Tim Miller Solo on Stella By Starlight

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This track is from the accompanying CD to Mick Goodrick and Tim Miller’s new book called Creative Chordal Harmony. Anybody who has read Goodrick’s other books (The Advancing Guitarist, Voice Leading Almanac Series, etc…) knows that he only puts out quality material. I won’t go too deep into the concepts presented in the book in this post, but Miller and Goodrick present an interesting concept that allows for some very interesting harmonic and melodic possibilities. I definitely recommend checking out this book!

The first track on the accompanying CD is an example of using this concept (Generic Modality Compression) to create interesting harmonic and melodic material over the standard Stella By Starlight. Below I have posted my transcription of Tim Miller’s solo. There are some very interesting things going on in his solo. He uses angular melodic lines, across-the-barline phrasing, and advanced harmonic substitutions to create a completely unique sound.

The sound file was too large to attach but here is the transcription:

Stella By Starlight – Tim Miller Solo

Julian Lage Etude #2

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Some really great stuff in this one! This is my favorite of the four etudes and I was very excited to transcribe it. The idea behind this piece is to keep a steady eighth note bass line in the thumb while playing melodies above it with the other fingers. It is strongly centered around the key of E major (with movement to A minor) and consists of three main sections that are repeated with a coda at the end. Notice how Julian slightly varies the material the second time through.

My favorite section is the third section which starts in E major and moves to A minor. It is both harmonically and rhythmically rich. He shifts from E major to A melodic minor and throws in a C# minor triad in the A minor section, reminding me of the chord progression in Radiohead’s “Morning Bell”. At first I had kept the meter in 3/4, but after repeated listens I started to hear the melody in 6/8. Really, he’s juxtaposed a 6/8 melody against the 3/4 bass line.

I hope you enjoy this one as I’ve had a lot of fun transcribing and playing it!

Guitar Etude #2 – Julian Lage

Julian Lage Guitar Etude #1 Transcription

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Julian Lage is one of the best guitarists out there right now. His right and left hand technique are frightening, and I’ve never seen a more expressive acoustic guitar player. Check out his solo guitar performance of Autumn Leaves on YouTube to see what I’m talking about. What makes his playing even more amazing is the fact that he is only 24 years old.

In this post I have my transcription of Julian’s Guitar Etude #1 from a series of 13 etudes that he plans on composing (as of now I believe there are only 4 posted online). Here is how he describes his project:

“My goal is to write a series of 13 etudes that serve as compositional and technical studies, highlighting new approaches and concepts I am currently exploring. It is my hope, that these pieces will offer insight into my curiosity about the inner workings of the guitar as well as provide material for other players to use as a launch pad for furthering their own development on the instrument.”

This first etude is a great technical workout for the picking hand. Practice using economy picking to make the large string skips easier. In this piece, Julian explores spread triads on the guitar. It is very repetitive, consisting of four main sections repeated throughout, but the harmonic movement makes the piece very interesting to my ears. Have fun with this one!

Guitar Etude #1 – Julian Lage

J.S. Bach and Open Strings

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I’ve always enjoyed playing and listening to Bach’s music, and it is the one thing that I always find myself coming back to after going off on various musical tangents . His music grounds me and playing it is a meditative experience. A bit of soul-cleansing so to speak.

My most recent journey back to Bach’s music started about three weeks ago, and I’ve decided to focus on the Partita in B minor for Solo Violin. This is an amazing piece of music that conveniently lays very well in the guitar’s range. Something I’ve been working on lately is incorporating open strings into my playing. In this arrangement of the Courante, I set two rules that I had to follow:

1. Whenever there is a note that can be played with an open string, the open string must be used.

2. Two consecutive notes on the same string are not allowed (except for a repeated open string note).*

Following these two rules really opened up an entirely new way of playing the guitar for me. The arrangement posted here is nothing like how I would normally play this piece. Following these two rules created a cascading, harp-like effect. I look forward to arranging more of the Partita and hopefully posting videos of me playing the arrangements. Enjoy!

Click here for a PDF of the arrangement:

Courante from Partita in B minor for Solo Violin

* I broke rule 2 a couple of times. This rule is hard to follow in the extreme low end range of the guitar.