A Walk to the Lake
7
Here a video of me playing an early version of “A Walk to the Lake” out on the street in San Francisco Fisherman’s Wharf Area. The official version of this song was released on the Album “String & Wood” in 2011. This is another song where I use an electronic looper to record and playback 4 bar sections of the song to create all the backing tracks on the fly during the performance. I am also using my guitarcam rig as the camera mount. For the guitar player’s out there I’ve also released the note for note sheet music transcriptions, see below.
Fuerte
How to Open and Play Guitar Sheet Music and Tabs on iPhone and iPad
O’ Carolan’s Concerto
Happy St Patrick’s Day!!!
I thought this would be a fitting song for St. Patrick’s Day as it was written by one of Ireland’s most Famous Composer’s: Turlough O’ Carolan!
Download the Track here:
On Guitar…
It is a lot of fun to play on guitar! I arranged to be play in the 7th position (1st finger 7th fret) for a couple of reasons.
#1 I like rich full tones; the thicker the string the fuller the guitar tone. So by playing it on higher frets I am forced to use the thicker strings.
#2. I wanted to play in a single position without needing to shift my left hand to much.
#3. I wanted to practice a 3 notes per string scale (or finger pattern).
So this song is also a great way to practice those often neglected notes up higher on the fretboard.
Scale Pattern Tutorial for Carolan’s Concerto (JHC Arrangement.)
D Major Fretboard Chart
Blank Fretboard Chart
The Sheet Music Download includes a PDF with tab and standard notation as well as GuitarPro files.
Sheet Music Download: $3.95 
“With Love” Free Tutorial – The Tremolo Intro
Sheet Music:
With Love $5.95
With Love – Original Guitar Composition by John H. Clarke
This was probably the hardest song I have ever trans-cribed. It took hours and hours. Mostly because it was originally recorded and composed completely in free time. I had to make a lot of decisions in order to put it on paper as accurately as possible. As I generally do with most of my music publications I did not include left or right hand fingerings, or expression marks such as legatos and such. I do this because it is extremely tedious work, but more importantly because I don’t want people to play carbon copies of my music. I believe music should be interpreted and imbued with the style of the artist who plays it. Here is a sample of the sheet music.
I tried to be as accurate as possible with the notation and the tabs but some notes may have been omitted and altered from the original youtube video. This had to be done in order to “square” the music in 4/4 time on the printed staff.
Leave questions about this song below and I will do my best to get back to you.
With Love $5.95
Download includes standard notation and TAB in pdf + GuitarPro files & MIDI.
No Pretense
This is a loop based song. I use an electronic foot pedal to record layers of the song as I play it. The loop points are notated in the sheet music. Alternatively, you can have a friend play the other parts or you can swap back and fourth. There are only two chords in the song, but lots of variation in the arpeggios, chords, and melody. If you have more than one player you can have fun layering different parts of the song on top of each other. Also, great to practice your leads to over the simple chord change/vamp.
No Pretense $5.95
Download includes standard notation and TAB in pdf + GuitarPro files & MIDI.
String and Wood
To Live
This is the very first song I ever actually wrote for classical guitar. I wrote it during my college years I think in 1998-99. That was around the same time that I really started applying myself to Spanish and classical guitar techniques. I don’t remember if there was anything in particular that inspired me to write the song. I do remember that the writing process went fairly quickly, which is rare for me. I actually wrote it out on paper in one afternoon. Over the years the ‘B’ section has changed slightly as I have adjusted some of the notes to fit the meter better.
Form:
The structure of the song is very simple–basically its an ‘AABA’ form. The ‘A’ section is in 4/4 meter and played in triplets through out. Each ‘A’ section is the same without variation. At the end of each ‘A’ section I play a strumming part, also in triplets. The first pulse of each triplet stum is a percussive hit to the stings and fretboard. I drag my fingers down for the second pulse and then drag my thumb up for the third pulse. The chords for the strumming section are Dmin-Bbmaj-C7-Fmaj.
The B section changes meter to 6/8 and it uses a rapid picking technique called “tremolo.” I’m not sure when it was first used, but but Fransisco Tarrega’s beautiful piece called “Recuerdos de la Alhambra” used tremolo for the entire duration of the song, and is probably the best known song using the technique. “Recuerdos” was a big inspiration to me for useing tremolo in this song.
To Live $5.95