Mazurka Appasionata, Barrios

[strungup]

I'm learning this beautiful piece. Technically it is generally quite easy to play, apart from what are no doubt the well known problem patches - starting with the first entry of the main melody!! There is no other way to play these passages, you have to just bend the fingers where they don't want to go and press hard as hell on the barre. Occasionally (once or twice so far) I manage to get all/most of the notes sounding clearly, giving rise to an audible 'Yes!', but most of the time it's an ignominious 'phut' instead of a note on the top string.

Any suggestions/commiserations welcome - I'm sure there's someone out there who has been playing this perfectly for years...

[sthugh]

I've been learning Un Sueno en la Floresta recently. I don't have those long spidery fingers many guitarists have, so it's a bit difficult for me, but I've found some alternate fingerings that work well. Plus it's a very long piece and will take a long time to learn, so it's something I'm just dabbling at in my spare time while I'm learning other pieces much more quickly. So far I'm only up to the part where the triplets come in. Most of the time triplets are kind of easy, but not his!, so that will be challenging for me. I love Barrios though. He's the closest thing to a guitar hero the classical world has ever had in my eyes. There's never been anyone quite like him as both a player and a composer.

Good luck with it.