Estudio Opus48 No5 by Mauro Giuseppe Giuliani (1781 – 1829)
Exercise ( p i m a m i ) legato sweep
 Mauro Giuliani was an italian guitarist and composer, and is considered by many to be one of the leading guitarist virtuosos of the early nineteenth century. He was a prolific composer, writing over 150 pieces for the guitar, as well as many chamber compositions for the violin, voice, flute, piano, and chamber orchestra. |
Notes
( p i m a m i ) are 6 notes in triplet time in legato, a pretty aggressive right hand pattern. To me, the sweep effect mimics the harp. Being legato means playing smooth and connected; without breaks between the successive tones. If you like this continuous sweep effect, there’s another song using the same 6 note pattern on steroids, Francisco Tarrega’s “Estudio Brillante”. However, I must prepare you that Tarrega’s song is significantly harder and lengthier than Mauro Giuliani’s tune. Opus 48 no5 is a good introduction song for the sweep effect. Short enough to have mercy on your right hand!
(p i m a m i) Like Tremolo (p i i i) this legato pattern takes practice. I will share with you how I learn by myself these techniques with a sock! First get a sock and your guitar. Then on the first fret tie the sock around your guitar neck to muffle the notes. Now sit in front of the tv and practice the right hand technique for hours on end. Since the sock is damping the notes, there’s no annoying repetition of the fumbled notes plus your left hand is free to grab your remote and switch channels. The point is you would want to eventually do the right hand sweep without thinking. Don’t focus on each finger pluck, that will only slow you down. Get used to the motion 123456 and always start slow. When you do it enough times, the pattern will be tattooed in your brain’s database.
Although the sweep is same throughout the song, the accents are not. You must separate the string and strike one string/note harder than the rest. For example, 1 2 3 4 5 6 . The 5th note is accented and is louder than the rest. This means you have to be in control of each note in the pattern. Don’t go too fast. It’s better to go slow, uniform and without breaks than turbo and disjointed.