Gitara Sa Kanto

Lately, I took the time to record Maestro Jose Valdez' composition, Philippine Medley. The back story here is that we were preparing for my daughter's 18th birthday party (also known as a debut) which is a big deal for Filipinos. I was so stressed out from all the daily preparation so to relieve my stress, I fell back on playing the guitar every night to study a bit of this 20-page piece until I was able to record all parts within almost a month. In the end, I was able to put it all together in one video and even created this blog to recount my journey. This work is a string of various Philippine traditional music arranged for four guitars. I considered it a pipe dream to play it the minute I saw the arrangement because not only was it long (about 20 pages), it also required advanced guitar skills. Of course there's that minor detail wherein I needed three other guitar players to play it :-) With no luck in finding others who can help, I decided to designate myself the task...

Nung mga binata pa kami, mahilig kaming magkita-kita pagkatapos sa trabaho at mag-inuman sa mga nakapaligid na karinderya sa Makati. Isang gabi lumabas kami nila Dyords at Ariel at tulad ng nakagawian, nag-inuman kami. Nung paubos na yung pinupulutan naming mani (mga kuripot kasi kami), biglang um-order si Ariel ng " isang buong manok ". Nagulat ako kasi mahal yun at baka hindi namin mabayaran. Sabi ni Ariel wag kaming mag-alala at sabay tinanong ako kung " saan ba galing ang manok? " Sabi ko " ...sa itlog ." Saka niya nilinaw na itlog ang ino-order niya kasi isang buong manok ang laman nun...kung napisa. Yun pala ang code word ng itlog doon sa loob ng karinderya :-) Ang pag-aaral ng isang piyesa ay parang itlog ng manok na nililim-liman at inaasahang mapisa matapos ng 21 days (alam ko ito kasi nag-alaga kami ng mga manok noon sa gilid ng bahay namin). Depende siyempre sa ating kanya-kanyang talento, puwedeng mabilis o matagal (o habambuhay) nating inaara...

"Magaling ka bro!" "O talaga? Salamat." "Oo, magaling ka kasi wala kang sakit (sabay ilag)." Karaniwang nakaka-insulto ang ganitong biro pero may katotohanan ito kung pag-iisipang mabuti.  Bakit ko nasabi ito? Para sa akin, ang pag-aaral ng gitara ay parang pag-gamot sa sari-saring sakit.  Kung magagamot natin ang mga sakit na humahadlang sa paglago ng ating kakayahan, gagaling tayo at masasabing "Magaling ka!"  Mahalaga din sa akin na alamin ko kung tinatamaan ako ng sakit habang nagpa-praktis ako para magamot ko ito kaagad. Ano naman ang ilan sa mga sakit na ito? Isa-isahin natin. 1. Unang sakit na dapat gamutin ay kawalan ng oras sa pag-ensayo. Dahil sa dami ng iniisip o inaasikaso sa buhay, hindi mabigyan ng panahon ang pag-praktis o pag-aaral ng gitara. Dapat   nating isaayos ang priorities at schedule natin para makapaglaan ng kahit 30 to 45 minutes sa isang araw sa pag-aaral ng gitara. Ginagawa ko itong pampagising sa umaga o kay...

Sa kasalukuyan meron akong 15 video tutorials ng complete pieces at isang tutorial sa pagbabasa ng tabs. Bilang katunayan ay eto ang link sa playlist na ginawa ko ==>  Pasigenyo's Guitar Video Tutorials Bakit ko nga ba ginagawa ito? Sa totoo lang, hindi ko alam.  Kung tutuusin, mas maraming dahilan para huwag ko itong gawin. Una sa lahat, napakahirap at napakatagal gawin. Pangalawa, wala naman yatang nagtitiyagang panoorin ito. Oo nga may nagpapasalamat, pero hindi ibig sabihin na pinanood nila ito. Pangatlo, kung meron mang manood, kailangan itong panoorin sa hi-def mode para makita ang lahat ng detalye. Pero karamihan sa mga nanonood ay walang sapat na bandwidth ang internet connection nila. At pang-apat, wala naman akong kinikita dito. Baka ako pa ang magbayad at magmakaawa para lang panoorin ang mga ito. Ang pag-gawa ng video tutorials ay hindi biro. Mabuti na lang at marami ang nag-a-appreciate ng pinaghirapan ko.  Pero siyempre hindi pa rin mawawala an...

Iba-iba ang nasasagap kong reaksyon sa mga guitar videos ko sa YT. Karamihan ay magaganda at nagpapahayag ng suporta, at merong mangilan-ngilan na binabato ako. Pero ang pinaka-paborito kong mga comments ay yung mga nanghihingi ng tabs. Hindi ko naman minamasama ang mga ito at sa halip ay nakakatuwa at madalas na nakakatawa kung paano manghingi ng tabs ang mga nakakapanood ng videos ko. Iba-iba ang style at iba-iba rin ang mga binibigay na dahilan. Merong gagamitin daw sa libing, sa pagharana ng babae, wedding anniversary, school project, nawala daw yung kopya nila o kaya para sa nanay o parents daw nila. Hindi maubos ang palusot, este pagiging creative nila :-). Merong iba kina-career ang paghingi ng tabs kasi nakikita ko na nanghihingi sila ng tabs sa iba't-ibang gitarista sa YT. Yung iba naman kung manghingi sa ken e para bang may utang ako sa kanila at nagde-demand na padala ko kaagad :-) Merong nambobola muna na magaling daw ako (kuno), tapos sabay hirit ng "pengeng tab...

Raffy's classical guitar renditions are now available on CD. These are my homemade CDs that various followers/listeners have requested me to put together so they can listen to my music without having to log into YouTube.  Please consider your purchase, if you decide to do so, a donation to furthering the work I have started. God bless! PayPal payments are accepted. Personal checks will work as well and I will send my contact info. I can only ship within the US. If you are living outside the US and are interested to purchase, please contact me via email   @    RAFFYLATA101@GMAIL.COM  and we'll see if we can arrange something.    Popular Standards   1.  Evergreen  2. It Might Be You  3. Sometimes When We Touch  4. Somewhere Over The Rainbow  5. What Matters Most  6. Somewhere In Time  7. Smoke Gets In Your Eyes  8. On My Own  9. Girl From Ipanema 10. Misty 11. Mornin...

In early 2009, I was looking to play OPM pieces arranged for the classical guitar when a youtube viewer offered to send me the sheet music for Forevermore which happens to be the first piece in the OPM Vol.1 book. After having gone through the piece and being impressed with the quality of the arrangement, I decided to purchase the book along with other MJV publications available at that time. All in all, it took me four years to study and record all the pieces. Even though the renditions are not perfect, I’m quite satisfied with this milestone for two reasons: First is that it has never been done before and second, my skills as a guitarist vastly improved as I hurdled the challenges in each arrangement. Many people who have seen my videos often made the mistake of underestimating the difficulty of playing the arrangements. My calm and pokerfaced demeanor belied the fact that I was struggling to play the entire piece with minimal to no mistakes. “Smiling while playing” was...

Download Video as MP4 http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8895FAE0147DE036 About three years ago, Albert Sison sent me a copy of Maestro Jose Valdez's new book titled OPM Vol. 2. While this is not the first publication of MJV that I own, it contains very interesting and familiar pieces/songs that my generation grew up with. However, in my opinion, this is the most challenging set of arrangements to play among my collection. Today I am proud to "close the book" (pun intended) on this publication and share the fruits of my labor with other guitar enthusiasts who may want to achieve the same goal. My caveat to those who intend to watch these renditions is that they are not perfect and are certainly not the definitive performances that guitarists should emulate. If anything, these will provide students with an idea on how the arrangements sound when played. They can then form their own interpretations which hopefully exceed my own. Perhaps one day, I will re-render s...