Joplin, Scott : Simply Joplin

Of Scott Joplin James Scott and Joseph Lamb-The great ragtime pieces of the early 20th century were written mostly for Piano but many translate superbly for the Guitar and David Laibman will show you how.Here's a mystery: if the great ragtime pieces of the early 20th century were not written for Guitar and if they weren't player on the Guitar at all (until some of us started doing so half a century ago) then why do they work so will on Guitar?Well thumb vs. three fingers on the right hand (we'll leave out thepinky for now) creates that subtle antagonism between steady bass and syncopated melody - the 'twinkle in the eye' of Ragtime. There is a theory that the original borrowing actually went in the other directed from three-finger Banjo to Piano. Who knows? But I'm finding that the 'educated thumb' is only one neat thing about ragtime Guitar. Classic rags are very expressive with moods and tempers hills and valley. You can capture some of this with left-hand notes (slides hammer-ons pull-offs) with right-hand brushes rolls nail strokes with clever use of open strings and natural harmonics. This works. It is it's own story - not an imitation of a Piano or of a dixieland or jazz band. It is simply - ragtime Guitar.In these lessons I have tried for the most part to meet two goals. First to create versions of some of the most beautiful classical rags that 'lay down' well on Guitar so when you play them you are working with the instrument not fighting it. I have tried to pitch and arrange the pieces so that a lot of the action is in first position rather than high up on the neck and to keep left hand gymnastics to a minimum. Second I didn't want these arrangements to sound like 'student' arrangements too elementary to be believable. It is all about striking a balance. I am generally pleased with the result and I hope