L. COHEN - HALLELUJAH FOR SOLO GUITAR

This is another arrangement for solo guitar, but this time the music is by Leonard Cohen (1934-2016). He was a multitalented Canadian artist (poet, novelist and song-writer). He's an inductee to the Rock and Roll's Hall of Fame (2008) and won a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2010. The song Hallelujah took approximately five years to write and was completed in 1984. It won it's global recognition thanks to covers by John Cale, K.D. Lang (the 2010 Vancouver Olympics opening ceremony performance has 3.8M views on YouTube), and Jeff Buckley's interpretation is considered to be the definitive version of Hallelujah. The time signature is 6/8 and is in the key of C with a brief modulation to the relative minor right before the chorus.

CHROMATIC SCALES

Here is the seventh of a series of technique exercises I've dedicated to the classic guitar here on my blog. It principally focuses on the left hand (LH), however I'll include suggested RH (right hand) fingerings as well. On this occasion, I'll feature the LH playing chromatic scales in a vertical direction (up and down the neck) as opposed to horizontal chromatic scales played across the strings, and all the examples can be practiced exclusively with the LH. There are many excellent examples of chromatic scales executed horizontally in Kitharologus, published in 2009 by R. Iznaola ,https://christianlaremont.blogspot.com/2020/04/kitharologus-path-to-virtuosity.html

As in previous posts dedicated to the LH, we must always remember to make sure the thumb is always opposite finger 2 (especially when shifting positions), keep finger 1 as close to the fret as possible, and always keep the other fingers (2,3, and 4) hovering above the notes that are going to be played. Just as important: leave LH fingers down whenever possible, avoid excessive pressure which can lead to fatigue, and your attitude should be as if you're preparing an important piece of music for live performance and not practicing some random technical warm-up exercise. All of these things will have as a result greater focus on dexterity, elasticity and versatility of the fingers of the LH. The examples presented here will all be on the first (E) string, but should be practiced on all six. Different tempos (i.e. speeding up and slowing down) and dynamics (i. e. p to f ) should also be employed.