From the September/October 2019 difficulty BY ADAM PERLMUTTER
The Spanish classical and American ragtime guitar traditions don’t frequently have interaction, at least not in apparent methods. But when they do—as in Diego Garcia’s “Spanish Rag”—the results can be transcendent. Of his solo guitar composition, Garcia says, “It’s easy Spanish cadences meet Merle Travis.”
Garcia, who is now in his early 40s, got an early begin to tune. At the age of six he started out gaining knowledge of classical guitar in his native Valencia, Spain, beneath the tutelage of Jose Lázaro, who had studied with Andrés Segovia. In his teen years Garcia took a keen hobby in American guitar sounds, specifically in rockabilly and Chet Atkins, and joined a rock band. Since then, Garcia has combined his Spanish roots with North and South American influences in his paintings on acoustic, both metal- and nylon-string, and electric guitar.
Garcia is thought to play “Spanish Rag” on a hollowbody electric powered, particularly a Gibson ES-295, but as he demonstrates in the accompanying video on AG’s internet site, the piece works out splendidly on a metal-string just like the Collings OM1 JL Julian Lage signature model. Whatever the tool, “Spanish Rag,” with its breakneck tempo, isn't the easiest rag to address, but given its wealth of thrilling guitar maneuvers, it’s worth the effort to woodshed in this one.
Getting Started
Advertisement
As in studying any complex piece of tune, it’s best to interrupt “Spanish Rag” into doable portions, rather than trying to struggle through the whole thing right away.
Start with the primary 4 bars—whose theme additionally seems in measures 24–27 and 70–seventy three—when you consider that they’re the perfect. The piece kicks off within the key of A minor, with the vi and V chords (F and E, respectively) lending a Spanish flavor. Try fretting the F chord’s 6th-string root through wrapping your thumb across the neck at the primary worry, as Garcia does in the video, if you want to make it easier to exchange among the F and E chords. Note, too, that the signs in bars 2 and 3 name for a repeat of degree 1.
As for the selecting hand, Garcia performs “Spanish Rag” with a thumbpick and arms. He reveals that the select gives him a much wider dynamic variety, plus a “two-sounds-in-one ragtime experience,” as he places it, but strict fingerstyle technique can even paintings properly for the piece. For the arpeggios in the first several bars and someplace else, Garcia makes use of a normal classical technique: instead of pick with the thumb and palms (like a normal folks or blues guitarist), he makes use of three palms. On the F and E chords, he assigns his thumb to string 6, index to 4, middle to three, and ring to 2. If you’re now not inside the addiction of selecting along with your thumb and 3 palms, this is a great vicinity to strive out a brand new selecting method.
Planning Ahead
Things get pretty a chunk trickier for the fretting hand starting in bar 7, however a bit preplanning could make this segment simpler to deal with. Measures 7–10 are based totally on an A minor chord in 9th role. Before you play the music, form this grip: forestall the C on string 4, agonize 10 together with your second finger; barre strings 2–three at fret nine together with your first finger; and stop the A on string 2, fret 10 together with your third finger.
Now slide the entire grip down 3 frets, such that your third finger is on the F# on string 2, be troubled 7. Pick best that be aware and the open A string, and quickly slide again up three frets on the pinnacle of bar 7. On the “and” of beat 3 inside the equal degree, lift your 2nd finger from the grip to play the 9th-be anxious G# on string 2. At the begin of bar eight, return your third finger to the 10th-worry A, and use your fourth finger to seize the twelfth-agonize B after which the thirteenth-be troubled C. Knowing exactly wherein every finger have to be on any given beat is important to playing the piece at pace, so make sure to use this form of thinking to the relaxation of the piece.
As you gain confidence in running via “Spanish Rag,” it is probably tempting to speed matters up. But only increase the pace while you could play every phase cleanly and seamlessly. And although that is actually an up-tempo wide variety, understand that velocity isn't necessarily its maximum important aspect. “Never focus on speed at the price of self assurance and expression,” Garcia says.