Guitar Toccata

Finally, I finished it! This has been giving me a lot of trouble to finish, but I think the end product is very much what I was hoping for when I started writing it, oh around 4 months ago!!

Written for a friend of mine (who is no slouch guitarist), this piece is a short little Toccata based on the principles of the minor third, and the idea of major/minor keys acting as one. It is in a simple ABCoda form. It runs around 3 minutes, although in concert, with human performance, it should be around 3:30 - 4 minutes. Hopefully my guitarist (who is graduating this semester) will perform the piece on December 6th, at a Departmental Recital.

Here is a Pdf, a MIDI and a Sibelius file. Please let me know what you think!

Hello, liked this when i heard it first and i still definitely like it. When i get home im going to try and learn it, i can't now because i dont have access to anything that can give me the notation and i cant be arsed to transcribe it,

Thanks, Mark

Any chance to see a pdf? - I can't open sib files and reading midi files is a joke in Finale. Playback is fine, but enharmonic spellings abound, and there are no fingerings, formatting etc.

Just a warning - I've shown this to my guitarist and she pointed out a crazy thing I wrote in measures 135-136...the barred chords are fine, but the top notes moving down she said would be extremely awkward and difficult if not impossible. So obviously I'm gonna change that soon...!

Anyway, I've put up a Pdf for your enjoyment. Also, there are no fingerings, only a couple of fret indications. I don't understand the whole concept of me putting in fingerings, as the guitarist is the one who should decide how to play the notes right? Anyway, my guitarist is fine with it.

I don't understand the whole concept of me putting in fingerings, as the guitarist is the one who should decide how to play the notes right? Anyway, my guitarist is fine with it.

It seems that putting fingerings in guitar parts is somewhat of an interesting issue. On the one hand, it would seem that they are not necessary, and it makes sense that guitarists should play a piece in the way that works best for them. Certainly, for the non-guitarist composer, putting fingerings in is probably not very helpful, and at worst might even be confusing.

But, on the other hand. It is precisely because the guitar presents so many options, not just in terms of which fingers to use, but also where to play the notes on the guitar, that fingerings can be very helpful, especially to beginning and intermediate players. Go out and look at most any available published major work for guitar, and you'll see that, even if the composer did not provide fingerings, the publisher did. This is not something that only pertains to the liturature for beginning or intermediate guitar music.

Well fingered music is MUCH easier to read. The nuances of which string is being used for certain notes can be quite a bit more than just subtle. Ostensibly, for the composer that is a guitarist, they have put quite a bit of work into determining what works best for them. It is commonly understood that many fingerings are suggestions, and not carved in stone. Guitarist will instinctively gravitate from a suggested fingering to one that works better for them. But the original fingering usually presents a quick, down and dirty, but well thought out option. Also, the difference between using a ringing open string and and fingered one can make all the difference in a peice. In the case of Etudes and many studies, the fingerings are precisely what make the peice what it is. I for one very much appreciate them. And I have learned through experience that presentation is a huge part of having a peice learned easily, and this translates to a better, more fluid and intuitive performance.

I'll bet dollars to donuts that your guitarist has marked up your score with fingerings. I would suggest that you ask him or her if you could put them in your score and if they think this is a good idea. My guess is, they will - and thier suggestions will make your peice that much easier for the next player.

I'd be happy to take a look at a fingered score and make additional comments if you choose to try this out.

BTW, I should have mentioned that good fingering is a subtle art. Most times, just notating the position on the neck, a half bar, a single open string, or the fingering of a single note can force an entire sequence of desired fingerings. Knowing what not to finger is a important part of the art. Many peices require very little fingering. But the well placed suggestion here and there can make life much more easy for many a guitarist.