AMAZING GRACE - an arrangement by TIM SPARKS

AGWDIGITALLESSON

Amazing Grace needs no introductionas a tune. It has a haunting melody

that lends itself very well to arrangingfor solo guitar.

This lesson is a preview from a videoinstruction project the Acoustic GuitarWorkshop is working on with Tim Sparks- ROOTS RAGS & BLUES (read more inthe panel at the bottom).

The first arrangement (page 2) is thebasic arrangement of the tune in Cmajor. So the tune falls nicely aroundfamiliar chords at the nut. We hope youenjoy it.

The second arrangement (page 3) addsreal jazzy tones and chords to thearrangement. The tune comes throughstrongly, but it is more satisfying for aplayer to play and adds harmonicinterest for the listener who will also bevery familiar with the tune.

Really listen to Tim (on the mp3), studyand play these arrangements, and youshould gain good insight into the guitararranger’s art.

Have fun and keep up the pickin’...

ROOTS RAGS & BLUES - tim sparksThe collection of tunes on this CD-ROM finds Sparks returningto his own roots, the music he learned growing up in ruralNorth Carolina. It was a world of tobacco fields, fire-breathing itinerant preachers, cornbread and collard greens,bluegrass and barbecue, moonshine on Saturday night andrapturous gospel singing on Sunday morning...and thecountry blues that seemed to come right up from the earth,out of the sunbaked, red clay Piedmont bottom land.

Tim Sparks plays and explains new and original versions ofthree classic fingerstyle standards: Willie Brown's MississippiBlues, Scott Joplin's Maple Leaf Rag and The Victory Rag, madefamous by Mother Maybelle Carter. In addition, he does acountry-gospel workout on Amazing Grace, shows some NewOrleans style on the Original Jelly Roll Blues and finishes with aKlezmer classic recorded in the 1920's, Tanst Yiddlekh.

Produced by; acousticguitarworkshop.com

ROOTS RAGS & BLUES due for release: Winter 2006/7

TIM SPARKSROOTS RAGS& BLUES

TIM SPARKSFINGERSTYLE MAGICIANTim Sparks has been redefining the acoustic guitarrepertoire since he won the US National FingerstyleChampionship in 1993 with a groundbreakingarrangement of Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite.Since then, Sparks has continued to surprise,challenge, and thrill audiences with his diverserepertoire and stunning technique. Equally at homewithin the Country Blues, Ragtime, Jazz or WorldMusic genres, Sparks’ extraordinary ability to adaptvirtually any music to the solo guitar has earned himan international reputation as one of the mostinnovative guitarists working today.

Sparks discography includes The Nutcracker Suite,One String Leads to Another and Guitar Bazaar onPeter Finger’s Acoustic Music Records. He has alsorecorded four projects for John Zorn’s Tzadik label,Neshamah, Tanz, At the Rebbe’s Table and MasadaGuitars, (with Bill Frisell and Marc Ribot).

In addition to playing concerts in Europe, Asia andNorth America, Sparks is a part-time facultymember of the University of Minnesota. Recentappearances include touring with Dolly Parton andas a featured guest on Garrison Keillor's A PrairieHome Companion.

"You can hear Tim Sparks think. He plays by choicenot habit: ideas not licks. I've heard him do this onguitars so badly intonated, they wouldn't make agood ashtray; the same guitars - I remember apiece called Blues on Bartok Street - are guitars inTim's hands. Beautiful. I'm Tim Sparks' biggest fan.His stuff is very difficult to play but it doesn'tsound difficult. I think that's real musicianship. He'sreally one of the best musicians I know." -

LEO KOTTKE

AGWDIGITALLESSON

Here’s the basic version of Tim Sparks’ take on this old standard. It’svery easy play and uses standard chords of C, G and F at the nut. Wehaven’t added chord windows above the music, not because we aremean or forgetful! No! The reason is simply that you will come acrossa lot of guitar tab that doesn’t show you chord windows. You have towork out the chord shapes and structures for yourself, from thetablature and/or standard notation. And it’s crucial that with any pieceof fingerstyle that you are learning that you do this first, i.e. work outthe chord shapes. You’ll make the learning process a whole buncheasier if you have nailed the chord shapes and structure first. You can’thope to put the fiddly bits together if you don’t know the basicstructure.

This arrangement of Amazing Grace is very easy and therefore itshould be a snap to work out the chord shapes necessary. You shouldbe able to work it out from the tab before you even pick up yourguitar. Have fun with the pickin’...

AGWDIGITALLESSON

Here things get more interesting! Tim is now adding some rich jazzvoicings and passing movements to the arrangement. It’s still prettysimple to play, but it just has that bit extra for both the player and thelistener. It’s crucial that you push the envelope with any arrangementof a very well known tune because folks have heard it 10,000 timesbefore already! To stop you from boring yourself and your audience todeath you need to embellish, spice up the proceedings so that the oldbecomes something new in your hands and in the ears of yourlisteners. The arpeggio movement in bar 7 is a good example of this.Have fun with the pickin’...