Villa-Lobos Etude 12 Micro Study 1 – RH Melody Control
Villa-Lobos Etude 12 Micro Study 1 is a guitar lesson designed to help with playing the 3rd section melody, in this case for Etude 12 by Villa-Lobos. These extra lessons are all part of the #villalobos12in12 challenge.
Villa-Lobos Etude 12 Melody
This is a short micro study which will help get closer to controlling the RH, and to practice the LH stretches, with a 4 bar fragment. It is a very small focused lesson which utilize the main idea behind the 3rd section, and it will improve your overall RH mechanism.
Notes:
RH Control & Stamina
This exercise for etude 12 works the RH scale technique. It uses a static note, in a lower position, so that the focus is the RH. The idea is to focus the energy of the stroke onto string 5, and then lightly play string 6. As the melody should be the most prominent in this section.
The micro study begins simply with a static note, it then adds in a another 3 frets, and keeps adding a fret, away to practice the stretching required in section 3 of etude no. 12. Each one of those bars can be isolated for extra practice.
KEY Strategy
RH Fine Control
The fine control here is developed with awareness of how much energy is required to play the first note, and then the ability to adjust it for the following. This takes dedicated mindful practice. Rest strokes are key to getting this fine control, learn to adjust your stroke from string to string. This is a fine detail technique.
Other Info
Note: The tone needs to even, so make sure that the open strings do not pop out of the texture. The main melodic idea here is the bass line.
Secret
Old School RH
The RH wrist will need to adjust as it will not be able to use the thumb as an anchor here. The RH needs to be stable in this section, with an old school Segovia style angle to the strings, first to adjust for the finger lengths, and secondly to lesson the nail noise on the bass strings. Do not play mindlessly here.
And Remember: use I A, or I M
Want More?
Check Out Approaching Villa-Lobos Etude No. 1
Approaching Etude No. 1 Villa-Lobos
#villalobos12in12! what is that?
I bet, like me, you want to play all 12 of Villa-Lobos’ awesome studies? Find it a little tough to get some of them started, or even finished? Want some help? #villalobos12in12 is a community led challenge that aspires to inspire and help get these fantastic pieces up and running. And it all starts here at CGRocks.
Check out this more detailed post below.
#villalobos12in12 Challenge
If you want a free copy of the study guide to etude no. 1 join the CGRocks community below.
