Solfeggietto for Solo Guitar

Solfeggietto (Classical) - The Bear's Den (kabukibear.com)

Going back to my classical roots for this one, this is a very famous keyboard piece written by one of Bach's sons. You can see me perform this on the piano in a video somewhere on my channel, but I've always wanted to perform it as a solo guitar piece.

Looking around at other versions of this for classical guitar, I found them unsatisfying. The classical guitar has a more limited range than, say, an electric guitar or piano. Given the original piece was written for keyboard, where range is no concern at all, many of the versions for classical guitar I found of this piece were forced to repeat patterns, because the melody would quickly go out of range.

I didn't like this. While I knew it was a necessary evil, the way it was done seemed clunky and too obvious to the listener. I felt you could accomplish this a little more subtly, by moving the repeats midphrase, essentially hiding them from the listener so the melodic line sounds like it continues to go up up up, when in fact you're jumping around a bit.

It's a bit of sonic trickery, but I think it is much more satisfying, as it stays true to the original piece without resorting to phrases that repeat verbatim.

Because the piece is very fast and technical, you'll notice I took the time to write in my suggested right-hand fingering. This is just a suggestion and is just how I play it, so feel free to use whatever fingers you want to pluck the strings. This is just the way I do it so my fingers don't get tangled up!

So, then what's the deal with the psychedelic video?

Well, if I'm not recording a video, I need to put SOMETHING there, and, as usual, I like to use AI to come up with something interesting to look at. But what to come up with, for a piece like this? It has no definite story or image it's intending to evoke. Many times, in these situations, I like to simply put the title into the AI and see how it interprets it. Sometimes it comes up with some very bizarre takes on a title! But "solfeggietto" doesn't mean much to an AI, and the images it was generating, while interesting, meant nothing in the scope of the piece.

So, what to do?

Then, I thought, what if I let the AI interpret the piece itself? And it described it as:

"A vibrant landscape made entirely of light, where paths of glowing strings crisscross through the air in sharp, precise patterns. These strings are connected to shining orbs, representing different notes of a melody, and as each one is plucked by unseen hands, it sends a ripple of color across the sky. The scene is dynamic and fast-moving, with brilliant flashes of color and energy following the rhythm of the music, creating a visual symphony of light and motion."

What a vivid and interesting interpretation! So, I then used another AI to generate a static image based on that description, and then yet ANOTHER one to animate said image. It couldn't really emulate the animation as described, but it still made something interesting regardless. I had to do a bit of video editing as the animation it generated was only a few seconds long, but yeah, that's the story behind the visuals in the video, in case you were curious!

Anyway! It's now 2:30AM and I am going to bed! Be well, and happy strumming!