TY excellent video ! I always write my realizations of figured bass (continuo) on tablatures on paper with a pencil. Some other musicians are surprised and say "waou, such a work !" but actually the process is very rapid, quite easy and I do it at the same time I "compose" my realization. I must add that -when reading and realizing at view a figured bass continuo with a keyboard is rather "natural"... the 3rd, 5th are falling under your fingers very easily... when it comes to lute or theorbo it is an other story, let me explain: lutes are stringed in 4th. So if you play a C on an open string, and you want to play a C chord... tell me how do you play the E ?? Damned ! it's the same string as the C !!! So you have to go for an other E on upper octave. Easy so far, but when it comes to Bass lines of Marin Marais, Forqueray, Charpentier... with diminished 4th, 6th, 7th... at real speed, it's very tricky.
Glad you liked it. It grew out of teaching many students to copy music properly. Hope you have tried that. It forces the mind to see the music visually and aurally at the same time. Thanks, c
Hi Othala, thanks for your question. The six lines of tablature are like the six strings of the guitar or 6-course lute. For and extra course the letter 'a' is used below the staff. For more courses, slashes are used, like leger lines on the pitch-notation staff. Very late in the lute history, composers used numbers instead of slashes; 4, 5, 6 and 7. Seven- and eight-course lutes sometimes finger these courses, around 1600.
I miss the lute. I had a wonderful time in college and had one for a short period after. It wasn't a very good lute but it got the job done. It was unfortunately stolen and then life got in the way. I play lute tab on a classicsl guitar just to keep up the knowledge. Sadly, i am sure my technique is completely gone and would have a hard time if I had a lute in my hands
Hi TadhgsLute, it sounds like you would really like to play the lute. There are reasonably priced used instruments on the net so give it a try. The lute needs you! Thanks for your comment and best of luck with your music.
Hi Patrick, thanks for your comment. This will be easier for you if you have a lute or possibly a guitar that you can use. Each line represents a string; "a" is an open string, "b" is the first fret, "c" is the second fret and so on. There are three different systems but the one in this video is French/English.
