Steve L’s Learning Log

4Oct2024 - I have had my 3 days of classical guitar practice for this month and had the chance to revisit the Flamenco inspired piece in the Werner method called Leyenda. When I learned it from the F. M. Noad Solo Guitar Playing book back in Nov. 1977, it was just called Spanish Study. I have recorded a baseline version of my playing:

Leyenda classical guitar playing - first usable take

I had a second usable recording which started at a faster pace and sounded a little better at the beginning but since I didn’t show my fretting hand I am including both takes. If you don’t need to see my fretting hand you can listen to this version: It is still played a little too tense and heavy handed. I am probably pressing too hard on the 6th string resulting in some buzzing as my stubby fingers sometimes press the strings off the frets or not reach the right position on the fretboard. I am not playing from memory after 2 half weeks of practice over thelast 2 months, but I had fun playing the tune even if you couldn’t tell from my face.

Leyenda classical guitar - second usable take

For a demo of a cool idea I have uploaded a short sound clip of Leyenda played on a Strat through GarageBand with Stadium Distortion. It is a little crude, since I recorded the same day as the classical and my fretting hand keep getting out of position, but it gives me a little vibe of AC/DC meets Blue Oyster Cult. What do you think? This is an idea that has been in my head since I started Leyenda last month. Is this idea worth developing? I need to learn to use GarageBand and add a drum track.

Heavy electric version of Leyenda - a short demo sound clip

I think that it needs a steady heavy pounding of bass drums and bass guitar :smiley:

FYI - I looked up Leyenda in Wikipedia and found that it is also called Asturias and was used in the Iron Maiden song Mother Russia which I can hear about 30 seconds into the song on YouTube. It was also attributed to by Children of Bodom for the song Angels don’t Kill, but I couldn’t pick it out in the song online. That may be just because I only know the intro to Layenda. I haven’t been a fan of screaming angst metal, since it doesn’t match my personality, but I can appreciate the skill and musicality found in the best of the genre. So I wasn’t familiar with the songs, although I’m familiar with the groups from guitar mags. It would appear that my idea is not original, but I will still use it as a GarageBand exercise.

EDIT: I went back to look at Leyenda in @Silvia80 Silvia’s learning log and realized that I would have known the song was also called Asturias if my 69 year old memory would have been better. I also saw @CATMAN62 mention the use the Leyenda or Astarius theme in the Doors Spanish Caravan. Also I saw that my idea to try the heavy electric version could have been influenced by @nzmetal suggestion to try a metal version of Asturias. I just wanted to make sure that I gave proper credit.

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