Song Suggestions

General Music Discussion
#1

Hey Guys,

I’m in a bit of an acoustic/classical rut and was hoping I could describe what style I like to play and some of my favorite things to play on acoustic and get some suggestions. A big part of the reason I’m in a rut is because I’m pretty picky with what I like to play so please don’t be offended if I don’t decide to learn your suggestions :slight_smile:

So the style I like to play is fingerstyle. I’m not opposed to strumming as long as it’s mixed in, I just rarely have any fun strumming a bunch of chords for several minutes. I like a good challenge but I do have my limits. For example: I LOVE Ewan Dobson’s pieces but the ones I’ve bought tabs for are right at my limits if not past my limits and always have crazy fingering and tuning (I’d really like to stick to standard, drop D, or a half step down). When I say his fingering is crazy, I of course mean that some of it is really just plain difficult to pull off but I’m also a short guy with small hands and he’s not so he adds some ridiculous stretches that I’m simply not capable of.

My favorite pieces to play are Rik Emmett’s classical pieces (but not all of them lol) and the other things I really enjoy playing are different but similar in that they seem unique (to me at least). Below are the pieces I play every time I pickup my acoustic.

Petite Etude - Rik Emmett
Fantasy Serenade - Rik Emmett
A Minor Prelude - Rik Emmett
Midsummer’s Daydream - Rik Emmett
Flamingo - Paul Gilbert
Asturias - Isaac Albeniz (I don’t play this one all that often because my chops aren’t what they used to be but I do enjoy playing it and love the sound)
Dee - Randy Rhoads

P.S. Pieces that have tabs or sheet music available somewhere are best especially if there isn’t a good clear video. I’ve never been any good at learning by ear (especially fingerstyle stuff).

#2

This one may be up your alley? I didn’t listen to all of your suggestions but I’m feeling you like a Spanish sound

#3

Also this one

Here’s sheet music:

#4

Thanks Joe. I learned Spanish Romance at one point because I was writing something and my GF said “I didn’t know you play Spanish Romance” to which I replied “Huh?” lol. I like the sound but I found it not too exciting to play.

This Lagrima may be a candidate but is a bit slow for my taste and the spots that I really liked the sound of were pretty short (0:51 - 1:03 & 1:15 - 1:20).

#5

Ok fine, here’s something faster :slight_smile:

Allegro Solemne

Here’s Ana, crushing it like she always does with everything:

EDIT: I should add one thing that’s important: from a compositional standpoint, anything Barrios writes is head and shoulders above most ‘classical’ guitar pieces. You’ll find the same quality in Bach of course, but he didn’t really write for guitar. A lot of his pieces we hear in the repertoire were adapted or transcribed for guitar, so somethings either missing (or added, that we don’t need). Maybe check out some of Fernando Sor’s stuff too? He was a good composer and actually wrote for the guitar. Like Barrios, but not quite the same level of genius (opinion).

#6

That’s more what I’m looking for. I’m adding this one to the list :). Ana’s early recording of Asturias is actually what inspired me to learn it lol. I’ll look at some Barrio and Fernando Sor stuff throughout the day today.

#7

Cool! Barrios pieces were among the most difficult I played when I majored in music and classical guitar was my instrument. He does have a couple that aren’t too bad. If you don’t mind slow that’s traded for beauty, he has a piece named Julia Florida that was probably my favorite.

Here’s the master playing it:

Sorry for the crap quality. Beautiful playing though.

#8

Agreed, beautiful playing. Unfortunately, it doesn’t really speak to me.

It’s not exactly a fair comparison because it’s a duet but something slower that I really enjoy is this:

Edit: … any idea why sometimes when I paste a youtube link, it’s just a link and other times, it embeds the video?

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#9

You need a line of dead space above and below the youtube link, then it will embed :slight_smile:

EDIT: And that piece you posted is lovely!

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#10

This is one of my favorites.

No idea how good your tremolo chops are.

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#11

I like the style of Gran Vals but it’s a bit peppy for my taste.
I think I might be able to manage the tremolo in Recuerdos de la Alhambra. I’ll that one to my list and give it a shot one of these days.
Thanks :slight_smile:

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#12

The Cathedral is a fantastic piece of music and not impossible to play f you want to put in the time to master it.
I like the visual images that are conveyed by it: The first section describes someone walking in the street outside the Cathedral and he happens to catch the sound of Bach being played on the Organ. The next section is when out of some curiosity he ventures in and stops for a while to take in the vast peaceful serenity and majesty of the inside of the building. In the Final section he goes back outside to be met by the now surprisingly overwhelming hustle and bustle of the noises from the street.

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#13

A couple of acoustic numbers I really love to play:
‘The Water is Wide’ - Ed Gerhard’s arrangement.
‘Nola’ - Felix Arndt
‘Classical Gas’ - Mason Williams

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