There are several urban legends surrounding Paganini, such as the legend that he sold his soul to the devil so that he would be able to play the violin with such fiery virtuosity. Having learned a few of his pieces I can certainly see how such a transaction might have led to the devilishly difficult pieces for which he is known. Caprice 16 is one such piece. My personal favorite of his famous 24 Caprices, Caprice 16 is tour de force of scalar passages, arpeggios, string skipping and rapid position shifting.

You may have noticed that I did a lesson a while back on this piece. I have since re-learned it and arrived at fingerings that I think work better compared to those I used in my previous Caprice 16 lesson.

I have certainly been all over the map lately with my guitar playing. From Bach to Heitor Villa Lobos to Paganini, I never know who will inspire me from one day to the next. Hopefully you are not getting tired of my seemingly endless series of classical music based lessons. Having spent a lot of time developing technique, I can honestly say that classical music is one of the most sure fired ways to hone guitar technique. And in the realm of classical music, there is no workout quite like Paganini. His pieces are a boot camp in technical brutality!

Above is the tab for measures 1-6. Here are some tips:

1. Even though the piece is written out in straight 16th notes, do not play this piece with metronome precision. Find some recordings of violinists and notice how they let the piece breath. Insert pauses to your liking.
2. Do not try and play this piece at ludicrous speed. It simply does not lend itself to16th notes at 220 BPM. Most violinists play it around 130-140 BPM and my recording is done at tempos similar to those played by violinists.
3. Experiment with fingerings! There is tab available online for this piece but so far I have yet to come across a version with fingerings I like. I had to go through a lot of trial and error before I came across fingerings that worked well for me. You may not like my fingerings (especially the string skipping parts) so do what works for you!

Note: My audio recording contains the entire piece. The MIDI contains just the first 6 measures.

Later,

Brian Huether

Hopefully you have gone through Part 1 of this guitar lesson. Most of the techniques from Part 1 carry over into the measures that we are looking at in this guitar lesson - string skipping, arpeggios, rapid position shifting. These measures also contain some more linear, scalar lines which are refreshing since they are easier to execute compared to other sections of the piece.

Above is the tab for measures 7-21. Here are some tips:

1. Even though the piece is written out in straight 16th notes, do not play this piece with metronome precision. Find some recordings of violinists and notice how they let the piece breath. Insert pauses to your liking.
2. Do not try and play this piece at ludicrous speed. It simply does not lend itself to16th notes at 220 BPM. Most violinists play it around 130-140 BPM and my recording is done at tempos similar to those played by violinists.
3. Experiment with fingerings! There is tab available online for this piece but so far I have yet to come across a version with fingerings I like. I had to go through a lot of trial and error before I came across fingerings that worked well for me. You may not like my fingerings (especially the string skipping parts) so do what works for you!

Note: My audio recording contains the entire piece. Measure 7 comes in around 31 seconds into the recording. The MIDI file contains measures 1 - 21.

Later,

Brian Huether

I hope you have toughened out the past 2 exercises. The end is almost in sight! Much like athletes don't always appreciate the relentless efforts of their couch until after they taste a sweet victory, I think you will have a full appreciation for these guitar lessons after you sit down and play this piece straight through from start to end. I am sure you will notice vast improvements in a variety of techniques which will hopefully inspire in you a desire to continue pursuing guitar excellence!

Above is the tab for measures 23-40. Here are some tips:

1. Even though the piece is written out in straight 16th notes, do not play this piece with metronome precision. Find some recordings of violinists and notice how they let the piece breath. Insert pauses to your liking.
2. Do not try and play this piece at ludicrous speed. It simply does not lend itself to16th notes at 220 BPM. Most violinists play it around 130-140 BPM and my recording is done at tempos similar to those played by violinists.
3. Experiment with fingerings! There is tab available online for this piece but so far I have yet to come across a version with fingerings I like. I had to go through a lot of trial and error before I came across fingerings that worked well for me. You may not like my fingerings (especially the string skipping parts) so do what works for you!

Note: My audio recording (as well as the MIDI) contains the entire piece. Measure 23 comes in around 1 minute 10 seconds into the recording.

Later,

Brian Huether