DI MEOLA AL McLAUGHLIN PACO DE LUCIA FRIDAY NIGHT SAN FRANCISCO Mediterranean Sundance BOOK

DI MEOLA AL, JOHN McLAUGHLIN, PACO DE LUCIA, FRIDAY NIGHT IN SAN FRANCISCO. Questo irripetibile concerto del 5 dicembre 1980, ha aperto le strade al genere spanish-jazz-acustico.

Al Di Meola, Paco De Lucia: Mediterranean Sundance/Rio Ancho;

Al Di Meola, John McLaughlin: Short Tales Of The Black Forest;

Paco De Lucia, John McLaughlin: Frevo Rasgado;

Al Di Meola, Paco De Lucia, John McLaughlin: Fantasia Suite; Paco De Lucia, Al Di Meola, John McLaughlin: Guardian Angel.

Trascrizione di ogni chitarra.

Series: Guitar Book
Artist: Al Di Meola
Artist: John McLaughlin
Artist: Paco Delucia

"Latin rhythms are the most interesting rhythms in the world," opines Al Di Meola, "and to write them you have to be able to play them." And Di Meola can certainly play them. The master altenate-picker and fusion pioneer has carried on a multi-decade love affair with the music of Spain and Central and South America while simultaneously leaving his imprint on the jazz and rock worlds. His two latest releases are The Guitar Trio with Paco de Lucia and John McLaughlin, and Di Meola Plays Piazzolla, a tribute to the great Argentinean tango composer Astor Piazzolla. Both albums are rich in Latin influences, and Di Meola has devoted his musical life to absorbing the subtle stylistic nuances of the various genres within his own playing. "Almost everything I do I kind of analyze to be some kind of percussion or drum pattern," says Di Meola. "I'm particularly interested in what's known as the 'clavé' rhythm. That's essential in Latin music, and some people just can't do it. But you'll hear Latin musicians say, 'Oh, he plays good clavé.' clavé is sometimes referred to as a rhythm, hut mostly in salsa music. When you play against the clavé, you're playing against the time, and that's what I do a lot when 1 play rhythmically on a guitar. We refer to clavé as the quarter note." A great example of this can be found in Di Meola's song "Beyond The Mirage," from The Guitar Trio (see Ex. 1). The opening arpeggios are composed in a classic clavé rhythm. "All three guitars tune the 6th string down to a low D," says Di Meola. "I use a little bit of my Roland GR synth in there, so you can hear that real low tone of a fretless bass sound."

The picking pattern is not strictly alternating, but designed to fit over the specific string spread. Di Meola composed the picking pattern as much as the notes themselves. You must perform the pick strokes a certain way to achieve the proper ,"hythm. "The first note you hit is on the 6th string, the second note is on the high E string, the third on the D string, and so on," explains Di Meola. "So there's a lot of skipping around. It's down, up, down, up, up, up. But you have to do it this way or the rhythm won't sound just right. And if it's off a hair, the feel is ruined."

At this brisk tempo (q=200), it's quite a challenge to execute pattens accurately. But that's not the most difficult aspect of the passage, according to Di Meola: "It's more the rhythm that's going to mess people up. And what people need to get into is experimenting more with different rhythms, and keeping all of that locked into the clavé time." The rhythm and the placement of the accents brings to mind anothe," Latin-jazz standard, "Spain," by Chick Corea. "The whole thing in 'Spain' is the way those accents fall," says Di Meola. "It's off of the clavé without the clavé moving that will determine whether it's working or not. What 1love about Chick is that he writes and plays with so much clavé. I'm really drawn to his ability to use that in composition and playing." As a fitting homage to Corea-who helped launch Di Meola's career by hiring ti,e teenage,' to play in his band Return To Forever -Paco, John, and Al perform "Spain" as an encore. Note how close the rhythm and accents are in the opening of "Spain" to Di Meola's own tune. The difference is that "Spain" is melodic and "Mirage" is rhythmic. Both carry the clavé rhythm within their notes, and both capture the essence of Latin music. "The important tiling is the rhythm," stresses Di Meola. "Withont that you have nothing. Whether it's 'Spain' or 'Beyond The Mirage' or whatever, the rhythm is everything."

Artist Transcriptions 21st Century Publications This famous trio of acoustic guitarists is captured live in this matching folio to the Grammy Award-winning album from a live concert in San Francisco. The book contains full transcriptions of every tune 96 pages. including:

Mediterranean Sundance/Rio Ancho
Fantasia Suite (Al Di Meola)
Frevo Rasgado
Guardian Angel
Short Tales Black Forest