Last night I finished a rough draft of my 6th etude. It primarily uses the tapping technique throughout. Here is the midi recording…

This is very much a rough draft. After I write all ten I will go through one by one and make some changes here and there as well as add more articulations and dynamics.

I started working on the 7th one today. For this one I want to explore different timbres on the guitar such as dolce, ponticello, glissandi, and so on. I improvised some ideas which you can listen to here…

You can hear in the recording that I am playing certain passages ponticello. Other passages I am plucking 12 frets higher than the left hand fingering which gives it a hallow sound. At one point I pluck the string on the left side of my left hand and then do a little glissando. A couple points I cross the strings which gives it a very percussive sound.

My goal is to get these 10 etudes composed by Christmas and hopefully will begin recording after that. I’ve got a lot going on so I’ll see. I have a commission for a piano trio that will be performed in April, I want to do another volume of easy arrangements (English/Irish/Scottish folk songs), as well as life (school, family, etc).

Side note….I took this pic a couple nights ago. The fog was rolling in and it looked really cool outside. Unfortunately the pic really doesn’t do it justice.

-Rob