Since getting back into the electric guitar earlier in the year, I've been (unsurprisingly) trying to catch up technique wise to where I would've been before. Not much wrong with this, as I'm really enjoying playing certain classical pieces so it rarely feels like practice. That said, I'm looking to add more to my to-do list.
Here's the kinda thing I'm after.
Bach's Partitia in Dm:
Besides that, I feel like I'm getting a grip on Paganini's 5th/24th (albeit nowhere near as fast as the pros), Bach's Solfeggietto, and a few random pieces from Mozart (Eine Klein w/e it's called) & Vivaldi (Spring).
What pieces would you recommend for improving picking ability?
Cheers!
Comments
I was going to suggest the Paganini stuff too - I've got all the caprices adapted for electric guitar. Some guy in New Zealand did a thesis on it and transcribed every single one. It's over 600 pages long - it goes into all the techniques etc - absolutely bonkers detail. Happy to send it on if you like; there is a link out there somewhere but I'd have to go back to find it (it's freely available online). I'm pretty sure some of it is close to unplayable but it's really really interesting.
https://www.facebook.com/benswanwickguitar
Bach's Cello Prelude in G Major (transposed to D) can be played with pick also.
https://mro.massey.ac.nz/handle/10179/713
Err, "viola"!
If you like what PG does, there is a huge back catalogue of his transcriptions of classical stuff for guitar. Piles of them have been tabbed up on sites like Ultimate Guitar, and the whole Terrifying Guitar Trip column series from Guitar Player magazine is readily available online nowadays. In interviews, Gilbert has stated that he doesn't work directly from the score, but gets a friend/his missus to play slowly from sheet music to tape, from where he can pick the notes and rhythms up by ear. I've tried working directly from violin scores a few times to improve my reading (Mike Stern apparently does this). If you're good at toughing it out, I reckon you can learn a lot this way.
ISTR @Danji took lessons from Guitarist mag's old jazz columnist, Adrian Ingram, who wrote a few columns on transcribing Bach for plectrum guitar, and I think did a book on it which I've not been able to google up, so is surely out of print. Perhaps Dan can point you in the right direction. If not, I'll dive into my back issues for the correct title (only a fingerstyle book is mentioned on Ingram's site).