incredible classical guitarist

Subject: incredible classical guitarist
From: RangerSteve
Date: 10 Feb 09 - 05:42 AM

A friend found this on youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98y0Q7nLGWk

Subject: RE: incredible classical guitarist
From: Don Firth
Date: 10 Feb 09 - 01:02 PM

Excellent! Her name is Li Jie. I discovered her some months ago on YouTube, but I know very little about her. There is an item about her on Wikipedia. CLICKY #1

By the way, here's another young woman who gets around a guitar pretty well!! CLICKY #2.

Get a load of that left hand! Don't let anyone tell you "My hands are too small to play a classic guitar." Just show them that video! I understand she's all of seven years old.

Don Firth

Subject: RE: incredible classical guitarist
From: Bonnie Shaljean
Date: 10 Feb 09 - 01:28 PM

In addition to her virtuoso playing, she has an astonishing degree of musical sensitivity for one so young (for any age, really). YouTube is full of so many youthful prodigies that just sound like computers on autoplay - they get through the notes but there's no sense of a hidden life within the music. This lassie is sheer joy to listen to (the little Korean girl is good too). Thanks so much for posting the link, Ranger Steve. I look forward to hearing more of her.

Subject: RE: incredible classical guitarist
From: GUEST,Tunesmith
Date: 10 Feb 09 - 04:43 PM

I've noticed that a lot of younger classical guitarist are holding their guitars in such a way that the guitar's headstock is higher than the player's head. If this trend continues then guitarist may end up holding the guitar like a cello. Indeed, this is already happening - albeit with a modified guitar. (Loving playing in the clip below, btw)

cello position classical guitar

Subject: RE: incredible classical guitarist
From: Bruce MacNeill
Date: 10 Feb 09 - 05:16 PM

I was taught to play classical at about the same angle she's at. I don't think it's abnormal for classical guitar. It sort of helps you get your hand into the contortions required for classical. If I'm playing steel string, I play fairly horizontal. I don't think I'd want to try playing like a cello and doing barr chords. I just wish I thought I could ever play like she does but I'm probably way too old to worry much about it.

Subject: RE: incredible classical guitarist
From: katlaughing
Date: 10 Feb 09 - 05:17 PM

Hey! I could get into playing a guitar if I could hold like that! Really neat, Tunesmith, thanks.

The young girls are amazing!

Subject: RE: incredible classical guitarist
From: Don Firth
Date: 10 Feb 09 - 06:30 PM

Well, yeah, kat, it may look neat, but resting the guitar on the left thigh with the left foot raised maybe five or six inches (tailor to fit) is a lot more secure, and you don't have to support the guitar with your hands, leaving them free to do what they need to do.

Sharon Isbin, not just one of the best woman guitarists in the world, but one of the best guitarists in the world.   CLICKY

Don Firth

Subject: RE: incredible classical guitarist
From: Don Firth
Date: 10 Feb 09 - 06:54 PM

How to braid the fingers of your left hand.
(teaching your fingers to word together, but independently)

Good Stuff!

Don Firth

Subject: RE: incredible classical guitarist
From: RangerSteve
Date: 12 Feb 09 - 05:05 PM

Don, thanks for that Alhambra video. That's my favorite classical guitar piece. I wish it lasted longer.

Steve

Subject: RE: incredible classical guitarist
From: Don Firth
Date: 12 Feb 09 - 07:23 PM

It's high on my list, too. I can actually play it. At least, I could.

When singing in the coffeehouses, I would occassionally slip a classic piece into a set of songs, usually with most satisfying results. Whispers of "Jeez, he can really play that thing!"

I could get pretty intimidated when playing for the Seattle Classic Guitar Society, however, which I did from time to time. There are some folks there who "can really play that thing!!" Some fairly heavy-duty, industrial strength people such as Michael Partington and Elizabeth Brown (modern classic guitar, baroque guitar, lute).

If I live long enough, I may actually learn how to play this thing. . . .

Don Firth