Getting Down to Business
Alright, so today I finally decided to sit down and really get into this piece they call ‘Etienne Fantasy’. I’ve had the sheet music lying around for a bit, kept looking at it, thinking ‘yeah, maybe later’. Well, today was later.
First thing, I pulled out my old acoustic. Had to spend a few minutes tuning it up, you know how it is. Strings were a bit slack. Then I spread out the music sheets. Looked a bit intimidating, honestly, lots of notes packed together in some spots.
The Initial Run-Through
I started at the beginning, nice and slow. The first part wasn’t too bad, actually. Kind of melodic, flowed okay under my fingers. I thought, hey, maybe this won’t be so tough after all. Famous last words, right?
Then I hit the middle section. Oof. That’s where the ‘fantasy’ part seemed to really kick in, because my fingers sure weren’t living in reality. It was faster, more complex, lots of jumps up and down the fretboard. My fingers just kept tripping over themselves. Sounded like a mess.
Breaking It Down
Okay, deep breath. No point trying to bulldoze through it. I decided to just isolate that tricky bit. Like, really isolate it. Just four bars at first. I played them incredibly slowly. Like, watching paint dry slow. Note by note. Over and over again. It felt tedious, but I knew I had to do it.
It took a while. A long while. Lots of mistakes. Lots of starting over on just those few notes. My fretting hand started to ache a bit. But slowly, very slowly, it started to feel a tiny bit more natural. The movements became a little less awkward.
Then I added the next few bars of the difficult section. Same process. Slow. Repetitive. Connecting the first bit I learned with this new bit was another challenge. The transition was rough.
Making Some Headway
I must have spent a solid hour just on that one difficult passage. Didn’t even try playing the whole piece again. My goal today shifted from ‘learn Etienne Fantasy’ to ‘just get through this one damn section without wanting to throw the guitar’.
And you know what? By the end of my session, I could actually play that part. Not perfectly, mind you. Still a bit hesitant, still muffed a note here and there if I wasn’t concentrating 100%. But it was recognizable. It sounded like the music it was supposed to be. That felt pretty good, I gotta say.
Didn’t master the whole thing today, not even close. But I tackled the beast, that tricky middle part, and made some real progress. That’s what practice is all about, I guess. Chip away at it. Tomorrow, I’ll probably start with that same section again, try and smooth it out more before moving on. One step at a time.
