Hear and watch me play some geetar!

[Steve Lin]

Hi everyone!

There's some Scarlatti, Castelnuovo-Tedesco and a little thing by Pujol. Just curious to know what people think!

http://www.vgorecordings.com/videos/Lin_Steve.htm

[oc chuck]

I think you can really play!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I especially liked the Castelnuovo-Tedesco.
Good technique and very poetic.
Thanks for posting.

BTW, what kind of guitar support did you use?????

[rdubb]

the tedesco sounded familar......:)

either way that just looks stupid hard.

nice one there man.

[Todd]

Great Steve! Great sound, great technique, and just plain great playing.

Im with Rdubb, that does look stupid hard.

You da man 8)

[thraex]

Great choice of pieces!
I liked them quite a lot!
Maybe I am biased with Castelnuovo Tedesco, now, because I have played his Capriccio diabolico, sonata, concerto and Moses bin Izra songs, but "El sueño de la razon produce monstruos" is just such a fragment of his Caprichos that I have to say from your recordings it was my favourite, truly liked it!

[MSG]

Dayum, Steve, that was probably the best playing i've seen from any one that posts on here. Just sheer perfection in technique, damn near flawless. The Tedesco piece does look ridiculously hard, but it sounds so nice. I've never heard that piece till now.

What kind of guitar are you playing, by the way?

You should post those videos on the Classical Guitar forum on YouTube.

[Guitar Slim]

You should post those videos on the Classical Guitar forum on YouTube.

Yeah, this way I could watch. I don't have Quicktime, and I really want to see these!

[Todd]

You should post those videos on the Classical Guitar forum on YouTube.

Yeah, this way I could watch. I don't have Quicktime, and I really want to see these!

You should install Quicktime. Youtube pretty much sucks now
cause the vids all play way out of sync. :x Whats the point? :roll:

Steve's quicktime files look ultra clear and the sound is alot better
than any Youtube stuff.

[Steve Lin]

Aww man. Thanks guys. Though I never quite thought of myself as flawless... Rdubb knows what I mean.

Thraex, I've also played quite a bit of C-Tedesco but nothing else I've played comes close to the difficulty of "El Sueno." Every variation calls for a completely different technique and it's just endless. I've thought about doing some more of the Caprichos and making some kind of set. I love the serial one--obviously he's poking fun at Schoenberg and the 2nd Viennese School. Stupid hard is probably the most accurate and most technical term that describes this piece.

I agree with Todd about YouTube. Some nice things there but for the most part, yuck. Who knows what Google is going to do with them now.

The guitar is a Stephan Connor, www.connorguitars.com. Fisk and Grisha are two who are playing his guitars. I think Angel Romero has one too and Sharon Isbin was caught eyeing jealously at a masterclass not too long ago in Boston. On top of that, he's a super sweet, super nice guy, super chill too. We've had many riojas together. He lives near Cape Cod and when I visit him I pass by this lobster and sea food shack that's hard to ignore. One of these days I'm going to buy a 10 lb. lobster and make a feast of it at home.

OC--that thing I use is the Aria Guitar Rest, purchased right here on Guitar Salon. (I did have to get another metal pole though--the one that comes with it is just too ridiculously short, and the manufactures were lame not have have a longer one. Other than that, it works well for me.)

[Steve Lin]

Forgot to mention. In a few weeks we should have some new videos up to share. VGo Recordings is coming out to Boston and we're doing some more recording, at which time we'll make some more videos! I'll keep you all posted!

Thanks again for watching and for the feedback!

[thraex]

El sueño de la razon produce monstruos is my favourite of the whole 24 caprichos, I listen to the 3rd volume almost exclusively when I put FBungarten´s recording and think about learning it, it´s C-T´s best music, I think. Some of the hardest music written for our instrument, specially if not using Gilardino´s over-simplification of the score, needless to say, Gilardino´s editions are good because he puts at the performers discretion using the original intentions or he suggests a personal solution to the mountain of technical problems this music poses.

Si sabrá más el discípulo is certainly a bitter joke about 12 tone music and the avant garde music stablishment in general, because MCT felt really bitter (like Goya) about his recognition in the classical music world due to his conviction to write tonal music still at that time.

...Vol.4..is right there with the Vol.3...great music, indeed..

[Steve Lin]

Thraex, I agree with you on that! The Bungarten recording is so difficult to find (and so expensive when I did find it) which is why I unfortunately don't have it yet. For "El Sueno" Throughout most of the variations I've come up with my own solutions to make the thing playable, sometimes borrowing a few measures from Gilardino and other times following some very unorthodox but really cool solutions offered by Fisk.

Have you looked at the Preludes and Fugues for 2 guitars? I've only played the E major, A minor and G minor. It's hard to find someone who will sit down with you and make an effort to read through them, especially when some of them are in Db and B major. Oh well! There's plenty of other MCT to learn.

I'd like to do the Sonata Canonica sometime and I'll be doing the double concerto with a good friend as part of one of my degree recitals next semester (with piano, probably.)

[Steve Lin]

Thraex, I agree with you on that! The Bungarten recording is so difficult to find (and so expensive when I did find it) which is why I unfortunately don't have it yet. For "El Sueno" Throughout most of the variations I've come up with my own solutions to make the thing playable, sometimes borrowing a few measures from Gilardino and other times following some very unorthodox but really cool solutions offered by Fisk.

Have you looked at the Preludes and Fugues for 2 guitars? I've only played the E major, A minor and G minor. It's hard to find someone who will sit down with you and make an effort to read through them, especially when some of them are in Db and B major. Oh well! There's plenty of other MCT to learn.

I'd like to do the Sonata Canonica sometime and I'll be doing the double concerto with a good friend as part of one of my degree recitals next semester (with piano, probably.)

[Axel]

I bought that aria rest some time ago. My friend has one from Japan that works great, but mine sadly didn't work out. It was incredibly noisy/squeaky. I was able to get rid of the noise but then the plastic covers kept sliding off making the support fall too :(
I guess it just wasn't meant for my guitar. I wish I didn't need a guitar rest. I have several and they're all an annoyance to carry around and attach, but I value them too much especially now that I'm getting older and want to preserve my back :)

[Steve Lin]

Axel, one of the plastic covers on my keeps sliding off as well. Too bad there's no easy way with this one. In truth I like playing on my right leg the most. I can't say that's the best for my back but it always feels great.

A few years ago I did that in a master class, taught by a very renowned guitarist, one of them universally loved ones, who wasn't a fan. He said that playing the guitar on the right leg evokes the whole bar scene and that I was disrespecting Bach by playing in such a way. He was very sincere about it and I definitely saw his point.

Since then, have I performed in public on my right leg? Yep! Barrios and Piazzolla probably wouldn't have minded; I can only hope Llobet, Bach and others weren't cursing me from their graves. I guess it's a bit weird and sorry if that offends anyone.

[Axel]

I like playing on my right leg also. I feel like I get a better tone too due to the angle of attack, but then again it might just be because I'm hearing more with my right ear?
My gripe with the footstool is that it makes the guitar lean too far to my left and I feel like I have to reach/extend my left arm too much. Then you have the problem of it not going high enough and being forced to play on really high chairs that renders the footstool useless. I won't go into back pain in this rant!
Playing on the right leg eliminates the annoyance of reach, but it also restricts movement near the high frets, especially if you have to bar.
Everytime I use a guitar rest (efel currently) I tend to use the side of it more than letting it sit naturally, so the guitar moves slightly to my right. I love this position, it's so comfortable to play when the sound hole is near my chest, everything just feels right.... until the suction cups start to wear out and it starts falling off randomly and unexpectantly, and of course I could do without all the nasty marks on the side of my guitar. The other problem is that it isn't sitting naturally in the first place and I have to kind of hold it in place.
I'm contemplating getting one of those cushions, I just dread the idea of carrying those things around. Maybe I could invent one that blows up like a lifevest and shrinks down for easy carrying? :)

Btw I really think Bach could care less what leg you're playing the guitar on. They didn't even have classical guitars or footstool back then. The guy doing your master class should've used someone like Segovia for his little story.

Oh btw great playing :)

[Steve Lin]

Incidentally, I kinda agree that Bach would care less. He may have written much music to serve his Lutheran ways but he was still a human who quarrelled, was imprisoned, brawled, disobeyed orders, enjoyed drinks, etc.

Foot stools should be banned. I think they should have a surgeon general's warning.

"SURGEON GENERAL’S WARNING: Foot Stool Causes Back Pain, Spinal Distortion, Neck Injury, Pinched Nerves and May Complicate Pregnancy."

[rainiert]

Wow.... I really enjoyed watching your videos... TERRIFFIC! The TEDESCO is a beautiful piece. Now I want to learn it too! What does the title mean in english? IT looks like one hell of a difficult piece to play... Thus the name "MONSTROUS".

Thanks again for sharing!

ARe you a recording artist for VGO Recods? Where did you study classical guitar?

Rainier T.

[Steve Lin]

Rainiert,

"The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters."

To see the etching by Goya:
http://www.artehistoria.com/frames.htm?http://www.artehistoria.com/genios/cuadros/1793.htm

The way I understand the work, it's about the battle between the artist, which stands for the Enlightenment, Reason, Logic, Good and the Monsters--Corruption, Greed, Evil, etc. The artist asleep at his desk means opportunity for "monsters" to parade the world, and as the artist gets deeper and deeper into sleep the demons grow (and yes, the piece gets harder and harder and more dissonant.) You see how the monsters behind the artist are in layers, lending nicely to the variations idea that MCT uses.

MCT does not write the harmonics near the end--it was another brilliant move by Fisk. I always imagine the artist waking up slowly. As the story goes, Good triumps Evil. The last three chords kill me.

So the monsters aren't referring to the difficulty, though it has turned out as such.