Playing The Classic Rags

The great ragtime pieces of the early 20th century were written mostly for Piano, but many translate superbly for the Guitar, and David Laibman will show you how.

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Here's a mystery: if the great ragtime pieces of the early 20th century were not written for Guitar, andif they weren't player on the Guitar at all (until some of us started doing so half a century ago), then why do they work so will on Guitar?

Well, thumb vs. three fingers on the right hand (we'll leave out thepinkyfor now) creates that subtle antagonism between steady bass and syncopated melody - the 'twinkle in the eye' of Ragtime. There is a theory that the original borrowing actually went in the other directed, from three-fingerBanjo to Piano. Who knows? But I'm finding that the 'educated thumb' is only one neat thing about ragtime Guitar. Classic rags are very expressive, with moods and tempers, hills and valley. You can capture some of this withleft-hand notes (slides, hammer-ons, pull-offs), with right-hand brushes, rolls, nail strokes, with clever use of open strings and natural harmonics. This works. It is it's own story - not an imitation of a Piano, or of adixieland or jazz band. It is, simply - ragtime Guitar.

In these lessons, I have tried, for the most part, to meet two goals. First, to create versions of some of the most beautiful classical rags that 'lay down' well onGuitar, so when you play them you are working with the instrument, not fighting it. I have tried to pitch and arrange the pieces so that a lot of the action is in first position rather than high up on the neck, and to keep lefthand gymnastics to a minimum. Second, I didn't want these arrangements to sound like 'student' arrangements, too elementary to be believable. It is all about striking a balance. I am generally pleased with the result, and I hope