

As always, I would like to recommend researching the techniques mentioned above to be able to use these to compose your own pieces. We have to allow ourselves to make mistakes and reflect on the reasons why we like, or not a particular sound, a chord progression or modulation. Eventually, these sounds will become part of your musical lexicon, and we should be able to use these effectively and creatively.

The picking-hand pattern is predominantly as follows:

(Please note E=low E string, e= high E string)

‘p’ plays al the ‘ostinato’ pedal parts throughout.

Play each part in a relaxed and clear manner, making sure your thumb is a little forward compared to the ‘i, m, a’ fingers, in order to prevent it from colliding with the ‘i’ finger. As always, focus on attack and tonal consistency. The melody and the supporting harmonies will be played with the ‘i, m and a’ fingers, so attack is needed to outline the melody.

Next, we are going to look at the left-hand part (chord shapes):

Bar 1: Index on fret 2 of A, ring f on fret 4 of D, open G, middle f on fret 3 of B, open e and index on fret 3 of B.

Bar 2:  Open A, little f on fret 4 of G, index on fret 3 of B, open e, little f on fret 5 of e and slide back to fret 3.

Bar 3:  Open D, middle f on fret 3 of G, ring f on fret 3 of B, little f still on fret 3 of e, fret 3 of B again and middle f on fret 2 of e.

Bar 4:  Open D, index on fret 2 of G, ring f on fret 3 of B

Bar 5: As bar 1

Bar 6: Open A, little f on fret 4 of G, index on fret 3 of B, open e, little f on fret 7 of e and slide back to fret 5.

Bar 7: Index on fret 4 of A, open G, ring f on fret 5 of B and little f on fret 5 of e. Repeat the last two notes.

Bar 8: Like bar 4 but voice the last D chord with little f on fret 5 of e.

Repeat from bar 1 to bar 7:

Bar 16 (bar 10 on the transcription): Similar to bar 4 and 8, but with index on fret 4 of G, ring f on fret 5 of B and little f on fret 5 of e. Add middle f on fret 5 of G for the last strummed chord.

Bar 17:  Index on fret 3 of E. Open G and B with little f on fret 7 of e. Next, open D, G, and B with little f on fret 5 of e, followed by middle f on fret 3 of e.

Bar 18:  Ring f on fret 4 of A, open G, and B with index on fret 2 of e, followed by open e. Next, index on fret 1 of A, open G and middle f on fret 1 of B, followed by ring f on fret 2 of B.

Bar 19: Index on fret 2 of A, open e, ring f on fret 4 of D, open G, middle f on fret 3 of B, followed by open A with the 3rd fret of B.

Bar 20:  Index on fret 3 of E, ring f on fret 4 of D, open G, middle f on fret 3 of B, followed by index on fret 2 of E with the 3rd fret of B.

Bar 21: Similar to bar 17, but with open E, G and B with little f on fret 7 of e. Next, index on fret 2 of A, open G and B with little f on fret 5 of e followed by index on fret 3 of e.

Bar 22: Open A, middle f on fret 3 of G, index on fret 2 of B and e. Little f on fret 5 of D, middle f on fret 3 of G and open e.

Bar 23: Open D, index on fret 2 of e, then of B, with middle f on fret 3 of G. Middle f on fret 4 of G, index on fret 5 of B, then open G.

Bar 24: Open E, D, G and ring f on fret 2 of B, and open B. Next, index on fret 1 of A, open D and ring f on fret 2 of G and open G.

Now, repeat from the top with repeats: AA B, until bar 22 (15 on the chart), then take the Coda sign.

Bar 25: Open D, middle f on fret 4 of G, ring f on fret 7 of B, index on fret 5 of e. Ring and little f on fret 7 of G and B. Open e, ring f on fret 4 of G and middle f on fret 3 of B, followed by index on fret 2 of G and B.

Bar 26: Open G and B, open A, open e, followed by little f on fret 5 of D middle f on fret 4 of G and index on fret 2 of B.

Repeat bar 25 and 26 3 times (6 bars in total)

Final Bar: Little f on fret 5 of A, ring f on fret 4 of D, index on fret 2 of G, open B, and e.

Congratulations, you have completed ‘Paco’!

As always, you will be able to download a transcription by selecting the menu option in this page.

I strongly recommend experimenting with a few picking variations, changing the chords as you wish regarding voicing (higher or lower), as well as trying the same picking pattern on a different chord progression, or using a ‘capo’ on fret 2 for a brighter outcome.

When repeating any section twice or more, you may want to play ‘sul ponticello,' (closer to the bridge) or ‘sul tasto’ (over the frets) for more contrasting results.

Make sure you highlight the melody (singing is a great strategy to play the melody in more assertive and singing-like manner)

Focus on minimum-movement approach, as this will help to deliver the piece in a more accurate and consistent manner while saving energy.

This will complete this creative fingerstyle lesson.

I hope you will enjoy playing this tune and that this will give you some ideas on how to write your own solo guitar compositions and re-arrangements.

Please continue to get in touch via my interactive website below, for feedback and to suggest areas you’d like me to cover within this column. If you would like to listen any more of my compositions, please check the previous issues of Guitar Magazine as well as any of my CDs, available from my website:

www.giorgioserci.com

You can also find me on twitter @giorgioserci as well as on facebook.com/giorgiosercimusic

Till the next time, Good-bye!

Giorgio Serci    


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