So, I had pretty much worked through and memorized all of the Girl with the Flaxen Hair based on the tutorials and music/tab. I saved the harmonics section until last since I knew it would be challenging. Today, when I tackled it to my surprise the harmonics were up in the uncharted stratosphere beyond the 18th fret! In other words they are played on invisible frets that you have to discover by guess, feel and sound! Wholey unprepared was I to take that on to play an amazing arrangement of a gorgeous song! The tutorial suggested we mark the territory with a sharpie on our strings. My solution: move the harmonics back into charted skies by playing them between the 12th and 15th frets. For starters, I am simply playing the melody in the first position (which is way overly simple, boring, and unacceptable) until I get that left-hand melody down. Then I'll take it up to the "real frets"(12 to 15). And, finally (whether in this lifetime is uncertain), I will tackle the harmonics in the stratosphere (19 to 22)! Would you all address this differently? Dan
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Tavi, thank you for your expert advice and response. I'll see how I best want to approach this now and in the future. In the middle of the night it stuck me that I could begin by playing the piece with correct notes, omitting the harmonics in that spot all together by simply playing the notes up one octave (frets 12 to 15) playing the chord that same way in measure 30 and playing the Em chord at 12th fret and G chord at the 7th with melody note at 10th fret in measure 31. This fits how this melody was simply introduced in measures 1&2 and may help me get through the piece until I am ready to take the harmonics plunge.
Dan
PS: Your Wild Mt Thyme, Cancion de Cuna, and Romance de los Pinos are on my near-future bucket list!
Yes, some of those harmonics are pretty tricky. What I found is that harmonics are to be practiced super slowly before becoming comfortable playing them. Especially with this piece where it can take a while to play those harmonics in a fluid manner. If you are going for this piece, I would say spend your energy and do it right, go for the stratosphere, Dan! Nobody is chasing you; take your time with them and practice them slowly. Be sure to post a recording when you can and show us the progress.