The Guitar Player's Resource
Hello! A while back we did the first part of the Paganini Caprice #16, one of my favorites by the way. I did have some requests from people to transcribe more of it.S o here it is! I really love playing this piece; it really helps keep your technique in shape. When I was very young I used to transcribe a lot of violin pieces; I still do sometimes when I am not writing. My Dad used to tell me to always listen to other kinds of music, and to be open to all styles. Being that he was a virtuoso violinist helped me to get more into violin music like Paganini's.
By practicing a piece like this, a lot of things will benefit, like your technique, your speed and your accuracy. It will also help to develop your sense of harmony and your ear. This is because you are playing a nice piece of music instead of playing a bunch of mindless exercises. Make sure you play this piece very evenly and steadily.
There are some real cool intervallic jumps in this Caprice, for example bars 4 and 5. Make sure you follow the fingerings i supplied for you. I feel these fingerings are the most appropriate in order to play this up to speed comfortably. The first six bars of this piece generally stay within the G minor scale (G, A, Bb, C, D, Eb, F).After the two octave Bb arpeggio in bar 6, there is a brilliant usage of chromatic passing tones in bars 7-12.
MP3 - Caprice #16 Part 2 Slow
MP3 - Caprice #16 Part 2 Fast
This piece is so beautifully constructed, there are so many elements here to benefit from just by studying it. You might want to practice this piece one bar at a time until you've mastered it. If you have not checked out the first part of this Caprice you might want to check that out. You can also see me playing this on my video "Virtuoso Rock Fusion Concepts". I will be covering more of this piece in future lessons.
OK, this wraps up our lesson! If you have any questions, feel free to email me. Be sure to check out my CDs on this amazing site and check out my new CD release, "Vibe". Visit mikecampese.com for more information.
Mike Campese is an all-around music performer, session artist and teacher competent in many musical styles, electric and acoustic. He has studied at G.I.T. (Honors Graduate), and with Paul Gilbert, Norman Brown, Stanley Jordan, Scott Henderson and Keith Wyatt.
