PIANISTS' ENVY
GOYA GUITARS
CLASSICAL-STYLE STANDARDS
BANJOIZING A FLATTOP
I am a solid guitarist with strong musical skills, but it seems to me that pianists have an advantage analyzing scores and writing harmony exercises. Those texts are geared to pianists, not guitarists. What is a Neapolitan second? How do I recognize a third inversion of a seventh chord? I'm not stupid, so why can't I know this stuff like my friends who have studied classical piano?
Kevin Ward
Woodhaven, New York
Congratulations. You've uncovered the notorious keyboard conspiracy. Keyboardists often have an easier time with music theory because much of the language used to describe music theory is keyboard based. The Baroque form of music shorthand known as figured bass would show just the bass line with numbers ("figures") below each note to indicate the intervals of the notes to be added above the bass note to complete the chord. Keyboardists could fill out the harmony in a piece of music by playing the bass line with their left pinky finger and grabbing the other notes in the chord simply as intervals above the bass.
Unfortunately for the rest of us, this keyboard-oriented system became the basis of the analytical language used to discuss harmony in most theory classes. The specific terms you refer to all define those chords as keyboard-oriented stacks of intervals. What if they were defined in guitar terms? For example, a "third inversion seventh chord" is the keyboard way of saying a "seventh chord with the seventh in the bass." Picture playing a D chord with a C in the bass. You can probably imagine what that would sound like without even playing it.
For better or worse, the way you make music shapes the way you hear music and think about music. Guitarists tend to think of chords as a collection of complex two-dimensional shapes rather than as one-dimensional stacks of intervals. The differences between various stacks of intervals don't have the same significance to our hands (and therefore our ears) as they do for keyboardists.
Try redefining the concepts you come across in music theory classes in guitar terms. They won't sound like theory any more; they'll sound like music. Meanwhile, don't worry too much about your keyboard-playing friends. Remember, one of Freud's earliest breakthroughs came in his study of the crushing jealousy keyboardists feel at not being able to play guitar. It's a condition he referred to as "pianists' envy."
--Stephen Dick
I just purchased a Goya dreadnought that was made in Sweden. It has a solid spruce top and appears to have solid flame-maple sides and back. I think it was made in the '60s. I am interested in getting more information on this guitar.
Mick Calhoun
Downers Grove, Illinois
Goya was a trade name used on guitars the Levin Company of Sweden exported to the USA in relatively large quantities. The Levin Company dates back to the turn of the century. It made high-quality acoustic flattop steel-string and classical guitars as well as archtop jazz guitars and mandolins. The instruments were sold in Europe under the Levin brand name. During the 1960s some Goya-brand electric guitars were made by Eko in Italy. Many of these had bodies covered in brightly colored plastic imitation pearl (pearloid).
The Levin Company was acquired by the C.F. Martin company during the early 1970s. After a short period of time, Martin closed the facility. Martin retained the Goya brand name and used it on a line of guitars it imported from Korea until the end of 1996. Martin still owns the Goya name but as of January 1, 1997, Goya guitars, mandolins, and banjos are no longer being offered. The Levin-made Goya guitars are of good quality, although in my opinion they are not on a par with the finer American instruments made by Martin and Gibson. Today, they tend to sell for prices that reflect their utilitarian value rather than any collectors' item appeal.
--George Gruhn
Can you recommend any quality arrangements of jazz standards for classical guitar?
Carrie Emory
Atlanta, Georgia
There are a number of good books out there of classical-style arrangements of jazz and popular standards. Howard Morgen has three books of interest. The first, The Ellington Collection for Solo Guitar (Warner Brothers) features a dozen arrangements in tab and standard notation. Songs include "Mood Indigo," "Satin Doll," "Take the 'A' Train," and "Sophisticated Lady." Morgen tackles the near impossible task of distilling the essence of a big band to six strings with style and intelligence. These are not easy arrangements, but they are well worth the effort to work out.
The second book is a collection of Morgen's Guitar Player columns called 10 from Guitar Player (Warner Brothers). In this book Morgen uses standards like "Misty," "Moon River," "Tico Tico," and "Stella by Starlight" to illustrate musical concepts such as voice leading and moving bass lines. The songs are presented in complete arrangements with extensive explanatory notes.
The third Morgen book is Fingerstyle Favorites for the Fingerstyle Guitarist (CPP/Belwin). Although this is the third volume in Morgen's instructional series on fingerstyle guitar (the first two are Preparations: An Introduction to Fingerstyle Playing and Concepts: Arranging for Fingerstyle Guitar), the arrangements stand alone. The songs, shown in standard notation, include "Georgia," "Over the Rainbow," "Vincent," and "You Are the Sunshine of My Life."
--Michael Simmons
I recently placed my plectrum banjo into retirement and picked up one of the many guitars available to me. I removed two strings, tuned to C G B D, and now use all of the chord movements of a banjoist. My question is, can this physical change to the guitar cause problems?
Don Gleason
Park Ridge, Illinois
If the four strings you are using are all on the treble side of the neck, with the two bass strings missing, you might produce a slight twist in the neck with time. But with light strings, the tension of the C G B D tuning will probably not cause any problems. The body of the guitar is certainly in no danger from partial stringing. Be on the lookout for a genuine plectrum guitar (a longer-necked version of the four-string tenor), as Martin and Gibson made quite a few in the 1920s and early '30s.
--Richard Johnston
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