Parkening and the Guitar - Volume 2: Guitar Solo (Guitar Collection) Review

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(More customer reviews)I bought this specifically for the transcription of The Mysterious Barricades. I have learned about 3/4 of it and gone over it with my guitar teacher. First of all, it is written in open C major position, not the D major position version that everyone on Youtube seems to be playing, or playing with a capo. The real version I was interested in learning was Andrew York's rendition of it in Eb major, on his Perfect Sky album, but since no sheet music for this seems to exist, I've looked for others. Playing the version presented here with a capo on the third fret puts it in Eb major, and sounds pretty close to York's version.

As for the fingerings and notations, Parkening claims that he has made no compromises in the demand for technique here, and he wasn't kidding. Some of the fingerings are very awkward, and the fact that he plays this at the practical equivalent of be-bop speed in his own recording of it doesn't help. I have found that some of the fingerings actually don't sound any more convincing than easier ones that use the open high e string instead of the b string to make sustained notes happen with the e at the top of the treble clef, if you pick them gracefully with your nails. Nevertheless, this is definitely an advanced piece. Though listed on the net in various places as intermediate, to make it sound *good*, especially at a realistic tempo, is an Olympic feat for the left hand and a coordination etude for the right. The cover also says "Virtuoso Music for the Guitar," and that should be an indication.

There are no markings for picking hand patterns, but my default approach was to use P, I and M almost exclusively. My guitar teacher suggested I make a conscious effort to start using the A finger more for the upper voice in the rondo section, and the picking patterns sound better and are much more practical this way.

I wish I could give a review of the Debussy pieces presented here, but I haven't even looked at them. If you don't mind learning Barricades in the C major position, this book is just as expensive as the single sheet music piece for it from GSP, and here you get all the other pieces in this collection. As an added bonus, Parkening's notorious evangelist ramblings are absent.

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Product Description:
Nine more selections for the advanced guitarist: Clair de Lune (Debussy) * Giga (Visee) * The Girl with the Flaxen Hair (Debussy) * Gymnopedie Nos. I-III (Satie) * The Little Shepherd (Debussy) * The Mysterious Barricades (Couperin) * Sarabande (Debussy).

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