Here's the first installment of Chopin's Piano Concerto in A minor, Opus No. 2.

I've arranged it for guitar, and as you can see, it's not for the meek. But if you've been diligently practicing the chromatic exercises from my past few lessons, you should be ready to tackle it. This etude is an excellent study in the use of chromatic tones in a melody. I've included chord symbols above the staff to give you an idea of the melody's harmonic context. These chord symbols reflect the basic underlying harmony originally provided by the left hand part on the piano. Studying classical music, especially pieces from the Romantic period such as this, will give you serious insight into how to use chromatic passages in a composition or improvisation and have them make sense. You might be wondering, how the hell can you use this chromatic stuff in a rock song? All you have to do is listen to some Dream Theater tunes for the answer. For example, "Caught in a Web" has an extended chromatic passage [see the complete transcription in the Jan. '95 issue of Guitar School-Ed.]. The chromatic scale offers great material for writing cool riffs, but, more importantly, it gives you options for smoothly weaving in and out of a key center.

After playing this piece for a while, you should be able to pick up a few chromatic ideas to apply to your own solos. You'll start to see how you don't have to be tied to a particular scale or fingering pattern-you'll feel more comfortable playing notes that are out of the key center. And by intelligently applying chromatic notes to your lines, such as using them as passing tones to connect chord tones that fall on the strong beats, they can become more originalsounding while still retaining harmonic logic. Of course, you can just play random chromatic lines all over the place, but that's a different, more atonal style of music. Here are a few performance tips: Notice that there are quite a few position changes. As such, the lefthand fingerings have to be arranged to make shifting positions as easy as possible. That's why, though the music may be the same (as in measures 1-2 and 5-6), the tablature is different on the repeat (use the tablature on the bottom the second time through). Carefully follow the left-hand fingerings provided beneath the tablature-these are the ones that I use. My arrangement is just for the melody line, but since this is a piano piece, it was originally written so the left hand would play chords and the right hand would play the melody. To truly appreciate the

richness and depth of Chopin's melodic and harmonic style, you might want to record yourself strumming the chord changes (or have a friend play them) while you play the melody. Chopin was a master of melody, harmony and voice leading--the art of smoothly moving from chord to chord. Though the melody of this piece is mostly chromatic, notice how he targets a chord tone on the first 16th note of each beat. Let's look at the first measure: although it's written using an ascending chromatic scale starting on A, notice how, when the chord changes from Am to Dm, the melody lands on F, which is the third of Dm. Over the E7 chord in the third measure, Chopin targets the third of that chord (G#). If you follow along, you can see other prominent examples of this harmonic device, such as targeting the lowered fifth of F7b5 (B) and the lowered seventh of B7 (A). This is what I referred to earlier as the logic of writing chromatic lines. This should give you plenty to work with. Next time, Part 2! Hi everyone. So, after working on the last lesson, are you still with me? I hope so, `cause here's the second part of Chopin's Piano Concerto in A minor, Opus No.2. Chopin's mastery of harmony is quite evident in this section. He starts off by modulating to the key of C, the relative major of Am. (This type of modulation became popular during the Baroque period.) After that, the fun begins. Notice the clever way Frederic briefly modulates to the key of Gm-he approaches D7 (the V chord of Gm) chromatically from below before resolving to the actual Gm chord. He then repeats this move a whole-step up, chromatically approaching E7 (the V of Am) before resolving to Am. In measures 12-13, Chopin relies on the tritone substitution principle (in which a dominant-seventh-type chord can be interchanged with another dominant chord a diminished fifth above or below). Notice how Eb7b5 is used as a substitute for A7 (the V of D) and how F7b5 is used to replace B7 (the V of E). This type of move (very common in jazz) only underscores how harmonically ahead of his time Chopin was.

And now some performance notes: In this section, Chopin introduces the appoggiatura-a melodic device in which a chord tone is approached from either a half-step above or below. You can see great examples of appoggiaturas in measures 1, 3 and 5. Notice how, over the C chord in measure 1, Chopin begins the melody with Db (the lowered second) before resolving a half-step down to the "target note," C. He then continues with B, this time resolving a half-step up to C. An identical contour is applied to the embellishment of the D note in measure 3 and the E note in measure 5. In measures 14-17, Chopin forgoes the chromatic scale for the first time in this piece. Instead, he finishes this passage with a series of descending seconds using primarily the A Aeolian scale (A B C D E F G). Again, notice Chopin's precise targeting of the chord tones on the downbeats. Pay careful attention to the left-hand position shifts in measures 1213. To properly execute these speedy shifts, move your entire left hand to the next position instead of stretching into it with your pinkie or index finger. Refer to the tablature for the proper fingerings.

Remember, practice this piece with a metronome. Start slowly-one measure at a time-and work your way up to speed. Good luck with this passage. I know it's tricky, but it's very rewarding once you've mastered it. I'll see you next time with the grand finale. Well, gang, here it is: the final installment of Chopin's Piano Concerto in A minor, Opus No. 2. Those of you who have braved the storm of 16th notes over the past two columns have earned the right to pat yourselves on the back. You're going to get a bit of a reprieve this time, because, at the beginning of this section, Chopin restates the first six bars of the piece and then adds bars 15-17 of the opening section for good measure (use my column Romancing the Fretboard, Part 1 as a reference). Assuming you've worked out these parts already (and I hope you did), that only leaves you with five new measures to learn. Compared to the amount of information you tackled the last couple of months, this lesson should be a piece of cake! Notice that there are a number of quick position shifts, particularly on the same string, in measures 7 and 8 and 10-13. Executing them properly is not as hard as it looks. The trick is to move your entire left hand in one quick motion to the next position instead of stretching into it with your pinkie or index finger. Start slowly at first, and make sure you refer to the tablature for the proper fingerings. There's only one other tricky spot in this section. In measure 9, you'll come across a fairly difficult passage that requires some serious lefthand stretching. Here, Chopin leaves the chromatic scale for just a brief moment to outline the Dm, Am and E7 chords using thirds and fourths as they occur in the A harmonic-minor scale. Notice that the first note of each interval is approached chromatically from below. Use only your index finger and pinkie to play the intervals; it will make executing the wide stretches easier. Again, take it slowly and don't force anything-you don't want to hurt yourself! I use the unorthodox left-hand fingering in measure 9 because it enables me to maintain a smooth alternate picking pattern. This piece is played at an extremely fast tempo, and the last thing you want to do is break your right-hand rhythm worrying if the next note lands on an upstroke or downstroke. Keep in mind that you can

"borrow" melodic ideas from this piece and incorporate them into your own solos. For example, the second measure can be used as a great connecting line from one A minor-pentatonic or blues lick to another. Experiment using other lines from this piece.

Once you have this section down, try playing the concerto in its entirety. Record yourself playing the chord changes at a slow tempo (or have a friend play them) and go for it! There's nothing like tackling a challenging piece of music to make you a better player. If you liked working on this piece and want to check out more of Chopin's music, pick up a copy of Chopin: Complete Preludes and Etudes for Solo Piano, published by Dover Books. Other classical composers whose work sounds great arranged for guitar include the "three B's": Bach, Beethoven and Brahms. and remember: always, always approach music with an open mind. Listen to other musical styles and learn from them. It will help your development as a musician immeasurably.