Eduardo Martin Decoded

A detailed study guide by Raymond Lohengrin

Piece I Arpeggios
This is a very charming piece from the Nine Easy Pieces collection by the
Cuban composer Eduardo Martin. It is common for a young student to look
at a piece like this as just a simple arpeggio sequence of four notes, but as
we will soon see there is much to learn from this easy piece
We will use Piece I to learn how to practice better. I have developed these
very effective techniques and I have used them for years to teach my
students. With this lesson you will learn the following:

How to practice slowly and carefully one hand at a time.

Learning to use a simple chord tablature to easily memorize chord
progressions.
How to practice a right-hand arpeggio formula.
How to use planting when playing an ascending arpeggio.
Using open strings to facilitate shifting.
Use beats or rests with countdown between changes to help you slow
down your practice and to help you to focus on quality.
Apply dynamics and tonal changes to make the piece more interesting.

Note: The Decoded Series is a trade mark publication of Raymond Lohengrin. CopyRight 2010

In this lesson, the student should pay attention to detail. Every symbol
should be noticed and taken in consideration. Remember, your teacher has
taken care to provide all fingerings for the right and left hands for every
piece. This will help you learn correctly and quickly,
This piece is much more than a simple ascending free stroke four notes
arpeggio. It is a polyphonic composition with two voices, a bass line (notes
with down stems) and an arpeggio accompaniment (stems pointing up). It is
also important to be able to identify which voice carries the melody. The
guitar is considered by most a little orchestra, and as in any good orchestra
balance between the voices or instruments is very important. Here we have a
bass melody with and arpeggio accompaniment. Care should be taken to
bring out the bass melody. This can be achieved by playing the bass (p
finger) a little louder but instead we will try bringing the ima arpeggio to a
second plane so that the melody can be clearly heard. Bringing out a
particular voice or melody in a piece of music makes the music much more
interesting.
As you learn this etude pay attention to the following points:
Play as Legato as possible. All chords should be connected as possible
avoiding any gaps especially in the melody. In order to play smoothly,
fingers (left hand and right hand) should move as closely to the strings as
possible. Take time to study and correct finger movements of both
hands every time you practice; study one hand at a time for a few
minutes.
When playing open strings, the left-hand fingers should anticipate the chords
or notes that follow.
Chose a speed or tempo that is comfortable for you. If you find yourself
stooping often, or going slower or faster at some point then the tempo is too
fast for you! It is much better and more musical to play at a slow tempo that

you can keep. Use a metronome to practice and to keep track of gradual
increments to develop speed. Remember rhythm is the glue that keeps a
piece together.
How to Practice
When studying a new piece, I generally ask the student to concentrate on
one hand at a time. First you should study the left -hand fingers placement
and movements. Try practicing each measure three to five times and take a
mental picture of the chord forms and movements. Then practice the right
hand formula which is an ascending arpeggio pima very slowly until it
becomes very natural and familiar to you. Next practice each measure three
to five times right and left hand simultaneously. Make sure that each repeat
has a purpose. Play slowly and analyze the results so you can make
adjustments and your playing becomes consistent and of a high quality.
Remember quality and not quantity is what counts.
Make note of any measures that need special attention, mark these and work
on them first thing every day.

Note: The Decoded Series is a trade mark publication of Raymond Lohengrin. CopyRight 2010

Eduardo Martin
Pieza Facil I
1Edited by Raymond Lohengrin

This piece is in the key of D minor, and it has a 4/4 time signature Notice
that bass notes have two stems one pointing down and one pointing up. This
indicates that these notes belong to both voices the bass and the
accompaniment. It is easier to figure out the rhythm by using the upper voice
as a guide, and as you see you will be playing two eighth notes per beat. It is
important to remember that having a note of longer value on a voice and
smaller values on another tells you that a voice is sustaining while another is
in motion. The longer value note will be played in time where it belongs and
sustain while the other notes of the moving voice play where they are
supposed to according to their value. For students it is a common mistake to
change the rhythm by holding or pausing on a longer note value and not
realizing that the longer value just indicates to sustain the note against
another voice.

Note: The Decoded Series is a trade mark publication of Raymond Lohengrin. CopyRight 2010

Preparation Exercises for the Study of E. Martin Piece I

In over thirty years of teaching I have found that it is very difficult for
students to practice slowly. With the following study technique I developed I
have had great success getting the students to practice slowly and carefully.
The idea is to allow several beats in between finger movements while
keeping a steady very slow tempo. So speed is accomplished not by playing
faster but rather by decreasing the number of beats in between with each
repeat. This practice technique could be applied to notes on a single beat, to
the study of a single measure and even to the study of several sections of the
piece. Having the extra beats allows for the mind to have space or time react
and learn what to do. It helps us to play what we are learning while being
relaxed and allows us to have time to pay attention to detail. You will be
surprised to find that practicing this way you will learn much faster.

The rests in the following exercise provide a brief moment of rest before the
next repeat. The space between the repeats will become smaller by means of
a fewer rests. By practicing this way, the student will develop better
concentration and will learn to relax the fingers and to prepare the fingers for
playing in an instant!

The student may wish to repeat each measure several times to study the
motion of each finger. It is important to check that each finger relaxes back
to the playing position after it plays but making sure not to position the
finger on the string as this will stop the vibrating string.

Note: The Decoded Series is a trade mark publication of Raymond Lohengrin. CopyRight 2010

Free Strokes Arpeggios

First, lets prepare by positioning your finger tips so that:

The p finger rests on the 4th string

The I finger rests on the 3rd string
The m finger rests on the 2nd string
The a finger rests on the 1st string
This is call planting. When planting, a finger is positioned on a
string before it plays. It is most important to take the time to make
sure the finger or fingers are actually touching the string. In this
exercise each finger will have its on string to play on. Planting
makes your hand to be steady and relaxed. Also, you will be less
likely to make a mistake and play the wrong string because the
finger is on the string to be played ahead of time. By learning to
position the finger this way, later on even if planting is not
necessary the fingers will be prepared very close to the strings
minimizing effort.

Ex1

Ex2
When playing Ex2, Ex3 and Ex4 and Ex5, keep a constant slow steady beat.
Practice each exercise several times making sure to do the planting as the p
finger plays. As the p finger plays the ima fingers should be already planted
in position.

Ex3

Ex4

Ex5

Note: The Decoded Series is a trade mark publication of Raymond Lohengrin. CopyRight 2010

Chord Progression. Left hand

Now that we have a clear idea of what the right hand will be doing, let us
study the chord progression in this piece. We will study the left-hand finger
movement and will practice it until we are very familiar with it.
Here we have a simpler method to notate chords. The student should make
an effort to memorize each chord form and to find a way to relate to the
finger placement within each chord form. Practice the following exercise
using only the left hand. You will learn it faster if you can focus all your
attention to the left hand and do no get distracted by actually playing it by
using your right hand! We will divide the chord sequence in two parts.
Part 1 Left hand
Ex6

Please notice that fingers 2 and 4 remain fixed in position during the first
three chords. I often ask my students to take a mental photo or digital
picture of each chord before trying to learn the next chord. Learn well one
thing at a time. Use the beats in between counting down technique you used
in the previous exercises to learn the right hand formula. Form the first
chord and then allow four beats to shift to the next chord. Then, do the same
but now counting three in between then two beats and so on. Practice this
sequence until you can play all the chords smoothly, then study the second
part.
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Remember that the left-hand fingers should press the string very close to the
fret but not on the metal fret! If the finger is somehow in the middle of the
fret, chances are there will be string noise. Placing the finger almost on top
of the metal fret will muffle the sound a bit. The closer to the fret the less
energy may be required to press down the string and obtain a clean sound.

Part 2 Left hand

Ex7

When practicing these exercises please keep in mind these general

rules:

1) Try playing just one note slowly as you apply almost not
pressure at all on the string with your left-hand finger and then
increase pressure little by little. This will help you learn exactly
how much energy (or how little) you need in order to produce a
clean sound. Think of resting the string on the fret rather than
pressing it against the fret board! Now is the time to correctly
train your fingers.
2) Make sure that your left-hand thumb is located approximately in
the middle of the back of the neck. The thumb will act as a pivot
point as you shift from string to string.
3) Keep your left-hand finger movement short or to a minimum.
4) Make sure to follow and use the correct fingerings as indicated
in the exercise.
Simultaneous Playing
Right-hand and left-hand

We are ready now to put the piece together. We will first focus on learning
well the first part. Play slowly each measure three to five times using both
hands. Then, use the count in between technique between measures to study
the transition between measures. For example, play the first measure and
wait for four counts. As you count 1234 start moving your 3rd finger to the
5th string III fret (note C), your finger should be right in position on the first
beat of the next 1234 count. So now as you count think of the next shift and
move your 1st finger towards the B flat on the 5th string Ist fret etc. Then,
repeat the exercise counting only three beats between changes, then two, one
beat in between and finally you will be surprised that you can play one
chord per beat!
After you can play the piece well without hesitation, work on adding some
dynamics. Since each arpeggio pima is played twice, you may want to use
an echo effect. Play the arpeggio a little louder the first time and then softer
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on the repeat. The complete first section also repeats so you may apply the
mf/ piano for a louder/softer echo effect. You may want to experiment with
color changes by changing your right hand position closer or futher away to
the bridge.
I hope you have a great time learning this piece and that it serves as a good
introduction for the study of other equally beautiful but more advanced
pieces by Eduardo Martin. I am sure that by following the study techniques
in this lesson your learning will be fun and much faster!

Raymond Lohengrin
Florida USA Jan 2010
Reitz Union Guitar Course
University of Florida

Note: The Decoded Series is a trade mark publication of Raymond Lohengrin. CopyRight 2010

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