Daily Cascade

On Guitar Music

Prompt:
“The guitar is a miniature orchestra in itself,” said Ludwig van Beethoven
Do you like guitar music? Why?

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Do I like guitar music? Well, who doesn't! Imagine the sound of guitars or even that of a single guitar.

To me, guitars or rather good guitarists are magical, with their intricate finger picking and soft passages and their sudden energetic solos. In the same vein, music made for guitars is deeply personal. What is deeply personal finds itself inside many listeners hearts, adjusting its notes and timbre to the feelings or each person with melodies that range from soothing to delicate to powerful and electrifying.

I can understand why my favorite composer Beethoven would say that the guitar is a miniature orchestra, and aptly so. Guitar music is versatile. From Classical to Flamenco to the soulful Blues, a guitar speaks to me in many languages with nostalgia and peace. Surely, the electric guitar also can ignite much energy and strong passions.

Then, with me, Flamenco and Classics are the first choices on a long line. To tell the truth, rather than an electric guitar, I prefer the simple, or rather not-so-simple, original instrument, the acoustic guitar. I remember, decades ago, falling in love with the guitar music when I first listened to Albeniz's Asturias and Francisco Tarrega's Recuerdos de la Alhambra. Soon after that Granados's 12 Spanish Dances took my breath away.

And surely, who can forget the master, Andres Segovia, especially when he played Bach on his famous guitar, his fiery strumming with his each note capturing the essence of longing, love, joy, or sorrow? Each note is the keyword here, because with a guitar you may really hear each note, connecting people to one another universally, through cultures, genres, and generations.

So, just six strings on one acoustic guitar and it can remake me by transporting me to many different worlds, telling me stories without words, stirring feelings of nostalgia and peace in me. Now, what could be better than that!