Guitar Interactive – Issue 66 2019

(^144) Guitar Interactive Issue 66
I remember reading an interview to the leg-
endary pianist and prolific composer Chick
Corea, who was claiming that he loves set-
ting his own compositional rules and break
them if needed. These serve the purpose of
guiding the initial stages of a composition or
can help following a cohesive musical trajec-
tory, which makes musical sense.
In this case, I wanted to write this piece
within 15 minutes and so I did. I have de-
cided to start with a short intro in free time
or ‘rubato’ and then develop a simple, repeti-
tive melody as we find in most lullabies. In
other words, my intention was to send you
to sleep J
Ok, put your pajama on and enjoy the piece!
Harmonic ingredients:
I chose a resonating key for the guitar (E ma-
jor) and after an atmospheric intro (rubato)
featuring an E pedal under some chord clus-
ters I continued the piece with the follow-
ing chords: IV iv I (namely, Amaj9 Am6/9
Emaj6).
Then I have used other extended chords,
such as D13, F#m11, B13sus4 (or Amaj7/B
and Eadd9).
In a few passages I have decided to explore a
few harmonic substitutions, for an added ele-
ment of surprise. A recurrent futured is the
use of inversions used to enhance the me-
lodic qualities of the bass lines in the lower
register.
NB. Please note that (b) next to I, means
chord I first inversion, namely with the 3rd
on the bass.
Another important harmonic ingredient is
the frequent use of open strings to comple-
ment the main melody. This is a very effec-
tive way of enhancing the melody in a rela-
tively easy way, as the open strings’ sustain
will add ‘legato’ qualities to the piece.
Rhythmic ingredients:
Being a ballad, the rhythmic content in the
arrangement is quite linear.
Melodic ingredients:
The melodic content is mainly in E major
(with use of natural and melodic minor
ideas) and has a singing-like quality through-
out.
Articulations:
The choice or articulations is very impor-
tant in the construction of any composition,
as these can be seen as the ‘how we say our
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