A sweet, gentle, but deeply serious character shows in his face while he's playing. Doesn't look capable of doing even –– or even thinking –– one asinine thing.
A great artist like that always takes what he's DOING very seriously, but rarely does so with HIMSELF. People who are REALLY great don't NEED to act conceited. I've known some very great clasical musicians, and all of them were amazingly down-to-earth, easy to talk with, and always intnsely interested in things outside themselves.
YOU could easily be dispensed with, Lizzie. Characters like you don't last five mnutes at MY blog. Kid is much kinder and more indulgent than I, but I have no use for anyone who indulges in flippant sarcasm.
I think we went through this before not too long ago, Kid. Malaguena began life as a piano solo by Ernesto Lacuona. We had a recordng of it by Oscar Levant that impressed me so much at the age of nine I felt I just HAD to learn to play the piece. So, believe it or not, I DID, and performed it at age ten for our grade school assembly –– an event kindly remembered sixty-odd years later by some of my old schoolmates when we had our fiftieth high school reunion now ten years ago.
The original vesion is much more dramatic and bombastic than Chet's trascription for solo guitar, but at the point in; lifeI think I like Chet's way of performing it better than I do the original, which is actually pretty cheap and flashy.
What you have HERE is incredibly calming and relaxing –– like sippring a tall cold drink sitting under an umbrella with the late afternoon sun beating down on on the ancient stones of a Old World Spanish Courtyard where a fountain gently mumurs as I enjoy looking at the potted plants and flowering vines while listening to the soothing strains of the guitar.
Just the sound of Chet's playing does all of that for me. FANTASTIC!
Franco, I grew up with Chet records in the house, and Malaguena was the first tune that motivated me to try to learn how to play it. I didn't know what a thumb pick was in those days and tried using a straight pick and a few fingers. I got close on some of the parts but never got near being satisfied with it.
Eric Johnson plays fingerstyle with a straight pick and even plays harmonics up and down the keyboard. Ditto Tommy Emmanuel and he still plays at least one tune that way -Endless Road, but discovered the thumb pick made life easier.
Chet always looked at the guitar as wanting to play it like one plays the piano with the moving bass lines, rythm and melody all being played at once.
He recorded several versions of this one and I like this one the best with the light harmonics near the beginning and heaviness throughout. Probably my fav Chet tune.
The other one I heard that I wanted to try to play but didn't even have any idea how to get started was Blue Angel. He plays it more impressively at the earlier age. I just like the melodies and transitions and the arpeggio at the end.
Such a humble and nice man! He always used to talk about the guy who came up and told him he was really good, but no Chet Akins. Ha!
ReplyDeleteI've heard him tell that story a couple times Adrienne. I don't know of anyone who didn't like the guy.
DeleteA sweet, gentle, but deeply serious character shows in his face while he's playing. Doesn't look capable of doing even –– or even thinking –– one asinine thing.
DeleteA great artist like that always takes what he's DOING very seriously, but rarely does so with HIMSELF. People who are REALLY great don't NEED to act conceited. I've known some very great clasical musicians, and all of them were amazingly down-to-earth, easy to talk with, and always intnsely interested in things outside themselves.
Lets Not!
ReplyDeleteYOU could easily be dispensed with, Lizzie. Characters like you don't last five mnutes at MY blog. Kid is much kinder and more indulgent than I, but I have no use for anyone who indulges in flippant sarcasm.
DeleteI think we went through this before not too long ago, Kid. Malaguena began life as a piano solo by Ernesto Lacuona. We had a recordng of it by Oscar Levant that impressed me so much at the age of nine I felt I just HAD to learn to play the piece. So, believe it or not, I DID, and performed it at age ten for our grade school assembly –– an event kindly remembered sixty-odd years later by some of my old schoolmates when we had our fiftieth high school reunion now ten years ago.
ReplyDeleteThe original vesion is much more dramatic and bombastic than Chet's trascription for solo guitar, but at the point in; lifeI think I like Chet's way of performing it better than I do the original, which is actually pretty cheap and flashy.
What you have HERE is incredibly calming and relaxing –– like sippring a tall cold drink sitting under an umbrella with the late afternoon sun beating down on on the ancient stones of a Old World Spanish Courtyard where a fountain gently mumurs as I enjoy looking at the potted plants and flowering vines while listening to the soothing strains of the guitar.
Just the sound of Chet's playing does all of that for me. FANTASTIC!
Franco, I grew up with Chet records in the house, and Malaguena was the first tune that motivated me to try to learn how to play it. I didn't know what a thumb pick was in those days and tried using a straight pick and a few fingers. I got close on some of the parts but never got near being satisfied with it.
DeleteEric Johnson plays fingerstyle with a straight pick and even plays harmonics up and down the keyboard. Ditto Tommy Emmanuel and he still plays at least one tune that way -Endless Road, but discovered the thumb pick made life easier.
Chet always looked at the guitar as wanting to play it like one plays the piano with the moving bass lines, rythm and melody all being played at once.
He recorded several versions of this one and I like this one the best with the light harmonics near the beginning and heaviness throughout. Probably my fav Chet tune.
The other one I heard that I wanted to try to play but didn't even have any idea how to get started was Blue Angel. He plays it more impressively at the earlier age. I just like the melodies and transitions and the arpeggio at the end.