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Piano Arrangement Guitar

PostPosted: Thu Oct 23, 2014 1:54 pm
by Art Sims
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdvInniuQB8

I recall reading somewhere that Chet sometimes got ideas from piano players. One player he mentioned was Art Tatum. At our church, a pianist played a couple of arrangements that I really enjoyed and wanted to figure out how to play something similar on the guitar. I’ve finished working on one of these and am now working on the other. The above link is to the hymn, Moment by Moment, played as a guitar solo, posted today. We guitar players have only six strings whereas a pianist has a lot more, nor do we have a sustain pedal like a piano does (i.e., as soon as we release a fretted note the sound is gone). Thus, it’s a considerable challenge. But each of our strings can play a variety notes, and many of our notes are repeated on the fretboard, plus open strings give us at least some sustain while changing hand positions. Of course, we have to transpose to get into a good key for fingerstyle guitar. Anyway, the ideas I heard from our pianist impressed me enough to pursue them on the guitar. I recorded 3 takes, then selected from them and pieced them together with Windows Movie Maker.

Re: Piano Arrangement Guitar

PostPosted: Thu Oct 23, 2014 11:33 pm
by Roger Pratt
So wonderful Art! You are amazing my friend!

Re: Piano Arrangement Guitar

PostPosted: Fri Oct 24, 2014 2:23 am
by John Knowles
Art, I really enjoyed your arrangement, your performance and your comments about how you worked out your arrangement. John

Re: Piano Arrangement Guitar

PostPosted: Fri Oct 24, 2014 6:10 am
by Chuck
Art, really enjoyed this. I admire your ability to work this piece out. Your playing, as usual, is just so solid in my opinion. Thanks
Chuck/Cincinnati

Re: Piano Arrangement Guitar

PostPosted: Fri Oct 24, 2014 7:03 am
by Spadaro Paolo
Art, really delicate ....................

Great and fantastic sound!!!!!!!!

HELLO............


PAOLO SPADARO.

Re: Piano Arrangement Guitar

PostPosted: Fri Oct 24, 2014 7:30 pm
by Terry Tolley
Very nice arrangement...and beautifully performed. Thanks!

Re: Piano Arrangement Guitar

PostPosted: Sat Oct 25, 2014 2:13 pm
by Art Sims
Thanks Roger, John, Chuck, Paolo, Terry, for your encouraging remarks. You are players with good knowledge and understanding of playing techniques. Your input is quite gratifying.

Re: Piano Arrangement Guitar

PostPosted: Sat Oct 25, 2014 9:56 pm
by Steve Sanders
Well, there ya go again!! Another good'un! I was expecting to see and hear that great Epiphone electric but was pleasantly surprised with the classic guitar! It sounds great. Wunderin' tho, what kind is it (make, model, etc.) It looks like a Prismatone there on the bridge. Course, an old Stella with rusty Black Diamond strings would sound good with you a-playin' it. Keep'em comin'! Steve

Re: Piano Arrangement Guitar

PostPosted: Sun Oct 26, 2014 6:58 am
by GaryL
Great job Art. Thanks for posting.
GaryL

Re: Piano Arrangement Guitar

PostPosted: Sun Oct 26, 2014 3:59 pm
by Art Sims
Steve, You are very kind and generous about my playing. Thank you. It’s fun to learn things and try to play them. I too like the sound of this guitar, which is an improvement indeed over the old Stella guitars that you mentioned. Ha. I haven’t seen one of those Stellas in a long time but I do remember them.
About your questions regarding this guitar, it’s a Gibson CEC. I think several players on this board have one. I like it a lot but there are some issues. Mine has K-10 stamped on the headstock which I think means it was made when Gibson was still producing them in a custom shop. It came with a letter about it from Chet. The pickup is the original that Gibson made, which I think sounds good but the preamp is tedious. I think there was a patent issue with Ovation, resulting in what look to be volume pots actually working more like tone controls, changing string volumes but not exactly as one might expect. You have to experiment to find good positions for them. I’ve read with keen interest the thread about replacing the pickup and that Gibson doesn’t help. I’m not sure what I’ll do if I ever need to. I’m probably telling you more than you want to know but I’ve modified mine a couple of ways. One thing is that I narrowed the neck to accommodate my hand. It was a CEC rather than a CE and is now somewhere in between. I liked the wide neck but it was too wide at the nut for an F chord thumb so I cut the width down some. Another modification is a nut I made with string spacing that I prefer. I do this on all my guitars because a little extra space between the first 3 strings helps me with a finger deficiency I have. I think it’s a fine guitar to record with, direct, once you get the preamp set. It hangs heavy being the solid body it is but plays well. I’m sure others here on this board have set theirs up to their taste. We all do that with our guitars, I think, don’t we?